NEWS: LIVERPOOL'S BITTER power struggle intensified last night when the demand by co-owner Tom Hicks for the resignation of Rick Parry received a public and defiant refusal from the club's chief executive.

Less than 48 hours after Rafael Benitez had guided Liverpool to the Champions League semi-finals Parry was sent a letter by the club's Dallas-based co-chairman asking him to hand in his notice. In a three-page document, Hicks criticises the chief executive's relationship with Benitez, which has been strained for some time, and the commercial running of the club.

The motive behind the letter, however, is believed to centre on Hicks' belief that Parry has sided with George Gillett in the fight for majority control at Anfield and the relationship he has maintained with Dubai International Capital (DIC) during the company's attempts to purchase Liverpool.

It may also be a retaliatory gesture after Liverpool's commercial director, Ian Ayre, was given a dressing down by Gillett this week.

However, in a sign that Parry enjoys the continued support of Gillett, the co-owner who reiterated he would not sell even one per cent of his 50 per cent stake to Hicks when he met directors at Anfield on Tuesday, Parry has vowed to remain in his post.

His resignation would have to be approved by the Liverpool board - a body that comprises Parry, former chairman David Moores, Hicks, Gillett and their sons, Tom Hicks Jr and Foster Gillett - and Parry believes he has enough support there to fight.

Parry is believed to be taking legal advice over the fact Hicks' demand was not initially discussed at boardroom level and over texts allegedly sent by Tom Hicks Jr to Liverpool supporters groups, in which Parry's future presence at the club was called into doubt.

Last night Parry said: "It is my intention to remain focused on the job of serving Liverpool Football Club to the best of my abilities."

Parry did not see Hicks' letter until he returned last night from London, where he had attended a Football Association hearing into Liverpool's appeal of the additional two-match suspension handed to Javier Mascherano for his recent sending-off against Manchester United. The appeal was dismissed and Mascherano will now serve the final part of a three-match ban against Blackburn Rovers on Sunday.

The former Premier League chief executive, who has held the role at Liverpool for more than a decade, has been at the centre of the fractured relationship between Gillett and Hicks for several months. His recent plea for the warring co-owners to resolve the ownership issue, one that "is certainly not conducive to long-term planning and managing the club", as he told the BBC, is also understood to have fuelled Hicks' determination to oust Parry.

Both the Texan and Gillett have been attempting to secure new investment that would enable them to purchase the other's stake since Hicks vetoed his co-owner's attempts to sell to DIC, the investment arm of the Dubai government. Hicks had considered allowing DIC to purchase 49 per cent of Gillett's holding, giving him the other one per cent and majority control, but withdrew from negotiations when the company insisted on running Liverpool by committee.

Hicks has since held talks with the US investment bank Merrill Lynch about borrowing the capital to buy out Gillett, although the latter has declared he has no intention of selling to Hicks.

The impasse also prompted DIC to confirm it will not re-enter negotiations until the dispute is resolved. Their chief executive, Sameer al-Ansari, said they remains interested but will await the success or otherwise of Hicks' attempts to take control before making a renewed play for the club and for Gillett's holding.

"You have two partners who do not see eye to eye. Let them sort out their problems," said Ansari.

Meanwhile, Mathieu Flamini will miss Arsenal's match with Manchester United on Sunday because of an ankle problem. He is expected to be out for three weeks.

• Guardian Service