Liverpool to be honoured as 'cock-up' admitted

Liverpool are expected to receive belated recognition for their Champions' League triumph in the Queen's Birthday Honours List as their manager, Rafael Benitez, yesterday joined the condemnation of the club's omission from the New Year awards.

While every member of England's victorious Ashes squad was honoured on 1 January, the team that overcame a 3-0 half-time deficit against Milan in Istanbul to claim their fifth European Cup was overlooked.

That provoked the chief executive Rick Parry to criticise the awards system and to insinuate that favouritism was shown towards Manchester United, whose two European Cups produced knighthoods for their coaches, Matt Busby in 1968 and Alex Ferguson in 1999, while the late Liverpool manager Bob Paisley was never rewarded for winning the trophy three times.

However, a source close to the honours process yesterday claimed that the omission was a mistake rather than a deliberate snub and that the club, in particular captain Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Benitez can expect to be included in June's roll of honour. "It was more of a cock-up than a conspiracy but there are two honours lists a year and it is expected that Liverpool will receive due recognition in the next one," the source said.

There is a limit on the number of honours awarded for services to sport and Liverpool may have suffered from the number of OBEs and MBEs given to the Ashes squad.

Benitez insisted: "With a lot of respect to the other sports, football is the most important sport in the world. The most important club competition in the world is the Champions' League and so the winners of the Champions' League must be at the top of the honours list."