Liverpool are two months from
becoming majority-owned by the taxpayer, which, the
Observer reports, has become the likeliest outcome if a
sale has not neared completion in that time.
The Royal Bank of Scotland's main £237m loan to the club expires
on 6 October and must either be repaid or rolled over.
Liverpool's company
secretary, Ian Silvester, said: "From what I understand, and that's
all I can say, the urgency is there due to the pressure from the
banks, so I would anticipate that something will be happening
within the next four to six weeks or so."
One option open to RBS would be to put the club's parent
company, Kop Football (Holdings), into administration, but that is
not favoured since it would almost inevitably lead to a nine-point
deduction under Premier League insolvency rules.
Instead, the Observer reports, unless one of the parties
involved in negotiations to take over at Anfield follows through
with a formal offer, RBS's corporate-restructuring team would
assume control of Liverpool and
run the club as a wholly owned subsidiary.
That would effectively put the five-times European champions in
the hands of the taxpayer who, through the government-owned UK
Financial Investments Ltd, holds 84.42% of the issued share capital
in RBS.
"One or two in the bank are getting twitchy about getting their
money back at all," a source said. "And they are incredibly nervous
about the current bids. They don't regard anything as particularly
serious at the moment."