Reds walk alone to date with destiny

Liverpool FC - one of English football’s most historic clubs - will contest possibly its most important fixture in its entire history tomorrow.

But there will be no Steven Gerrard to drive them on; no Fernando Torres to spearhead their attack; and no Pepe Reina to keep them safe from opposition advances. For tomorrow’s big clash will not be taking place on the hallowed turf of Anfield, but will instead be played in the High Court in London.

The reason for this date with destiny is now well known: Liverpool will be attempting to push through the sale of the club to John W Henry’s New England Sports Ventures (NESV) consortium. Posing as opposition on the day will be the club’s incumbent owners, George Gillett and Tom Hicks; who will be attempting to block the deal in order to avoid making a huge loss on their original investment.

A victory in court will see the medium term future of the club secured, and give the fans cause for optimism that the elusive Premier League title they so badly covet may once again be a realistic target some day soon. Defeat is likely to see the Royal Bank of Scotland place the club into administration, and the Premier League to impose its mandatory nine point deduction for any club calling in the administrators. In other words: a disaster.

That a club as successful as Liverpool can be faced with such a desperate situation is preposterous. Despite not being crowned English champions since 1990, recent seasons have still seen the club deliver regular Champions League football, attract sell-out crowds of 40,000 plus and build a world-wide fan base ready to snap up as much merchandise as you can manufacture. And yet still the club faces the very real prospect of being placed into administration, and finding itself entangled in a season-long fight against relegation. Should they lose that particular battle, the consequences are unthinkable.

But let’s not get carried away just yet: Liverpool can still emerge from court tomorrow victorious, and should that be the case, it’s likely that the future will be looking bright for the reds. It’s said that NSEV will provide the necessary finance to restructure the debt to a more manageable level, whilst also offering Roy Hodgson the funds he so desperately needs to rebuild the club’s mediocre squad. Huge improvements to Anfield are also rumoured to be in the pipeline, although so far these are only based on the fact that Henry’s other sports team, the Boston Red Sox, had their stadium redeveloped whilst Henry was at the helm: hardly any kind of assurance.

By Tuesday afternoon, we should know whether the Kop will have its collective head in its hands, or jubilantly cheering the end of the disastrous Hicks/Gillett ownership. Whatever the result, the rest of the Premier League, and indeed world football, should be taking note. If a club the size of Liverpool can be taken to the brink of meltdown by financial incompetence, so too can any other major club in the game. And yet Liverpool’s predicament is not the only warning the game’s top clubs have been served with.

Liverpool’s deadly rivals, Manchester United, are also hampered by crippling debts - brought on by their owners borrowing money to purchase the club. The mighty Barcelona were forced to take out a £130m loan in July to pay their players wages, whilst Chelsea’s financial figures continue to prove that seven years on from his arrival, they still only exist at the upper reaches of the European game because of Roman Abramovich’s millions.

UEFA’s financial fair play rules - which state that all clubs competing in European competition must not spend more than they earn - will come into force for the start of the 2013/2014 season. Clubs across the continent will be busy getting their houses in order as that date looms ever closer, and one can only hope that this particular regulation forces a step change in the financial management of the game.

Boy does it need it: too many clubs have lived too far beyond their means, for too long. Despite the increased commercialisation of the past 10 years, football clubs surely still have a responsibility to their fans that goes beyond selling them a seat to view the game from and an over-priced hot dog? A responsibility that goes beyond the need to extend the club’s market reach and increase profits.

Running a football club in a business-like manner - as modern football supposedly demands - shouldn’t distract owners from their responsibility to run their club in an efficient way that gives the players on the pitch the best chance of success, and the club’s real supporters a fair opportunity to witness it from the stand. The way many of our clubs are being managed at the moment, it seems that Hicks and Gillett are far from alone in forgetting that responsibility.

Although I’m far from a Liverpool fan, I very much hope they are successful in their tricky away fixture tomorrow, and that the future of the club is secured. Whilst a club like Liverpool moving in to administration may be the wake up call that perhaps many of Europe’s clubs still need, their fans deserve better and losing Liverpool to the banks and potentially the Championship, is surely far too big a price to pay.