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Anfield anarchy
After a triumphant week on the field, the hierarchy at Liverpool are at each other’s throats off it
Jonathan Northcroft
Black-humoured hacks refer to it as a “cracked badge week”. That’s when a football club is deemed to be so deep in crisis that your editor prints a picture of the club’s insignia with a fracture line down the middle. It normally takes a calamitous defeat; Liverpool may be the first club to undergo a cracked badge week after winning through to the last four of the Champions League.
The Kop, which played such a large part in Tuesday’s thrilling quarter-final victory, were allowed 36 hours to savour the conquest of Arsenal before the politics that have been hurting morale throughout the season kicked again with a vengeance. On Thursday news broke that Tom Hicks, Liverpool’s co-owner, had asked Rick Parry, its chief executive, to resign. The request was sent in a letter that quickly appeared on a 24-hour television news channel.
Parry was soon appearing before the cameras to condemn Hicks for public washing of “dirty linen”. David Moores, who sold the club to Hicks and his partner, George Gillett, echoed Parry’s comments in yesterday’s Liverpool Echo. He called Hicks’s action “embarrassing” and “distasteful” and said it was “totally unacceptable to see this being played out in the public arena”. Hicks is adamant that the letter was supposed to remain private. If he didn’t leak it, who did, he wonders.
Hicks has given no interviews since the fallout caused when he disclosed in January that he and Gillett talked to Jurgen Klinsmann about replacing Rafael Benitez as manager, but feels he has no option but to break his silence. On the dirty linen issue he said: “I didn’t hear Rick Parry say it was offensive when George gave his radio interview [in Canada], telling the world our relationship had become unbearable. When the Klinsmann story broke, I didn’t hear Rick Parry or George Gillett say they were the ones who set up the Klinsmann meeting, that George had known him from Vail [the US ski resort] and that Rick, George and Foster [Gillett’s son] had participated with Tom Jr [Hicks’s son] and me in the meeting. Rick allowed all the controversy to build without taking any responsibility.”
Parry reacted indignantly, explaining his presence at the Klinsmann rendezvous had been ordered by Hicks and Gillett. “I stand by my track record in England football and as chief executive of Liverpool. It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on these allegations – that should be a matter for the Liverpool board. I would welcome an opportunity to discuss these matters with our co-owners and board colleagues,” Parry said. “This continuous airing of issues in the media is not helpful at this crucial stage of the season.”
Benitez has long known the approach to Klinsmann was instigated by Gillett, which prompted a warming in his relations with Hicks after they had fallen out over transfer policy. But the revelation that it was assisted by Parry – the man who appointed Benitez and to whom he answers on a day-to-day basis – will trouble the Spaniard. It may also prompt fans, who have blamed Hicks for the Klinsmann debacle, to re-evaluate.
Hicks did not go public before, hoping the matter would be put to rest in the interests of club stability, but under attack he believes he has to explain the Klinsmann rendezvous. Parry flew to New York for the meeting and played a part when Klinsmann and the owners talked about managing Liverpool. “George and Rick were both disingenuous letting me take the heat on the Klinsmann controversy just because I answered a reporter’s question truthfully when asked,” Hicks said.
Parry’s relationship with Benitez is one reason Hicks is seeking his exit. Others centre on Liverpool’s performance as a business and Parry’s relations with fans. Liverpool are Europe’s eighth-richest club, according to the latest Deloitte money league, and Hicks believes they could be doing better. Since 2006, when their position was the same, revenues have risen by £11.6m per season, whereas Manchester United’s jumped by £45.7m. Last May fans staged a protest outside Anfield, demanding Parry’s head, blaming him for the fact that thousands of season ticket-holders were missing out on tickets to the Champions League final in Athens, although Liverpool had been given only 17,000 tickets by Uefa.
Hicks, however, feels the matter could have been handled better. On Parry’s wider performance he said: “Rick has been chief executive officer of Liverpool Football Club for 10 years. During that time our commercial revenues have not kept up with other top clubs, which has made it difficult to compete for the Premier League. We have not won a league championship under his leadership. His seemingly arrogant attitude to our supporters and his lack of communication with Rafa [meant] it was time to ask him to resign. I reached my decision a few weeks ago, but waited until after the games against Everton and Arsenal.”
Hicks did not want to wait until the end of the season before seeking changes, because he feels it is important to have a new chief executive in place to enable Benitez to make signings when the transfer window opens on June 1. This could be possible because the man it is thought he wants, Ian Ayre, whom he appointed commercial director last year, is already there. Hicks said: “Under Parry, LFC never had a commercial department, which is why our revenues have fallen so far behind, which in turn hurts our ability to compete. Parry has had little to do with Ian or the team he has put together. In spite of this, Ian has put together a great team, reestablished relationships with sponsors and supporters and positioned the club to take advantage of its success on the pitch.”
