No matter which way you slice it, Liverpool are having a dreadful season. How many false dawns can one team experience in a season only to see them dashed on the rocks by a poor performance the following week. Showing ‘character’ and looking for the positives in a loss or a draw simply isn’t good enough.

The startling statistic is that Liverpool have only won 1 game in the last 10 and who knows if that’s the end of our current decline. A Fiorentina win on Tuesday will be the end of our European season, no matter what our result at Debrecen, and then it’s off to Everton who will be more than happy to compound our misery.

The problem I’m having is finding any positives from this season. In fact the list of reasons for Liverpool’s dreadful campaign is so long, and has been debated endlessly on websites such as this one, that I really don’t have to write any of them down as you know them as well as I do.

So let’s face facts, the season is over. The clubs Executives have to start laying out their strategy for next season, and beyond, and begin the rebuilding process as of the January transfer window. I would rather the club announce they accept responsibility for doing a bad job in building on the momentum from last season and get on with it. That will mean getting rid of players who are not committed to the club, who don’t have the required talent and ultimately reconsider the tactical approaches that have led us to this unacceptable position. If that happened, I would have a great deal more respect for those running the club.

With the possibility of no Champions League money coming in the door this will be a tremendously difficult task. But wait, don’t we have two millionaire owners? Time to put your hand in your pockets George & Tom. But of course if this were the only option they’d sell in a second. Perhaps the first positive step in developing a new strategy to rebuild the club is to say goodbye to these two dead weights.

Rafael Benitez and Fernando Torres (Courtesy of Aditya Sriwasth)

Liverpool’s nightmare start to the 2009/10 Premier League season went from bad to worse at the weekend when they lost 3-1 to Fulham at Craven Cottage and had two players dismissed late on in the game.

 

Having now lost six of their last seven matches, only the brief delight of beating arch rivals Manchester United has given the team respite from heavy criticism.

This week does not look like getting any easier for the Reds as they travel to Lyon for a crucial Champions League clash in which they must hope for a draw at the very least. Lyon are always tough opponents but Liverpool’s task is made even more difficult with an injury list running into double figures. Unfortunately this list includes their two main attacking threats, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres being ‘doubtful’ for tonight’s match.

Benitez is Losing Support

Given recent results and the cut-throat nature of Premier League football, it comes as no surprise that manager Rafael Benitez was booed by fans at the weekend and is facing calls to be sacked by the nation’s blood-thirsty press.

As a Liverpool fan I think this issue has to be addressed from a more logical viewpoint and so have put together a list of ten reasons why Benitez should not be sacked.

1. There is no other high calibre manager who is currently either out of work or, willing to leave his position at another club to replace Benitez and inherit the mess at Liverpool .
2. Benitez was the mastermind behind the greatest comeback of all time in the 2005 Champions League final against AC Milan. Trailing 3-0 at half time, Liverpool were looking dead in the water. Benitez must have pulled out an inspirational team talk similar to that of Al Pacino in the film Any Given Sunday as the Reds eventually won the match on penalties after a thrilling second half comeback.
3. Added to the triumph in 2005, Rafa’s track record is littered with successes both with Liverpool and with his previous club Valencia. The Reds won the FA Cup in 2006 and finished 2^nd in the Premier League last season, just four points off the Champions Manchester United.
4. One good thing about Rafa is that he does not seem to get on with the owners of the club Tom Hicks and George Gillett. This may seem like a reason to sack him rather than a reason to spare him but it is certainly my view that the American owners should be replaced and that it is their lack of funding to improve the squad which is to blame for this seasons performances, not Rafa’s tactics.
5. Benitez has bought a lot of Spanish players during his time at Anfield. Many of whom claimed that Benitez was a huge factor in their decision to sign for the club, sometimes when other big clubs were also chasing them. A certain Fernando Torres illustrates this point very well. If Rafa is sacked then I fear many players may look elsewhere and there is a real risk that the squad would be seriously disrupted.
6. It has been mooted in the press in recent weeks that Real Madrid are looking to lure Benitez to the Bernabeau to replace under fire coach Manuel Pellegrini. Now, as a matter of principal, do not go giving things to Real Madrid. They do not have the best track record for appointing the right manager but they have been linked to Rafa since his days as a coach there.
7. This one is nice and short. It became clear last season that Rafa annoys Sir Alex Ferguson, surely he is worth keeping on just for this reason alone.
8. On the strength of last season’s performances Benitez signed a new, long term deal with the Red’s. This would make it extremely expensive to sack him. Indeed there have been reports in recent weeks that it could cost the club up to £20 million to terminate his contract. Not ideal for a club in our financial situation.
9. In my view, the reason why Liverpool are having such a difficult start to this season is due to the economic downturn coupled with huge amounts of foreign investment in top flight football around the world. In the Summer Liverpool were forced to accept a bid for Xabi Alonso from the cash rich Real Madrid. When Liverpool received the money it was used to pay off loans taken out by the owners of the club rather than being used to replace playing staff which had been lost, leaving the team short in many areas.
10. And finally…He has got great facial hair.

