It’s safe to say that Liverpool owner Tom Hicks wouldn’t win a popularity contest on Merseyside right now. Not content with clashing swords with Reds manager Rafael Benitez over transfer funds, the American has now potentially incurred the wrath of Liverpudlians everywhere by claiming the Scouse accent is difficult to comprehend.

The Daily Telegraph report that Hicks gave two interviews to Sports Illustrated in America, the first of which accused Benitez of ‘pouting’ his way through a press conference. He said the following about the Anfield manager in the second one.

“He’s Spanish. He doesn’t speak English great. We have guys on our team that speak English that are hard to understand because they’re Scousers. We have Spaniards, we have Argentines, we have Brazilians, we have Norwegians, we have Scots, we have Irish, we have English. So it’s easy to have a communication issue. We had a small one with Rafa. It got blown totally out of proportion. We spent 2½ hours after the game. It’s behind us, and nobody’s looking back.”

Quite what resident Scousers Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher will make of Hicks’ comments is another matter. The former is in the running to be the next captain of England, a position which requires an ability to communicate with the media.

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