NESV buys Liverpool as Hicks threatens to sue

After the most turbulent week in its history Liverpool FC has finally been brought by New England Sports Ventures (NESV). The club's hated American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett dropped their objections to the sale in the face of a legal ruling from the High Court, but not before Hicks announced that he intended to sue the club for £1bn - meaning that the saga is far from over.

NESV, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, was finally given the green light to go ahead with the purchase of Liverpool for £300m, well over a week after their offer was initially accepted by the board, even though it was opposed by Hicks and Gillett. The final hold-up was the lifting of a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the sale that had been imposed by a court in Texas on Wednesday night after the High Court in London had ruled that the sale could go ahead on Tuesday.

The last ditch efforts of Hicks and Gillett to block the deal appeared to have failed when the Liverpool board went back to court on Thursday and the English court over-ruled the American one. The TRO was lifted at 1pm on Friday just as John W Henry (above), the main backer of NESV, and the Liverpool board sat down at the offices of legal firm Slaughter & May in London to thrash out the details of their takeover.

Confirmation of the takeover came at 4pm on Friday.

NESV has pledged to clear Liverpool's debts of £237m. That money was due to be repaid to the Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday, and once the debt is settled Liverpool's holding company will no longer be under threat of administration, a move which could have resulted in a nine-point penalty for Roy Hodgson's team.

Although Hicks and Gillett have stood aside, despite an audacious last-minute attempt to transfer the club to the ownership of an American hedge fund, they are not out of the picture just yet. Hicks says that they will "pursue every legal avenue" to claim damages for what they believe is an "extraordinary swindle" and has announced that he will sue Liverpool for £1bn.

Hicks and Gillett were furious that the board had outvoted them when they accepted the initial £300m offer from NESV last week. The pair, who will lose around £140m on the deal, claimed the NESV offer significantly undervalued the club.

Their objections led to the court-room merry-go-round that Liverpool fans have sat through this week.

Now that NESV have been unveiled as the club's new owners John W Henry could well be in the crowd for the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. The game may be at the home of Liverpool's local rivals Everton but it will be an emotional occasion for everyone connected to the club. ·