FANS' GROUPS JOIN PARRY IN HICKS BLAST
Liverpool fans' groups have criticised co-owner Tom Hicks' latest attack on the way the club is run as "destabilising" ahead of next week's Champions League semi-final.
The club has been plunged into civil war as the boardroom power battle rages on, with Hicks, his estranged partner George Gillett, chief executive Rick Parry and manager Rafael Benitez all involved.
Hicks demanded Parry's resignation in a letter last week, and went public in his condemnation of the chief executive's decade of control at the weekend.
On Thursday, Hicks launched another attack on Parry. He called Parry's reign "disastrous," and claims he will soon be able to buy out Gillett and have the money to fund the new stadium and finance Benitez's summer spending.
But fans' groups are angry at the timing of Hicks' latest attack, with Neil Atkinson - chairman of the Spirit of Shankly group set up to fight the Americans' ownership - insisting: "We have a European Cup semi-final coming up in a few days time and this is a terrible time to do what he has done.
"He thinks he can rattle out this sort of stuff and leave everyone to get on with it. Rather than be silent and stay in the background over the next four or five weeks.
"He had one big go in the week between the Arsenal semi-final and the Hillsborough memorial service.
"There were huge numbers of supporters grieving for loved ones. It was a time to be respectful and understand what this football club is all about.
"But Mr Hicks seems to have no respect for anyone. He didn't say anything on the day of the service, but straight afterwards he is up and running again.
"Tom Hicks has got no respect for football or this club. The man cannot be trusted at all. He said there would be no debt on the club, but that is not what has happened.
"The situation with Rick Parry is really an irrelevance. He is good for one thing only, and that is his vote at board meetings to keep Hicks at bay.
"Apart from that, it looks as if whoever ends up owning the club, be it Hicks or DIC, Rick Parry probably won't be in a job any more."
Les Lawson, spokesman for the Liverpool supporters' club, believes that nothing Hicks has said will change the view the fans have of him.
He said: "We've seen what Hicks has said and we still want him out. For all this to come out again as we are about to play Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final has angered the fans more."
Hicks, speaking on Sky Sports News, again criticised Parry and warned Gillett that the stalemate over the club's future will continue until he agrees to sell his stake.
"Look at what's happened under Rick's leadership. It has been a disaster," he said. "We have fallen so far behind the other leading clubs.
"We should have the stadium built three or four years ago. We have two or three major sponsors when we should have 12 or 15 and we are not doing anything in Asia.
"We have still got the top brand in the world of football but that's no good if you don't know how to commercialise it.
"Rick needs to resign from Liverpool FC. He has put his heart into it but it is time for a change."
Hicks admitted his relationship with Gillett is now "unworkable".
"We started this as friends but 50-50 is a difficult business proposition because you cannot do anything without your partner's approval.
"If George doesn't sell - because I am not going to sell - I guess we stay in this position that we are in.
"I am planning to make him a very attractive offer. If I had a majority on it (ownership of Liverpool) I could put more capital in.
"My goal is to take all the debt off the club except the working capital needed and get the permanent financing totally in place for the stadium."
Hicks insisted that Dubai International Capital - who have been trying to buy out both Americans - "do not have a seat at the table".
DIC believe Hicks is running into a financial brick wall in the knowledge there is "no appetite" in the City of London for his plans.
A source said: "DIC will not rest until they own Liverpool Football Club. However long it takes."
DIC also made it clear that Benitez's position - he has two years of his contract still to run - is safe if they do eventually take over, and that he will be given funds to spend in the transfer market.
Parry has the support of Gillett - who says he will not sell his stake to Hicks - and a majority in his favour among the six-man board.
Parry told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's for the board to ask me to resign - and they haven't.
"It is clear that this is a matter for the board. I'm accountable to the board and this is not something the board has discussed with me.
"There's a Liverpool way which I will stick to and clearly there's a different way.
"I think I have a responsibility, indeed a duty, at the moment to try to keep things on an even keel when there's a degree of turmoil off the pitch.
"I just want to do my best for the club. The club will survive, we've got a Champions League semi-final coming up, there are a lot of important things to be done at the club."
In a later interview with Sky Sports News, Parry branded Hicks' outburst a "side-show" and added: "There needs to be a resolution between the owners but in the mean time we're focusing on trying to run the club."
