Liverpool owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, otherwise
known as Tom and Jerry - a couple of cartoon-strip characters
making a laughing-stock of one of the finest footballing
institutions.
Or, rather, Tom and Jerry - a couple of cartoon-strip
characters making a laughing-stock of one of our finest footballing
institutions.
For years, Liverpool had a reputation for not washing
their dirty linen in public. Now it has become the norm. Not that
long ago, they had to admit they had orchestrated talks with Jurgen
Klinsmann about replacing manager Rafa Benitez.
Now Gillett has been struck down by another outbreak of
foot-in-mouth disease. The latest report is that Liverpool's
co-owner told a representative of the Spirit of Shankly supporters'
group: "If it's not getting better, it's not because of Gillett and
Hicks. It's the manager and the scouting."
He then claimed Benitez had been provided with more
than enough funds. So, once again, it is the manager carrying the
can - even though he has not got a minute's play out of Alberto
Aquilani, his £20million purchase from Roma.
Gillett is now apparently upset because he thought it
was a private conversation. That shows you how much a man who said
on his arrival at Anfield that he wanted to embrace everything
about Liverpool has actually learned. Just as there is no such
thing as a free dinner, so there is no such thing as a private
conversation in the small, footballing village on the banks of the
Mersey.
That was Gillett's first mistake. Then, again, he has
spent most of the little time he passes on Merseyside trying far
too hard to curry favour with the club's supporters.
Secondly, many of his other claims are highly
debatable. The most laughable was his assertion that Liverpool 'is
in an extraordinarily good financial position - far better than
Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal'. Now the Glazers may have
burdened United with huge debts but the club is still an enormous
money-making concern, with a vast global fan base and 75,000 at
every home game.
As for Arsenal, the best-run club in the business,
their debt revolves around a state-of-the-art, 60,000-capacity
stadium. In the last financial year, they generated profits of
£35million.
Liverpool, on the other hand, are nowhere near even
starting on a new ground, three years after Tom and Jerry arrived -
despite Hicks writing off £10m by scrapping existing plans so
architects from his native Texas 'could design a more spectacular
stadium'.
Under the stewardship of the embattled and embittered
Americans - like their cartoon equivalents, they cannot stand each
other - the debt has also spiralled to £250m.
Add the same amount for a new ground and the club are
staring at a minimum black hole of half a billion.
Almost as rib-tickling is Gillett's assertion that he
and Hicks have invested £128m in the club over the last 18 months
on top of the income from sales. Some would suggest this
'investment' is made up largely of wages and the financing of the
debt with which they lumbered the club when they bought it.
All Gillett, in fact, has managed to achieve is unite
Liverpool fans behind Benitez. Which, in its own way, could well
create further problems.
Benitez, of course, is far from blameless. His
side have already lost three league games this season, plus another
against Champions League group rivals Fiorentina.
There are at least three players who should be nowhere
near the team, while the current style of play - full-backs bombing
down the line - has come unstuck against better-class opposition,
as there is no one other than Fernando Torres to convert the balls
that do come into the box.
These tactics, plus the zonal marking system at the
back and the defensive frailty of new boy Glen Johnson (and
others), have piled further responsibility on Anfield warhorse
Jamie Carragher.
There has also been criticism of Benitez's employment
of Yossi Benayoun, a player whose instant impact as a sub against
Chelsea suggested he should have started.
Torres apart, Benitez has operated an easy-come,
easy-go attitude to strikers like Djibril Cisse, Milan Baros,
Fernando Morientes, Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy and Robbie
Keane.
Had he persevered with Bellamy, Liverpool, rather than
Manchester City, could have been benefiting from the form that
currently makes the Welshman the most dynamic forward in the
Premier League.
As to scouting fresh talent and new players coming
through the ranks, where are they? So the manager is not exactly
above suspicion.