All in all, I think I have put forward ten…well, nine good arguments why Liverpool should not sack Rafael Benitez. Having detailed all the arguments above, I remain concerned about tonight’s trip to Lyon and even next Monday’s match at home to Birmingham City. If Liverpool lose both of these matches, I fear we might also be losing a great manager.

By Nick Higgins

Now I don’t wish to sound paranoid or anything, but it really does seem that my support curses a club – afterall, I’ve been to seven Southend Utd home games and two Cup Finals and am yet to see them record a win. This brings me onto the Mighty Reds of Liverpool, it seems that my support hasn’t done to old team too many favors, with them not securing a league title in the entire 16 years that I’ve been supporting. The last league title they did win was in 1990, and that was the old First Division, meaning that they’ve never won the Premiership. Not to say that they haven’t had other successes, FA Cups, UEFA Cups and even Champions Leagues have been their’s but still no Premiership title – the one all Liverpool fans crave.

Anyway, this isn’t supposed to be a deep rummage around my deranged and paranoid mind, it’s supposed to be a good hearty rant about how disappointing Liverpool FC have been both on and off the field in recent times. When I say ‘recent times’ I do of course mean since 2007 when Uncle Sam took over the club and began to systematically run it into the ground with their ever increasing debt problems. The Yankee pair, Hicks and Gillett, purchased the club for £218 million and a possible bright future with big investments in players and facilities was on the horizon. This future has turned out to have been a shimmering mirage deceiving fans like an apple with a razor blade stuck in it. The ‘big spending’ has seen one good player come into the squad, in the guise of Fernando Torres, but other than that it’s all been a bunch nobodies such as: David N’Gog, Sotirios Kyrgiakos and Nabil El Zhar all costing around £3.7 million between them. I can see the logic of buying young players at a low cost but if they’re all just complete steaming piles of shit then that plan kind of goes out of the window, it’s a plan that’s needs to be done well – Manchester United and Arsenal both have very good young talent in their ranks. My main anger at the transfer dealings have been with the players that have been going out, Liverpool are/were a member of the ‘Big Four’ so they shouldn’t have to sell their best players to get money it’s just not right. The departures of Jon Arne Riise and Xabi Alonso recently have really annoyed me and many other Liverpool fans. Although the departure of Alonso may have been more the manager’s fault than the chairman’s, with Rafa admitting that he wanted to sell Alsono to pay for then Aston Villa captain Gareth Barry. Then when that fell through because the club couldn’t afford Barry, Alonso decided that he couldn’t really play for a club that clearly wanted to replace him – which is fair enough to some degree. With the massive investment that Manchester City have received it’s going to be an up hill battle for Liverpool to be able to afford the players that they want in the near future.

Although the off field fuck ups that have been going on, I’m more annoyed with the team’s performances on the field this season thus far. Currently the team has lost four consecutive matches, the latest a 1-2 home defeat to Lyon in the Champions League Group Stages on Tuesday night, which has put qualification from the group in serious danger. I was able to watch most of the match and to be honest it was not a good performance, I know that Torres was out injured and Gerrard picked up an injury during the game, but that’s the problem – the entire team is built around both Torres and Gerrard being fit for 50+ matches a season and they just aren’t. If those lads don’t play then the team might as well not bother turning up some weeks. There’s no one to replace the lads in the team if they’re out for a couple of matches, who is there? N’Gog? Voronin? El Zhar? Exactly. The games don’t get any easier, and the team has a chance to end their run of defeats to the other Red Giants of the Northwest; Manchester United on Saturday – lets just say I’m not holding my fucking breath. If the results don’t turn around soon and they don’t qualify for the next stage of the Champions League then I think it’s time we all said our goodbyes to Mr Benitez.

