PEPE REINA has urged Tom Hicks and George Gillett to pursue a swift sale of the club to help improve Liverpool’s prospects of staging a recovery next season.
The Reds’ parlous financial state was illustrated in last week’s publication of the accounts for Kop Football (Holdings) and the club’s increasing debt – coupled with a lack of Champions League football – will make it hard for Liverpool to compete for top signings this summer.
Clearly, though, Liverpool are desperate for reinforcements and Reina believes it is vital that quick, decisive action is taken to enable everyone to regroup to leave the traumas of the campaign that ended with a lifeless 0-0 draw at Hull City behind.
If that is not the case, there is a genuine fear that irreparable damage will be suffered and, listening to Reina speak, it is clear the worries supporters harbour for Liverpool are also shared within the dressing room.
With that in mind, then, Reina is hoping that new chairman Martin Broughton’s declaration that he will find “the right owners” to buy out Hicks and Gillett comes true sooner rather than later, so the Reds’ efforts to reclaim their Champions League status is not hindered.
“A quick sale would be simple as it would mean we could start planning for next season earlier,” said Reina. “All that I would ask is that if it is going to happen, then it happens as soon as possible to help the club itself.
“Of course we worry. It (the drama around the club) is a little bit of a concern and we need to sort out these kind of things, like the sale of the club and the issues with the owners.
“Once we settle all this, then we can begin to look forward and improve the squad.”
But will that prove easier said than done?
The deficiencies in Liverpool’s ranks are there for all to see and on too many occasions during the past nine months, Rafa Benitez has had to fill gaps by using players out of position.
For instance, the back four has never been settled; Jamie Carragher had four different central defensive partners between August and May, while injuries to Glen Johnson, Fabio Aurelio and Emiliano Insua meant Daniel Agger and Javier Mascherano became emergency full-backs.
Yet while it has been mooted that Liverpool might need as many as five or six new faces, Reina would prefer to see a policy implemented where Benitez was able to draft in players from the higher end of the market rather than padding it out with bargains.
“It has been a really disappointing season,” Reina conceded. “The only thing we can do is look forward and try to improve and build a competitive squad.
“We need to spend some cash on the squad to be competitive again so we can fight for a place in the top four.
“How many players do we need? I don’t know. It is not about quantity, it is about quality. We don’t want to bring anyone in just for (the sake of) bringing. We need to bring in the proper ones and improve on the players we already have.
“It is not cheap but I am sure that the manager and his technical staff will be working hard to change that.”
There were, inevitably, mitigating factors behind Liverpool’s many failures this season but, echoing Dirk Kuyt’s sentiments, Reina has refused to blame behind the scenes turmoil, the lack of financial backing Benitez received when it was needed or anything else.
As a collective – like at the KC Stadium and Fratton Park, Molineux, Craven Cottage and St Andrews – Liverpool fluffed their lines on far too many occasions and that was ultimately reflected by the final position.
“We cannot avoid our responsibilities,” he said. “We are the ones who play, so there is no excuses about that. Of course it did not help all the issues with owners and the situations with the ups and downs with the money. But we are just players and we have to play.
“It is up to us to show our quality on the pitch. We have tried to give our best all the time but clearly we didn’t get to the levels that we should have done this year. We have got to improve massively next season.”
Improvement, however, is not something anyone will be demanding from Reina; the clean sheet at Hull, of course, enabled him to secure a share of the Premier League’s Golden Glove with his Chelsea counterpart Petr Cech.
His finally tally of 17 was, when all things are considered, quite remarkable and without some of his saves – think of the wonderful double stop from Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill at Goodison Park in November – Liverpool’s position would have been much worse.
“It’s nice to be able to win this kind of trophy but it was down to the lads in front of me,” Reina, winning the Golden Glove for the fourth time in five years, modestly replied.
“I’m really thankful to them. In the second half of the season, we defended really well as a group.”
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