(CNN) -- The future of Liverpool Football Club will be decided in London's High Court next week after current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett mounted a legal challenge to the proposed buyout by New England Sports Ventures (NESV).
Reds chairman Martin Broughton announced the sale to the company which owns the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday, but the American co-owners claimed the £300 million ($476m) offer "dramatically undervalues" the club.
Hicks and Gillett also allege that the sale, which is subject to Premier League approval, is not legally binding because two board members who approved the deal had already been sacked.
But Broughton says the removal of managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre, and their replacement by Hicks's son Mack and his associate Lori McCutcheon, were not valid moves.
"The key thing is the court case," Broughton told the Liverpool website. "We need to go to the court to get a declaratory judgment, which is for the court to declare that we did act validly in completing the sale agreement, and then the buyers can complete the sale.
"I am confident. I wouldn't have taken the board through that process yesterday if I hadn't been confident".
CNN