CraigE

Last week, Saudi Arabian prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al Saud held talks with Liverpool’s co-owner George Gillett about buying a major stake in the club. Liverpool’s owners have been looking for new investment, after refinancing some of the clubs large debt earlier this year. Gillett visited Riyadh and according to reports, discussions are nearing a conclusion.

While Gillett held talks in Riyadh, American Stan Kroenke increased his share holding in Arsenal to 28.9%. At the same time, Hong Kong billionaire Carson Yeung, arrived at St Andrews, following his takeover of Birmingham City. At the moment, half of the Premiership clubs are under foreign ownership.

What Arsenal fans should worry about is not foreign ownership. They should worry about debt. The debt that some Premiership clubs are running up is disturbing. It should be controlled. What is wrong is when a new owner borrows money from a bank and puts that debt or loan in the name of the football club he has just bought or is buying.

No owner should be allowed to borrow money and have the club he is buying pay them back. It should be banned by the Football Association or the powers that be.

A case in point is Liverpool.

If Gillett and Hicks do not find new investors soon, then Liverpool will start to sink. They won’t be the new Leeds or Newcastle. They might, however, find that they are the new Spurs – a top five club that played regularly in Europe but now struggles to qualify for the Europa League.

I hope that Kroenke is not a Gillette or Hicks.

Keep it Arsenal

Creative Commons - owned by SomeDriftwood

The take-over of Liverpool Football Club by sports marketing firm F6, is nearing conclusion according to the owners of the club.

George Gillett, one half of the American conglomerate that owns Liverpool, emerged from lengthy meetings with potential investors in Riyadh today with a degree of confidence regarding the sale of his shares in the club.

“I am confident that the talks between myself and Prince Faisal will soon conclude with an agreeable outcome” he told Sky Sports News earlier this morning.” They have some outstanding management and I think that there are some wonderful opportunitites for us to work together”.

Gillett and co-owner, John Hicks, have been seeking investment to aid in mitigating the mountains of debt accrued by the club.

Since refinancing the club in the in the summer, the American owners have not been subtle in indicating their desire to find a buyer.

Several meetings

The conference today was just a single event in a myriad of meetings conducted between representatives of Liverpool and F6, a sports marketing firm owned by Prince Faisal.

Although Mr Gillett seems confident of enticing Prince Faisal, his majesty seemed more reluctant to confirm such reports, “As an investment group, we have an eye for many opportunities”. “How can we add value? How can we invest it? How can we manage it? That is what I have to say about football clubs.” he added.

Fans see the lack of a statement of intent from Prince Faisal as a stalling tactic to force Gillett to reduce what is assumed to be an inflated asking price.

“I think that it’s ridiculous, why doesn’t he just say yes or no? We need some stability in the boardroom so that Benitez can focus on the team” commented Fraser, 28, a student from London. “If I had his wealth, I would buy Liverpool in a heartbeat!” he added.

The take-over of Liverpool Football Club by Saudi billionaire, Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah, is nearing conclusion according to co-owner, George Gillett.

Mr Gillett, one half of the American conglomerate that owns Liverpool, emerged from lengthy meetings with potential investors in Riyadh today with a degree of confidnce regarding the sale of his shares in the club.

 ”I am confident that the talks between myself and Prince Faisal will soon conclude with an agreeable outcome” he told Sky Sports News earlier this morning.” They have some outstanding management and I think that there are some wonderful opportunitites for us to work together”.

Gillett and co-owner, John Hicks, have been seeking investment to aid in mitigating the mountains of debt accrued by the club. Since refinancing the club in the in the summer, the American owners have not been subtle in indicating their desire to find a buyer.

Several meetings

The conference today was just a single event in a myriad of meetings conducted between representatives of Liverpool and F6, a sports marketing firm owned by Prince Faisal.

Although Mr Gillett seems confident of a enticing Prince Faisal, his majesty seemed more reluctant to confirm such reports, “As an investment group, we have an eye for many opportunities”. “How can we add value? How can we invest it? How can we manage it? That is what I have to say about football clubs.” he added.

Fans see the lack of a statement of intent from Prince Faisal as a stalling tactic to force Gillett to assumed to be an inflated asking price.

 ”I think that it’s ridiculous, why doesn’t he just say yes or no? We need some stability in the boardroom so that Benitez can focus on the team” commented Fraser, 28, a student from London. “If I had his wealth, then I would buy Liverpool in a heartbeat!” he added.

