Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Parry's Peace Call As Chief Executive Asks For United Front At Liverpool


Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has called for everyone associated with the club to stop washing their dirty linen in public and unite after weeks of turmoil on and off the pitch.

The club's American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have fallen out of favour with Reds fans, due in no small part to Hicks revealing the club had spoken to former Germany boss Jurgen Klinsmann as an "insurance policy" against current manager Rafael Benitez leaving the club.

Fans stayed behind on the Kop after Saturday evening's Barclays Premier League game victory over Sunderland to protest against the owners, with some carrying banners calling for Dubai Investment Capital to step forward and take over the club.

Parry believes the constant speculation surrounding the Reds - coming from inside and outside the club - has been harmful and sought to draw an end to the disharmony in his LFC Magazine column.

"This is not the Liverpool we all know and love," he said.

"It has never been our style to wash our dirty linen in public and it is never pleasant for anyone when it happens.

"The sooner we can put all of this behind us and get back to the Liverpool way the better. That's certainly not pointing the finger at anyone. It's a hard fact of life in football that any negative publicity quickly leads to further headlines and debate.
"You learn to live with it. What really frustrates me is when outsiders start having a go. When this happens you know instinctively it's time to unite, draw some strength from our togetherness and get back on the rails."

Another apparent bone of contention has been the club's plans for their new stadium, which were revised when the initial costs were deemed to be too high.

But Parry is adamant the new ground, scheduled for completion in 2011, will still be something for the club to be very proud of.

"When we said we were revising things, perhaps there was a bit of consternation that we were somehow going back to the drawing board to make dramatic alterations," he added.

"In fact, it was a case of looking at some costs to see if we could make them more efficient.

"Could we look at some aspects of the build to make it work better without losing the impact of the design that had made it so special? That is exactly what has happened and our plans remain on course."

Meanwhile Javier Mascherano expects his permanent deal to join the club to be completed this week.

The Argentina midfielder told Clarin newspaper: "I think it will take no longer than this week.

"I want to stay at the club because I'm playing very often and I feel very comfortable.

"I would not like packing again."

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