Soccer Extreme : LIVERPOOL fans may be well known for their sharp sense of humour.
But they have found little with which to amuse themselves after the latest extraordinary gaffe by American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
Or, rather, Tom and Jerry - a couple of cartoon-strip characters making a laughing-stock of one of our finest footballing institutions.
For years, Liverpool had a reputation for not washing their dirty linen in public. Now it has become the norm.
Not that long ago, they had to admit they had orchestrated talks with Jurgen Klinsmann about replacing manager Rafa Benitez.
Now Gillett has been struck down by another outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease.
The latest report is that Liverpool's co-owner told a representative of the Spirit of Shankly supporters' group: "If it's not getting better, it's not because of Gillett and Hicks. It's the manager and the scouting."
He then claimed Benitez had been provided with more than enough funds.
So, once again, it is the manager carrying the can - even though he has not got a minute's play out of Alberto Aquilani, his £20million purchase from Roma.
Gillett is now apparently upset because he thought it was a private conversation.
That shows you how much a man who said on his arrival at Anfield that he wanted to embrace everything about Liverpool has actually learned. Just as there is no such thing as a free dinner, so there is no such thing as a private conversation in the small, footballing village on the banks of the Mersey.
That was Gillett's first mistake. Then, again, he has spent most of the little time he passes on Merseyside trying far too hard to curry favour with the club's supporters.
Secondly, many of his other claims are highly debatable.
The most laughable was his assertion that Liverpool 'is in an extraordinarily good financial position - far better than Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal'. Now the Glazers may have burdened United with huge debts but the club is still an enormous money-making concern, with a vast global fan base and 75,000 at every home game.
As for Arsenal, the best-run club in the business, their debt revolves around a state-of-the-art, 60,000-capacity stadium.
In the last financial year, they generated profits of £35million.
Liverpool, on the other hand, are nowhere near even starting on a new ground, three years after Tom and Jerry arrived - despite Hicks writing off £10m by scrapping existing plans so architects from his native Texas 'could design a more spectacular stadium'.
Under the stewardship of the embattled and embittered Americans - like their cartoon equivalents, they cannot stand each other - the debt has also spiralled to £250m.
Add the same amount for a new ground and the club are staring at a minimum black hole of half a billion.
Almost as rib-tickling is Gillett's assertion that he and Hicks have invested £128m in the club over the last 18 months on top of the income from sales.
Some would suggest this 'investment' is made up largely of wages and the financing of the debt with which they lumbered the club when they bought it.
All Gillett, in fact, has managed to achieve is unite Liverpool fans behind Benitez.
Which, in its own way, could well create further problems.
Benitez, of course, is far from blameless.
His side have already lost three league games this season, plus another against Champions League group rivals Fiorentina.
There are at least three players who should be nowhere near the team, while the current style of play - full-backs bombing down the line - has come unstuck against better-class opposition, as there is no one other than Fernando Torres to convert the balls that do come into the box.
These tactics, plus the zonal marking system at the back and the defensive frailty of new boy Glen Johnson (and others), have piled further responsibility on Anfield warhorse Jamie Carragher.
There has also been criticism of Benitez's employment of Yossi Benayoun, a player whose instant impact as a sub against Chelsea suggested he should have started.
Torres apart, Benitez has operated an easy-come, easy-go attitude to strikers like Djibril Cisse, Milan Baros, Fernando Morientes, Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane.
Had he persevered with Bellamy, Liverpool, rather than Manchester City, could have been benefiting from the form that currently makes the Welshman the most dynamic forward in the Premier League.
As to scouting fresh talent and new players coming through the ranks, where are they?
So the manager is not exactly above suspicion. Then, again, such are the Liverpool debts, he has to sell before he buys - after being told he could spend £20m this summer.
Benitez, in fact, has more than balanced the books. The money coming in for Xabi Alonso (who he could not keep) and Keane outstripped the fees for Aquilani and Johnson.
Liverpool's next three games are against Sunderland (a), Lyon (h) and Manchester United (h). Further defeats and you might imagine Benitez's head hanging by a thread.
Except the massed ranks of support will turn once more on Tom and Jerry, claiming with considerable justification they have made the Spaniard's job impossible.
