Rafael Benitez's Severance the Latest Liverpool FC Indignity

He doesn't deserve this. The fans don't deserve this. The club doesn't deserve this.

The reports that surfaced late last night of the Liverpool Board deciding to offer  manager Rafael Benitez £3m to walk away are the latest in a long line of humiliations for Reds fans.

Liverpool has become the laughing stock of world football, and a shining example of how not to run a football club.

Owners Gillett and Hicks promised the world to Anfield, but instead they have delivered a succession of hammer blows to the strength, reputation and stature of the club.

They have turned Liverpool from Champions League finalists with a sustainable £44m of debt in 2007 to a team with a whopping £350m mountain of debt that devours every part of Liverpool's income in interest.

Benitez is only the latest casualty in what has been a dark time around L4.

Hicks and Gillett first began negotiations with Jurgen Klinsmann to replace Benitez only six months after buying the club.

The same Benitez who had delivered two European finals appearances and an FA Cup in three years and who had become an instant hero on the Kop.

He has been starved of money in the transfer market, becoming what the Telegraph described as '"The Spanish 'Arry Redknapp."

But this is not the way he operates.

When Benitez has been given significant money, he has delivered great players and silverware. But when he has not, he has had more than his fair share of cheap failures.

With his position now completely untenable, it is likely that Benitez will leave the club that deems him unworthy of its employment and join up with Inter Milan. That's Internazionale, European champions and the team that just picked up its fifth consecutive league title.

Who would walk into this mess at Anfield, under a dictatorship at a failing club with no transfer budget?

Whoever he is, he will need the heart of a lion and the patience of a saint to succeed.

As Gareth Roberts wrote on Twitter last night: "Puppet required. Apply to Liverpool Football Club c/o Christian Purslow. PS: Helps if you are a bit sh*t at maths."