Topic: Rick Parry set to leave Liverpool Football Club

[redgriffin73]

Great start to the weekend!

One down, two to go...

[La Ligapool]

Liverpool now confirm this on .TV

[amir87]

Liverpool have just confirmed it

[Walking Through A Storm]

Goodbye you incompetent twat.

"You only sell the family silver once..."

[the jesus]

He may or may not have been a check on the yanks but as we are saddled with debt it would appear any influence he had was not great. Any usefulness in that area had long ceased in my oppinion .Both yanks would appear to be willing to go if there was a buyer out there and stories abound of Gillette being the one to pull out of an almost completed deal.

Reportedly an ally to Gillette who it would appear would of binned Rafa....who knows?

If Rafa thought he was making his job difficult then i am glad to see him go.

[Gigantic Lamb]

2 years late

[royhendo]

Will be interesting to read Shanklyboy's take on all this.

[LiamG]

Thank god for that!
Lets bring someone in now with the know how to get the best out of our club! Far too long we have lagged behind Man Utd,Chelsea in marketing etc.

Bayern munich guys maybe? lol

[Helsinki Red]

http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N163401090227-1010.htm

[Redzippy]

Anyone else think that Rafa indirectly asked for this as part of contract negotiations?

This may have already been mentioned (but i cant read through the whole of this thread cos am in work & keep getting clocked).
According to somebody in the know - earlier this week at melwood, Benitez took all his staff in for a meeeting & said if Parry isnt gone by the end of the week then he's walking ! - I think the final decision was probably hinged largley on the result on wednesday night - but it looks to me as though Rafa has indirectly asked for this as part of contract negotiations.

Good on him i say.... good riddance to that fucking clown faced twat !

[Dr Cornwallis]

Ding dong...   

 

[MagicB8all]

Garry Barry will be a Liverpool player in the summer then

probably not, we may have lost our chance as Villla are 4th

[Fat Scouser]

Confirmed Hicks waxing lyrical about what he done for the club. Parry confirms it himself aswell. Going on about how great the club, Rafa and fans are. Have to wait for The News Of The World to dish the dirt now then

[Lanrmort]

I hear he got his place in clown college.

If he has, it'll be in a professorial capacity.

[royhendo]

I'm sure he'll be writing his book sharpish to tell us all his side of the story

You'd expect a gagging order as part of the severance in this case, no?

[Kahuna{=}Berger]

confirmation on ssn there now. Its up on the club website apparently.

[CHOPPER]

As far as I know he fucked up transfers for Simao, Daniel Alves, Florent Malouda, Gareth Barry of course and a few more. If it weren't for his incompetentance, Simao and Dani Alves along with Barry would be playing for us now.

Also, a rumour that he scuppered a deal worth £28m for David Villa last summer by going behind Rafa's back and purchasing Robbie Keane.

So you were his secretary then ?

[Walter Sobchak]

Liverpool FC Chief Executive Rick Parry will leave Anfield at the end of the current season, the Club has confirmed today. 
Mr Parry, 54, will stay at Liverpool until the end of this campaign in order for a smooth transition to take place.
 
An accountant by profession, Mr Parry joined the Reds from The FA Premier League in 1997. His tenure reached a high point in 2005 when LFC secured their fifth European Cup trophy.
 
Liverpool Co-Chairman Tom Hicks said today: "Rick's commitment to Liverpool Football Club is epitomised by his desire to ensure that this transitional period is managed efficiently and we are grateful to him for his help. He will always remain a friend of the football club."
 
Fellow Co-Chairman George Gillett added: "I would like to thank Rick for his significant service to the Club and the assistance he has given us since we joined Liverpool. He has been integral to the club's success over the past decade and leaves with our best wishes for the future."
 
Rick Parry said; "I have had 12 very exciting years at Liverpool and am extremely proud of what has been achieved by the Club over that period. The victory in Madrid was a wonderful reminder of the many high points we have experienced and adds to the moments that make Liverpool and its magnificent fans so special.
 
"It has been a privilege to serve the Club and as a lifelong supporter I wish the owners, Rafa, the players and the wonderful staff all the very best for the future. I will be leaving at the end of the season knowing that the Club remains strong and with a set of supporters who deserve success in all that Liverpool does."
 
The Board will initiate a search for a new Chief Executive and will update supporters and other stakeholders when appropriate. 

[Dan86]

Utter revisionist bullshit. Personal attacks are the last thing we need.

Eh? Can't think of much else worthwhile he did. Not sure of his responsibilities but looking at some of the main things he oversaw, how did he get on here?

