I think that it was pretty clear even before Kenny Huang and his big mouth left that the only bids on the table were of the "We'll scrap the debt, look at the stadium issue, and invest in the squad" type. The latter clause is actually a freebee anyway, because without the crippling debt repayments LFC can invest in the squad without outside assistance. Everyone was offering the minimum because they knew that Hicks had left himself with no backdoor - take our offer now, or we'll wait until RBS repossess and then present the same offer to them. I honestly can't see how anyone working for LFC could take Lim's bid seriously because of the words "Manchester United" on his bankroll, so NESV would have been selected by default (and they had to decide by the 5th or Henry would walk).
The alternative was to simply wait until the 15th, but then Hicks would almost certainly have claimed his $1.6bn damages against the board for failing to sell the club. This was always going to end up in court; anyone thinking otherwise was a damn fool. Hicks thought he had all the cards, but everyone knows he's bluffing and isn't wearing any pants. So the board screwed him by accepting NESV's bid, knowing they would win in the High Court because Hicks would disgrace himself in the aftermath. If the Dallas judge rules Hicks attempted to deliberately mislead the US court with his injunction he's toast. What would make that all the more satisfying is that he basically took the gun he had put down on the boardroom table intending to use it against LFC, and instead used it to shoot himself.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer man.