What you missed while discovering that “Master Baiters” isn’t a good name for your women’s netball team…

• Fernando Torres will likely play in Spain’s next World Cup qualifier; this is notwithstanding the fact that Spain has already qualified and in spite of the fact that he’s suffered a groin injury in training. But, hey, yeah…go Spain!
• Remember how Alberto Aquilani was compaining about Roma’s medical staff yesterday? Yeah, that was “mistranslated”.
• Final Liverpool note: George Gillett has booked a trip to Saudi Arabia to discuss selling his 50% stake in the club to F6 chairman Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud.
• Arsenal are interested in signing…Carles Puyol?
• Glenn Hoddle claims that the English bench was the target of a bomb threat during the 1998 World Cup.
• Former Manchester United chairman Martin Edwards is concerned about the club’s debt level.
• Kanu, Kolo Toure, Roque Santa Cruz, and Gianfranco Zola are all backing England’s World Cup bid.
• FIFA has authorized Paul Pogba’s contested transfer to Manchester United.
• Czech striker Vaclav Sverkos has pulled out of the Czech national side with a knee injury.

Luvfooty brings you what we hope will be at least a new weekly feature where we make a brief analysis of five current football stories out there.  We’re good like that.

1. Notts County reveal the man who wasn’t there

Pakistani businessman Anwar Shafi has denied any involvement with League Two side Notts County in spite of being quoted on their official website ten days ago as confirming his “significant holding”.  Today the club released a statement – ignoring Shafi’s denial – on behalf of the Hyat and Shafi families who are part of the Qadbak trust who own the club.  They spoke of “distorted and misleading stories” and “salacious nature of the intrusive inquiries”.  They also said they would continue to conduct their affairs with “discretion and privacy” – which is hardly going to help.

Their executive chairman Peter Trembling (insert own joke) described the media attention as “scandalous”.  He said the owners are “extremely angry” and found the attention “demoralising”.

Well it’s a pity about them.  Rightly or wrongly, when a mysterious investment group pours money in to a fourth division football club, hires one of the most highly paid managers in the world and invests unprecedentedly in players (although we’ll get on to that point next), eyebrows are going to raise and the media machine have every right to poke their nose in and find out what is going on.

Trembling talks about the possibility of a “vendetta” and “maliciousness” in the media.  But all the club have to do to put an end to it is reveal who the investors are.  This is a takeover that still hasn’t been ratified by the Football Association and until it is then there are still questions to be answered (even after ratification the stories will continue – look at Chelsea).  In the midst of numerous investigations about corruption in football these are very valid questions.  If they have designs on climbing through the divisions in the next five years then they better get used to the attention.

2. The Solman – Money grabber or just demented?

My Spurs-centric views will probably always colour my opinion of Sol Campbell.  The pragmatic and unemotionally involved will always say he was entitled to string Spurs along in 2001 before joining rivals Arsenal for nothing.  That’s one view.  The other view is that the anger and vitriol that remains to this day at Spurs is fully justified.

In isolation one might be willing to glaze over those events.  But in 2006 Sol walked out on Arsenal during half-time of a 2-3 defeat against West Ham following a very poor first half performance.  At the end of that season, in spite of making a comeback and scoring in the European Cup final, he announced he was leaving for a “fresh challenge” and publicly spoke of his interest in playing abroad.  In spite of signing a three year deal in 2005, Arsenal released him from his contract at the age of just 31.

He didn’t quite get as far as France, landing instead at Portsmouth.  After three relatively successful seasons there he left last summer when his contract expired with talk again of interest across Europe.  His decision to join his old England manager Sven Goran-Eriksson Notts County for a reported £40,000 a week (£33,000 of it relating to an “ambassadorial role” it says here) raised eyebrows – not least because Campbell had spoken of his desire to play a part in the 2010 World Cup finals.

Anyway the point is that Sol Campbell has been portrayed by some as being disloyal, a trouble-maker and a money grabber.  I don’t think this is the case at all.  I think Sol is quite the opposite.  Yes, he a little self-absorbed but this is amplified by a highly sensitive disposition which has seen him “lose his nerve” a few times.

He never moves very far from his comfort zone.  He wanted to win trophies but wasn’t going to do it at Spurs.  He would have had his pick of top European teams in 2001 but chose to move to a club a few miles across town.  In one way it was brave but in another it was cowardly.

He left Arsenal after the West Ham shambles (perhaps indicative that he was never captain material) but, again, rather than picking a top European club where he would have continued to play European Cup games, he chose the comfy bosom of Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth.