Signing players for the right money in a short space of time
Finding suitable investors for the club
Being the link between the manager & owners

That's right, fucked them all up. 

[mulfella]

"Other Stakeholders"

[Zaffarious]

bRILLIANT NEWS TO WAKE UP TO!

I think this looks like the beggining of the end for at least 1 american owner. Hopefully that rbings in some new owners who will dilute Hicks share in the club.

One thing about brian beswick, is he any good? didnt he appoint sven ? or did he appoint capello? Any evidence of him being good at transfer dealings? does he have the blessing of rafa?

[4-2-3-1]

You'd expect a gagging order as part of the severance in this case, no?

Without question, but no doubt he will slip a few lines to Bascombe. He might be 'clueless' as a ceo for a major club but he knows we are getting fucked over by the yanks good style.

[scousertommy33]

What a boss start to the weekend!  See you later Prick.

[gazzalfc]

Confirmed Hicks waxing lyrical about what he done for the club. Parry confirms it himself aswell. Going on about how great the club, Rafa and fans are. Have to wait for The News Of The World to dish the dirt now then

Oh I'm sure Bascome is curled up into a ball in the corner crying his eyes out after losing his bessie mate

[Ron]

As far as I know he fucked up transfers for Simao, Daniel Alves, Florent Malouda, Gareth Barry of course and a few more. If it weren't for his incompetentance, Simao and Dani Alves along with Barry would be playing for us now.

Also, a rumour that he scuppered a deal worth £28m for David Villa last summer by going behind Rafa's back and purchasing Robbie Keane.

Rumours...

We all pretend to know so fucking much about what's going on inside the club, but we really know FUCK ALL !
Whenever something good happens, Benítez gets credit for it, whenever something goes wrong, we all blame that stupid Rick Parry. And all the time we know fuck all. Some people at one time when Robbie Keane wasn't scoring as many goals as was expected, suggested that the evil Perry had bought him to piss Benítez off. How stupid are some people ?

I know Rick Parry has made his fair share of mistakes but it can't be easy changing from a football club into a multi million dollar company in a relatively short period of time. And I am very sure he has always tried to do what's best for Liverpool FC. Sometimes he made mistakes, but he really loves this club. He's almost at all the matches and that's more than can be said about the new owners or some legendary players from the past.

[CHOPPER]

You'd expect a gagging order as part of the severance in this case, no?

Time based stuff like that, I would imagine 3-4 years and then the paperback release...'I am the root of all evil'

[LiamG]

It was bount to happen, Americans always wanted rid in my eyes they knew we wernt getting as much out this club as we can!

[Walter Sobchak]

The Board will initiate a search for a new Chief Executive and will update supporters and other stakeholders when appropriate. 

i find it very hard to believe that the club hasnt got someone lined up

however thinking about it the fact that he is staying on untill may might mean that they actually havent

[Red Lad]

Celebrate good times..

[edeyj]

All the stuff about who sides with who and now Hicks will have more power in the boardroom - who knows what goes on behind the scenes? Could be Gillette is meeting with Hicks now gleefully plotting which lapdog to appoint or...something else, who knows.

Regardless of whether he is a Red or not, Parry has been incompetent in most of his public dealings for the club. Otherwise we wouldn't be in the fucked up state we are in behind the scenes. Definitely past his sell by date.

[Zeb]

i find it very hard to believe that the club hasnt got someone lined up

however thinking about it the fact that he is staying on untill may might mean that they actually havent

Or whoever is lined up is currently under contract?

[Redzippy]

Also, a rumour that he scuppered a deal worth £28m for David Villa last summer by going behind Rafa's back and purchasing Robbie Keane.

If thats true - he wants fuckin stabbing not sacking !  Clown Twat !

[Dr Cornwallis]

When Parry casts a shadow it looks like Danny Alves

[Fat Scouser]

Will be interesting to read Shanklyboy's take on all this.

I'd like to see that an all, but he's offline

[phoenixblood]

I wonder what this will mean for the ownership dynamics?

[macca888]

So who will be wearing the trousers in the boardroom now then/

[lfcdave]

Rumours...

We all pretend to know so fucking much about what's going on inside the club, but we really know FUCK ALL !
Whenever something good happens, Benítez gets credit for it, whenever something goes wrong, we all blame that stupid Rick Parry. And all the time we know fuck all. Some people at one time when Robbie Keane wasn't scoring as many goals as was expected, suggested that the evil Perry had bought him to piss Benítez off. How stupid are some people ?

I know Rick Parry has made his fair share of mistakes but it can't be easy changing from a football club into a multi million dollar company in a relatively short period of time. And I am very sure he has always tried to do what's best for Liverpool FC. Sometimes he made mistakes, but he really loves this club. He's almost at all the matches and that's more than can be said about the new owners or some legendary players from the past.

