John W Henry's cautious notice about what is likely to be a quiet January for Liverpool was to be expected. In contrast to his predecessors, Liverpool's owner intends to run his new acquisition along sustainable lines, which should not be too tricky as even their inflated wage bill is covered by matchday and commercial revenues.

Liverpool's view that January is a notoriously difficult time to purchase players is not born only of parsimony. But prudence means keeping costs in line with income and although Liverpool have access to short-term finance from Royal Bank of Scotland – first revealed here – there will not be vast sums coming in to the coffers in time for the transfer window.

In August Liverpool received £14m from the Premier League's central funds but that was before New England Sports Ventures' debt-clearing takeover, and cash was then committed to servicing interest. Like every top‑flight club they have, though, been receiving £1.5m a month from the league. In January there will be another injection of about £6m – plus the £1.5m monthly payment – but that £7.5m will hardly support a major transfer-market investment.

Instead it makes sense for Liverpool to consolidate that income with the near-£10m they are likely to receive in May for television appearances, while a top-10 Premier League finish brings in a minimum of almost £7m. Alongside that are the net transfer revenues raised this calendar year of about £15m. Even without selling another player, a summer fund of £40m looks realistic.

Broughton flies away

Martin Broughton will engage in his final act as Liverpool chairman as he takes his seat for their match against West Ham United at Anfield on Saturday. Last month Broughton's commitment to Liverpool caused him to miss his first board meeting in six years as the chairman of British Airways, when he was in court to press the case for a forced sale from Tom Hicks and George Gillett. But, having overseen the sale of the club to the owners of the Boston Red Sox, he will now step down. Broughton will inform the Premier League of his handover of the chairmanship to Tom Werner, the NESV-appointed executive director, at a meeting of clubs on Friday.

Agents of change

The European Football Agents Association wants the European Union to arbitrate in its complaints against Fifa's development of new regulations. Under those new rules Fifa devolves responsibility for regulating the activities of "intermediaries" – who will no longer require licences – to national FAs. But agents and several top-flight clubs fear an uneven playing field with different regimes in different countries. The EFAA believes the EU will help persuade Uefa, Fifa, the European Professional Football Leagues and Fifpro – the players' union – of the need for standard agents' regulations across the seven leading European football nations: England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Cup does not runneth over

The Football Association's bid to host the 2018 World Cup has not come without cost. If in 15 days England 2018 wins the right to host the tournament then it will all be irrelevant, but if not, at a time of tight budgets for the FA, it will be looked upon as money diverted away from grassroots football. The bid's chief executive, Andy Anson, and the chief of staff, Simon Greenberg, told the FA board last month that expenditure remains in line with England 2018's budgets but that hoped-for sponsorship income did not materialise. Fifa regards England as a safe haven for commercial revenues if the tournament is held here but, even with BT, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Npower and Jaguar on board, the financial crisis has affected the bid. Indeed, although the FA board agreed to make up any shortfall, it was vowing to "monitor expenditure very closely".