On Thursday the board of Liverpool Football Club revealed that they had approved the sale of the club to New England Sports Ventures (NESV) by three votes to two.

However it appears Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett do not intend to leave quietly. On Wednesday the pair were granted an injunction in a Texas court that threatened NESV and the Liverpool board with a 1 billion pound court case if they bought the club.

Earlier Hicks and Gillett voted against the proposed deal and called for the Dallas court to jail both the directors and their lawyers for contempt of the U.S. court.

According to reports in the British press, Hicks and Gillet had not told the U.S. judge they had been refused an order to restrain the sale, and the British High Court was informed of this development on Thursday.

"They concealed the fact because they are now anxious to secure for themselves a second bite of the cherry from that famous jurisdiction, the Dallas County Court," Lord Grabiner Q.C. told the British High Court on Thursday. "If it were not such a serious matter, it would be a joke," he added.

The Dallas injunction also included a substantial claim for damages and allegations were made of a conspiracy, Grabiner said.

"The owners’ behavior conclusively demonstrates just how incorrigible they are. They are absolutely determined to stop this transaction in its tracks and they have no lawful justification for behaving in this way."

Grabiner added: "This is unconscionable behavior of the worst possible kind and they are probably sitting there giggling now to themselves."