the way I see it there are three possible scenarios here.
1/ The owners want Rafa out because it means they can generate a fire sale of our best players to ease their debt burden and speed up the sale of the club. all the while they can hide behind the 'fact' the players have said they want to leave and who are they to keep them against their wishes. A new manager coming in will work with whatever conditions he is given as far as player sales or you simply sell the players first and then give him a SLICE of the money raised to bring in his own men.
2/ Rafa is being moved on purely for footballing reasons. last season was unacceptable. His use of the resources given to him, his purchases in the summer were (in hindsight) nonsensical and there is zero confidence in the board to allow him to spend anymore money given his recent record. They want to get in someone who can do more with less because that's the way it's gonna be around here for the foreseeable future.
3/ It's all about player power. Gerrard and Torres are willing to stay and give it another go next season but they've lost complete confidence in the manager. This is backed up by Carra and these feelings have found their way up to board level via the link with Kenny Dalglish. In his book Carra wrote about how Houllier seemed to lose the plot in his final season and he has seen the same in Rafa this season.
Got my fingers crossed it's scenario 2 or 3 and not the first one.