Koppites are concerned about the boardroom skirmishing affecting their team’s chances in a Champions League semi-final with Chelsea, the first leg of which is nine days away. “I have confidence in Rafa to keep the players focused on the important games in front of us,” said Hicks. “He is having a great spring despite the media controversies, and I am confident we will celebrate in Moscow next month. I can understand the fans’ concerns, but as I said, we have had controversies stirred up by different groups for three months. I think the supporters will quickly move back on to the players when we play Blackburn. In addition, of course, I realise Tuesday being Hillsborough Memorial Day is a very emotional day in Liverpool history and should have its own special reverence from everyone at the club.”
Hicks acknowledged that he can only force Parry out with Gillett’s backing. That is unlikely to be secured because of the duo’s poisoned relations. “I will request George’s approval to terminate Rick’s contract. If he chooses not to, the record will be clear,” Hicks said. He confirmed that he will continue to block Gillett’s attempts to sell his shares to Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum’s Dubai International Capital (DIC) and denied that a “first refusal” agreement between the Americans that enables him to do so expires in six weeks.
Dismissing suggestions that his business empire is in trouble as “DIC spin”, Hicks said he still expected to use the first refusal agreement to buy Gillett’s shares himself and had a final message to fans – that him becoming sole owner was the best chance of keeping Benitez at the club. “I would give Rafa an extension,” he said. “George will either sell [to Hicks] or be forced to retain Rafa under our agreements for two more years. I want Rafa in charge. As a result, he will have a contract going forward.
“It’s time for Liverpool to have one strong owner that can give Rafa the support he needs to win trophies, oversee an outstanding management team to grow our commercial revenues and build the best football stadium in the world. I truly believe I can be that owner and under my ownership Ian Ayre, Philip Nash [Liverpool’s financial director] and Rafa would make an outstanding management team.
“I have substantial assets and if I were majority owner I would invest additional cash. I have a 25-year track record as a successful investor and owner and I plan to arrange the permanent stadium financing and eliminate all debt on the team other than normal working capital and player lines of credit, and raise significant new equity from institutions and minority investors. Merrill Lynch and Inner Circle Sports are assisting me in this process.
“As we prepare to move into our new stadium in 2011, we will have the resources to restore Liverpool to its position as the No 1 club in the world.”
After a triumphant week on the field, the hierarchy at Liverpool are at each other’s throats off it
Jonathan Northcroft
Black-humoured hacks refer to it as a “cracked badge week”. That’s when a football club is deemed to be so deep in crisis that your editor prints a picture of the club’s insignia with a fracture line down the middle. It normally takes a calamitous defeat; Liverpool may be the first club to undergo a cracked badge week after winning through to the last four of the Champions League.
The Kop, which played such a large part in Tuesday’s thrilling quarter-final victory, were allowed 36 hours to savour the conquest of Arsenal before the politics that have been hurting morale throughout the season kicked again with a vengeance. On Thursday news broke that Tom Hicks, Liverpool’s co-owner, had asked Rick Parry, its chief executive, to resign. The request was sent in a letter that quickly appeared on a 24-hour television news channel.
Parry was soon appearing before the cameras to condemn Hicks for public washing of “dirty linen”. David Moores, who sold the club to Hicks and his partner, George Gillett, echoed Parry’s comments in yesterday’s Liverpool Echo. He called Hicks’s action “embarrassing” and “distasteful” and said it was “totally unacceptable to see this being played out in the public arena”. Hicks is adamant that the letter was supposed to remain private. If he didn’t leak it, who did, he wonders.
Hicks has given no interviews since the fallout caused when he disclosed in January that he and Gillett talked to Jurgen Klinsmann about replacing Rafael Benitez as manager, but feels he has no option but to break his silence. On the dirty linen issue he said: “I didn’t hear Rick Parry say it was offensive when George gave his radio interview [in Canada], telling the world our relationship had become unbearable. When the Klinsmann story broke, I didn’t hear Rick Parry or George Gillett say they were the ones who set up the Klinsmann meeting, that George had known him from Vail [the US ski resort] and that Rick, George and Foster [Gillett’s son] had participated with Tom Jr [Hicks’s son] and me in the meeting. Rick allowed all the controversy to build without taking any responsibility.”
Parry reacted indignantly, explaining his presence at the Klinsmann rendezvous had been ordered by Hicks and Gillett. “I stand by my track record in England football and as chief executive of Liverpool. It would not be appropriate to comment in detail on these allegations – that should be a matter for the Liverpool board. I would welcome an opportunity to discuss these matters with our co-owners and board colleagues,” Parry said. “This continuous airing of issues in the media is not helpful at this crucial stage of the season.”
