Source: Liverpool_Echo
Profile: New Liverpool FC chairman Martin Broughton
British Airways chairman Martin Broughton is in line to be appointed Liverpool FC chairman in the next few days, but who is he and what's his background?[LNB]DESPITE his lofty position in the world of business, Martin Broughton is said to prefer sitting in the Matthew Harding Stand than the executive boxes at Stamford Bridge.[LNB]Word of his allegiance to Chelsea has raised a few eyebrows among Liverpool supporters, but then Broughton - who may find himself working with Barclays Capital to find a buyer for the Reds - hasn't been earmarked as the club's new independent chairman on the basis of where he watches his football.[LNB]But the fact he chooses the cheap seats - if there's such a thing at Chelsea - to the corporate niceties on offer, is perhaps a nod to his unspectacular upbringing in tough circumstances.[LNB]He was born and raised in Fulham where his disabled father was a coach-trimmer, replacing the seats and trimmings on old cars.[LNB]Broughton was nearly 20 before the family acquired a television set.[LNB]At Westminster City Grammar School, he recalls how he 'was an average student. I was bottom of the A-stream. Just average, really.'[LNB]Minus the qualifications or financial means to go to university he went to work, aged 18, for a small firm of accountants in Piccadilly.[LNB]It was here he discovered his vocation coming 41st out of 3,000 candidates in national exams.[LNB]Although he would soon move to British American Tobacco, where his business career took off, this was the start of a long and winding road that has brought him to Anfield. His appreciation of football is secondary to the reason he has been approached by Liverpool to effectively help sell the club, however.[LNB]Indeed, his main sporting love is horse-racing.[LNB]Broughton has long been a keen racegoer and race-horse owner and was a guest of Lord Daresbury at last week's Grand National at Aintree.[LNB]While it could be seen as a professional gamble to have anything to do with the financial mess Liverpool currently finds itself in, Broughton is likely to relish the opportunity to smooth things over in a boardroom where discretion has been replaced by in-fighting and financial disagreements.