He got one game in to his five year Notts County contract before walking out, citing unkept promises, saying that big names such as Roberto Carlos were promised but never materialised.  Oh, and Benjani.

Sol has continually made life difficult for himself with questionable decisions.  I don’t think he is especially greedy but he certainly seems a bit demented.

3. Alex and the “unfit” ref

There was much mocking of Rafa Benitez (more on him in a bit) when he whipped out his spectacles last January and read a list of charges from an A4 sheet of paper detailing Alex Ferguson’s constant bickering and undermining of referees (which anyone with a modicum of impartiality would agree with).  Ferguson added another line to the charge sheet this weekend when he criticised referee Alan Wiley as being “unfit” after United drew 2-2 at home to Sunderland.

While he did have reason to be critical of Wiley for not adding on a minute or so to compensate for United’s injury time equaliser, it did seem somewhat disingenuous for him to publicly berate a referee who has passed all the fitness tests that were put in front of him.

Ferguson could have chosen to have his point recorded privately by the fourth official but obviously the comment was calculated to deflect from his own side’s disappointing result.

I’m all for banning managers who undermine officials but at the same time it should apply across the board (albeit with repeat offenders being more heavily punished).  Sam Allardyce attacked referee Peter Walton for not giving his team a penalty in their ludicrous 2-6 reverse at Arsenal and he apparently will not be charged.

While he did somewhat self-righteously say that he is “100% right” he also added that he had to make the point in public because “unfortunately the system is not working so I have to be heard”.

He’s right…the system isn’t working.  But I’m not sure that diminishing the role of the referee is going to fix it any time soon.

4. Liverpool owner blames the manager

Rafa Benitez put on a brave face after back-to-back defeats against Fiorentina and Chelsea.  The results not so much damaged their challenges in the European Cup and Premier League but more so damaged the credibility of his team.  It’s way too early to say that Liverpool won’t challenge for the title or the Champions League but it has done the fractious relationship with his board no favours.

Co-owner George Gillett said of Liverpool’s progress: “Now if it’s not getting better, it’s not Gillett and [co-owner] Hicks, it’s the manager, it’s the scouting. You have to make sure you balance out your analysis. There was plenty of money, so if you have any complaints, take a look at the ins and outs.”

Liverpool fans loyal to Benitez will dispute Gillett’s claim that £128m has been invested in the last 18 months (he could be including wages, catering and goldfish in that total for all I know).  But at the same time they have to be somewhat unimpressed with the transfer policy that the manager now apparently has sole control over since the departure of chief executive Rick Parry.

Questions continue to be raised about the form of Jamie Carragher, the failure of Ryan Babel to perform and the quality of Lucas Leiva and Emiliano Insúa.  Benitez’s team look very beatable if Gerrard and Torres are off colour and it seems that the latter is still easily bullied out of a game (compare his performance against Chelsea last week to his two-goal triumph last February).

It’s too early to say there is a problem at Liverpool (although they have already lost more league games than they did throughout the entirety of last season).  But this year Rafa (like Arsene) has the billionaire-shaped shadow of Manchester City peering over his shoulder and failure to finish in the top four is unthinkable – never mind winning the league.

5. Shay no fan of “disgusting” FIFA

On radio last night Shay Given was not backwards at going forwards when he said that FIFA’s “u-turn” on the World Cup qualifying play off system was “disgusting”.  Given the poor performance of nations like Portugal, Czech Republic and France (with even Germany under pressure to win their group) it does seem that the scales have been belatedly tipped in favour of the larger nations with the news that the top four ranked teams will be kept apart.

The 2006 play-offs were played on a seeded basis (six teams in two pots) but this time around FIFA had left their options open for some unknown reason, indicating that the draw would be open.  This late change will endear them to the money men in Zurich, Frankfurt, Paris and (ironically) Lisbon but maybe not the players and officials in Dublin, Sarajevo and Oslo.

From my Irish point of view it is a disappointment (but not as much of a disappointment as Trapattoni’s insipid Irish midfield is).  I would certainly feel sympathy for lower ranked teams like Bosnia and Slovenia who have put themselves in with a shout of reaching the World Cup Finals.  Nations like them they must feel like Homer did in that Simpsons episode where, fuelled by the Power Sauce bar, he thinks he has climbed to the top of The Murderhorn mountain only to find that he’s actually got another few thousand feet to go.  D’oh!

