Benitez, finances safe, Liverpool insist
Liverpool chief executive Christian Purslow says Rafael Benitez will not be sacked despite Champions League exit
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Wednesday, 25, Nov 2009 11:15
By Matthew Champion.
Liverpool's early Champions League exit does not threaten either Rafael Benitez's future or the club's finances, the Reds have insisted.
The 2005 winners went out of the competition's group stage last night for the first time in Benitez's five-year reign.
A 1-0 win in Debrecen was rendered meaningless as Fiorentina beat Lyon at the Stadio Artemio Franchi to leave Liverpool condemned to third place in group E and the Europa League.
The exit adds to Liverpool's desperate form this season that has seen a team that only lost twice in the league last season already succumb to eight defeats in all competitions, leaving them languishing in seventh place in the Premier League.
But speaking after last night's win in Hungary, the club's chief executive Christian Purslow insisted Benitez's position was safe.
"We don't run our business in that respect," Purslow said when asked if the Champions League exit spelled the end of the Spaniard's time at Anfield.
"We don't make managerial and strategic decisions around results in the short-run.
"You can never predict last-minute goals; two games this season have cost us dear in terms of the Champions League, that's no basis to make managerial decisions."
Purslow added the financial impact of the early exit would be "limited", despite the relatively frugal conditions in place on Merseyside.
"Assuming we have a reasonable run in the Europa Cup this year we're financially neutral this year," he said.
"We budget for a level of performance, if we play two or three games in the Europa cup we're exactly where we would have been in this tournament."
When asked about Benitez's long-term future of the club if Liverpool fail to qualify for next season's Champions League the chief executive added: "Rafa's just signed a new five-year contract, we're about four months into that contract, so to discuss where we'll be in another six months is inappropriate at this stage."