Liverpool could avoid administration points penalty

Liverpool may not be docked points even 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 £300million 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 £280million debts.

Premier League sources say that whether a points deduction would come into effect remains unclear.

Liverpool would argue that under new Premier League rules regarding parent companies, if the club itself is a fully solvent entity - as Liverpool are - then the penalty clause should not apply.

A Premier League source told Press Association Sport: "The aim of the regulations is primarily to capture clubs who have gone into insolvency."

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 owner has to have a face-to-face meeting with league chiefs to convince them they have enough money for the season to come.