Rafael Benitez has said Liverpool can meet the financial pressures that are on the club with success in the FA Cup and Champions League this season.
"The finance is important but winning is the way to improve everything," said the Liverpool manager. "If you win games and progress in competitions such as the FA Cup and the Champions League it makes the money situation better.
"It would always be better if we didn't have all this speculation but the only way we can help that situation is by winning games. Then people will talk about goals and wins and football.
"It comes down to the performance of the team. It's a circle. If you play well you can win games, people will talk about football, you will have more confidence, you can win more and that will help the financial situation."
The €470-million refinancing package the club owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, secured last month has not removed the uncertainty surrounding their Anfield tenure, with Dubai International Capital still hoping to tempt the co-chairmen to sell, but it did make a financial imperative of the need for revenue from the Champions League.
Annual interest repayments of up to €40 million will impact on the Liverpool manager's transfer budget until a proposed new stadium opens in 2011 but Benitez, whose team entertain Barnsley in the FA Cup today and Internazionale in the Champions League on Tuesday, believes his squad can overcome the frequent distractions the Americans' reign has produced.
Benitez claims to be unperturbed by the possibility of a second takeover at Anfield in the space of 12 months, with DIC attempting to capitalise on a strained business relationship between Gillett and Hicks, and his focus is on the competitions that offer release from another season of failed ambition in the Premier League.
"This week I've not had any problems concentrating just on football. I try to focus on the games, especially the next two because we could win these competitions," he said.
"We are ready for these challenges. People are talking about Inter but we've got Barnsley first and the FA Cup is an opportunity to bring some silverware to the club. The Champions League will be more difficult because of the quality of the teams left in it. But this is our chance in both competitions and we will try to do it."
The Liverpool manager admits there can be no excuses for complacency among his players against Barnsley, following scares against Luton Town, then Havant & Waterlooville: "It is always difficult against a team from a lower division. The bigger team cannot win in these situations. Everyone expects you to win but, if they score first, then you will become nervous and play with more anxiety, as we did against Havant & Waterlooville. That can happen.
"You have to warn against complacency and to tell your players to be careful. A lot of Premier League teams have struggled in the FA Cup this season but we still have a chance to win it."
The non-league side twice went ahead at Anfield in the previous round before Benitez's men belatedly clicked into gear and ended up avoiding further embarrassment with a 5-2 victory.
But Benitez is adamant his side's experience today underlines the fact his Premier League stars can afford to take nothing for granted against lower-division outfits with nothing to lose.
"We have some experience of how difficult these games can be. Everybody says we will beat Barnsley but we must be careful and do the right things. Against Havant & Waterlooville we were thinking about scoring goals and we conceded.
"If you concede the first goal against whoever you are playing, you will start to get anxious. We knew of the dangers before that game but it still happened. Clearly this is a cup final for them, so we must be careful and give them a lot of respect. If we score first everything will be okay."
Benitez has admitted he has one eye on next week's Champions League clash with Internazionale, and must decide whether to risk any of the returning Fernando Torres, Fabio Aurelio, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sami Hyypia.
A deeper defensive crisis, with calf-injury victim Martin Skrtel joining Daniel Agger on the sidelines, means Benitez's hand could be forced, though it would be a surprise to see Spaniard Torres starting.
"You need to make sure you have the right team and the right player for both games. Playing some players might be a risk, so we have analyse each one and decide because of the Inter game. We are thinking about both games but we are talking about just one. We are very positive and we want to make the most of both these opportunities, but first it is important to think about Barnsley.
"The passion of this competition is fantastic and for some teams it is the most important game of their lives. Sometimes you see smaller teams . . . have more passion and commitment, and that is what creates upsets."
