Judge to rule over Liverpool as new bid is made

Mr Justice Floyd said he would adjourn his ruling after a day of courtroom clashes between the American owners, club directors and its major creditor, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

RBS lawyers accused owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett of changing the running of the club to "frustrate" its sale this Friday.

Paul Girolami QC, representing the American owners, said his clients "were not trying to throw a spanner in the works" of the proposed sale deal.

He said there had been other offers for the club which potentially were better than the one wrongly approved by the board.

Richard Snowden QC, representing RBS, said the American owners now admitted "a calculated breach of contract" by seeking to change the constitution of the football companies controlling the club and the boards involved without the consent of the bank.

He said this was "to frustrate the sale necessary to repay the bank 200m by this Friday".

The bank secured an injunction on Friday to prevent the Americans sacking independent chairman Martin Broughton or any other board members.

Mr Snowden said Mr Hicks filed evidence that if RBS did not like what he was doing, then it could enforce its security rights.

"This would derail the carefully planned process designed to achieve a sale of the club in a timely manner."

He said that plan would not carry the risk of Liverpool losing the nine points deducted by the Premier League when a team goes into administration.

The judge was asked to impose injunctions on the owners requiring them to restore the original constitutions of the companies and managing directors.

This would remove the final stumbling block to a 300m takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which will see the RBS recoup its original 237m loan to Hicks and Gillett when they bought the club in March 2007.

The bank say that when the American owners renegotiated an extension to the refinancing to allow a sale to be completed, they agreed that Broughton could come in alongside managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre.

This gave them a three-to-two majority to prevent the Americans blocking any sale they did not feel was in their interests.

It was also made clear that Broughton was the only person who could change board members, so when Hicks tried to sack the English directors last week on the eve of the meeting to approve the NESV bid, the chairman rejected the move.

Snowden said evidence filed to the court showed "breathtaking arrogance on the part of Mr Hicks and Mr Gillett".

Meanwhile, Singapore businessman Peter Lim has made a new bid for the club, offering 320m to clear the acquisition debt, the club's existing debt and outstanding bank fees and, in addition, provide 40m for squad strengthening in January – all with cash from his own personal wealth.