That is the verdict of former Liverpool star Alan Hansen, who is at a loss as to why Hicks went public on the situation.

In his column on the BBC Sport website, Hansen said : "I haven't got a clue why he has come out and said this.

"Maybe the story was going to come out and he thought he'd be better off making a statement first.

"Whichever way you look at it though, these events cannot do anything but undermine manager Rafael Benitez.

"His position is not untenable, but for one of the owners to come out and publicly say he had talks with the man who was heavily linked with Benitez's job - well, it puts even more pressure on the Spaniard.

"Insurance policy or whatever Hicks wants to call it, the fact is he met Klinsmann and offered him the job if Benitez went, which is remarkable."

Another former Liverpool defender, Mark Lawrenson, was also unimpressed with the latest revelation and was concerned about its affects on Benitez, whom he would not blame if he looked around for a different job.

Lawrenson told BBC Radio Five Live: "It is a strange thing to do. You could have spoken to Klinsmann through a third party and said, 'If this happens, would you be interested?' - that is all you need to say.

"It is not dissimilar to what happened to Martin Jol [at Tottenham]. If you're saying, 'We've looked around to try to find someone to replace you just in case', he might just think, 'I'll look for a little something I can go into just in case'."

Lawrenson also feels the club is not being well run by its American owners.

He added: "I think all the things that were promised when they took over seemed fantastic but now there are all sorts of problems.

"The plans for the stadium were revised. Revised to what?

"I've also been told the communication levels between (chief executive) Rick Parry and the Americans have not been great. He had a lot of difficulty before Christmas actually getting hold of them. You can't run your football club that way, it's absolutely crazy.

"When you are 4-5,000 miles away it is very difficult to try to run the business of a football club."

Lawrenson also expects a strong reaction from the club's fans, who largely back Benitez.

He said: "They would say cheerio to the Americans and welcome in the guys from Dubai.

"Although they are not playing well at the moment the majority of fans are behind Benitez. They know how difficult it is to find a good manager, as you can see with the farce at Newcastle."