What you missed while sacking Aaron Rodgers…

• Patrick Vieira could be headed to Chelsea.
• George Gillett has told Liverpool fans that, if they want to blame someone for the club’s current record, then they should blame Rafa Benitez. Which is all well and good, except for the fact that Gillett hired him and (if he’s so bad) hasn’t fired him…which means the blame still is on him, even if you buy that. You can’t skirt the responsibilities of ownership…
• …unless you’re Sulaiman al-Fahim, who the Guardian believes may be the worst club owner in the history of owning clubs anywhere. His six-week term as Portsmouth’s owner appears to have maybe ended yesterday.
• Tottenham has been linked with a move for Inter’s Sulley Muntari; Muntari previously played under manager Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth.
• Napoli have sacked Roberto Donadori after a 2-1 loss to Roma.
• A Bulgarian match was abandoned after four minutes when one team was reduced to six players on account of injuries.
• Lyon striker Bafetimbi Gomis will replace an injured Franck Ribéry in the French national team.

George Gillett has sparked another war with Rafa Benitez by claiming the Liverpool manager is solely to blame for the club’s ongoing title misery.

Gillett insisted he and co-owner Tom Hicks should have had some return for the £128million they have invested in players over the last 18 months.

But the American pointed the finger squarely at Benitez for the lack of success.

Gillett said: “The money we have invested means it should be getting better.

“Now, if it’s not getting better, it’s not Gillett and Hicks, it’s the manager, it’s the scouting.

“You have to make sure you balance out your analysis.

“There was plenty of money, so if you have any complaints, take a look at the ins and outs.”

Benitez splashed £40m this summer on Glen Jonson, Alberto Aquiliani and Sotirios Kyrgiakos.

But Gillett claims there was at least a further £12m available for team strengthening, with the Reds hoping to end their 20-year wait for the league title.

Gillett was speaking to fans group Spirit of Shankly outside the club’s training ground before the 6-1 thrashing of Hull last week.

Benitez has recently tried to avoid confrontation with the Reds moneymen following numerous bust-ups in the past. But these latest comments are sure to put the fiery Spaniard back on the warpath.

The Sun

Reds not for sale just yet, according to co-owner.

Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has refuted notions that the Anfield outfit are for sale, after reports in recent days heavily linked Saudi Arabian sports investment company F6 with buying a stake in the club.

Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud’s company was alleged in the reports to have been given permission to carry out exclusive due dilligence with a view to buying the club. However, it now seems as though those procedures relate to other commercial activities rather than investing in a stake in the club itself.

According to The Press Association, Gillett stated that: “We had a marvellous meeting with them on Saturday and they were impressed with the club, but the academies in Saudi Arabia and North Africa and their possible involvement in NASCAR-type racing in the Middle East were the only items on the agenda.

“We have entered into a period of exclusive discussions regarding the possibility of introducing NASCAR-type racing to the Middle East, but the memorandum of understanding does not cover anything else.”

F6’s director of strategic investment, Barry Didato, also claimed that any investment in the club is not immediately imminent. It was also still unclear as to whether Gillett’s co-owner Tom Hicks would be part of any deal, and just what Prince Faisal’s ultimate stake at Anfield would be.

“As far as investment in Liverpool is concerned, that would be a long way off. A lot of people have jumped the gun and any possible investment would be several months away,” Didato asserted.

“The agreement signed (at the weekend) leaves the door open for it (possible future investment in Liverpool), but that was certainly not the focus of it.

“George has a partner there and has his own issues to work through. Mr Hicks will also have his own issues and we are not sure what he wants to do.

“Another issue is the club’s debt (of around £245million). Prince Faisal will not put forward investment capital to just clean up a balance sheet. He would only want to use money to take the club forward. It would be long-term money.

“His Highness is open to anything and is open to being a minority shareholder, but he has tremendous favourability towards the brand and institution of Liverpool [Football Club].

“His Highness would need to be invited by George and it would have to be at the right time for George. There would need to be a shared vision between all of the parties.”