Liverpool fans will be hoping the billionaire from the desert, until now a mirage, becomes reality before long. (thesun)
But they have found little with which to amuse themselves after the latest extraordinary gaffe by American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
Or, rather, Tom and Jerry - a couple of cartoon-strip characters making a laughing-stock of one of our finest footballing institutions.
For years, Liverpool had a reputation for not washing their dirty linen in public. Now it has become the norm.
Not that long ago, they had to admit they had orchestrated talks with Jurgen Klinsmann about replacing manager Rafa Benitez.
Now Gillett has been struck down by another outbreak of foot-in-mouth disease.
The latest report is that Liverpool's co-owner told a representative of the Spirit of Shankly supporters' group: "If it's not getting better, it's not because of Gillett and Hicks. It's the manager and the scouting."
He then claimed Benitez had been provided with more than enough funds.
So, once again, it is the manager carrying the can - even though he has not got a minute's play out of Alberto Aquilani, his £20million purchase from Roma.
Gillett is now apparently upset because he thought it was a private conversation.
That shows you how much a man who said on his arrival at Anfield that he wanted to embrace everything about Liverpool has actually learned. Just as there is no such thing as a free dinner, so there is no such thing as a private conversation in the small, footballing village on the banks of the Mersey.
That was Gillett's first mistake. Then, again, he has spent most of the little time he passes on Merseyside trying far too hard to curry favour with the club's supporters.
Secondly, many of his other claims are highly debatable.
The most laughable was his assertion that Liverpool 'is in an extraordinarily good financial position - far better than Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal'. Now the Glazers may have burdened United with huge debts but the club is still an enormous money-making concern, with a vast global fan base and 75,000 at every home game.
As for Arsenal, the best-run club in the business, their debt revolves around a state-of-the-art, 60,000-capacity stadium.
In the last financial year, they generated profits of £35million.
Liverpool, on the other hand, are nowhere near even starting on a new ground, three years after Tom and Jerry arrived - despite Hicks writing off £10m by scrapping existing plans so architects from his native Texas 'could design a more spectacular stadium'.
Under the stewardship of the embattled and embittered Americans - like their cartoon equivalents, they cannot stand each other - the debt has also spiralled to £250m.
Add the same amount for a new ground and the club are staring at a minimum black hole of half a billion.
Almost as rib-tickling is Gillett's assertion that he and Hicks have invested £128m in the club over the last 18 months on top of the income from sales.
Some would suggest this 'investment' is made up largely of wages and the financing of the debt with which they lumbered the club when they bought it.
All Gillett, in fact, has managed to achieve is unite Liverpool fans behind Benitez.
Which, in its own way, could well create further problems.
Benitez, of course, is far from blameless.
His side have already lost three league games this season, plus another against Champions League group rivals Fiorentina.
There are at least three players who should be nowhere near the team, while the current style of play - full-backs bombing down the line - has come unstuck against better-class opposition, as there is no one other than Fernando Torres to convert the balls that do come into the box.
These tactics, plus the zonal marking system at the back and the defensive frailty of new boy Glen Johnson (and others), have piled further responsibility on Anfield warhorse Jamie Carragher.
There has also been criticism of Benitez's employment of Yossi Benayoun, a player whose instant impact as a sub against Chelsea suggested he should have started.
Torres apart, Benitez has operated an easy-come, easy-go attitude to strikers like Djibril Cisse, Milan Baros, Fernando Morientes, Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy and Robbie Keane.
Had he persevered with Bellamy, Liverpool, rather than Manchester City, could have been benefiting from the form that currently makes the Welshman the most dynamic forward in the Premier League.
As to scouting fresh talent and new players coming through the ranks, where are they?
So the manager is not exactly above suspicion. Then, again, such are the Liverpool debts, he has to sell before he buys - after being told he could spend £20m this summer.
Benitez, in fact, has more than balanced the books. The money coming in for Xabi Alonso (who he could not keep) and Keane outstripped the fees for Aquilani and Johnson.
Liverpool's next three games are against Sunderland (a), Lyon (h) and Manchester United (h). Further defeats and you might imagine Benitez's head hanging by a thread.
Except the massed ranks of support will turn once more on Tom and Jerry, claiming with considerable justification they have made the Spaniard's job impossible.
Liverpool fans will be hoping the billionaire from the desert, until now a mirage, becomes reality before long. (thesun)