Rafa falling foul of owners who don't understand

These are dark says for Liverpool Football Club, make no mistake about it. The way in which our owners have operated is not the Liverpool Way. Hell, it's not even the way most English clubs would conduct their matters off the field.

I'm sure you know the story now. If not then the full gory details of George Gillett and Tom Hicks' actions late last year in attempting to lure Jurgen Klinsmann to Anfield were for all to see in yesterday's Liverpool Echo.

This morning the national sports pages went big on it. A good summary of articles is available on RAWK but the basic gist of all of them seems to be in support of Benitez and rightly so. This writer feels a little silly at having lashed out last week at The Daily Mail's coverage but then I was only going on what I had read and I suppose on the belief that such a thing couldn't and wouldn't happen. But it did.

And any doubts in any fan's mind were expelled by Hicks' extraordinary statements yesterday. The silence from Benitez is deafening. He must be fuming. Who could blame him. So horribly undermined by his bosses and Hicks even has the nerve to try and turn it on him suggesting they held talks with Klinsmann because of the danger Benitez might go to Real Madrid.

Let's get one thing straight. Rafa Benitez has never had any intention of leaving the club. He loves the city, the fans, the club, the lot, he has said as much on countless occasions. He is very settled in what WAS an excellent working environment and in restructuring the club's youth system he had the intention of being here for many years to come.

A couple of poor results and a disagreement over transfer funds and the Americans feel the need to make sure everyone knows whose boss. As I've said it's not the Liverpool Way. Few clubs bar maybe Spurs would even act in this manner and that makes it all the more painful and embarrassing.

Ever dignified Rafa's silence at least gives no further ammunition to Gillett and Hicks or just Hicks who seems to be doing all the talking these days. Gillett's silence is interesting to say the least. All we've heard from him in fact is the backing that he gave to the boss at a past players dinner following the Man United game in December. Is he more reluctant to be as rash as Hicks is or is he just as guilty having taken part in the meeting with Klinsmann? It's hard to tell.

In any case, hopefully the boss can let his team do the talking at home to Luton tonight. We need a good win to restore some confidence and the guard of honour for Mr 500 Jamie Carragher should get the fans going. That and the undoubted feeling that despite the owners continued attempts to undermine the manager we trust and respect they need to once more be made aware that this kind of attitude and behaviour cannot be tolerated.