Luton will have no choice but to sell their best players after Sunday's FA Cup clash with Liverpool, according to the club's administrator.The Hatters were docked 10 league points in November after going into administration but despite that adversity, and the fact manager Kevin Blackwell and his players have not been fully paid since October, the club are on a run of just one defeat in their last 12 league and cup games.

Liverpool ran out 5-3 winners in an epic clash when the two sides last met at the same stage of the competition two years ago but administrator Brendan Guilfoyle admits that players will have to be sold to keep the club afloat once the television cameras have left Kenilworth Road.

Chairman Bill Tomlins had agreed to fund the losses of the club out of his own pocket but that deal expired at the end of the year leaving Guilfoyle with no option but to sell the likes of Wales midfielder Dave Edwards, captain Chris Coyne and midfielders David Bell and Matthew Spring to the highest bidder.

Guilfoyle said: "I have seen one group of potential purchasers and invited them to fund the club for January and they have yet to answer and I am on the way to talk to another.

"But after the Liverpool game, if there is no funding, then I will have to get busy in the transfer market.

"We're keen to ensure that we get proper values for those players we decide to sell but it's an imperative now. I have to have funding and the arrangement I had with the chairman has now expired so it's up to the preferred bidders now.

"If they want to buy the club then they will have to fund the running of the club immediately otherwise we can't go forward.

"I can't take chances on the future of this club, I have to secure it and that is more important than the future of individual players.

"The club will be active in selling players in the transfer window but not to the extent that they became emaciated.

"But we will be fielding a team on Sunday which will provide tough opposition for Liverpool."

Guilfoyle had hoped that the Liverpool clash could raise up to £1million for the destitute club but admitted that the actual amount will be some way short of that.

A draw for Blackwell's side would earn a replay at Liverpool's Anfield home and Guilfoyle admitted that that would financially be the best option.

He said: "The administrator's choice would be a draw as the revenue from a trip to Anfield would be massive.

"The commercial department have done admirably and the money raised is comparable to the last time we played Liverpool a couple of years ago. It hasn't quite proved to be the bonanza I'd hoped for but that was possibly naive on my behalf."

More Football News from TEAMtalk