IF RAFAEL BENITEZ’S Liverpool reign ended under a cloud, then Roy Hodgson’s began with a torrential thunderstorm on Saturday.

The newly-appointed Anfield manager will hope it is not a sign of things to come after he was made to wait for the first game of his tenure following the wash-out in the Austrian town of Altach.

Certainly, those who enjoy seeking out omens didn’t have very far to look amid the teeming rain.

Not least the sight of Anfield co-owner George Gillett sheltering under an umbrella in the players’ tunnel in the hope of watching his team fend off Arabian advances.

That the stadium was called the Cashpoint Arena would have surely raised a wry smile from the American given the parlous state of Liverpool’s finances that has precipitated the desire for Gillett and Tom Hicks to sell the club.

Frustratingly, Liverpool got as close to playing at the weekend as the co-owners have to offloading their stakes.

When the heavens opened two hours before kick-off, it quickly became apparent there would be little chance of the friendly against Al Hilal going ahead, despite the heroic efforts of a plethora of helpers brandishing buckets, brushes and spades to clear huge pools of standing water.

The firefighters who curiously hosed the pitch shortly before the downpour commenced were recalled to aid the clear-up operation, but it was to no avail.

“We gave it our best shot,” says Hodgson. “I thought the people from Al Hilal were very good and we did everything we could to try and get the game on.

“But you can’t beat the elements and you can’t play football on a waterlogged pitch.

“To play football, you have got to have a pitch that you can play football on.

“There was no pitch to play football on here.

“We didn’t have the game called off because we were worried about picking up injuries. It was called off because it was impossible to play.”