The club’s owners want to sell but probably have an unrealistic price in mind and have brought in a temporary chairman to join an unsettled manager at a time some of the club’s most illustrious players are entering the veterans stage of their careers.

The fans are angry and in rebellious mood at what they see as the near ruination of their great club and at the slow and very painful public weakening of that incomparable spirit which, in all its different manifestations, made Liverpool one of the really very few great sports clubs in Europe.

But someone in a position of influence at the club is going to have to have the guts and the vision and the courage to explain to the fans of Liverpool what the plan for the rebuilding of the club involves and they need to do that very soon.

No one believes that next season will be much better than the ignominy of this season. Only someone who is blind to reality – both financial and playing reality – can look forward to 2010-11 with any confidence.

There is only one thing to do. Accept that the rebuilding process will take some time and that the club’s finances need to be sorted out as a priority.

Only when the club is under the control, and then the direct management of a group of people with a plan for its future success, based on the harsh truths of its current predicament will fans have the faith and belief to rally round the team, stick together for a few tough years and then look with real confidence to a much better future.

Whatever now happens, the status quo is not an option.