The Quiet Man at Anfield
Throughout the crisis that has engulfed Liverpool since late October, there has been one man who has stood out and hasn’t said a thing, hasn’t done his best to look out for the best interests of our club. That man is Rick Parry.
The Chief Executive was kept on by the Americans presumably to be an experienced Liverpool head amongst the new kids on the block, to guide them through their first year or so of English football. Now it seems that Parry has abandoned the Liverpool Way himself and joined the band of American mercenaries, hell bent on destroying everything that this football club holds dear.
As CEO Parry has a huge say in what goes on in the running of the football club. He is also highly experienced in football, having been at Liverpool since 1998 and also being the first CEO of the Premier League. So to say that ‘he doesn’t have a say’ is a ludicrous claim to make. He is at Liverpool for the same reason that Roman Abramovich brought Peter Kenyon to Chelsea, because the owners don’t have a clue, and he is extremely experienced.
The defining moment in this conflict has obviously been the approach to Jurgen Klinsmann. The fact that Klinsmann was approached is one thing, but that Hicks went and told the media? Totally incomprehensible. There was and is nothing to gain by saying this to the media, and if anything what it did do is drop our respect for the Americans straight down through the floor.
My complaint about this moment is ‘What did Parry do?’ Bugger all. He should have come out to the fans, explaining properly why the Americans did what they did, explaining what the Americans are trying to do with the football club. He has let Liverpool and indeed the Kop down. Also, why didn’t he advise Hicks and Gillett about the Media, and what they do with any statement? It seems now that he is just looking for a bigger pay-cheque off the Americans and is abandoning the views of the football club.
Also to say that Parry didn’t know of the Jurgen affair is again naive. The owners and the CEO obviously discuss the manager when they do talk, so to say that Gillett and Hicks just forgot to mention they had asked Klinsmann if he wanted the job is just plain stupidity.
The other main turning point of the conflict has been finances, ie restructuring the finances onto the club rather than the individuals. Now Parry should have spotted this happening and nipped it in the bud, saying ‘Whoa, not on my watch’ and suggested keeping the debt on themselves until Liverpool is fully established as one of the best in England, which it clearly isn’t. So at this time, to secure the finances against the future earnings of a football club whose league position isn’t safe is a very risky thing to do. Why not secure it against one of the established NHL franchises that they own, which seems to be the avenue that Gillett is looking into. The interest payments alone could wipe the club out in less than 3 seasons if we finish outside the top 4 – which this season looks increasingly likely.
The thing with the Americans though is the fact that now we can see that they truly are mercenaries with little respect for the footballing institution of Liverpool Football Club. And while the bulk of the blame lies squarely on the Americans shoulders, I want to know more of Rick Parry’s part in this whole farce.
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Discussion - 11 Responses
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you’ve got some good points but overall i disagree.
hicks only came out with that jurgen stuff to get back at rafa because rafa had been an idiot and made his arguments with the owners public, which he never should have done.
and how are they “destroying everything [you] hold dear”? i agree the debt stuff is out of order but other than that, what? give you £50mil to spend? tell you to make winning the league the priority then get annoyed when you fail?
most of liverpool’s problems at the moment can be traced back to one place: rafa. he might not deserve the sack, but a kick up the arse would do
The things which us, the fans, hold dear is loyalty to your manager, loyalty to the team, loyalty to the club and loyalty to the fans. Hicks has displayed none of the above, and Gillett has kept his mouth shut.
Another point is that I haven’t got a problem with Gillett. I genuinely think that he wants the best for the club, hence why he is putting his debt onto his Montreal NHL franchise, where he will definitely get the money back. Hicks on the other hand is your typical red blooded Texan money hound - a bit like JR from Dallas.
I’ve referred elsewhere to all this anger from Liverpool fans as ‘referred anger’. What they are really upset about is the performance on the pitch and (yet again) being out of the PL race by January.
Let’s look at Hicks and Gillett to date. They fronted up with 50m for Rafa to spend and expedited the plans for a new 60,000 seater state of the art stadium (crucial to the advancement of the club). They said all the right things in terms of ambition for the club and have largely stayed in the US letting Parry and the footbal people at LFC get on with the job.
I agree the revelation of the Klinsmann approach was foolish and served no purpose. The only reason would be if Hicks was aware that some other source (e.g. within the Klinsmann camp) was going to reveal this and he thought it better that he make the first statement. Regardless of the whys and wherefores, the whole affair was well and truly put to bed by the time it came out. Hicks and Gillett had met Rafa in December and confirmed their support. As a PR exercise and one of showing unity this was well handled.
Most of all, let’s not forget that this whole affair first became public by Rafa choosing to leak his disapproval at transfer funding to the press. This was a mistake and what grounds had he anyway, only 3 to 4 months after spending the best part of 50m? He declared himself happy at the start of the season and only when results started to falter AND he was under pressure in the media and from the fans on his rotation policy did he decide it was time to deflect some of the heat.
As regards the refinancing, look at Man U as a model. Neither smart businessmen nor (particularly) large financial institutions provide finance for something which lacks a robust business plan. They wouldn’t get the loan if there was any significcant risk of things collapsing in 3 years or the plan was dependent on instant success on the pitch. Fans get carried away with this (none more so than the Man U fans with the Glazier take-over) while most understand nothing about the complexity of business financing.
