Any Liverpool fan can tell you. Liverpool are the pass masters of great escapes. Liverpool versus AC Milan, Istanbul 2005, Champions League final. Liverpool were 3-0 down at half time and looked like being sent packing with their tails between their legs.
The FA Cup Final 2006, Liverpool versus West Ham. 3-2 down with minutes remaining on the clock, then Steven Gerrard scored THAT goal from fully 40 yards out, to send the game into extra time, then penalties, and which Liverpool went on to win.
Today, the club faces a challenge about which even its most talismanic players can do nothing. No Stevie screamer, or Torres wonder goal, or Kuyt super strike can affect what is happening in the board room.
Instead, the duty of getting the club out of the mess it is currently in has fallen to two men and countless fans worldwide. Those two men are Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow. Both men are believed to be business purists. Broughton has said he does not want to sell the club to the wrong party, and stoutly maintains that his loyalty to Chelsea as a lifelong season ticket holder has no bearing at all on that decision.
Purslow meanwhile, has over 30 years business experience on his CV, namely buying and selling distressed companies. He however, is a Liverpool fan and insists that he looks forward to the day when Liverpool's considerable commercial revenue can be pumped back into the club instead of servicing ever increasing debts.
Despite looking so good, Purslow and Broughton have yet to deliver on the promise of "finding the right buyer, one that has Liverpool's interests at heart", as what many fans look upon as doomsday, draws near. October the 8th. This is when RBS will step in and take control of the club, forcing Hicks and Gillett out.
The question being asked here is: should Hicks fail to refinance and ultimately lose possession of the club to RBS, the bank who financed the buyout originally, what will happen to LFC? Will the club be sold to any old buyer displaying the credentials of "having enough money to buy the debt"? Or will Broughton and Purslow be allowed to continue their job of seeing Liverpool into the hands of responsible custodians, and not just a pair of cowboys out to turn a profit?
Fan pressure is being applied to any financial institution even remotely associated with LFC, in a bid to prevent the American owners pulling off a great escape of their own, and retaining control of the Anfield club.
With Liverpool maintaining that they have ample financial facilities to meet monetary requirements over the next season, and with Gillett and Hicks looking to be on their way out of the door, maybe the combination of those two men, and Liverpool's legendary 12th man, is a winning one.
With any luck, Liverpool will pull off a Great Escape of their own, come Doomsday.
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