Anfield fiasco: Tom Hicks could sink Liverpool
By Henry Winter
Last Updated: 1:28am BST 11/04/2008
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Tom Hicks must never be allowed to board the ferry across the Mersey because he would only rock the boat. Just when Rick Parry attempts to keep the good ship Liverpool steady through another storm, Hicks lumbers on and threatens to capsize it. Madness.
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In the dispute that escalated yesterday between Parry and Hicks, let us play spot the difference: Parry has Liverpool's best interests at heart while Hicks has Hicks's best interests at heart. Parry is a lifelong fan. Hicks is a businessman. Parry works hard to keep the club united and focused on reaching the Champions League final. Hicks picks fights. Spot which one you would want running your club.
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The word on Merseyside is that Hicks demanded Parry's resignation as a tit-for-tat against George Gillett, the other co-owner who had ticked off Ian Ayre, the club's commercial director much admired by Hicks, before Tuesday's Champions League vanquishing of Arsenal.
Parry seems to have been caught up in the crossfire between two Americans. It does need stating that Parry is not football's top-ranked chief executive. He has certainly made mistakes. Liverpool have been slow to develop their commercial potential, although that pre-dates Parry's arrival at Anfield from the Premier League (four European Cups in seven years should have generated more funds).
Parry has not always enjoyed the best relationship with Rafael Benitez and has courted ridicule by wearing a Liverpool tracksuit emblazoned with his initials. A chief executive's place is in the board-room, not the dressing-room. But if he occasionally fails to see eye-to-eye with Benitez, who can be awkward and appears still to hold a candle for Real Madrid, then Parry is not completely at fault. Sporting replica kit is unwise for an executive, but such vanity does provide material proof of Parry's deep affection for Liverpool.
Those cyberspace mischief-makers who inserted the claim that Parry is known as "Coco" on his Wikipedia entry are being slightly cruel. The real clown wears a Stetson. It is difficult to see what Parry has done wrong in the period since the Americans rode into town. He pleaded for Hicks and Gillett to give peace a chance. He has sided with Gillett, but then most sane souls around Anfield would.
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Parry cares about people at Anfield. When Steven Gerrard's autobiography (ghosted by this writer) had to be run by Liverpool, Parry read the criticism of him and Benitez during the Chelsea contract saga but did not ask for one word to be changed. He respected the captain's right to make comments, however unflattering they were towards him and the manager. Parry's stance contrasted with officials at some other clubs, who demanded that books by some of their players be amended.
Parry is a fan of Gerrard, just as he is a fan of all those driving Liverpool in the right direction. Hicks is getting in the way, and yesterday's fuel-on-the-fire antics hardly help. If he wants to dismiss Parry, then he should do it in the closed-season.
The mess highlights one reality: the sooner all football appreciates the dangers inherent in foreign ownership the better. If football ever contains more people like Hicks than Parry, then the game really will be heading to Hell in a debt-laden hand-cart
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