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You will not catch Alex Ferguson dead in his tracks waxing lyrical about his great rival, Liverpool. Nevertheless, he is weighing in with his support of Liverpool’s beleaguered manager, Rafael Benitez. Chums they are not, but the shabby treatment which Benitez has suffered transcends club rivalries.

The bitter war between Benitez and the American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet continues unabated and it has caused an uncertain future for the Spaniard at Anfield. Main bone of contention being the failure to provide sufficient funds for much-needed squad reinforcements during the January transfer window.

Ferguson believes that at big clubs, it is paramount that the board shows its class. He said: “The important thing is that big clubs should be seen to be big clubs.”

“Most players want to play for Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal or Liverpool, but when they see a club that they think is topsy-turvy, with a divide between the managers and the directors, then they might think twice.”

The first casualty will be Javier Mascherano who has hinted that his long-term future lies away from Anfield, given the owners’ reluctance to cough up the 17 million pounds needed to make his move a permanent one. His next stop is likely to be Italy. This is not a morale boosting news and if Benitez cannot attract or even retain talents to boost their title challenge, then staying on as a puppet manager is an insult to him.

Financial crunch aside, the outspoken Hicks was further alienated from the fans when he admitted to holding talks with Jurgen Klinsmann over the possibility of the German replacing Benitez as Liverpool’s manager. Opposition to Hicks and Gillett amongst Liverpool’s supporters has now hardened to the point where demonstrating fans are calling for their swift departure from Anfield.

The press has painted Hicks as more of a devil than Gillet. The latter wants out and to sell his stake to Dubai International capital (the investment arm of Dubai’s rulers) but Hicks is adamant about being a “fighter” rather than quitter.

Well, he is sitting on a golden goose - a cash generator and the ease with which he can place immense debts on the club’s book, so I do not expect him to cash out so easily. There is a price to everything and he will walk away if there is enough money placed on the table. The more the fans oppose his reign, then his desire to squeeze the club dry is even stronger.

Conversely, Ferguson is much more fortunate to avoid the turmoil of boardroom maneuvers as he has forged a smooth working relationship with the Glazer family, United’s American owners.

He said: “That (admitting the Klinsmann talks) was a bad piece of business on Liverpool’s part. That sort of thing can be very upsetting for a manager.”

Ferguson thanked his lucky stars for having good directors at Man United, like Bobby Charlton and Martin Edwards — who always supported him very well.

He added: “Twenty years ago, Liverpool was a closely knit and well-run club and, when Peter Robinson was the secretary at Anfield, it was a tightly run ship. Wenger always had great support from David Dein at Arsenal and I’ve had great support, this provides unity. You should allow a manager to get on with his job.”

When Ferguson arrived at Old Trafford from Aberdeen in 1986, he admitted that his number one priority was to ‘knock Liverpool off their f****ing perch.’ It appeared a tall order at the time, with Liverpool having collected four European Cups and nine league championships since United last lifted the title in 1967.

But the United manager has left Liverpool trailing in his wake during his 22 years in English football and he claims that the internal problems at Anfield will only make it more difficult for Liverpool to close the gap if Benitez is forced out by Hicks and Gillett.

The disharmony at Anfield has coincided with the run of poor results that sees Liverpool lying in fifth place in the Premiership, 14 points adrift of leaders United. He dismissed Liverpool’s chances of winning the Premier League this season but he feels that Benitez deserved better.

He said: “I think Liverpool will be concentrating now on trying to win the European Cup rather than the league this season. I say that because it’s a long way to Arsenal, Chelsea and ourselves. If it was just one club in front of them, you still couldn’t write Liverpool off. But it is very difficult to think that three teams could ever drop that number of points and be caught.”

The latest news is that they are going to seal a refinancing deal soon. If they succeed in clinching the 350 million pounds loan, they should be able to repel the advances of Dubai conglomerate. The restructuring of the original 220 million loan will see the club take on £105million of debt with Kop Investment (the holding company set up by Hicks and Gillet) taking on £190million and the American duo putting up £55million of their own money.

Initial reports surfaced that the refinancing deal had hit the buffers, as the bank demanded extra personal guarantees from the Americans sources. However, a source close to Hicks have revealed, “Tom is in no doubt that the deal…is going through and he is looking forward to revealing the new stadium design which is every bit as spectacular as promised.

“There are a few minor glitches to be ironed out but nothing major - it’s pretty much just standard procedure for a deal on this scale.”

The glory days of Liverpool will never materialize unless they get their boardroom in order and this brings us to the bigger question of what the fans can do in the event of such belligerent take over that doesn’t benefit their beloved club in any manner. I will be commenting more on this issue in later posts. Till tomorrow.

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