Fresh Twist In Liverpool FC Sale Dispute

The sale of Liverpool Football Club (LFC) to New England Sports Ventures (NESV) has been blocked again, after the club's owners obtained a temporary restraining order.

Tom Hicks and George Gillett took out the action against directors trying to complete the deal, NESV and the Royal Bank of Scotland on the same day they were defeated in a High Court case. The US-based pair believe that the planned £300m sale to NESV - owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team - undervalues LFC and obtained the order from a Texas District Court.

In a statement, the Premier League club said that the board of Kop Football and Kop Holdings met following the High Court's ruling to decide in favour of proceeding with the NESV deal.

A LFC spokesperson said: "Regrettably, Thomas Hicks and George Gillett have obtained a temporary restraining order from a Texas District Court against the independent directors, Royal Bank of Scotland and NESV to prevent the transaction being completed. The independent directors consider the restraining order to be unwarranted and damaging and will move as swiftly as possible to seek to have it removed."

However, it has since been revealed that the further delay will not deter NESV from completing the deal, with the BBC reporting that leader John Henry is "prepared to wait for the order to be lifted".

Matt Taylor of law firm Eversheds said: "Whether or not the Texan Court does have valid jurisdiction to deal with this matter does not really matter at the moment. By securing a temporary injunction in Texas, the owners have at the very least delayed the proposed sale and until that sale does go through they are likely to continue to use every legal avenue open to them to frustrate the process."

Source: sportsmanagement.co.uk