LIVERPOOL, England -- Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks has asked chief executive Rick Parry to resign from his post at the club.
Parry's position is looking in doubt after he was asked to resign by Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks.
The request is the latest twist in the tumultuous relationship between Hicks and co-owner George Gillett -- who has been closely aligned with Parry.
Parry, who sat with the Gillett family during Tuesday's Champions League win over Arsenal, vowed to fight on after 10 years in the job.
"It is my intention to remain focused on the job of serving Liverpool Football Club to the best of my abilities at this very important time of our season," Parry said.
Hicks is believed to be unhappy with Parry's ability to run the club. His main concerns are supposedly that Parry is slow and unresponsive when dealing with manager Rafa Benitez and the signing of players, and that he is disrespectful to fans, particularly over tickets for last season's Champions League final.
Despite being England's most decorated club, the five-time European champions lag behind their global rivals in terms of generating revenue and recent success on the field.
Liverpool have not won the title for 18 years and are only likely to finish fourth this season -- but the latest breakdown comes only days after they advanced to the Champions League semifinals against English rivals Chelsea.
The acrimonious spat between Hicks and Gillett has unsettled the Dubai consortium vying for control, and Dubai Capital International chief executive Sameer Al Ansari has halted all talks for now.
"You have two partners who do not see eye to eye and we decided that we pull out completely," Ansari said. "Let them sort out their problems."
Gillett had been close to sealing a deal with DIC. "We will continue to be interested and would love to own the club," Ansari said.
"But we are not going to put ourselves in a difficult situation where we make the investment but we have no control over the destiny of the club and we cannot influence the success of the club. Unfortunately, the terms that have been put on the table do not allow us to do that."
Hicks has threatened to veto Gillett selling his 50 per cent stake to DIC, while working to raise the capital through his sports group to buy his partner out.
The Americans bought Liverpool for £218.9 million in March 2007, but their relationship rapidly unraveled following the sounding out of Juergen Klinsmann as a potential replacement for Benitez and Hicks' rebuffing of DIC.
A £350 million financing package in January left the club with debts of £105m.
Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano has failed to overturn the extended two-match ban handed to him by the English Football Association last month.
Mascherano was found guilty of improper conduct after being sent off at Manchester United on March 23, banned for two extra games and fined £15,000.
He appealed on the grounds that the punishment was excessive but this was dismissed and he will now finish his ban by sitting out Sunday's Premier League match against Blackburn.
Mascherano appeared to question referee Steve Bennett's decision to caution Fernando Torres at Old Trafford and was then shown a second yellow card himself for dissent.
The Argentine, who admitted the charge, initially refused to leave the pitch. E-mail to a friend 
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