By J Wade
February 16 2005

LIVERPOOL chief executive Rick Parry believes Rafael Benitez will not require the extraordinary wealth of Chelski to construct a championship winning team at Anfield. The Anfield club have spent £43million on their squad since the end of last season in an attempt to close the gap on the title chasers.

And though Liverpool cannot compete with Roman Abramovich's riches and are currently 22 points behind Jose Mourinho's league leaders, Parry insists Benitez (above) can still deliver the title in time.

Parry admits Liverpool had to appoint a coach with a track record of winning titles on limited resources when they sacked Gerard Houllier last summer.

"We have to be realistic," Anfield's chief executive said. "We don't have the resources of Chelsea, but we have a top class coach in Rafa. He's the best at getting the best out of the resources at his disposal.

"We never saw him as a gamble. It was about appointing a good manager and the prime target was winning the championship. I suppose you always take a gamble with someone who's not won one.

"But the prime criteria was having a proven track record and they don't come any tougher than winning La Liga. For someone to do that twice against the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona is very impressive.

"We had talks with senior players like Stevie, Carragher and Owen beforehand, because that makes sense. We asked them who was the best side we'd played in the last five years, and the answer was Valencia. There were no shortage of people interested. But we wanted someone young and ambitious.

"Rafa ticked every box but how lucky were we that he was available and looking for a new challenge."

Benitez signed a five-year contract when he swapped Spain for Anfield last summer. And Parry believes his instant success at Valencia, where he won the club's first league title for 31 years in his debut season, and also in improving Liverpool's style of play despite a lengthy injury list have increased expectations on the manager.
He added: "Rafa is terrific. Everything we said when we appointed him is being borne out. Ironically he is a victim of his own success in a way.

"We had some highs over the first half of the season - who'd forget Olympiakos and Arsenal?

"In August we said it was a transitional period. Then come January, it's Liverpool in crisis! You've got to get things in perspective.

"Our level of expectation is winning the title. It's a very, very high standard. Nothing less is good enough, and Gerard Houllier fell victim to that.

"It goes with the territory at Liverpool. But let's not judge Rafa on his first season, or others's last season. We had barren spells in the 1960s and you can't turn it around overnight. We are perfectly happy with his aspirations but you can't do it at once without a blank cheque."