For all of us, it’s the clear the top of the club is fractured and seemingly beyond repair. On that basis it’s time to jump into the frying pan – ie cautiously welcoming an alternative ownership – by leaving the fire – and that should be done as vocally and as quickly as possible……….

I can’t believe that less than a week ago we’d actually beaten Arsenal in that game of immense importance. The current Board’s a joke!

Maybe I’m miles off the mark but I think the source of the intelligence against Rafa might have been Parry.

I’m thinking this because events of the last few days have made me quite suspicious of Parry’s role in all this.

I work in marketing and Intellectual property throughout Asia Pacific and have done for the past 2 years. My company is one of the largest in its field in Asia and as such works on behalf of 3 of the big 4 Premier league teams (guess which one we dont work for!).

Ian Ayre was brought in to the club to try and boost the commercial activity of the club to increase revenues. This hasn’t happened so far, other than changing kit producer to Adidas. Why??? Is it because Parry is interfering too much or as the article says regarding other matters, he is not doing his job properly??? Parry has been with us a long time and can be credited with saving Captain Fantastic from joining the Chavs, but other than that what else has he successfully done for the club?

In the words of a friend and Marketing Director of one of the big 3 “If Liverpool got their act together off the field, commercially and financially, then we would be worried! But as it is, they can’t even manage a piss up in a brewery!”

To date, I am as is my boss, still trying to get Liverpool FC signed up! We could so much for them in the Asia market!

In answer to your question about “if i woke up and it was over and Hicks had taken over completely, would i be prepared to hear Hicks out and listen to his plan…

Good question. The simple, quick answer is no. However it is a good question as in all honestly would still be keen to see what he claims is going to happen. But fundamentally, no matter what he said I wouldn’t be able to believe it. How could I after all the lies and contradictions thus far that we know as fact are his doing?

For me the trust is gone and the faith shattered. It would take some very serious rectificatory actions on his part to convince me otherwise, actually, probably not even then. Honestly, I don’t believe that he has the correctly placed motivation or the financial capabilities to pull off such a series of moves. Like I say, he has to go on principle. This shouldn’t be overlooked either – I genuinely believe the thing that makes this club special is our integrity and how our actions encapsulate this word perfectly. Think about this for a moment…….. When you compare ourselves to other clubs there is something about the people of Liverpool and the manor and traditions in which we operate which is…well, special. I don’t see how now, after all that has transpired, we can even entertain the prospect of welcoming Hicks back into the club, EVEN IF he does manage to pull off the audacious (or ludicrous) claims that he has made today, it would be to turn our back on the very essence and heart and soul that makes us great and differentiates ourselves from the rest.

I’d also like you to explain, if you can, the following response by yourself to my comment, as maybe i’ve missed something obvious or I do not understand…

“They tried to sack Rafa and line up a replacement.” Jim: This seems to have stemmed from some intelligence received against Rafa by the owners. I say seems to, it’s interesting that this intelligence wasn’t given as a reason in the admission. I’d like to know more about that and if it was genuine intelligence they both still trust today, or if they’ve since realised the source might have had other reasons for speaking as it did.

What is this intelligence you speak of? Where have you heard this from? The admission they gave was obviously the Real Madrid rubbish but what was this intelligence you think you understand, if you can explain this at all? and perhaps more pertinently who was the source. It feels like this is another thing you have heard on the never never, but like i say, maybe ive forgotten something obvious.

Anyway, appreciate the comments again. Don’t feel too disheartened by people who take severe exception to your comments – better that than take what you say on face value remember?!!! lol.

p.s thanks John S for your advice. and if you could let me know the secret to retiring early as you have done I would appreciate that too! lol.

My view:

Rafa really really wants to stay but if you’re being undermined at every turn, told you’re out of a job, then in a job…..for now, told to communicate (by email), but not communicate with the outside world (in any way) and have a CEO, who you clearly don’t respect, be in control of transfer deals he’s consistently dithered on….I think your pushed every closer to going. Add to that having your confidences breached by one of the owners in a letter released publicly is embarassing, at the very least, and grounds for constructive dismissal for sure. So will he stay? I’m sitting on the fence. I suspect he’s in 2 minds – though leaning towards wanting to stay…..but nagging him is what he said after the Newcastle game – when everything game to light ‘Do these Americans understand football in Europe?’ ie transfer dealings, the price etc..

On the 2nd point. Parry’s not interested in Hicks. He didn’t know him before the deal was struck and doesn’t know him well now – and what he does know he doesn’t like. All was clearly stated in Moores interview of yesterday. (So Moores doesn’t like him either).

Also, Parry is not Hicks’ kinda man. Some of these reasons he listed in his publicly released letter but largely, I think, it’s because Parry is not his yes man. Remember, rightly or wrongly, Parry had a CEO role at the Premier League before joining Liverpool – so he’s an operator and know’s the structures of the game inside out. The issue for Liverpool fans, as far as I’m concerned, is who do they trust out of the two? My monies on Parry, for now, although from what Rafa was intimating today, Rafa may have other ideas……….

