Liverpool's managing director says a "small number of potentially interested parties'' are still looking into
buying the Premier League club but have yet to make offers.
Christian Purslow also says that any attempts by current owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr. to refinance Liverpool's debts are likely to be blocked by the board. Liverpool was put up for sale in April and faces an October deadline to repay its debt, which has grown from US$371 million in April to about US$438 million. Purslow says Liverpool can "just about'' afford to meet the interest costs and bank charges relating to the loans. But he insisted on Liverpool's TV channel that the club "is not going bust.'' Purslow is opposed to the owners' bid to refinance the debt - as are fellow board members Martin Broughton, the chairman hired in April to oversee the sale process, and commercial director Ian Ayre. They already had rejected a refinancing proposal Hicks made earlier this year. "Any incurrence of indebtedness by Liverpool Football Club needs full board approval,'' Purslow said. "The non-owner directors have made it clear that's not what we want to see happen ... (it's) very unlikely.'' Purslow said Liverpool is not in danger of entering bankruptcy protection, which happened to Hicks' baseball team, the Texas Rangers, before being sold by auction in August. "We have cash, we are solvent. We have banking facilities which last beyond the end of next season, and we are heavily scrutinized by the Premier League,'' he said. "Liverpool Football Club is not going bust. We have an extremely healthy business with record revenues and we are highly profitable”