Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish insists the club
will not go backwards despite their current ownership issues and
speculation about the futures of manager Rafael Benitez and star
players Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
Former chairman David Moores yesterday gave a full and frank
account of his reasons for selling to American owners Tom Hicks and
George Gillett in 2007.
After a tumultuous three-year reign the pair officially put the
club, whose parent company Kop Holdings have debts of £351million
with interest payments of £40million a year, up for sale last
month.
That has led to increased instability off the pitch with
constant conjecture about whether the manager and players will
remain at Anfield.
Torres did little to quell that speculation yesterday when he
side-stepped questions about his future, while Jose Mourinho, whose
appointment as Real Madrid boss appears imminent, has spoken of his
admiration for Gerrard.
However, Dalglish said the club was bigger than any
individual.
"Liverpool FC is much more important than any one individual -
it always has been and always will be," said the Reds former player
and manager, who now has an ambassadorial role with the club's
academy.
"It will move forwards and move upwards.
"It is not the greatest time in the club's history at this time
but I don't think they will start to go backwards."
Dalglish, voted Liverpool's greatest player, also said he had
some sympathy with Moores for reacting to the criticism aimed at
him for selling to the Americans.
"David has got his own opinions and wanted to get something off
his chest but everyone knows where David's heart lies," Dalglish
told Sky Sports News.
Two other Liverpool greats, Alan Kennedy and John Aldridge, have
joined the growing calls for Hicks and Gillett to engineer a swift
sale.
Kennedy, a two-time European Cup winner, said the current state
of uncertainty had affected the team this season, which saw
Liverpool finish seventh - their worst league placing for 11
years.
"We have to move on. We are stagnating and it has shown in the
performances of the players, who have been disappointing as well,"
said the 55-year-old.
Former striker Aldridge was more outspoken, criticising Hicks
and Gillett for loading huge debts on the club and dismissing the
former's claims that Liverpool were in a better position now than
they were three years ago.
"Any club that is losing £110,000 a day (on loan repayments) is
in big trouble - whether they are Liverpool or not," he said.
"We are in a massive mess. It is ridiculous to say we are in a
good situation - absolutely ludicrous."
Aldridge does take some comfort from the fact that the off-field
problems may result in increased stability in the dressing room
after speculation about Benitez.
"The manager's future looks more tenable at the moment," he
added.
"There is no stability at the club and to lose the manager as
well would put them in disarray.
"Would the two Americans really replace Rafael Benitez
considering they don't know an awful lot about football?"
The future of some players seems less secure and Mourinho did
his bit to encourage any seeds of doubt which were growing in the
mind of Gerrard.
"I like players in the final part of their careers," said the
Portuguese.
"I love to have some players who are 33 or 34 years old...they
are players that you buy and you won't recover this money, but if
they give you good performances for two or three years you've got
your money's worth.
"Both (Gerrard and Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard) are great
players who always give everything."
