Liverpool face far more than Owen saga

SOCCER/News: Michael Owen will sever ties with his representatives SFX in the summer, just as David Beckham did last year, having been infuriated by comments from the group's chairman and chief executive Jon Holmes implying the England striker would leave Liverpool should the club fail to qualify for the Champions League.

The 24-year-old intends to quit when his contract with the agency expires in July and his father, Terry, will take over the running of his business affairs, with Liverpool optimistic the change in management will improve their chances of encouraging Owen to remain long-term on Merseyside.

Gerard Houllier yesterday confirmed the club hoped to open talks, initially with SFX, over a new deal later this month now that Owen's agent in the group, Tony Stephens, is returning from sabbatical.

The will-he-won't-he-sign Owen saga is only one of the problems facing the once mighty club. At a fractious club a.g.m. on Monday, chief executive Rick Parry was forced to defend and explain complex financial decisions and red-to-the-core chairman David Moores admitted he would "have to consider my own position if things do not improve".

This was no stormy meeting; there were no rows and few raised voices. But too many of those shareholders present, who took to their feet to pillory Parry, Moores and Houllier, had had enough of second best.

A discussion on the new stadium, costing £80 million in borrowed money, was the catalyst to the discontent which followed. Financial director Les Wheatley admitted "that the plug would be pulled if costs started to escalate".

The new stadium is fundamental to Liverpool's future but the third biggest shareholder, Steve Morgan, believed the level of borrowing was "ludicrous" when finance could come from big-money investors like himself.

Moores, eventually, found himself in a corner to the extent that he had to offer mediation with a long-term rival (Morgan), talks on compromise which could end his own majority shareholding and, in time, undermine the 50-year dynasty of his family's ownership.

Houllier listened impassively to the arguments and to the complaints about his signings and results this past 12 months.

It made for highly uncomfortable listening and the reality finally understood by all inside and outside Anfield that money is scarce.

With such a limited transfer budget - increasingly shorn of Champions League money - mistakes are magnified.

Houllier admitted that Salif Diao, Bruno Cheyrou and El-Hadji Diouf had not come up to scratch. But that was one whole summer's £20 million budget wasted - and he was told so.

The debate over the new ground, proposed for Stanley Park, would not go away. In the current stadium with a 45,000 capacity, Liverpool will slowly die as a major force. Old Trafford and St James' Park produce £1 million more per game than Anfield.

But the risk, claimed shareholders, is massive. Parry explained that Liverpool had to act and that redeveloping Anfield would have to happen anyway. A new main stand, and increasing the size of the Anfield Road end, would cost over £60 million.

He said: "We cannot stand still. But we are not going to build a white elephant, we will pull the plug if the costs go over £100 million."

The knife-edge on which Liverpool's future now rests was there for all to see - and it was not just about the bricks and mortar of a new ground.

It is about the decision-making of Moores, Parry and Houllier - and the cruel spotlight is unlikely to diminish in the coming months.

Guardian Service