The perfect solution is for Hicks to leave (I’m still in no doubt that Hicks wants sole ownership to sell on to DIC to closer to his esimate. Nothing to do with being a ‘custodian’ of the club) and then for Parry to quickly follow.

The problem is of course that Hicks really really doesn’t want to let go. I think, as Jim himself as indicated before in previous articles, the bully doesn’t like being bullied! Let’s hope our Spanish Matador stays inspite of the nonsense at the top.

Thing one: whether or not this latest bit of sand between the buttocks (Klinsmann as an ongoing advisor to Hicks) is true or a fabrication by someone out to further undermine Hicks, my biggest concern is that it may push Rafa closer to his breaking point. He will feel humiliated or manipulated (or both) by his name and reputation being used as fuel for the fire. If he does stay after all this is over, it is surely proof of how much he loves this club.

Thing two: in thinking over the various convolutions this week with the public disclosure of the letter to Parry; Parry’s reply; Moores’s interview; Hicks’s interview; and Hop’s posting the other day about possible management scenarios under each of the leading candidates to own the club…IF Parry is playing a more active part in undermining Hicks than he is acknowledging, there’s nothing to say that the net result will secure his job, so what’s his motivation? DIC want 100% ownership, so under their aegis Moores would have probably less authority to protect Parry than he does now. If what Hicks says is true about Parry’s management abilities, any new owner or consortium would call into question his right to the position. If nothing else (and again assuming Parry is an active player in this week’s mud slinging) wouldn’t Parry try to placate Hicks instead?

One point I want to make regarding this change of stance is that I’ve not written anything with any other thought on my mind than of writing based on how I feel.

I’ve seen some suggestions about me – on other sites moreso than on here – that have sickened me if I’m honest. It kicks the enthusiasm out of me.

And I think one site had me down as being the person who leaked texts about the infamous letter to Sky. I don’t know who did that, but I think whoever did do that needs to look at themselves in the mirror and see if they can actually look themselves in the eye. Forget about the rights and wrongs of it being leaked to a “supporters group”, if a fan actually picked the phone up and told Sky about this letter then they should be ashamed of themselves. I’m not saying it wouldn’t have got out in the end, but would it have had the same impact had it been kept out of the media a little longer?

Also I saw something about “liverpool friends” of Hicks Jnr being told weeks ago that Ian Ayre was lined up as replacement CEO, and the suggestion that “Liverpool friends” meant me. Whoever said that, first stop being so paranoid, and second don’t believe everything you read. The first I heard of Ian Ayre’s possible new role was in February.
Here – http://blogs.notw.co.uk/sport/2008/02/by-chris-bascom.html

Whether my views and opinions are right or wrong, they come from what I honestly believe to be the truth, or my own analysis of whatever facts I have in front of me. Someone who was constructive suggested I’d been overanalysing things. Perhaps they’re right.

I’ve not got an agenda. Other than a deep desire to see an end to this mess. In fact my own view is that anything is better than the continuation of this freak show. You know my gut feelings on George Gillett, but if someone said we could see an end to this circus tomorrow by George Gillett becoming senior partner in a Gillett-Moores-Morgan consortium I’d take it. And I never was keen on Morgan. I wouldn’t like it, but I really don’t want this to eat into the close season. My big nightmare is that we’re sitting here this time next season with still no change in the ownership structure. Rightly or wrongly, that to me feels worse than the idea of any one of the candidates winning their battle.

That just my view.

I’m not deliberately stretching one point over another, and am certainly not making anything up, just to fit in with any pre-conceived idea of what I want for the club. I don’t bloody know what I want for the club!

I’ve seen reports from some “LFC” journalists that do stretch one point over another to fit in with what they want for the club. They’ve made their minds up, and they emphasise what they feel helps their cause. I don’t fault them for that, at all. I don’t feel any of the “LFC” journos are writing what they write for personal gain. Some have had to fight editorial pressures to follow one line of thinking.

I also know that some journalists are following a particular line because they are enjoying the scoops it brings them. One in particular springs to mind, but to be honest I’ve no idea how he feels about LFC, he’s not one of the names I was familiar with before this mess began. In fact I don’t think any “LFC” writers are putting themselves before the club.

I think we’d all be better off if we accepted that there are a lot of different views, and as long as we don’t disagree with each other using abuse we should be able to discuss this.

But as a Non-Liverpool fan, who has just an interest in all this, I just don’t get why so many of you say this or that one is wrong. When to me you have only 2 people to blame for this mess.

Moores and Parry yet they come of the cleanest, i just don’t get if I was a Liverpool Fan its these 2 I would be the angriest with.

To me as an outsider it seems the sold out for there interests under the pretence of doing what was best for the club. Now they stand there saying we don’t like this, yet they made the mess.