Broughton Fears Administration

Liverpool chairman Martin
Broughton has told
ESPNsoccernet that
administration and the docking
of nine points is a frightening
possibility that he is desperately
fighting to avoid.
Speaking from Washington, he
talked candidly about the threat
of administration on Liverpool.
With the Royal Bank of Scotland's
deadline for the repayment of
£237 million looming on October
15, a Liverpool civil war will take
place in the High Court just days
before the banks can foreclose
on Tom Hicks and George Gillett
with the option of taking control
of the club or putting it into
administration.
Broughton told ESPNsoccernet:
"It could happen, yes. This is all
part of why it is important that
we made the decision on
Tuesday to accept one or the
other of the two very acceptable
bids. Heading for administration
was a very likely outcome if we
didn't."
"Even now with the court case
looming, administration cannot
be ruled out," Broughton
confessed. "It is not inevitable,
and I am not going to start
giving percentages of how much
it is possible. That is why we are
going to court to clarify our
position on the sale of the club,
and we have to win in court, and
we will win in court."
When Broughton was reminded
that it isn't just Liverpool fans
who want to see the club survive,
and the whole of football would
mourn once-mighty Liverpool,
one of the global brands in the
game, he responded: "Yes, I
agree with you. Yes, this is about
Liverpool, but it is also about
football, not just Liverpool, and all
of football would want to see
Liverpool in a healthy state. Yes I
am confident that we shall
succeed, but lawyers are always
confident - on both sides."
The impact of administration is
not lost on Broughton. He said:
"Going into administration needs
to be avoided at all costs, as the
negative impact would be
catastrophic. Setting aside the
nine-point deduction, it would
have an impact on Liverpool's
value and be wide open to
predators, whereas we have
what we believe is the right new
owners to take the club
forward."
With a court case looming, the
legal team backing Liverpool
have advised Broughton to be
circumspect about what he says
about Hicks and Gillett.
However, Hicks' public
declaration that he had not given
any undertaking to Broughton
about the constitution of the
Board and the sale process will
be central to the court case.
Clearly, Broughton's argument is
that an undertaking was given to
the Royal Bank of Scotland as
part of the agreement to
increase the facility for the loan
Broughton said: "If an obligation
is given to RBS as part of the
agreement then an obligation
has been given to the major
creditor and one would expect
that to be honoured."