One of football's most famous teams ended two days in court with a ruling that their unpopular American owners could not block the sale of the English Premier League club.
The Liverpool Football Club ownership battle came to London's High Court court after owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett tried to sack members of the board last week in a last-ditch bid to keep control of the club.
The board were in the process of agreeing a $477.2 million sale to New England Sports Ventures (NESV), the owner of the baseball team Boston Red Sox, ahead of an October 15 deadline to repay a $375.6 million debt.
Justice Floyd told a packed High Court in London that Hicks and Gillett had been guilty of the "the clearest possible breach" in terms of corporate governance rules and their bid to sack the Liverpool board.
The judge spoke for around an hour in his summing-up on Wednesday as protests against the owners continued in the street outside.
The Liverpool board including Gillett and Hicks would meet later on Wednesday to consider its next move following the judgment, lawyers on all sides and the judge agreed.
'Binding agreement'
NESV welcomed the decision said it had a binding agreement to buy the club.
"We are ready to move quickly and help create the stability and certainty which the Club needs at this time," said a statement.
"It is time to return the focus to the Club itself and performances on the pitch."
Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton told Sky Sports News after the hearing that he was "disappointed" that Gillett and Hicks had tried to breach the undertakings he said they had given him.
He continued: "The board has to be reconstituted and then re-sit this evening. I can't pre-judge what the board is going to say."
If the repayment date with major creditor the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is missed, the five-time European champions, and historically England's most successful football club, could be put into administration and docked nine points.
Already sitting in the relegation zone with six points from seven games, that could spell disaster for manager Roy Hodgson's side.
Lawyers for Hicks and Gillett admitted to the court on Tuesday that the two men had breached their contract with RBS by trying to reshape the board but said they had been forced to do so because those members were not considering alternative offers.
The two men argued they should be given more time to find a better offer.
A second, higher bid emerged on Tuesday when Singapore billionaire Peter Lim said he was ready to make an increased cash bid for the club of $507 million.
Lim said in a statement on Wednesday: "I welcome the decision of the court.
"I hope that when the board is reconstituted tonight that it will not simply ratify a sale to NESV but will consider all the offers before them."
Lawyers for Hicks and Gillett told the court a third group, Mill Financial, had also shown an interest in the Merseyside club.
It was not yet known whether the pair would launch an appeal.
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