One of Liverpool's two bosses, Gillette, had always supported CEO Parry, while Hicks and Benítez had been dissatisfied with Parry for a long time.
The four men formed two camps, but the foundations of the camps were extremely shaky. In fact, Hicks was the most typical fence-sitter. He was even more disgusted than Gillette with Benítez's behavior of crying at press conferences like a child.
Benítez wanted to buy Barry in the summer of 2008, but Parry was busy for more than two months with no results. In the end, Robbie Keane was brought in.
Keane was Tottenham's captain, but he was sold back to White Hart Lane in the winter transfer window. At first, people thought it was Benítez's punishment for him for not integrating into the team. Later, they found out that the American boss needed the transfer fee to repay the bank loan.
There was also the renewal of the young player Agger's contract. After three months, it was still in a deadlock.
Gillette's personality was more moderate. He advocated "non-interference" and pulled the club back to the old path of the former chairman, Moores.
Although this kind of business model would not make a lot of money, at least they would not be criticized all day long. For this reason, he had always been protective of Parry.
Liverpool's internal strife finally broke out over Benítez's contract renewal in the 2008-2009 season. The American boss was furious with the Spaniard's repeated refusal to renew his contract, while Benítez had his own calculations. In the club's internal strife, he needed to gain more power, which the American boss could not tolerate.
In the early spring of 2009, Liverpool's expedition to Bernabéu in the Champions League knockout stage. The American boss had secretly formulated a mutiny plan. Once Benítez met with an unexpected mishap in Real Madrid, the vicious guillotine would fall head-on. But Rafa still managed to turn the misfortune into a blessing by retreating unscathed at Bernabéu.
This situation was very similar to when Benítez led the team to Marseille in December 2007. If Liverpool had been defeated and eliminated in the Champions League group stage, perhaps Klinsmann would have been able to take charge of Anfield.
This time, before the game against Real Madrid, the Americans also found Benítez's successor, Kenny Dalglish. However, Liverpool's former "king" saw through the Americans' hypocrisy at a glance and directly expressed that he was not interested in making a comeback.
When parties fought, there would always be victims and scapegoats.
Hicks and Benítez's faction returned safely from Bernabéu. They even returned triumphantly with a slight advantage of the visiting team's goals. The dejected Gillet pushed all the blame for Benítez's unfavorable contract renewal and the delay in the signing of new players onto Parry. As a result, the latter could not bear the pressure and publicly announced that he would resign at the end of the season.
Parry's resignation was very comedic: Gillet and Hicks wanted to join forces to get rid of Benítez, but they were beaten back. They immediately jumped back to their respective camps to put on an act. Gillet pressured Parry to get out of the way quickly, while Hicks kept comforting Benítez's broken heart.
Parry was too kind, so kind that he was brainless. He and the brainless Mr. Moores were really good partners. As a result, they gave Liverpool endless joy from July 1998 to June 2006, even if Anfield did not win a trophy as resplendent as Manchester United.
In fact, the departure of Mr. Moores doomed Parry's departure. It was only a matter of time.
Parry was a good man. More than ten years ago, he gave up the high salary of the Premier League committee to work at Liverpool F.C.. He regarded the job as an ideal because of his love for Liverpool. He did not allow his lofty ideals to be attacked by the foreign Americans.
He had thought about changing, but his lack of professional skills still held him back.
Parry and Benítez were both for Liverpool, but Rafa left too quickly. Parry could not keep up with him even if he tried his best.
Parry left and Purslow, who spoke Spanish and had a considerable background in the financial world, replaced him. In fact, Purslow came to Liverpool with only one duty — to sell the club. But before the sale, Purslow had to deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland's compound interest bill.
Just as he was running around to pay off the debt, the two American bosses, Hicks and Gillet, had quietly contacted the Kuwaiti tycoon, Nasser, but Benítez was unaware of it.
It was obvious that this was a scheme to deceive himself.
The Americans borrowed 350 million pounds of debt from the Royal Bank of Scotland and the fourth-largest bank in the United States, Wachovia, to build the new Stanley Stadium. Who knew that before the financial crisis of 2008, the price of raw materials soared and the cost doubled. The shrewd Americans realized that whether the stadium was built or not, it was a losing business. Repairing it would cost more than not repairing it.
They could not think of a better solution than delaying the repayment of the loan.
On September 13, 2008, when Liverpool and Manchester United played Anfield, the Americans officially submitted an application for delaying the repayment of the loan to the two major banks. Liverpool fans broke out in a large-scale protest.
The Wachovia Bank of America approved the application, but the Royal Bank of Scotland rejected the Americans' request. The Americans could not afford to pay, so they had to think about using Liverpool's shares to pay off the debt.
Liverpool fans weighed the pros and cons and decided to save the club first. In October and November, Liverpool fans collectively canceled their services with the Royal Bank of Scotland, causing the bank's savings and credit accounts to be in a mess during those two months. They were forced to accept Liverpool F.C.'s application.
It was fine if the stadium was delayed, since Anfield could still be used anyway. They could have approached Klinsmann, but he was the manager of Bayern Munich at the time. It was fine if they did not buy players in the winter. The current squad would not be too bad if they played in the games. The season ticket package suddenly rose to the second highest in the Premier League, but the atmosphere at Anfield was still so enthusiastic.
Liverpool fans did not have high demands. They hoped to be able to respect the Americans in the compromise, but they were disappointed again and again.
Liverpool never lacked buyers, but they lacked a price that could move the Americans.
In the face of repeated protests from Liverpool fans, Gillet had decided to run away. He was the one who invited the potential buyer, the Indian tycoon, Ambani.
Ambani was the richest man in India. He said that he was willing to pay all of Liverpool's debts, but only if he bought 51% of the club's shares.
The key to the problem was that 51% of the shares meant that Ambani would become the club's largest shareholder, and the American owner would lose control of the club.
Gillet intended to sell all of his 50% shares, but Hicks was still holding on to his share. Ambani weighed the pros and cons and finally decided to give up the acquisition.
The chaos at Liverpool F.C. had reached an unprecedented level of intensity, even more shocking than the civil strife at Real Madrid last season.
At least Real Madrid had not reached the point where the ownership of the club was in doubt, or where the owners were divided.
Qin Xiong's heart was touched. The fans were the ones who really loved football, and the ones who were really hurt by football were often the fans. The ones who could really contribute to football were the fans.
Liverpool fans were worthy of respect. He could feel this from his many visits to Anfield. How many fans in the world could unite as one to save the club and cause the bank to be forced to compromise?
They were small, but when united, they could shake the world!
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