The situation at Liverpool reached a new low last night after the gloves came off and the divisions were laid bare in the bitter boardroom struggle at the Barclays Premier League club.

After Rick Parry launched a damning indictment of Tom Hicks’s attempts to remove him from office, George Gillett Jr offered his full public backing to the Liverpool chief executive, further damaging relations between the club’s warring American co-owners.

Coming days after Liverpool reached the Champions League semi-finals for the third time in four seasons, Parry branded Hicks’s request that he step down, which came in a three-page letter, as “offensive to the players, the manager, the fans, In the week when we had another great European triumph there’s more dirty linen being washed [in public]”.

Parry reiterated that he had no intention of resigning, while making a plea for “leadership at the top” at a time when there is “a severe lack of unity” at the club, but it was the defiance displayed by Gillett towards Hicks that resonated and heightened fears that the struggle for ownership could continue to be played out in public for some time as tensions between the rival factions spiral out of control.

The “first refusal” agreement between Gillett and Hicks, in which one must offer the other the chance to buy his 50 per cent stake before selling to a third party, is believed to expire at the end of next month. Despite the acrimony in the boardroom, the commitment of Dubai International Capital (DIC), the private equity investment arm of the Dubai Government, to buy the club was described as “remorseless” by one source last night.

Hicks is thought to have wanted Parry out for at least six weeks but decided to wait until after Liverpool’s three matches against Arsenal in the Barclays Premier League and Europe before making his move, but Parry has the support of the majority of his fellow board members — Gillett, Gillett’s son Foster and David Moores, the honorary life president — so any attempt appears doomed to failure.

“Rick Parry retains our full support,” Gillett said. “Any decision to remove him would need the approval of the full Liverpool board, which, it should be remembered, consists of six people — myself, Foster, David Moores, Rick himself, Tom Hicks and Tom Jr.

Parry learnt of Hicks’s intentions via text messages from family members asking whether the reports breaking on Thursday afternoon were true, but Hicks’s camp cast doubt yesterday on Gillett’s suggestions that he had not seen the letter, which they say was circulated to all board members.

Although Hicks was irked by a radio interview conducted by Parry last month, during which the Liverpool chief executive was critical of the Texan, the letter outlined various reasons behind the call for his resignation. Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, is alleged to have told Hicks that Parry was responsible for allowing a series of high-profile transfer targets to slip through the net.

Benítez, whose weekly press briefing was cancelled yesterday, had been privately critical of Parry for some time and was dismayed at losing out on Florent Malouda, the France winger, to Chelsea and Nemanja Vidic, the Serbia defender, to Manchester United, although after Liverpool’s success this week, sources claimed that the Spaniard was “incensed” that their achievements should be overshadowed by more boardroom strife.

Hicks is also thought to have accused Parry in the letter of failing to maximise Liverpool’s commercial potential. Similarly, Hicks was angered by a dressing-down given to Ian Ayre, the club’s commercial director and a close ally, by Gillett in Parry’s company this week. Ayre was officially on a “day off” yesterday and could not be contacted.

More protests against the present owners are planned by supporters at Liverpool’s match at home to Blackburn Rovers tomorrow.