LIVERPOOL manager Rafa Benitez will stay loyal to the Merseyside club, provided he gets the control and support he craves.

So says former Liverpool defender Jason McAteer.

And he should know better.

After all, the 36-year-old had spent four years of his professional football career at his boyhood team, chalking up a century of league appearances for Liverpool and still maintains close contact with the lads at the club.

Benitez's position at the club has been called into question on more than one occasion but as if with the benefit of an insider's knowledge, McAteer believes that 'Benitez's loyalty will shine through'.

He said: 'I do believe in his loyalty. When everything settles down and Benitez gets that feeling of control back - because I think he feels he's not in control at the moment - he's given some funds to buy the players he wants to buy, I think Benitez's loyalty will shine through.'

The Pool manager has refused to commit his long-term future to Liverpool and has been continuously linked to clubs in Spain and Italy.

But McAteer fiercely defended the Benitez, insisting that the Spaniard's oft-criticised defensive stance is forced by the climate of uncertainty surrounding him.

'I think Benitez is playing a game where he's making sure he's going to be alright to the end of the season, which is human nature. At the end of the day, he needs to look after himself.

'He doesn't want to be involved in this Gillett-Hicks situation. He wants his football club running smoothly. He wants to be on top, in control.

'He wants funds available to let him build the team. He looks at Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, they all spend big money.

'Liverpool profess to be up there, as one of the top four, so they should be able to spend as well. That's why Benitez is finding it very difficult at the minute.

'I think sometimes he's manipulating the situation where if it doesn't go right, then people will know he is available.

'I don't think that there's anything wrong in that. The owners come out and said they approached Jurgen Klinsmann. That's just ridiculous, it should never have come out.

'I think Benitez is doing it very tactfully, but you can understand what he's doing.'

McAteer was in Singapore as a guest pundit on ESPN, and speaking to The New Paper the former Liverpool utility player made no bones about what he thinks is the real factor behind Pool's failure to mount a serious title challenge this season.

EFFECT

He said: 'I think off the pitch, the George Gillett and Tom Hicks situation is not working.

'Whether Liverpool will have a knock-on effect, and suffer for the next two or three seasons, I think is yet to be seen.

'But it needs sorting out fast because at the end of the day, the fans are riled up now.

'The fans are arguing among themselves, the players aren't performing to the best of their abilities, and the manager is unhappy.

'Something is going to break and I don't know whether the owners' loyalty is in it.'

For all the doubts about Benitez's loyalty, McAteer feels that the owners' intentions are much more dubious.

He added: 'Sometimes we question Benitez's loyalty when he refuses to commit his future at the club,' said McAteer.

'But at the end of they day, Gillett and Hicks are very rarely seen at Anfield, when Roman Abramovich was at Chelsea every week when he took over the Blues, putting the blocks down and building the foundations for their success.

'Gillett and Hicks? They stayed around for a bit, then they've gone back to America. They always seem to have something to say, from America.

'I don't know if they're trying to make a quick turnover and it seems to be that way at the moment.'

As one of the select few long-serving Liverpool players not to have won a trophy in his term with the Reds, McAteer knows how much it rankles.

Almost going into a fit, he exclaimed: 'Players who have done it with Pool, like Steve McMahon, do not stop telling me that, every five minutes!

'It's disappointing, to play for Liverpool and not win anything.

'Because of the legacy of the club, you expect to win something. So yeah, I feel a little bit grieved that we didn't win anything.'

And McAteer reckoned it will take another couple of years before his beloved Liverpool can mount a serious challenge for the league title.

He said: 'They're so inconsistent. You can't really decide whether they're going to do it or not.

'They've obviously picked up a bit of form in the last couple of weeks but over the season there's no consistency in anything, in the team, in the formation, in the players' form, in the manager's decisions.'

Liverpool's recent revival with seven straight victories has also given Pool fans hope that it is not all doom and gloom.

McAteer agreed, but only to a certain extent.

He said: 'I think they're lucky to be at this stage now, and they can build on it. Liverpool are still in that fourth place trying to close the gap on the top three.

'They need to be very shrewd in the next year or two, with the players they buy. Keep Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres, the backbone of the team, Jose Reina - keep all these players and build a team around them.

'That's the only way I see Pool making a breakthrough in the Premier League.'

What McAteer says...

...about not winning any major trophies during his career.

'You can't look back on your career and worry about it. I've had a fantastic career, met some fantastic people, played with some of the greatest players - John Barnes, Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman. I played for Ireland, got 52 caps, played against Brazil twice, played in two World Cups, scored against Holland to bring us to the 2002 World Cup. They were fantastic times.'

...scoring from a rebound, off a penalty that Fowler deliberately missed against Arsenal in March 1997.

(Fowler had declined the penalty, telling referee Gerald Ashby that David Seaman did not touch him)

'I don't think Robbie was mad. I just think it was an instinctive thing to do. The referee made the decision and gave the penalty. I tucked it away, I don't think he (Fowler) meant to miss it, Seaman saved it. It fell to me, I finished it.'

...Liverpool's transfer flops

'Yossi Benayoun hasn't settled well of late, Ryan Babel has taken a long time to settle. Dirk Kuyt is not as free-scoring as we thought he'd be. There's a lot of players who need to take responsibility.'

...a possible takeover by Dubai investors

'I think the Dubai consortium have got real money and the owner is a fan who wants the best for Liverpool. Sheikh Mohammed won't want Liverpool not to do well, the Dubai consortium have got their egos. They're multi-multi- millionaires. There's a bit of business which goes down with it but I really think they are not in it to make money.'

...about the Spice Boys tag

(which was given to the Reds after appearing in the 1996 FA Cup final against United in cream suits)

'Of course I do feel unjustified. It's not nice to be called Spice Boys because at the end of the day we weren't doing nothing different than the United players. But because the Liverpool team was unsuccessful then, some stupid journalist decided to pin this tag on us.

'As for those cream suits, they're just that, suits of a different colour from gray or black or blue. White suits for the 1996 FA Cup final don't make you lose a cup final. They don't make you bad players, or make you big-time Charlies.'