One of the few sensible responses on here. Lets wait and see who is brought in before anyone opens the champagne.

[royhendo]

Worth posting this again.

I've tried to stay out of this thread as much as I can as I didn't want to have to keep responding to some of the drivel that seems to creeping into every other post since Rafa's press conference last week. It's not that easy when you see things repeated  30 seconds after SSN have said it and another myth is perpetuated ad infinitum and ad nauseum.
So I'm going to give an honest opinion based on fact. People can take it or leave it but those that know will understand. Those that want to just use any platform of perceived negativity to have a crack at Benítez will continue to do so because its been festering in their heads for too long to change. Those that only have an opinion dependant on what they see in the media will only change their opinion when they are told what it is by the same.

I've worked with Rick Parry and as you say Alan there is far more to this man than just being an accountant. His commitment to Liverpool F.C is undoubted and his workload would make most of us buckle after a week.
The job he inherited from Peter Robinson was one of if not THE biggest challenge to anyones abilities in recent football history.
The lack of foresight from his illustrious predecessors over many years has probably got more to do with our current plight than people care to see. Simply because it's easier to blame the 'clown' than anyone else. There is no smoke without fire though and therein lies part of the story.
Behind the scenes, he has worked tirelessly to haul our club back to where we once were. Both in terms of financial muscle and administrative excellence.
His ability to do this has been questioned many times within the club and some of the methods employed have actually left us further behind and not even close to be drawing level with our competitors.
Part of the blame for this has been the remnants of Liverpools administrative past. How things had to be done 'The Liverpool Way', while still dragging the club into the modern day. Liverpool as a footballing business model would be the team equivalent of the 2nd Division when Parry arrived while our main competitors were swanning around The Champions League, such was the ground we had to make up.

The problem with Parry is that his role and responsibilities have changed dramatically at the same time as we tried and failed to play catch up. So no sooner did we look as though we were getting there,then he was loaded with further responsibilities. This created difficulties, compounded by the changes in the managerial structure of the club and the rapid responses needed in the modern game. He was in effect doing 3 jobs.
One he was qualified for as an accountant. One he had experience of, effectively, as a senior administrator with the Premier League  and one he was never going to manage effectively alongside the other two. That was as C.E.O of Liverpool F.C.

How a club like Liverpool F.C could be the only one who didn't employ a marketting executive until Ayres was appointed is testament to the reliance of keeping things done a certain way so as not to rock the boat. They didn't learn by past mistakes. See the farcical 'joint manager' roles of Evans & Houllier as further evidence of that type of reasoning.

The job was too big for Parry but nobody within the club was prepared to change the situation. Instead more responsibility and therefore more power was given to Parry.

Once Benítez arrived at the club, things started to change almost immediately.
Benítez realised that from a footballing aspect the club was not geared up to the needs of the modern game and certainly not to the needs of Liverpool F.C. Some of the things Benítez was informed were in place when he was offered the managers position were clouded in half truths. Many of those things were paramount to Benítez in his decision to come to the club. They represented many of the things he saw as being vital for the club's long and short term future.

Benítez came to the club believing there was a platform for him to put his ideas in place and take the club to where they told him they wanted to be. The reality of what he found was so far removed from the initial promises. Initially this was put down to clashes of personality, which in some cases it was. However Benítez found himself running down blind alleys at almost every turn.He was continually meeting Parry down there. The main stumbling blocks being cash, the buying and selling of players and the youth structure. All things that a footballing man needed to run smoothly and effectively. Benítez was renowned for being one of the widely respected youth coaches during his time in Spain and this was a major part of his CV. Yet he was told to keep his nose out at Liverpool. The fragmentation of the senior and junior set ups at the club was beyond his comprehension. As was the fact that he, as manager was being prevented from having any effective input in to it's running or effectiveness.
Benítez decided to restructure those areas he was 'allowed' to and that started some major problems.
He effectively bypassed the youth system and brought his own players in, to train with the senior squad. Once Steve Heighway left,many of the successful youth team were promoted to the reserves and therefore came under his overall control.

He still didn't have any real input into the youth set up which was being overseen and run by Rick Parry. Parry's reluctance to sanction or back the overhaul of the youth system has been a major problem for Benítez. A none footballing man effectively preventing a football man from doing what he was brought in to do in the first place.
It is well known within the club that Benítez wants to develop our own players. He is extremely passionate about it, yet feels this won't happen quickly enough under the present structure.Even though that long term the club will benefit both financially and in terms of having a local heart to the club. Something that he spoke of only today.

