REDS DON’T SEE FUNNY SIDE OF SHREWS CHIEF’S IDENTITY CRISIS
SPORTS AGENDA can reveal that Liverpool decided to hand their share of the gate receipts from the drawn FA Cup tie at Shrewsbury — around £35,000 — to the League One club. They may have wondered why they bothered, though, after the antics of Shrews chairman Roland Wycherley at the first match and the replay. At the original match at New Meadow, Wycherley, 78, served notice of what was to come by repeatedly pretending to mistake Sir Kenny Dalglish for his fellow Liverpool legend, Ian Rush. ‘At a stretch, it might have been funny once, but not all afternoon,’ a witness said of a situation which became uncomfortable despite Dalglish trying to laugh it off. ‘He was calling him his favourite Welshman and asking him what had happened to his moustache.’
Worse was to follow at Anfield last week, when Wycherley demanded to know where Liverpool’s chief executive was. Told he was away, Wycherley responded with an expletive-laden rant, suggesting the whole club was on a winter break. Wycherley, whose club had been given as many boardroom passes as they wanted for the replay, went on to loudly and repeatedly claim that Liverpool’s decision to play their youngsters and drop admission prices had cost Shrewsbury £500,000. Following the game, sources claim Wycherley was at it again in the boardroom, suggesting to anyone who would listen that Liverpool had paid off the referee. Shrewsbury insiders say no malice was intended, but some home officials wondered if that cheque for the gate receipts had cleared.