Parry Comes Out Fighting After 'offensive' Hicks Letter

Liverpool's chief executive Rick Parry today branded attempts to remove him from office by co-owner Tom Hicks as "offensive". The club were plunged into further boardroom turmoil yesterday when Hicks wrote to Parry asking him to resign. Parry was in London attending Javier Mascherano's appeal at the time the letter was received, and he has claimed that he is yet to view its contents.

"I've not seen the letter," admitted Parry. "You guys know a lot more about the letter than I do. My family saw it on Sky Sports, so they were delighted. This week, I shouldn't be the story, the story should be the team. It's 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]."

The latest developments behind the scenes at Anfield took the shine of the club's Champions League quarter-final victory over Arsenal on Tuesday - a game which Hicks did not attend.

Hicks's letter reportedly ran to three pages and is thought to have been prompted by a recent interview in which the chief executive urged the American owners to end their dispute. Its leaking into the public domain is a fresh embarrassment for the club in a season marred by internal wranglings. Hicks is presently thought to be trying to put together a financial package to attempt to buy out Gillett. Yet Gillett in turn has said he will not sell any of his 50% share to his partner.

Parry has been chief executive at Liverpool for a decade and oversaw the takeover of the club by Hicks and business partner George Gillett last year. Since then, the relationship between Hicks and Gillett has broken down and the future ownership of the club remains the subject of continual speculation. It is believed that Hicks is concerned by Parry's apparent support for Gillett in the two Americans' fight for majority control of Liverpool, as well as by his ongoing contact with prospective bidders, Dubai International Capital.

However, with Hicks unable to muster the required support at boardroom level to force through a change, Parry has vowed to continue working as normal. "No individual, certainly not me, is bigger than the club," he said. "The club will be fine but once again it shows there's a little bit of a lack of unity at the top. I'm just getting on the with the job."