Checkmate Hicks. Rick Parry's impending departure not only marks the end of his troubled tenure at the helm of Liverpool, but also the stalemate which has enveloped the club for more than a year.
Parry, closely aligned with co-owner George Gillett and his son, Foster, in Anfield's fractured boardroom, acted as one of the few obstacles to Tom Hicks's attempts to force his partner out of their joint venture. Now Parry has fallen, the rest will surely follow.
To the dismay of many fans, Hicks has made it plain he has no intention of giving up on his investment just yet, not while the potential rewards remain so great. Parry survived one assault last April, but was in no position to come through a second.
When Hicks spoke out against Parry last year, describing him as a "disaster" and claiming that he had been asleep at the wheel as Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea drove off into the gilded sunset of worldwide merchandising and money-printing stadia, Gillett stepped in to save him.
That he did not do so again not only suggests Gillett, like Hicks and Rafa Benitez, had lost faith in Parry but also that the diminutive American might be prepared to follow him out of the door. Hicks has been actively seeking to trade in his current partner for a richer, more pliable model. Gillett has bowed to the Texan's wishes once. There is no reason to suggest he will not do so again.
Unpalatable to the Anfield faithful it may be, but Hicks's position of strength is good news for Benitez, the man they cherish above all others. Nobody is bigger than a club like Liverpool, but after the miracle of Istanbul, to many on the Kop, Benitez, the heir of Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish, comes close.
Privately, those inside Liverpool admit the relationship between manager and chief executive had become unworkable. Benitez may not have actively brought him down, but he was part of it. They fell out over Parry's inactivity on transfers, his valuations of players, his lack of speed in tying current employees to new contracts.
Benitez insists those issues, as they pertain to his own four-year contract extension, have been ironed out. Now the problem concerns guarantees over what happens to him if the club's ownership changes. The Spaniard wants to know his position is secure and that he can get out if the boardroom vision of the club suddenly differs from his own.
One opponent has been vanquished and even if the other, wounded, does not follow, Hicks's power play has left Anfield in no doubt as to who is in charge. The stalemate has been broken. Hicks is calling the shots. Now he can give Benitez answers.
Parry, closely aligned with co-owner George Gillett and his son, Foster, in Anfield's fractured boardroom, acted as one of the few obstacles to Tom Hicks's attempts to force his partner out of their joint venture. Now Parry has fallen, the rest will surely follow.
To the dismay of many fans, Hicks has made it plain he has no intention of giving up on his investment just yet, not while the potential rewards remain so great. Parry survived one assault last April, but was in no position to come through a second.
When Hicks spoke out against Parry last year, describing him as a "disaster" and claiming that he had been asleep at the wheel as Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea drove off into the gilded sunset of worldwide merchandising and money-printing stadia, Gillett stepped in to save him.
That he did not do so again not only suggests Gillett, like Hicks and Rafa Benitez, had lost faith in Parry but also that the diminutive American might be prepared to follow him out of the door. Hicks has been actively seeking to trade in his current partner for a richer, more pliable model. Gillett has bowed to the Texan's wishes once. There is no reason to suggest he will not do so again.
Unpalatable to the Anfield faithful it may be, but Hicks's position of strength is good news for Benitez, the man they cherish above all others. Nobody is bigger than a club like Liverpool, but after the miracle of Istanbul, to many on the Kop, Benitez, the heir of Shankly, Paisley and Dalglish, comes close.
Privately, those inside Liverpool admit the relationship between manager and chief executive had become unworkable. Benitez may not have actively brought him down, but he was part of it. They fell out over Parry's inactivity on transfers, his valuations of players, his lack of speed in tying current employees to new contracts.
Benitez insists those issues, as they pertain to his own four-year contract extension, have been ironed out. Now the problem concerns guarantees over what happens to him if the club's ownership changes. The Spaniard wants to know his position is secure and that he can get out if the boardroom vision of the club suddenly differs from his own.
One opponent has been vanquished and even if the other, wounded, does not follow, Hicks's power play has left Anfield in no doubt as to who is in charge. The stalemate has been broken. Hicks is calling the shots. Now he can give Benitez answers.
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