Real? Are you for real??? Rafa has done wonders for the club, seems people forget very quickly what cups he has brought to the club! He needs support from everyone. Get over Paisley etc the past is the past! He is the future. The American owners are however not the future.

Get lost Rafa, more like get lost redblood. True fan my eye

KJ, Dublin, Ireland

I can't believe that they expect everyone to believe that this was just an "Insurance Policy". If Klinsmann had accepted, I doubt Rafa would still be in a job at Anfield.

Also, I can't believe that they think Klinsmann knows more about English & especially European football. Rafa has a knowledge of European Football that is second to none. Klinsmann's only managerial experience is that he managed Germany to the semi finals of the World Cup, which probably had more to do with National Euphoria than his managerial competence.

Unfortunately I do think that with everything that has happened it will be hard for Rafa to carry on, epsecially as the performances for much of this season have been mediocre at best.

I think that Mourinho is just waiting for the summer to be offered the job.

I was quite optimistic when Gillet/Hicks took over, but is becoming more apparent by the day that they have little if any clue on how to run a Football Club.

Lets hope things turn around FAST

Drewster, Stourbridge, W Mids

To Redblood, well i live only 1 mile from the ground, and have also been a season ticket holder all my life. I take it from your point of view that makes me more of a fan than you!!!

Your right on one point though, Shanks would be spinning in his grave at the attitude, exemplified by you of the current batch of liverpool supporters. Rafa has the most difficult job of any manager since Shankly, yet two champions league finals, two domestic finals in three years isnt deemed acceptible to some liverpool fans ( by the way YOU ARE IN THE MINORITY, dont pretend to speak for all scousers you dont!!!)

Winning the league is extremely hard, that is why great sides win it. Patience and good planning helps you build a great side, not pandering to a shower of spoilt, impatient, dismissive fans.

Rafa has done more than enough to be safe as our manager, he isnt perfect, but heres some news, NOBODY IS!
Do me a favour Redblood, stay away, we can do without 'Scousers' like you!

Stephen, Liverpool,

Rick Parry "trust me" comments when he rejected DIC bid look more like a joke as every day passes

SNP, Wirral, uk

Liverpool are nolonger a football club they are a FRANCHISE, nothing more nothing less. If they so wish the owners can move the Liverpool franchise out of the city, say down to the West Country. Money at rhe turn styles doesn't keep the franchise books in the black, so why not move it.

Anthony J, Alton , UK

Not sure if H&G know what they are doing, apart from putting the club in a very weak financial position.
I do believe Rafa has the backing of the majority of the supporters and I do also believe that all this inestability is really affecting the players and the staff.
In response to Bob from Manchester... Just remind me how long it took to Alex Ferguson and to Arsene Wenger to win their 1st premier league ? What did Ferguosn win the 1st 4 years of his stay ? and Wenger ?... How much money have both spent compare to Benitez ?.... Some common sense would be more than welcome, thanks !

Julen Martin, Lee on the Solent, Hampshire

I am a solid Rafa supporter, even tho he plays around too much. But its clear to see that whoever is in the managers roll will have to deal with the same problems as Rafa.

Its not RB that needs to go. Its the Yanks. They were and still are in this for a quick buck.

They haven't used any of thier own money and are instead using bridging loans which they are now struggling to re-finance. If they sell up to DIC they stand to make £75mill each, without a penny spent..nice work if you can get it.

Rafa is still the man for the job..take out a few dodgy players (Voronin the chief suspect) and we have a good strong squad.

Just play your best players Rafa, not the fittest, just the best..and the results will come back.

We still have the second best defensive record and are still a game in hand

Have faith in what we have.

Good Luck tonight

Roger San
Petts Wood

Roger Sanford, Petts Wood, Kent

I have to say this is not Liverpool way - Rick Parry is obviously not doing his job in teaching the Americans how L'pool do things, & yes he should go. As the lot thicken's it seems more and more likely rafa will depart in the summer but who will replace him is the question.....They have treated him very badly considering what he has done for the club.

Most supporters don't trust the americans anymore and it is obviously starting to affect the team.
Mascharano will leave and probably alonso and we are starting to look ruff all over.....

Josh, London, UK

Benitez has had over 3 years at the helm - and in the league we are no closer... his rotation policy is absurd and most of his signings are average at best. He must go - we need someone that can push the club forward with results and attacking football... but more importantly get results.. not grind out matches in the cups and fail miserably in the league... benitez has got to go. Mourhino in.

lee, Birmingham,

We, as fans, do not own the club. That has always been the case but never before has it been so apparent. The time to protest about H&G was before they took over. We didn't and now we must watch frustratedly as they please themselves. We laughed at Man Utd, we laughed at Chelsea but now we can only weep at what we've let happen.

John, Liverpool,

The Americans are having a laugh if they think Liverpool FC is worth £1 billion. All DIC have to do is wait until Hicks and Gillett fail to refinance the loan in February and they'll pick the club up cheap.

