SOCCER: Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has blasted the power games played by manager Rafael Benitez and the club's American owners last season - claiming the amount of dirty linen being aired at the time made Anfield resemble a "launderette".

In his new autobiography, Carragher criticises the trio for putting personal pride before the interests of the club.

After months of claim and counter, centring around the refusal of Tom Hicks and George Gillett to meet Benitez's demand for action over new signings, it emerged in January this year that Jurgen Klinsmann had been approached about taking over as manager.

Carragher insists the events leading up to that revelation were damaging to the Merseysiders and believes Benitez had resigned himself to losing his job.

"I believe he suspected a plan was already in place to sack him and the owners were holding back funds for his replacement," Carragher said in extracts carried in the Daily Mail.

"He was effectively daring the owners to arrange his funeral, especially when Hicks ended the boardroom silence by telling him to shut up on the front page of the local paper.

"It was more than rumour by this stage, and Rafa must have known how close he was to the sack. To my mind, everyone was trying to be too clever, playing politics with little regard for how much damage it was doing.

"Never mind about not washing your dirty linen in public, Anfield was beginning to resemble a launderette."