Source: Telegraph
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry's exit another victory for Rafa Benitez
Should there have been any doubt which of the club's two owners remained more committed to Liverpool after a stormy tenure, it is now clear. George Gillett's days in English football are surely numbered. Tom Hicks has finally got his man.[LNB]Parry was a close ally of the Colorado-based businessman, aligning himself with Gillett and his son Foster against Hicks, his son and the commercial director Ian Ayre at the highest level of the club. Last year, Hicks even demanded his resignation. The support of Gillett saw Parry through.[LNB]That he has left now signifies that the power struggle has resolved itself in Hicks' favour. Gillett has been actively seeking to sell his 50 per cent stake in Liverpool in recent months, whereas Hicks is desperate to stay on with a new partner. No doubt his replacement will be an appointment Hicks deems suitable, with Ayre a likely candidate.[LNB]The Texan is keen to bring in new investment to help the club compete both on the field and build its new stadium off it and appointing his own chief executive is likely to expedite that process. That Gillett signed off the move to dismiss Parry suggests not only that their relationship had deteriorated, but that he is, perhaps, close to leaving himself.[LNB]There can be no question now that Hicks intends to stay at Liverpool in the long-term. He has often been the focal point of fans' fury at the way the club was being run and been blamed for the fault lines that have, at times, threatened to tear Liverpool apart. He has won his first battle, and now he is going to try to win his war.[LNB]By his side throughout has been Benitez. The manager and Hicks have had their problems but in recent months the Spaniard has grown closer to the American and, while they are now understood to have a good relationship, it is a case of Benitez's enemy's enemy being his friend.[LNB]Benitez, too, was desperate for Parry to leave. He had been openly critical of his technique in the transfer market and his failure to tie up new contracts for players and staff quickly. Benitez wants to answer directly to the owners, to control his own transfer budget and reduce any chief executive to merely negotiator. Parry was the obstacle to that aspiration. Benitez has overcome.[LNB]It would be tempting to suggest that Benitez was waiting for this news before finally putting pen to paper on his new four-year deal. That may be a false assumption. Parry's departure will soothe several of Benitez's concerns, but clauses in his new contract which he deems vital remain absent.[LNB]Liverpool fans, though, would wryly comment that, with Parry gone, everything at the club will now move much more quickly. Whether that be the refinancing package with RBS and Wachovia, securing new investment or guaranteeing Benitez's future, any movement at all will go a long way to ending two years of chaos.[LNB]