Stephen, St. Ives, England

Who are these people saying rafa has most of the fans backing? I've been to a few of the poor games recently and from what I hear the fans don't particularly want him to stay, and are getting more and more disgruntled with yet another season wasted. YES we have won the champions league, but this is all rafa's tactics are up for, combined with great player spirit and a good dose of luck.
We NEED to win the title. I notice someone has put up stats comparing rafa to previous managers, how about putting stats comparing him to arsene wenger and alex ferguson? I bet he comes out pretty poorly compared with them, and we need a manager of their standard to do well in the future

Bob, Manchester,

chairman sort it out now and any future business conduct internally only -----------if you cannot do this move on and allow a proffesional business company to run us like dic , i still wonder why we sold to the americans at the eleventh hour and not them ----------what moores and parry told us at that time does not ring true at this moment in time ???
i have been a lfc supporter for 40 plus years and have never witnessed a shambles like this is at present , hicks and gillet proffesional ???

denis tracey, liverpool, uk

rick parry should go.

hiresh Khetia, LEICESTER, UK

We'll have him!!!

Simon, Newcastle(United)

Simon, Newcastle on Tyne, England

The new owners are being extremely 'un-Liverpool'. No wonder the on-pitch form is struggling. If the owners kept quiet from the start, instead of raising their own profile - we would be fine.

A few months ago, when we were unbeaten and close to the top - Benitez said that he wanted more cash to spend in January - to take us higher. PERFECT! Now what do we find? The owners didn't like it, they've undermined Benitez, and now we're heading for a fight for fourth.

Whilst Benitez often confuses me, and some of his signings have been dreadful (Voronin remains hopeless)... the trouble at the club starts from the top - and runs all the way down. Gerrard, Carragher, McManaman, Redknapp, Owen, Fowler - where's all the young talent gone??

I hate to say it - but a lot needs to change, we look like a club in trouble.

David, London,

The situation at LFC is a total disaster and not the way LFC work The Americans should either back Rafa or Sack Rafa as a Liverpool fan all my life, i personally think that RB has done a fantastic job, however, i dont think that he has yet got to grips with what it takes to win the PL , play your stongest team week in week out, if a player aged 22 on £50K+ a week can not play 38 games a season, there is something seriously wrong.
stop tinkering !!

Gary, Rhyl, Denbighsire

Well, Benitez's win rate is still higher than Evans or Houllier. The news that Barcelona, AC Milan and Real Madrid could be lurking around does say something of his credibility. Who apart from Bayern Munich was after Klinsmann and how can two people who had NO clue about SOCCER know which manager is best to appoint. Maybe it's time that the owners let the manager deal with the transfers and they just concentrate on the finance!

Benny Tan, Reading,

His win rate may not be 'significantly' higher than Evans or Houllier but did either of them win the Champions League and finish runner up in another?

Sharpe, Wick, Caithness

Two non-footballing men attempting to appoint an inexperienced uneffective manager does not bode well for anyone with the interests of LFC at heart. These crank yankers certainly don't have the clubs values at heart, they are driven by the dollar at the end of the day and a very simplistic understanding of football.
Having a meeting with an ex-footballer about European football and then turning round and effectively offering him a job, do these people expect to be taken seriously?
At this level of competition it's frankly farcical, the competetive edge we were looking for in the boardroom certainly hasn't materialised with this pair of jokers.
Hopefully they are moved on before they have the chance to oust Rafa. A vocal crowd tonight may go someway toward reminding them of the Liverpool way
ynwa

Ash, Birmingham, Uk

The Hicks/Gillett ownership is looking worse by the day. The management of the new stadium has been very poor. We could have the thing half built by now, but we are instead on the third or fourth re-design. And now the admission of the Klinsmann meeting. It's looking like David Moors sold to the wrong buyer when he switched from the DIC bid at the last minute. Looks like our rich owners aren't so rich after all.

On the management side, I'd like to see Martin O'neill as Liverpool boss. He's doing a great job at Villa on a much smaller budget than Liverpool and I like his honesty. i'm tired of hearing Rafa's after match comments of 'We need to just think about the next game' 'We need to be 100% perfect for the rest of the season' After every drawn game!

Richie G, London,

"In Rafa we trust"?
Us "real liverpool fans" will support him tonight ?
Andrew from LONDON UK....
As a "real Liverpool" fan, who has paid at the turnstile since he was a kid, and lived for years less than a mile from the ground, do NOT speak for me ok?
I support Liverpool FC the club, my "Home" team, and I want whats best for them. Rafa Benitez is not whats best for us. He`s a meddler, an experimentalist, with the emphasis on the "Mentalist".
Benitez will "Love the club, the city, the supporters", of whoever pays his wages..be that Real Madrid or Accrington Stanley.
Managers come and go these days... I`d like him to go, soon.
Personally, I wouldnt hire him to Manage my local cornershop... as a customer, I`d never know where anything is from one week to the next. Milk next to the cigarettes, bread on the top shelf next to the girly mags...
Poor Bob Paisley must be rolling in his grave. I can hear Shanks` growling silence in my sleep.
get lost Rafa.

