Evans fears for Liverpool

Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans admits the club "cannot afford to jump out of the frying pan into the fire" with their sale to New England Sports Ventures (NESV).

Although the prospective new owners have built up a good reputation in charge of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, it is difficult to predict how their approach to American sports will transfer to somewhere like Anfield. Some people are cautious about the arrival of NESV, considering the problems experienced with current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and Evans is waiting to be convinced.

"We can't afford to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire," he said. "We need someone to come to this club who will take us forward.

"It has to be the right people to make sure the club runs smoothly and goes back to the days we all loved when we were successful." Liverpool's ownership issue is set to be decided in the High Court early next week after the American owners, with Hicks leading the way, launched a legal challenge.

The Texan denies ceding control of the club to chairman Martin Broughton, who remains confident he has acted legitimately.

Hicks believes the deal to sell the club to NESV for 300 million is invalid as, minutes before the meeting to discuss the offer on Tuesday, he changed the make-up of the board - removing managing director Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre and replacing them with his son Mack and Lori McCutcheon, who works for Hicks Holdings.

However, Broughton on Wednesday claimed Hicks had "flagrantly abused" undertakings, given to major creditors Royal Bank of Scotland when the sale process began, which outlined Broughton as the only man with the ability to change the composition of the board.