No points penalty possible for Reds, say Premier League

The Premier League will not dock points from Liverpool if the club’s American owners’ company Kop Holdings goes into administration next week, it can be revealed.

There have been suggestions that if Tom Hicks and George Gillett block a £300m (€344m) takeover for the club by New England Sports Ventures, owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, then their holding company would be put into administration by the Royal Bank of Scotland over their unpaid £280m (€321m) debts.

That would not lead to an automatic points deduction for the Reds however – the Premier League have clarified the rules regarding parent companies so that if the club itself is a fully solvent entity – as Liverpool is – then the penalty clause should not apply.

A Premier League source said: “The aim of the regulations is primarily to capture clubs who have gone into insolvency. This is manifestly not the case with Liverpool Football Club.”

For example, last year West Ham’s Icelandic owners went into administration but that did not lead to any Premier League action as the club itself was solvent.

All prospective owners are obliged to give the league 10 days’ notice of a takeover and prove they have the funds to sustain the club.

Any prospective owners have to have a face-to-face meeting with league chiefs to convince them they have enough money for the season to come.