Is Parry’s departure a victory for Hicks?
Written by Max Munton on February 27th, 2009
The news that chief executive Rick Parry is to leave the club at the end of the season has been greeted as good news by most supporters. However, it should also raise a lot of questions and be taken with some caution. Parry leaving is one of the three amigos gone but it’s the other two which remain the bigger concern.
Undoubtedly Liverpool supporters will be glad to
see Parry leave, for reasons ill come to later, but most understand
that ideally Parry would have left after Tom Hicks and George Gillett
had been removed. I used the analogy before when discussing the
situation that Gillett and Hicks are the cancer of the club, in
comparison Parry is a cold. Parry has earnt himself the nickname ‘Coco’ (the clown) in recent
years for his alleged transfer misdealings - Simao, Alves, Vidic,
Barry, the list is endless depending what you believe Parry’s missed
out on for us. Add to that his lack of commercial development (one
thing Hicks has ever got right) and the whole ticket fiasco for Athens… But, when Hicks called for Parry’s resignation
last year, fans weren’t happy at the way it was done - it wasn’t ‘The
Liverpool Way’. Since then Benitez and Hicks have bonded over their
desire to remove Parry but for different reasons; Rafa wanted rid of
Parry to gain control over transfers while Hicks will see it as a
victory for him in the boardroom. Parry himself said in the aftermath of being asked to leave:
“There’s a Liverpool way, which I think I will understand and I will
stick to, and clearly there’s a different way.” He is right, Hicks in
particular doesn’t live by these values the club has been built upon.
So, while Parry’s departure is a good thing when looked at on it’s own, in the bigger picture it leaves more questions than answers; who will replace him? Will a new chief executive also replace him on the board? What does it mean in terms of the long term future and control of the club? Should this been seen as a victory for Benitez or Hicks?