Saturday, May 08, 2010

Why Anfield Has Become The Hung Parliament Of Football

Whilst the rest of Britain wakes up to the prospect of a hung parliament today, Liverpool fans could be forgiven for issuing a contemptuous laugh and wondering what all the fuss is about. They have, after all, been operating in that way for the best part of three years.

The candidates for power at Anfield may have been more subtle in their respective campaigns; there were no televised debates (bafflingly held in High-Definition, as if it were needed), no leaflets through doors and no insults for Rochdale-based women. But the battle has been just as fierce; for Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, read Rafael Benitez, Martin Broughton and Christian Purslow.

The latest news out of Anfield is that the meeting between Benitez, the manager, and Broughton, the chairman he was yet to meet, HAS now taken place. After the furore over who cancelled on who, the pair - along with Purslow, who was also present - were able to agree on a suitable time to meet in London yesterday.

And, predictably, nothing was sorted out. Britain's government will take some working out over the next few days, but Liverpool's board-room is a blueprint for uncertainty.

The future of just about everyone is up in the air. Benitez is said to have been given a deadline of Monday to accept an offer from Italian giants Juventus. The Serie A outfit are prepared to offer the kind of financial freedom that Liverpool simply cannot, and the Spaniard has, smartly, refused to distance himself from such reports. He may baulk at the internal politics which operate at Anfield, but Benitez plays a pretty good game himself.

What he wants from Liverpool are assurances, and lots of them. He has a five-year contract, signed last spring, so his motives are not about personal finances. He, like just about every supporter, wants to know that the club will be sold sooner rather than later, and that co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks - the 'Margaret Thatcher' of this political analogy, if you like - will not be looming over L4 like a black cloud for very much longer.

He also wants to know how much money he will have to spend this summer - a summer in which most have accepted Liverpool require at least five quality new signings.

Of course, this being Liverpool, such assurances have not been forthcoming. How can they be when nobody really knows who is in charge at the club?

Broughton was brought in - pardon the pun - on April 16, with the instruction to oversee the smooth sale of the club. However, it has since emerged that his non-executive role means he has little or no involvement in the day-to-day running of the club.

That particular task falls to Purslow, the managing director drafted in by Gillett and Hicks to find £100 million-worth of investment, and help drive down the oppressive levels of debt at the club. He has so far failed in that particular task.

And therein lies the key issue. Whilst players from Fernando Torres to Yossi Benayoun to Alberto Aquilani have their futures in the air, whilst Benitez plays a high-risk game of cat and mouse with his superiors, and whilst the likes of Purslow and the owners attempt damage limitation and to deflect the critical glare away from themselves, the club simply cannot function with any great efficiency.

Tony Barrett in The Times this week stated that, though Benitez must shoulder a certain amount of blame for poor on-field performances, the true problem at Liverpool lies in the board-room - and in particular with Gillett and Hicks. The Mirror's David Maddock believes that Liverpool fans face a dilemma over whether they would prefer Benitez or Torres to stay at the club, such is the precarious financial situation at Anfield - one which Torres is purported to be increasingly alarmed about.

Others, such as The Daily Mail's Martin Samuel and Des Kelly, and The Telegraph's Henry Winter, see the political situation as a convenient smokescreen, there to disguise Benitez's obvious shortcomings, or enable the Spaniard to leave without fear of reproach.

The truth lies somewhere in between. Everyone at Liverpool, just like in the British government, is playing their own game, with their own agenda.

And, as is traditional with government fractures, the main sufferers are the ordinary people - in this case the Liverpool supporters. The longer Anfield remains a hung parliament, the more they will suffer.

There will be no press conference from Benitez ahead of his side's final Premier League clash with Hull City on Sunday but, like the British parliament, it is up to someone, anyone, to let the public know what is what. And fast.

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