A judge told a packed London court room on Tuesday he would rule on Wednesday morning whether owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett had the right to sack certain board members and thus block the sale of the indebted Premier League football club.
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The American owners believe the sale, agreed by the board, for 300 million pounds to New England Sports Ventures (NESV), owner of the Boston Red Sox, undervalues England's most successful football club and one of the world's most famous sporting institutions.
The board agreed the sale last week, ahead of a looming deadline to repay debt which could result in the club going into administration and being docked points.
Inside a crammed court room filled with Liverpool fans in red shirts and some of the best paid barristers in the country, lawyers for the current owners admitted they had broken corporate rules last week when they tried to sack board members in a final bid to keep control of the club.
They said Hicks and Gillett had been forced to do this however because those same board members had failed to consult them properly and to consider alternative offers for the club.
The Americans' lawyers also argued there were alternatives for the club's lender, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), other than putting the club into administration, and said they should be given more time to thrash out a deal.
One possible offer could come from Singapore businessman Peter Lim, who said he was ready to make an increased cash bid for the club of 320 million pounds.
Lim, who made a fortune through stockbroking and is Singapore's eighth richest man, said in a statement he would make a further 40 million pounds available for new players.
The case, which is being watched intensely by Liverpool fans, some of whom were singing in protest outside the High Court, will also go a long way to determining whether the club goes into administration and faces a nine-point deduction.
"BREATHTAKING ARROGANCE"
In the battle to keep hold of the club and find a better deal, Hicks and Gillett had tried to dismiss two members of the board and replace them with their own people.
RBS lawyers argued that this showed "breathtaking arrogance", while the barrister for the club's chairman accused the two of displaying some "slippery behaviour."
RBS, majority owned by the UK tax payer, is the major lender and is contesting the case because it had ruled that only chairman Martin Broughton could make changes to the board.
That was required by RBS to prevent the two Americans from blocking any sale.
The battle for ownership is further complicated by the October 15 dead
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