Send in the Clowns, Liverpool style

As Sami Hyypia put it after a lacklustre draw at Middlesbrough Saturday: "We seem to be becoming like Newcastle. Every time we pick up a paper, there seems to be something new."

Liverpool is becoming, quite quickly, a higher profile, higher stakes version of Newcastle. The ownership hasn't a clue how to operate a football club (for more on the Newcastle situation, read Martin Samuel in the Times). The two men at the club who should know better, David Moores and Rick Parry, appear to have turned into very capable yes men, failing to back the manager and failing to stop Hicks and Gillett from approaching Jurgen Klinnsmann last November as "an insurance policy".

Liverpool's owners are only exacerbating the situation on the field, adding fuel to the fire rather than doing anything constructive to help the team. If they don't want to spend any more money on players, so be it. But don't sack your manager because he asks for funds to improve the team.

That being said, perhaps the American owners don't have the pockets nor the stomach for this game. Football is not hockey, it is not baseball, nor is it like any other sport in North America. A team cannot simply buy its way to a title for less than the value of the club. Roman Abramovich plunked down half a billion pounds to win two league championships. That's how you win the league in a hurry.

Hicks and Gillett took out a loan to purchase Liverpool, pay off its debt and had some left over to buy a few players. A steady investment of this type over a few years might get the Reds closer to a title, but to think that a third of the way through the season this paltry amount should be paying immediate dividends is ludicrous.

Rafa Benitez has his failings and can improve as a manager, but he has delivered a European Championship, an FA Cup and a European Super Cup during his first three seasons in charge. Liverpool is underachieving at the moment, but rash decisions will get nowhere.

As teams like Manchester United and Arsenal have learned, to their credit, when you find a good manager, stick with him. Alex Ferguson won nothing in his first few years at United. Arsne Wenger had more immediate success, but he has also gone for spells without winning anything.

Ask a Newcastle fan what the consequences of a revolving door policy for their managers has earned them.

If I were Benitez, I'd be considering my future at the club as long as Hicks and Gillett are running the show. Perhaps the news that Dubai International Capital is once again interested in purchasing the club should be welcomed as good news by all who are involved with the club, staff, players and fans alike.