Garry Cook, the chief executive of Manchester City, has sparked fury at Anfield by claiming that Liverpool approached Roberto Mancini with a view to the Italian replacing Rafael BenĂtez as manager.
Cookâs latest controversial comments have landed him in hot water with the Liverpool hierarchy, who have refused to comment. Privately, they have not been impressed by Cookâs outburst and are likely to regard it as a smokescreen after the sacking of Mark Hughes and subsequent appointment of Mancini as City manager.
The City chief executive was criticised after he claimed that Mancini had not been offered the job until last Thursday but it had emerged that the decision to replace Hughes had been taken three weeks ago.
In an attempt to explain his actions, Cook shifted the attention on to Liverpool, using their approach to JĂźrgen Klinsmann as a potential replacement for BenĂtez two years ago as evidence that clubs often have managerial successors lined up before the incumbent has been dismissed. âIt is naive to think that clubs are not looking at their options,â Cook said. âOf course they are. Do we think that Liverpool just talked to Klinsmann? I am sure they also spoke to others, and I have no doubt that Roberto Mancini was one of them. Of course he would have been.â
Shortly after talks were held with Klinsmann, in November 2007, Tom Hicks, the Liverpool co-owner, confessed that an approach had been made to the German but said it was only as a contingency in case BenĂtez left the club to join Real Madrid.
At the time, Liverpool were not linked with any other manager nor was there any evidence that they had launched a recruitment offensive, with agents employed to sound out potential successors to the Spaniard.
BenĂtez will also see Cookâs comments as an unnecessary distraction as he attempts to reinvigorate Liverpoolâs flagging fortunes. However, one issue that he believes will right itself is the form of Steven Gerrard, which BenĂtez insists will improve as his captainâs fitness levels increase, enabling him to play and train more regularly.
âHe knows that he needs to improve but that in itself is very positive for me because it shows that he realises he is an important player for us,â BenĂtez said.
âHe was doing much better, we were analysing his data and this was very clear. In the last game [against Portsmouth] he wasnât at the same level, but this can sometimes happen and he knows that he is improving physically and this is the main thing for his confidence.
âWe have a lot of conversations, not just with Stevie, but with a lot of players. They want to improve and sometimes that can be a problem because they can try to too hard and that makes it more difficult.
âIf you analyse our team, people always talk about Gerrard and [Fernando] Torres. They are very important for us and they would be for any team. They have to be good because this means the rest of the team will be better and if they donât play at the level they can, it can affect the team.
âSteven is a very good player and because the fans have seen him play very well they expect him to play at the same level, but itâs not easy when youâre not training with the team. If he has no [injury] problems, I am sure he will be better.â
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