MARK LAWRENSON: Peacemaker Rick Parry can step in to prevent a Liverpool FC war

Nov 27 2007 by Mark Lawrenson

THERE could be one important player to step out of the shadows in the coming weeks and prevent Liverpool’s season disintegrating.

And it won’t be anyone wearing a red shirt with a number and their name on the back – it will be the chief executive.

There’s been a strange silence from behind Rick Parry’s office door this week, save for a hasty ‘let’s all pull together’ message ahead of Saturday’s trip to Newcastle.

It’s time now, however, for Parry to deliver that message to the two parties who have appeared at times during the past week to be on the verge of all-out war.

Unlike Rafael Benitez and Tom Hicks, he doesn’t need to do it in public but he does need to be the peacemaker. Both the owner and the manager are stubborn and will stick to their beliefs – it’s why they have been so successful in their respective fields and now assume such positions of power.

But it’s also why they are looking increasingly unable to work together, a situation that appears to be edging Benitez gradually out of the door.

If there is any way Parry can step in to prevent this happening then he has to.

He has to come in and act as the go-between, ensuring that the club can show some kind of united front once again.

And if they do happen to go out of the Champions League against Porto tomorrow night, the repair job will have to be done before Hicks and George Gillett come over in mid-December for the Manchester United game.

That’s too long a time to let this all linger.

After all, the way a Champions League exit would affect the Americans’ revenue stream could alienate Benitez even further.

But what concerns me most is that Liverpool has never been a club where there’s been any uncertainty, it’s always been clear what’s going on, who’s in charge and more importantly, those people have always had the interests of the club as top priority.

After this past week, you start to wonder if that’s the case given the barbed comments that have been making their way over the Atlantic.

They've also been flying over Parry’s head and that’s concerning.

It makes me wonder if he’s being marginalised or squeezed out by the impact of the new owners.

That also can’t be allowed to happen.

If he can keep it all behind closed doors, get things running sensibly and smoothly again and somehow try to unite the parties it will all be for the good of Liverpool.

And for me, that involves Benitez staying on as manager.

Which might seem less and less likely with each passing crossed word but one thing is for certain, he’s the man the fans believe in and that sentiment will surely be echoed to full volume at Anfield tomorrow.

Everyone knows now that Liverpool have a good manager and losing him over something other than a footballing reason would seem absurd.

Unfortunately, it could also be unavoidable.

But if there’s a chance that it isn’t then Parry needs to step in, wrestle some power back and grasp that chance with both hands.