Source: Telegraph
Rick Parry may be gone but Rafael Benitez still has to answer for his failures
He was set to make history by becoming the club's first tracksuit chief executive, at least until wiser counsels prevailed. For the 'RP' on his red breast now read 'RIP'. Tom Hicks, the more muscular of the Americans who own the club, has his wish and it looks as if from next season Rafa Benitez will have the freedom of movement in the transfer market he has long craved. [LNB]The tension in his relationship with Parry, who was instrumental in the Spaniard's arrival from Valencia as successor to Gerard Houllier, has not proved creative. The rights and wrongs remain to be judged. For one thing, it is by no means certain that Hicks will be the dominant force in the boardroom after this summer, during which a £350 million bank loan must be rearranged. [LNB]For another, the direction Liverpool are taking as a football institution under Benitez is the subject of a knife-edge debate. The reporters who hailed his tactical triumph in Madrid last Wednesday would have instead scorned his negative approach had Real's defence not left Yossi Benayoun unmarked at a free-kick. [LNB]The fans' views have also been somewhat rewritten; on the flight I took to Madrid, not one expressed concern about the match-day rumours of his departure. [LNB]Several felt embarrassed by his rant at Sir Alex Ferguson a few weeks ago, since which Manchester United have looked more and more convincing candidates for another championship that, significantly, will equal Liverpool's all-time record of 18. Maybe to an extent these sceptics were conditioned by the media, which tend to take so-called 'mind games' too seriously. [LNB]Maybe to a degree they were exhibiting the growing impatience of the modern adherent. But they have a point. It is not Parry but Benitez who must answer for the failure to turn draws into wins at Anfield without which the title race would be very much two-horse – and criticism of Benitez inaudible. [LNB]Even at the Bernabeu last week, while Liverpool were establishing ascendancy and the 'Rafa' chants arose from the travellers' section, they were thin and weak. Not dissimilar, indeed, to those in which Houllier took solace during the long months that led to his departure. [LNB]Now it will not be Parry who plots a possible succession. But to whom will Liverpool turn? Someone pin-striped, I'd guess. Suddenly, at the end of a week in which Guus Hiddink laid down a strict new dress-code at Chelsea, tracksuits are out of fashion. [LNB]
