Are the supporters still behind Rafael Benitez?

There is no reason not to be. Every manager gets judged on results, but any supporter who takes an interest in what goes on at the club will know there are a hell of a lot of mitigating circumstances. It is not moaning, it is, in Rafael Benitez's words, facts.

Over the past two years although there have been a couple of marquee signings in Fernando Torres and Javier Mascherano, they have been replacements rather than additions to the squad. When we bought Torres we had to let Craig Bellamy go. So instead of ending up with two international strikers we had one. Peter Crouch was sold to make way for Robbie Keane and Keane was sold to service the interest on the debt. That is why Benitez has been left with David Ngog up front alongside Andriy Voronin, who was a free transfer.

Chelsea and Manchester United are working under those kind of restrictions. Some signings come off, others don't. The likes of Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti have got the flexibility to take a chance on a player. If a signing doesn't come off they can replace him and sign another player. Our manager doesn't have that luxury. Everything Rafa does has to come off.

Do the fans blame Rafa for the problems this season? Has any of the criticism been fair?

The criticism is very unfair. Ronnie Whelan said the problems stem from Rafa wanting to win the European Cup. Well what's Ronnie Whelan going to say tonight? Torres went off against Fulham because he needs a hernia operation and if he plays for more than an hour he could be out for a month. Gerrard can't play. What do people want the manager to do?

You only have to look back a couple of seasons, when we lost Luis Garcia to injury in a meaningless 6-3 defeat to Arsenal in the Carling Cup. No one even remembers that was the night when Garcia's career was effectively finished by an injury.

How important is tonight's match in Lyons? Does the Champions League still hold a special place in the club's heart?

It is very important. Forget the Americans and the problems we are having. The European Cup is our territory. Even during the lean years the European Cup was the trophy that was on all the banners. It is part of our heritage that we are most proud of, the five European Cups. It matters.

On the other side of things the club have a £20 million annual interest repayment, so they can't afford to miss out on the getting through to the next stage of the competition. What will the ramifications be if we fail? The manager will go into his fourth transfer window with no net spend.

If the worst happens tonight will the supporters keep faith in Benitez?

A few thousand of us go in the Kop every game and then you have millions of others who watch on the telly, listen on the radio and see what happens on the pitch. It's not their fault. I wish I didn't know all I know about what is going on behind the scenes. I would love to go to the match and just argue about the football and the manager. But when there are so many other factors going on it takes away from that. It is very naive to look at what happens on the pitch and say 'that's all that matters'.

If Benitez goes who is going to come in? People have been talking about Jose Mourinho, but is he going take a pay cut and have no transfer budget to come here? He wasn't interested when we recruited Benitez and that was when the club was stable.

Will the club be able to compete as long as the Americans remain in charge?

The club is making record profits but not a single penny is going into the transfer fund. We are actually having to sell a player in the next transfer window to give our goalkeeper a new contract. It is not even sell to buy, it is sell to keep. You might have been able to get away with it four or five years ago, but with Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa all spending you can't do it. In the summer we were outbid by Sunderland for Lee Cattermole and Michael Turner. That's not Manchester City, that's Sunderland. That is the reality of Liverpool in 2009. We only got Glen Johnson because Portsmouth still owed us the money from Crouch.

What are your long-term fears for the club if the problems at Anfield continue?

The Leeds scenario is not a million miles away. The club is up to its eyes in debt and the entire business plan is based on getting money from the Champions League. On top of that we have just signed a record sponsorship deal, but that is only a record deal if we are challenging in the latter stages of the Champions League and at the top of the Premier League. Not if we are playing in the Europa Cup.