London, England (CNN) -- The battle over the ownership of one of England's top soccer teams took a new twist Tuesday, as a businessman from Singapore put in a new offer for the team -- entirely in cash.
Peter Lim's bid for Liverpool Football Club came in as the current owners of the team went to court to contest an earlier bid by the owners of baseball's Boston Red Sox.
Lim said his proposal represents a total investment of 360 million pounds ($570.8 million), including 40 million pounds ($63.4 million) for the purchase of new players.
Liverpool's American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, were at the High Court in London Tuesday fighting the team's acquisition by New England Sports Ventures (NESV), which own the Red Sox.
Their lawyers said Tuesday the men oppose the procedure by which the deal was reached. Hicks and Gillett believe superior offers were on the table and, in the end, were not chosen, their lawyers said.
The judge will rule Wednesday morning on the battle between Liverpool's owners and management.
If Hicks and Gillett win, it could see outside administrators put in control of the five-time European champions -- the British equivalent of bankruptcy.
Hicks and Gillett say they feel the offer by NESV does not match their valuation of the club.
Liverpool's board, headed by chairman Martin Broughton -- who brought in Hicks and Gillett to find a buyer -- agreed to accept an offer of 300 million pounds ($477 million) offer from NESV last week.
However, that would mean Hicks and Gillett face losing $130 million on the deal, having bought the club for 219 million pounds ($348 million) in February 2007.
Their problems have stemmed from the debts they incurred in financing that deal, and the club -- which was saddled with those costs -- may be put into administration if the Americans win the court case and fail to pay off a $377 million loan to Royal Bank of Scotland by Friday.
NESV released a statement late last week promising to keep all acquisition debts away from Liverpool's footballing operations, and stabilize the club in order to return to the glory days which have earned a joint record 18 English titles -- but none since 1990.
But Hicks and Gillett sacked two board members, managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre, ahead of a meeting last week to discuss the bid. Hicks appointed his son Mack and his associate Lori McCutcheon in their place.
Broughton hit back by saying RBS had requested -- when he started the hunt for a buyer in April -- that only he as independent chairman could change board members.
Therefore, Tuesday's court hearing will determine whether the sale can go ahead.
English soccer's Premier League -- in which Liverpool plays -- has already confirmed that NESV's offer satisfies its ownership rules.
Liverpool fans drove for hours down to London to be at the High Court, where they held signs and banners reading, "Tom and George not welcome here."
I am committed to rebuild the club so that it can soon regain its position at the pinnacle of English and European football
--Peter Lim
John Foley, who draped himself in the red Liverpool FC flag, said he set off at 3:30 a.m. to make it to the court and show his support.
"We are just totally against the Americans," he said, referring to Hicks and Gillett. "We've had enough of them."
If the deal doesn't go ahead, and Hicks and Gillett cannot extend their loan deadline or find new funds to pay it off, then Liverpool will face the prospect of going into administration and a nine-point penalty from the Premier League.
That would put the ailing club -- already in danger of dropping out of the Premier League -- at the bottom of the table on minus three points ahead of Sunday's city derby against Everton. The club is currently 18th out of 20 teams after seven games, the team's worst start to a season in decades.
Lim said Tuesday his offer would remove any uncertainty facing the team.
"I respect and admire Liverpool Football Club, which is steeped in tradition and history," he said in a statement. "I am committed to rebuild the club so that it can soon regain its position at the pinnacle of English and European football, where it truly belongs."
The owners' chances of a favorable ruling dimmed on Monday when RBS revealed it had won an injunction preventing them from sacking Broughton or any other board members ahead of the hearing -- referring to Gillett and Hicks' efforts last week as "a breach of contractual undertakings."
"Among other things, that interim injunction prevents Mr. Hicks or Mr. Gillett taking any steps to remove or replace Mr. Broughton from his position as chairman of the board of the Kop companies or from taking any other steps to appoint or remove any directors from the board of the Kop companies," RBS said on Monday.
"The key thing is the court case," Broughton told the Liverpool website last week. "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."
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson, who replaced Rafael Benitez in July, has welcomed the proposed takeover
