Rafa Benitez
Liverpool owner Tom
Hicks insisted last night that Rafa Benitez will be his manager for
at least two more years.
The American issued a
rallying cry to the club's supporters by pleading with them to get
behind the regime, after the crisis of the last few weeks. He
pledged his "complete backing" to Benitez, adding there will now be
no sale of the Anfield club to Dubai investors DIC.
The Mirror can reveal that
Hicks has been in contact with the investment arm of the Dubai
Government over the past few days, but it is thought that talks
have now stalled completely.
Dic remain in the background,
but they have admitted their only hope of a takeover lies with a
split between Hicks and his American business partner George
Gillett.
There has been tension
between the pair, but Gillett signed a massive financial agreement
at the end of last week that ties him to Hicks.
"Sometimes we don't agree,
but that's what business partnerships are all about," said
Hicks.
"There was never a possibility we would split and George would
do a deal with Dubai.
"There's no question in my
mind of me selling Liverpool Football Club - I want to win the
support of the fans with my actions. I want people to watch my
actions, and not somebody else's words.
"I will not sell, absolutely
not. It was never a serious possibility and it certainly isn't
today."
Hicks is hoping to win back
support among the fans by offering his total commitment to
Benitez.
The Spanish coach has been
given nearly £75million to spend by the Americans so far, and the
Texan insisted that his contract - which has two years remaining -
will be honoured.
"I want Rafa to be in charge
of Liverpool for the discernable future, absolutely. He's got my
total backing, I have made that very clear," Hicks said.
"He has a contract for two
more years, and Rafa Benitez will be here as far as I'm concerned
for at least the length of his contract. Hopefully it will be
longer than that.
"The fans should know we are
building the best football stadium in the world and we have got a
great manager in Rafa, who has our full support.
"We have have never turned
down his requests for money on any player.
"We have given him funds
already in the transfer window, we are ready to endorse the signing
of Mascherano, and we are already talking about the summer."