by Ciggy » Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:52 pm
from RAOTL:
JM Wrote: Just think about it, for a minute. The man who recognised in Rafa the talent and drive to be a great manager and succesfully brought him here to Anfield is supposed to think that Jurgen Kilnsmann would be a better manager - or even a decent manager, fit enough to replace Rafa should he walk? Don't make me laugh. Rick Parry has many faults and has lots to answer for but he would never in a million years see anything in Klinsmann that would make him feel he could 'do a job' at Liverpool Football Club.
Does it not seem more realistic that Parry was there because he is the only football man on the board, and it would be he who would determine his credentials etc.?
APB: Exactly. I think we do know the Klinsmann meeting was Gillet's idea, encouraged by Hicks, who himself was alarmed by the Benitez outburst following defeat in Athens. Sporting coaches do as their told in the United States, so they were keen to explore a plan B, unused to such 'insolence.' Parry had to be at that meeting. At this point, he still held some sway with them and they looked to him for advice. If there was one person who could stop them appointing Klinsmann it was Parry, but to do that he had to be at that meeting. We don't know what was said or by whom, but we do know the Klinsmann thing did not materialise and was not pursued any further. I would expect Parry to have had a role in that. He's by nature an inherently cautious conservative character and no way he is going to sanction and endorse a bid for a manager, untried and tested in European football. It goes against everything I know about the man.
JM wrote [i]And how has Rafa has been dragged publicly into this back-room power struggle? If, as we all believe, it should be he who has control of all football matters, and that money men and directors should exist solely to write the cheques, then surely Rafa should keep his mouth shut when it comes to boardroom politics. But such is the maelstrom surrounding the club at the moment, everyone is jockying for position, watching their backs, gripped with paranoia.
All this is a direct result of Tom Hicks' war of chaos. He's blitzed the media with stories and leaks and rumours, and set everyone at each other's throats. His Sunday Times 'interview' by Jonathan Northcroft was little more than a press release; designed to curry favour from the supporters by damning Parry and promising to back Rafa to the ends of the earth. Hicks claims "I want Rafa in charge ... I will build the best football stadium in the world ...I have substantial assets and if I were the majority owner I would invest additional cash. I have a 25-year track record as a succesful investor and owner ... and plan to eliminate all debt on the team.". And this from a man who has, so far, not invested one penny of additional money into the club. Not a cent. Torres and Mascherano? Bought with C.L. prize monies and borrowings secured against the club. New stadium? Go take a look in the park next home game, its that quiet and undisturbed there that Roe deer are now grazing up as far as The Arkles. And we're supposed to have, according to Boss Hog, a new stadium in a little over 2 years that will give us, "the resources to restore Liverpool to its position as the No. 1 club in the world."
APB: Rafa has been dragged into this of his own making and we have to face facts, he's trying to play the situation to his own advantage. It's a dangerous game of brinkmanship in anyone's money. Hicks of course it was who said back in Novemeber said - coaches coach, you're paid to coach the team, hence the bizarre Rafa press conference ahead of Newcastle away. Now we learn that Hicks is in regular email contact with Rafa, making all kinds of promises about supporting him the transfer market. But this is Hicks just playing the PR card, to strengthen his hand in the boardroom. He wants Parry out. Get Rafa and the fans on Parry's case and Parry's dead man walking - his position becomes nigh on untenable. The evidence of course as you suggest John offers no indication that Hicks will honour his promises to Rafa. His track record in the United States suggest much to contrary. The Dallas Stars are saddled with $200 million in debt (the team's holding company, Southwest Sports, defaulted on $135 million of debt four years ago), and can't make it past the first round of the playoffs - crowds have dwindled and the whole venture is losing money hand over fist. Meanwhile Texas Rangers fans have set up petition against him. Ten years ago when Hicks acquired them the team where competitive. Now? They've been placed 3rd or 4th in a 4-team division for 7 consecutive seasons. The last division title was in 1999, a season after Hicks took ownership but before he worked his asset stripping magic, selling all the best players. Despite rising ticket, parking and concession prices, the team's salary, especially as compared to other team salaries, has disproportionately declined while revenue and attendence have grown rapidly . The Rangers playing staff has been depleted under Hicks' tenure due to frequent changes amongst coaching, development and scouting personnel combined with bad trades, poor free agent signings, and bad decisions to not re-sign talented players or acquire better free agents. Hicks has left the Rangers void of the talent necessary to compete for a division title, much less a championship. In short, he's bled them dry and sucked out what he can get.
Given that he's pretty much told lie after lie, since arriving at Liverpool, the biggest being about refinancing and saddling the club with debt, it's difficult to believe any of his supposed promises to Rafa, and more importantly, it's hard to believe that Rafa believes any of it. Especially as we know 5 senior players have seen through it and have told Rafa they'll be off if Hicks assumes control. So what really appears to be going on is Rafa playing hard ball from what he percieves to be a position of strength. Taking offence to the Klinsmann thing is just a bargaining strategy. He's basically saying give me transfer money or else - again. I suspect that will be followed by, 'and sort yourselves out while you're at it.' And this is the old root source of the tension with Parry. The budget he had to work with was limited, which meant the cautious, conservative, possibly anally rentative Parry, who doubled checked offers, contract and salary deals, and ultimately decided whether they could afford a deal, got right up Rafa's nose, when he said no can't afford it, was outbid, or simply dithered. This was probably eaxcerabted by post Houllier paranoia, when Gerard's transfer record detoriorated over his last two years. Unfortunately, as CEO that was Parry's job. This brings us on to Ian Ayres - a scouser, a Liverpool fan, a Hicks confidante and appointment - where does he fit into all this. Good business track record, but as a hired hand. Has he encountered anyone as duplicitous and ruthless as Hicks in his working life? Hard to believe so. He's expected to do as he's told by Hicks - little more than a pawn, and when the time comes, he'll be discarded like countless others. Tom Hicks pleased to meet you - 'asset stripping's the name of the game'.
I think we also need to realise that when the American's took that big slice of tickets for Athens, they threw it down to Parry and said now you deal with the fans. Which he manifestly and transparently failed to do, but I think at the time I posted that I suspected that the Americans had taken a chunk of tickets. Never in the history of LFC had anything that drastic happened with tickets, but they walk into the club and hey presto. Looking back I think Parry tried to provide some clues, but he couldn't say what had really happened, or he'd have been fired on the spot. So he did his usual of trying to handle the issue by avoiding and fudging it. He is a poor coomunicator.
Parry's problem is that he has fallen between two stools. He tried to improve the commercial side of things, while maintaining a sense of tradition - the Liverpool way, while not managing either, with any real degree of success. His biggest single mistake was not looking into the background of Tom Hicks and taking George Gillett's assurances at face value. And I think he did do quite a bit of research into Gillett and his record. There can be little doubt, last January - Moores and Parry panicked when the DIC withdrew their interest. They needed something in place quickly and they hurried it and botched it. But right now given the vultures circling - he's our only hope in the board room.
Last edited by
Ciggy on Thu Apr 17, 2008 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
There is no-one anywhere in the world at any stage who is any bigger or any better than this football club.
Kenny Dalglish 1/2/2011
REST IN PEACE PHIL, YOU WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
