Say what you like about Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez (and sometimes we do) he has few masters in the murky art of football politics.
He’s been scheming, increasingly publicly, against Liverpool CEO Rick Parry all season and now Parry has announced he’s going at the end of the season.
So Rafa will no doubt sign a new contract - but will it be as manager or manager cum CEO?
Because it’s hard to see what a new CEO could contribute at Liverpool, given that Rafa wants control over all transfer dealings (Parry overstepped the mark when he bought Robbie Keane who Benitez didn’t want rather than Gareth Barry who he did), the youth academy and probably the brand of pie they sell at half time.
Sooner or late Liverpool need a new owner in place of the hapless Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett. But would such a person feel comfortable in a world belonging to Benitez?
Even his old foe Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United must be feeling a pang of envy today.