Rafa has underperformed in the transfer market and deserves scrutiny regarding his rotation policy and tactics (substitutions in particular). He doesn’t even begin to be blameless in all of this. He started it AND is failing to deliver on the football side.
Beware of blind loyalty. This was granted to Houllier and held the club back by 2 to 3 years.
Swallow your disappointment at not competing for the PL this year, it was unrealistic to expect it so soon. It will take 2 or 3 more years if money is spent wisely, the club is well managed and some luck will be required.
Vilifying the American owners is not justified based on their record to date. Treating Rafa as untouchable is equally dangerous.
There are only two realistic outcomes to this saga. The first is that the American’s sell, but they have declared that they will not do this and nobody can force them out. The second, and one which could be avoided if all parties draw a line under what are minor issues and get on with focusing on football, is the departure of Rafa. Liverpool fans are painting the Americans into a corner and, if they don’t sell, the only way for them to move on will be to sack Rafa, take the flack and bring in their own man.
Continued investment and a new manager who brings more success on the pitch and within a few months the Liverpool fans will have moved on.
Alternatively, give Rafa more time, which he deserves, and get the whole club focused on football and pulling together. All Liverpool fans would salute this but it is THEY who are going to force the issue with Rafa. Drop it and he might have a chance.
The case against the Americans would be thrown out of court while the prosecutor could be justified in keeping a close eye on Rafa. Unless he picks up his game, charges may be laid in the near future, and justifiably so.
Gillet and Hicks have fucked up the club, the only good thing they have done was bring in Fernando Torres and somewhat even Ryan Babel but they are complete villains.
Boo!, also, I loved the banners at the Villa match!
The last post makes an interesting point. They have backed Benitez in his signing of Torres and Babel. They are great players and should have been the missing pieces of the jigsaw as far as Liverpool were concerned.
It is not the fault of the owners that Benitez doesn’t play his expensive signings. It is not their fault that Liverpool have struggled in Europe and in the league this season. For the investment they have made, I think they have every right to demand more from the manager.
The fact is that if Liverpool were in contention for the Premiership, the fans would be happy. The fact they are not must be blamed on Benitez and the players.
The owners are far from being spotless, but they cannot be blamed for failings on the pitch.
Well said Graham. As an American and Manchester United fan, I am often appalled at the amount of flak the Glazers get from the fans. While I don’t agree with the automatic ticket scheme the Glazers implemented they have done many good things for Man U and made funds available to Fergie. I bring this up because Gillett and Hicks made the funds available to Rafa this past summer and they got two new class players (Torres and Babel). Without Torres Liverpool might be at mid table. Still Liverpool just seems to need to shore up the back and they would be fine. They have only lost 2 games out of 22 which is not terrible. I think everyone needs to calm down a bit.
I believe they are related though Shaun. If Liverpool had won half of the games they had drawn this year they would be on the heels of United and Arsenal and I believe that everyone would be fine with Gillett and Hicks. I see your point about treating the club strictly like a business. I think we all would like to see our favorite club’s owners in it for the long haul and not a quick buck. cheers mate.
Shaun, Let me take this quote from you: “He can (Hicks) however be blamed for treating the club too much like a business.”
Man U are a case study in excellence on how to successfully run a football club from a business perspective. Going back to the early nineties, investment in youth facilities, commercial expansion into global markets, stadium expansion, TV and media enterprises and ongoing reinvestment in the team, Utd as a club has left all in England and most in the world in its wake, while starting with an even playing field as regards wealth.
Now consider the success on the pitch in that period?
It’s not just related, as Louis says, its DIRECTLY and FUNDAMENTALLY related. Whether the owners are in love with the team or don’t have any history with them shouldn’t matter. The only model for financial success is success on the pitch and the only model for success on the pitch is financial success.
For years Liverpool had owners who were die hard fans and what good did that do them? Unless someone (like the Russian) has a bottomless pit of money the club has to be successful as a business to compete.
Hicks and Gillett know this, there would be no logic whatsoever for them to have invested if they didn’t. In the short months they’ve been in charge they’ve delivered what they promised and are promoting the right model for success.
They are being used as scapegoats by fans who for some reason won’t point their finger where they should: at the players and ,particularly, at the manager.
Now obviously people will think it naive that our fans are so loyal, but we understand what Rafa is doing, and after the initial fickleness after a game - ie he needs to go now, hes a dopey Spanish bastard etc - we realise we should give him a chance to finish what he has started to build. We did it with Houllier and unfortunately it didn’t work, but he came so close to making it work. Just 1 or 2 key team decisions let him down, otherwise he might still be in the job, and us be Champions.
David Moores has a part in this though. Think about it, bottomless pit of money to invest in Liverpool or Yanks taking out loans? Not rocket science which one you take really.
Its a valid point that no blame would be on the Americans should we have been winning and top etc but who would be to blame for anything then? Would Hicks still have offered Jurgen Klinsmann the job and went public? Would Rafa be arsed about his leaky defence which he should have really dealt with in the summer?