”A RETURN of two wins in 11 Premier League games is clearly not in line with the targets that were agreed and set… the board felt that there was no evidence that the situation would fundamentally change”.

Anyone catching this statement out of context on Saturday night might be forgiven for assuming that it was Rafa Benitez who was hitting the streets rather than Mark Hughes, notwithstanding that our manager’s record boasts one win more in that period. Regardless of the financial implications of terminating his contract less than a year into a five-year deal, our ‘non-domiciled’ owners must have been sorely tempted to call time on the Rafalution after the debacle at Portsmouth.

Had they been at the match, or even worse at the post-match press conference where the manager’s petulant and puerile behaviour brought dishonour to both himself and the club, they might well have pulled the trigger there and then.

Both on and off the pitch, Liverpool were exposed to a level of ridicule which is quite simply unacceptable.

Quite how we’ve gone from Premier League hopefuls to mid-table mediocrity in such a short space of time defies belief.

None of the usual culprits trotted out can fully explain the rapidity of the decline, be it the loss of Alonso, injuries, beach balls or just plain bad luck.

Those fans who seek to blame all the club’s ills on the owners are deluding themselves as surely as Rafa with his ‘guarantee’ that we’ll finish in the top four.

The level of investment in the summer may well have been insufficient to challenge Chelsea and Manchester United, but was surely enough to see off Birmingham and Fulham, between whom we’re currently sandwiched in the table?

After five years in charge, the manager should be able to put out a reserve side that is too good for Portsmouth in their current state.

Like many others, I can’t see any sign of them turning this round.