Redblood, Liverpool,

I hope this has been blown out of all proportion, and that Hicks has simply had a temporary loss of sanity by opening his mouth to the papers about the Klinsmann issue. Rafa MUST NOT leave the club, he is far too valuable to us. The American pair may have the money, but Rafa has the support of virtually all of the fans. There will be a huge backlash if we lose Rafa. Be warned, Hicks & Gillett!

Vicky, Liverpool,

I applaud Rafael Benitez.

His first love is Real Madrid, its the city where he was raised and grew up, its where he coached in his managerial infancy.... yet as Liverpool fans, we can FEEL his love and passion for us, which for me, is stronger than the likes of Dalglish (no disrespect at all) and on par with the likes of Souness and Fowler.

He has even distanced himself away from the Real on a number of occasions... yet these Americans will end up terminating his tenure.

I realise that every Liverpool fan talks about the title being the holy grail, but give him a chance. He has failed to shut the doubters even with a EUROPEAN CUP.

He has spent big, but he has also recouped a hell of alot, with the net outlay being minimal compared to our hated rivals across the M62.

So Rafael, until the American Circus is here, you probably don't have a future. Hold your head up high and stick your chest out - because every true Liverpool fan knows what you have done for the club.

Sadat Rahim, Cheshire, UK

Why do Liverpool fans (or so we are told) back Rafa? He's OK, but that's all. Liverpool are a poor shadow of the team they should be - the one that dominated English football for many years. They deserve better!

martin, London,

in rafa we trust!!!!

if anyone must go its the owners they only wish bad for our great club!!!

he is the best manager we have had in years.

and we as real liverpool fans will support him tonight at anfield!!!!

rafa must stay,

andrew, LONDON (U.K), london

I would urge Hicks/ Gillett and all Liverpool supporters to try and recruit Avram Grant , a truly classy and capable manager .

Noah Galway, New York , NY, USA

Despite the snags over the new ground, and continued doubt over the future of team manager Rafa Benitez, Hicks and Gillett are adamant that they do not intend to sell the club and cut their losses, despite continuing speculation to the contrary.

Unfortunately for Rafa if the above statement is true I think his days are numbered, and if I were him I would hold out for the reported £6m pay off, it would be no worse than what Moores and the rest of the Board did when they sold the club to H & G.

Rafa is hero worshipped by a vast majority of supporters and would be doing a much better job if he had the finacial backing and the full support of H & G, and the back stabbing Parry.The supporters love you Rafa YNWA!!

Chris, Weston super Mare, England

Liverpool is a club that more than any other did its business in private. Hicks and Gillett promised to homor the traditions of the club but have done the opposite. Liverpool is not a hire and fire institution . Should DIC or any other group take over then the first thing they should do is remove Rick Parry. He more than anyone should know the valuse of the club and advised the new owners . Instead he seems to be part of the problem . In general the fans think he is an embarrassment and as such along with our yank owners should be removed. If the worse comes to the worse then I can well see a boycott of games at Anfield until this mess is resolved. Liverpool have been around for more than 100 years and will be around for the next 100 no matter what our 2 colonial cousins and their local sherrif do.

John S, Liverpool,

re Colin from Andover, Hants...sorry Andover USA.

these stats speak for themselves

Liverpool managers in Premier League
Manager Win %
Benitez 53.3%
Houllier 49.1%
Evans 47.3%
Souness 41.2%

Benitez (NOT Benny) is the best manager we've had since Dalglish, knowledgable fans realise that, the players realise that, it's a pity that the American contingent, including you, don't realise that aswell.

Matt, Merseyside,

Sad times. The club I have followed since a boy is in serious danger of losing it's soul forerver. Mind you, that probably happened, not just to LFC but to the entire top flight of English football when back in 1991 when Noel White, David Dein et al succeded in pushing through the Premier League. This is just latest example of how our national game is no longer ours - the fans. Who, by the way, are so loyal that we will still be paying our money long after this new breed of shark find something new to invest in and ultimately, corrupt and ruin.

Mat, London,

Benny's win rate is not significantly better than either Gerrard Houllier's or Roy Evans' . This "fan loyalty" stuff is nonsense - Hicks and Gillette were right to seek an alternative, just as Benny will be opening up his options. We want to win the Premiership, The FA Cup and the Champions' League, and he just wants to build a platform for his next career move. Shanks and Paisley must be spinning...
Big Sam's available.

Colin McSporran, andover, USA

The behaviour of Hicks and Gillett, along with that of Rick Parry, whose contempt in the eyes of the average supporter rises with every passing day, is a new low in British football. This is really saying something. I would love to see DIC buy out LFC and fire Parry. G & H are a mean-spirited bunch. They have messed up LFC and made it a laughing stock amongst all who can't abide the most successful club in football around these parts.

Seán , London,