Carragher Calls Owners Ruthless and Stadium Delay Embarrassing

Jamie Carragher has vehemently denounced Liverpool's "ruthless" owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, but believes Rafael Benítez must share responsibility for the public spat that almost cost the Spaniard his job last year.

The Liverpool defender admitted he feels physically ill at the prospect of Hicks and Gillett making a substantial profit on their investment in the club, having so far failed to deliver the new stadium that was promised on the first day of their take-over 20 months ago. That project has been delayed for at least a year by the "global economic climate".

Writing in Carra: My Autobiography, which is published today, Carragher claims: "For richer or poorer, we'd sold Liverpool to two ruthless businessmen who saw us as a moneymaking opportunity. They didn't buy Liverpool as an act of charity; they weren't intent on throwing away all the millions they'd earned over 50 years ... They wanted to buy us because the planned stadium offered a chance to generate tons of cash and increase the value of the club."

Loading much of their debt on to the club to the tune of £30m in annual interest repayments, despite initial promises to the contrary, triggered the start of their breakdown with the Liverpool support, the 30-year-old added. "Breaking this vow set the first alarm bells ringing, the embarrassing continual changing of the stadium plans was irritating too," he wrote.

Benítez does not escape criticism in Carragher's tome with the Spaniard accused of triggering last season's disharmony by calling for greater and more urgent investment in his squad. "I understood why the owners were unhappy with him too," he added. "They'd been undermined by Rafa and now they were undermining him."

Manchester City's new signing, Robinho, has admitted being responsible for leaving graffiti inside Chile's national stadium on Sunday. The forward was aggrieved by what he perceived as a "lack of respect" from Brazil's opponents in a World Cup qualifier in Santiago. Brazil won the game 3-0 and afterwards Robinho scrawled on the dressing-room wall: "There must be respect for the best team in the world."

"I was the one who wrote it," he admitted. "I wrote it because I think Chile should have shown some respect to the best team in the world. Chile did not respect us and look what happened to them."