We reported last night that Rick Parry had been spotted on the TV in attendance at a game of American football. The story was also reported by national newspapers today, but Parry denies there was any secrecy about his trip.
Parry spoke to the official website at www.liverpoolfc.tv to tell them what was going on. He said: "It certainly wasn’t a secret visit, having attended two games with a combined attendance of over 100,000 people. I’ve actually known the Kraft family since meeting them in Boston back in 2001 and have had a longstanding invitation to visit the Gillette stadium, which is one of the very few privately funded stadia in the USA. They were keen for me to see at close hand how the matchday operation ran and I watched both the New England Revolution v Chicago Fire MLS game on Sunday and the New England Patriots v Indianapolis Colts NFL fixture a day later. It also gave us the opportunity to discuss at length the way in which they had funded the construction of the ground."
As ever, you can read just about anything you like between the lines of what the Chief Executive said. One the one hand he did not deny outright interest in investment from Bob Kraft and his family, but on the other hand his explanation is more than plausible on its own.