Monday, December 21, 2009

Liverpool's Tom Hicks Tells Jurgen Klinsmann: You Will Never Manage Reds


Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks has told Jurgen Klinsmann he will NEVER manage Liverpool.

The Anfield hierarchy have been stunned by the German's recent attempts to undermine Rafa Benitez and offer himself up as the perfect replacement.

Klinsmann, who was sounded out about succeeding Benitez two years ago when the Spaniard was embroiled in a dispute with the club's two American owners, gave a damning assessment of Liverpool's team on a Champions League television show.

He followed that up with a newspaper interview in Germany in which he claimed he could be Anfield-bound next summer.

And when Sunday Mirror Sport asked Hicks whether Klinsmann would ever be considered as a future Liverpool manager, his reply was an emphatic: "Never."

Hicks added: "I don't know what his (Klinsmann's) motives are."

Benitez, who is less than 12 months into a five-year contract, has been told he has the full support of Liverpool's owners despite an early Champions League exit and seven Premier League defeats this season.

Klinsmann, 45, forged himself a reputation as one of the game's best up-and-coming coaches when he took Germany to the 2006 World Cup semi-finals.

He was an advocate of attacking football and his personality and communication skills helped him become a popular global figure.

The following year, with Benitez's future in doubt following a power struggle with Liverpool's then chief executive Rick Parry, he was approached by Gillett as a possible replacement.

Klinsmann met with Gillett, Hicks and Parry in the United States but, once the crisis at Anfield had ended, he was appointed coach of Bayern Munich.

His reign in Bavaria lasted less than a season and Benitez has since viewed his attempts to undermine him at Liverpool with as much amusement as derision given the way he was dumped by Bayern.

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