On top of all of this is the farcical situation regarding protracted transfers we are all aware of. This all came to a head, just before the Gerrard fiasco made the headlines. Parry's reticence to get the Gerrard's contract sorted out was seen within the club and by Rafa in particular as an indication of how much power Parry thought he had. This was a further indication of his lack of footballing mentality. He was actually prompted to get this sorted from within the club but still dragged his heels.This caused major problems internally and is the catalyst for many of today's difficulties. The almost catastrophic outcome was seen as a watershed. It wasn't!

On top of that Benítez had the unfortunate misfortune of having to go through Parry for every transfer.
I'm not going into who they were, but certain players at home and abroad had approached Liverpool F.C and had agreed to come after speaking with Benítez only for the deal to fall through after Parry became involved. Some were high profile, some were not. The biggest deals having been well documented. Some equally as big which have not been.were already agreed with players without massive wage demands or contract terms only to fall away yet again. This caused severe professional embarrassment for Benítez and restricted the progress of the team.

Once the takeover came about and the club was restructured once again, Benítez was once again made promises regarding transfers.Certain operating procedures were put into place by Hicks  & Gillette to try and smooth things along. Without going into too much detail about what they were here, they failed when the H & G relationship started to wobble. The operating procedures fell by the wayside, which Benítez wasn't happy about as they appeared to be working. Once H & G lost the day to day 'hands on ' contact with club matters,apart from Ayres 'input', things reverted to type and Parry just went about things The Parry Way.

As I said initially, Parry works tirelessly for the club. However he is not the man for the job. Certainly not working with Benítez, or any other forward thinking manager, who knows the buck stops with him under the current structure.
As the public face of Liverpool Football Club, you couldn't meet a more insipid, grey, uninspiring man. He is the archetypal accountant, who's lack of personality and charisma is exactly what you would imagine it to be by his public image.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the 3rd draught of  Benítez’s contract. The obvious sticking point being the clarification of his responsibilities.
The contracts have been altered each time, but have obviously failed to meet with Rafa’s expectations. These contracts have been drawn up under the instructions laid down by H & G, but it's not clear if Parry has had any say in the structuring of responsibilities. I'd be very surprised if he did officially, but unofficially is a different matter.
However it wouldn't be a surprise if the final draughts had been presented to him at the same time as Benítez‘s advisers.

H & G know full well what Benítez is after, as does Rick Parry. Dragging this out and not ascending  to his demands through 3 draught contracts is being seen two ways. Firstly that  H & G have already decided what course of action to take but are adopting a softly softly approach to it all in order to buy themselves some time until they can sit down with all concerned at the end of January and iron things out in person. . This would have the added bonus of keeping a lid on a potential powder keg.

Secondly  that they have no clear idea of how this will be resolved and again, need to gauge the depth of feeling in person. This is the more worrying for obvious reasons. The role Rick Parry has was defined by H & G initially and the concern is that they should be able to take away what they gave in the first place. The reality is somewhat more complicated. Parry is a professional man of high standing in the game. Any changes to his remit are going to be met with reticence . Losing  credibility and having his power reduced would be seen as a direct criticism and not be accepted lightly.

However, Benítez is in that exact position now. His position as manager is under constant scrutiny and he feels unable to work to his full capacity and fulfill the demands placed upon him under the current work practices. This is seen as a slight on his professional ability.

All Benítez demands are to do with ensuring the success of Liverpool F.C and are in no way seen as  him trying to wrestle power for powers sake. Parry would argue the same case, but with less credibility as football matters are still seen within the club as taking precedence.

Parry and Benítez have tried to work together. They know  that a great many of the problems have been caused by H & G. However both know that allies are needed, given the ’voting structure’ being used at the club.
There is still a certain degree of mistrust about however.This plagued the early years of H & G reign and was compounded when it became apparent to Moores and Parry that debt was going to be levied on the club. The first cut is the deepest as they say.   

Either way there has to be compromise for this to be resolved. Whether that compromise is to be voluntary or enforced is unknown.

[tinner777]

I'm sure he'll be writing his book sharpish to tell us all his side of the story

with the red or blue crayon?

[RedGirlSuzie]

I for one am extremely glad he's going, saying that it was better for the club for the yanks to buy us rather than DIC was rediculous.

But I just had a thought, if it wasn't for him, then Gerrard would have gone to Chelsea, so for that I am extremly grateful to him.

Sad end to his time here really, but one bad decision by him has led to his demise. Bye Rick, thanks for everything pre H+G, but glad to see you going for what you've done since then