THE continuing machinations around the attempts by Tom Hicks and George Gillett to get investment at Liverpool show the problems of trying to undertake a public sale of an asset which is falling in value almost by the week.

The planned recruitment of Martin Broughton as chairman is a late attempt to add respectability and therefore value to the company.

While some of the commercial numbers are encouraging – the Standard Chartered sponsorship that will begin next season will provide a significant boost to its revenues – and a proposition like the new stadium remains as potenitally lucrative as ever, the basic and immediate value of the club is being affected by the on the field struggles.

There are numerous theories about how to work out the value of a company, but only one has any real merit – it is worth what someone is prepared to pay for it.

And however much an investment opportunity like Liverpool Football Club is a business decision it will still involve financiers playing high-stakes fantasy football.

They might not consciously think about how many goals Fernando Torres will score next year or how many more seasons players like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard will be at their peak, but the playing strength will form part of their assessment of the value of the business.

It makes the six-month extension that Hicks and Gillett have been given to find a buyer or investor not entirely positive.