Benitez has long known the approach to Klinsmann was instigated by Gillett, which prompted a warming in his relations with Hicks after they had fallen out over transfer policy. But the revelation that it was assisted by Parry – the man who appointed Benitez and to whom he answers on a day-to-day basis – will trouble the Spaniard. It may also prompt fans, who have blamed Hicks for the Klinsmann debacle, to re-evaluate.
Hicks did not go public before, hoping the matter would be put to rest in the interests of club stability, but under attack he believes he has to explain the Klinsmann rendezvous. Parry flew to New York for the meeting and played a part when Klinsmann and the owners talked about managing Liverpool. “George and Rick were both disingenuous letting me take the heat on the Klinsmann controversy just because I answered a reporter’s question truthfully when asked,” Hicks said.
Parry’s relationship with Benitez is one reason Hicks is seeking his exit. Others centre on Liverpool’s performance as a business and Parry’s relations with fans. Liverpool are Europe’s eighth-richest club, according to the latest Deloitte money league, and Hicks believes they could be doing better. Since 2006, when their position was the same, revenues have risen by £11.6m per season, whereas Manchester United’s jumped by £45.7m. Last May fans staged a protest outside Anfield, demanding Parry’s head, blaming him for the fact that thousands of season ticket-holders were missing out on tickets to the Champions League final in Athens, although Liverpool had been given only 17,000 tickets by Uefa.
Hicks, however, feels the matter could have been handled better. On Parry’s wider performance he said: “Rick has been chief executive officer of Liverpool Football Club for 10 years. During that time our commercial revenues have not kept up with other top clubs, which has made it difficult to compete for the Premier League. We have not won a league championship under his leadership. His seemingly arrogant attitude to our supporters and his lack of communication with Rafa [meant] it was time to ask him to resign. I reached my decision a few weeks ago, but waited until after the games against Everton and Arsenal.”
Hicks did not want to wait until the end of the season before seeking changes, because he feels it is important to have a new chief executive in place to enable Benitez to make signings when the transfer window opens on June 1. This could be possible because the man it is thought he wants, Ian Ayre, whom he appointed commercial director last year, is already there. Hicks said: “Under Parry, LFC never had a commercial department, which is why our revenues have fallen so far behind, which in turn hurts our ability to compete. Parry has had little to do with Ian or the team he has put together. In spite of this, Ian has put together a great team, reestablished relationships with sponsors and supporters and positioned the club to take advantage of its success on the pitch.”
Koppites are concerned about the boardroom skirmishing affecting their team’s chances in a Champions League semi-final with Chelsea, the first leg of which is nine days away. “I have confidence in Rafa to keep the players focused on the important games in front of us,” said Hicks. “He is having a great spring despite the media controversies, and I am confident we will celebrate in Moscow next month. I can understand the fans’ concerns, but as I said, we have had controversies stirred up by different groups for three months. I think the supporters will quickly move back on to the players when we play Blackburn. In addition, of course, I realise Tuesday being Hillsborough Memorial Day is a very emotional day in Liverpool history and should have its own special reverence from everyone at the club.”
Hicks acknowledged that he can only force Parry out with Gillett’s backing. That is unlikely to be secured because of the duo’s poisoned relations. “I will request George’s approval to terminate Rick’s contract. If he chooses not to, the record will be clear,” Hicks said. He confirmed that he will continue to block Gillett’s attempts to sell his shares to Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum’s Dubai International Capital (DIC) and denied that a “first refusal” agreement between the Americans that enables him to do so expires in six weeks.
Dismissing suggestions that his business empire is in trouble as “DIC spin”, Hicks said he still expected to use the first refusal agreement to buy Gillett’s shares himself and had a final message to fans – that him becoming sole owner was the best chance of keeping Benitez at the club. “I would give Rafa an extension,” he said. “George will either sell [to Hicks] or be forced to retain Rafa under our agreements for two more years. I want Rafa in charge. As a result, he will have a contract going forward.
“It’s time for Liverpool to have one strong owner that can give Rafa the support he needs to win trophies, oversee an outstanding management team to grow our commercial revenues and build the best football stadium in the world. I truly believe I can be that owner and under my ownership Ian Ayre, Philip Nash [Liverpool’s financial director] and Rafa would make an outstanding management team.
“I have substantial assets and if I were majority owner I would invest additional cash. I have a 25-year track record as a successful investor and owner and I plan to arrange the permanent stadium financing and eliminate all debt on the team other than normal working capital and player lines of credit, and raise significant new equity from institutions and minority investors. Merrill Lynch and Inner Circle Sports are assisting me in this process.
“As we prepare to move into our new stadium in 2011, we will have the resources to restore Liverpool to its position as the No 1 club in the world.”