Sir Martin Broughton, the man who sold Liverpool to John W. Henry 10 years ago, has been asked what he thinks the club is worth today and offers an eyebrow raise so animated it could have been sketched by Walt Disney.

“It is certainly worth one billion,” he suggests, reclining in his chair in his plush office in London's Jermyn Street. “At least that. Possibly two.”

There is a knowing smile. Fenway Sports Group's £300million outlay for Liverpool - the debt of previous owners George Gillett Jr and Tom Hicks, who famously branded the deal "an epic swindle" - is now proving something of a bargain, and the club's value should only keep soaring as they close in on an end to their 30-year wait for a league title this season.

It is a far cry from the ramshackle mess Broughton inherited as chairman in April 2010. Off the field, Liverpool were riven by splits in boardroom, the dug-out and the stands; on it, they were finishing seventh in the Premier League table - Aston Villa were sixth - and crashing out of the Champions League in the group stage courtesy of defeats to Lyon and Fiorentina.

Into this unseemly mess strode Broughton. His appointment was facilitated by a mutual friend - the ex-owners’ financial advisor Michael Klein - after a £100million bid for 40 per cent of the club by former Hicks’ associate John Muse was recommended and then rejected, with Gillett and Hicks refusing to cede control.

“The bank was furious so Michael told the owners to appoint a chairman with the ability to sell. They did not like the advice but felt it was better than the bank doing it. It was a Sliding Doors moment for me because, by chance, I'd met Michael a day earlier.”

Broughton swiftly realised the sale process was complicated by a myriad of political wrangles.

“I was taken by surprise by how holistically dysfunctional it was,” he says. “I knew of the problems between the owners, and the problem between the owners and the fans, and the owners and the manager, Rafa Benitez. I was not aware there were three groups - the owners, the board members and the manager. It was an unbelievable scene of people in warfare, pushing their agenda against each other.

“The owners had lost credibility - credibility with potential investors, with the banks and, of course, the fans. That is why so many walked away from the process, or chose not to get involved at all. There was scepticism as to whether I could deliver - whether Hicks and Gillett would approve anything. We only ever received two formal bids. That tells you the club was sold for its market price.”