Ian Rush urges Liverpool players not to lose sight of their goals

Jan 19 2008

LIVERPOOL’S all-time record goalscorer Ian Rush has called on the club’s players to not let matters off the pitch affect them ahead of their meeting with Aston Villa on Monday.

The club’s American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks have recently confirmed that they had held talks with Jurgen Klinsmann over manager Rafael Benitez’s job.

And speculation that the US duo are prepared to sell their share of the club to Dubai International Capital has also refused to go away.

But despite the uncertainty at Anfield the former Liverpool striker has said the players should concentrate their efforts on obtaining the right results on the pitch, starting with the visit of Martin O’Neill’s side.

“The current situation can be used as an excuse if the players don’t go out and get the right result against Villa,” Rush said.

“But really the players should not let it affect them. They are paid for what they do on the pitch and they should just get on with that side of things.

“There are some important games coming so they need to keep the focus on their own performances and let the manager and the owners deal with all these other issues.

“Liverpool is not known for handling things in the way they have been handled in recent weeks so it’s not a situation they will be used to. In my eyes we should be above all this kind of thing and it should all be dealt with behind closed doors.”

The 46-year-old, who scored 346 goals for Liverpool, also backed Benitez as the man to take the club forward in light of the uncertainty over his future.

Rush admitted the former Valencia coach has demonstrated in his three years at Anfield that he is not far away from delivering the winning formula to bring the club their 19th league title.

“Benitez deserves his chance to continue some of the good work he has done so far,” Rush added.

“It took Sir Alex Ferguson a lot longer before he won anything with Manchester United which shows that sticking with a manager does work.

“Benitez has won two trophies since he arrived, they’re still in the Champions League and the FA Cup and, although it’s now unlikely, they still have an outside chance of winning the league.

“The question is if you get rid of Benitez who do you bring in? You can count on one hand those who would be good enough to replace him – and then it’s a question of getting them.

“For me he’s the man to do the job so let him get on with it and the time to review things is at the end of the season.

“Of course if you ask the Liverpool fans what they want the majority will answer that it is the Premier League title, and it is results domestically which will determine his future.

“They are not that far away but there is so much pressure in football, it’s big business now and they (Gillett and Hicks) are the owners so they are the ones who will have the final say.”