OK, hold on one minute – whilst I realise that the storm in a tea cup between Rafa Benitez and the Americans (and Rick Parry) has been exacerbated by the media, I am beginning to worry that in a matter of weeks our beloved boss may actually be sacked. This can not be allowed to happen!

I understand that Messrs Gillett and Hicks have given the Spaniard a wealth of cash over the summer and that extra funds will not be so easily splashed out come January, but come on lads – stand together and don’t fall out otherwise all the hard work put in over the past few years will be undone. By the way, anyone harbouring hopes of getting Jose Mourinho in through the back door, please don’t make me laugh, I hold Rafa in a higher regard than the former Chelsea boss and I for one will not be happy with any appointment that sees the Champions League-winning manager axed.

The argument seems to stem from the planned signing of AC Milan defender Kakha Kaladze, a deal that was said to cost around £4m, which in today’s terms is a bargain, especially when you see how thin we are at the back at present with Daniel Agger out. I can understand the Americans not wanting to become a bottomless pit to fund transfers and whilst Benitez did spend big in the summer he did also get around £25m back from the departures of Djibril Cisse, Craig Bellamy and Mark Gonzalez, so it's not like Rafa has spent wildly. Surely another £4m wouldn’t break the bank and, given that we are still unbeaten in the league, you would have thought that this signing would have been accepted.

‘By the way, anyone harbouring hopes of getting Jose Mourinho in through the back door, please don’t make me laugh.’


This row needs to die away and all the parties need to stick together. After all, they all want the same thing – a successful Liverpool side.

Back to the playing side and I was pleased with the performance against Newcastle, and especially with Momo Sissoko who started shakily with a few misplaced passes but came back with a vengeance and played really well. Steven Gerrard also silenced the boo boys the best way possible, with an unstoppable long range free-kick. All in all a good performance against a very poor Toon side, which combined with results that almost all went our way, has kept us in touch the with leaders.

I think that barring a couple of stodgy performances this season we have done very well and have a strong squad that needs a little tweaking, nothing more, and I think that was all that Rafa wanted to do, so please Mr Gillett and Mr Hicks, be patient. If Benitez shows his anger and irritation so vocally he only does so because he clearly loves the club and no one should be sacked for that surely!