Goal

What you missed while stealing Fruit Roll-Ups…

• Saudi sports investment firm F6 is in private talks with Liverpool owner George Gillett about purchasing some or all of his 50% stake in the club.
• The Highbury Flats are finally starting to pay off for Arsenal.
• Carlo Ancelotti “doesn’t know” why Chelsea lost to Wigan on Saturday.
• Ajax is only a point behind PSV Eindhoven and FC Twente in the Eredivisie.
• The Columbus Crew extended their home winning streak while San Jose snapped their 20-game road losing streak.
• Royston Drenthe is really sorry about breaking Tenerife defender Marc Bertran’s leg this weekend.
• Sampdoria beat Inter Milan 1-0 and are now sitting on top of the Serie A table.
• Marc Hughes claims that Roque Santa Cruz will be ready to play today against West Ham; Santa Cruz, sidelined with a knee injury, last played in March.
• Bafetimbi Gomis scored in the 72′ to lift Lyon to the top of the Ligue 1 table.
• Finally, meet Anna Ferris: a 109 year old woman who’s scored in every match she’s ever played in. Maybe Portsmouth should sign her?

According to documents released by investment banks Rothschild and Merrill Lynch, Liverpool will only have 20 million pounds each summer, until 2014, to spend on renewing contracts and transfers. In other words, they will have to sell players before they can buy players.

Liverpool are currently $471 million in debt.

Their owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have been looking to sell their shares in the club for the past two seasons. They desperately need new finance.

One thing is certain, Liverpool will not be moving to a new state of the art stadium for at least another 10 years. Financially, Liverpool are in grave danger of falling behind Europe’s top clubs, with Manchester City most likely to take their position in the hierarchy of English football.

Gerrard, 29, will not leave Liverpool. He was very close to joining Chelsea in the summer of 2005 for 32 million pounds, but he’s recently signed a new contract and will end his career at Liverpool. However, if Torres leaves, it will confirm Liverpool’s financial demise and cause outcry from their fans.

The sale of Alonso to Real Madrid confirmed Liverpool’s new status as a selling club. Mascherano will probably be next to leave. He was close to joining Barcelona this summer and was bitterly disappointed that the transfer didn’t go through.

Arsenal fans deep down realize that Cesc Fabregas will move back to Spain at some point in his career. The question is not if but when he will leave. I think Wenger will let Fabregas leave once he finds a suitable replacement. The progress of Jack Wilshire will be interesting.

Arsenal are in debt as well. Wenger has been operating on a shoe string budget – compared to Europe’s top clubs – for years. Arsenal’s debt is due to the building of The Emirates stadium. In less than five years, the debt will be gone. Profits will be up.

The only problem Arsenal have is the struggle for power at boardroom level. However, both Kroenke and Usmanov have not borrowed money to buy their shares, unlike the owners of Liverpool or Manchester United.

This puts Arsenal on stable footing.

In other news, Phil Brown’s job at Hull City looks unstable. Hull have only won one game out of seven this season. Last night they were thrashed 4-0 at home to Everton. Their next game is away to Liverpool. I don’t think that Mr. Brown will be in charge of Hull when they play Arsenal at The Emirates on December 19th. That’s a real shame for Arsenal fans who were looking forward to giving the scumbag top quality abuse.

Sol Campbell left the Arsenal dressing room at half-time during a game against West Ham at Highbury in 2006. Arsenal were losing 2-0 at the time due to mistakes made by Campbell. His actions that night were mainly due to personal problems. Campbell later failed a paternity test after having a fling with an unnamed woman. His walkout on Notts County after just one game comes as no surprise, even if Campbell was earning $70,000 a week. Arsenal lost 3-2 against West Ham the night Campbell fucked off at half-time. The defeat seriously dented Arsenal’s chances of making the top four. Campbell’s actions left a bitter taste in the mouths of many Gooners.

Never walk out on Arsenal.

Keep it Arsenal.

Malgré toute la place qu’occupe la commémoration des attentats du 11 septembre, voici, comme à tous les vendredis, la quatrième édition de Ceci n’est pas un bulletin d’information… Avec Pierre Grumeau!

Source: supermatozoides.com

• George Gillett avait le coeur gros hier lorsqu’il a passé le flambeau aux frères Molson dans le dossier de la vente du Canadien de Montréal. Déçu de ne pas avoir gagné de Coupe Stanley en 8 ans de service, Gillett aurait tenté de se suicider en se jettant dans le fleuve St-Laurent. Malheureusement pour lui, il n’a jamais coulé au fond car sa mallette remplie d’argent l’a gardé “à flot”…et bien en vie!

• Dans la course à la chefferie de l’ADQ, nous apprenons ce matin que Christian Lévesque et Éric Caire ont tous les deux des curriculum vitae erronés car ni un ni l’autre ne détiendrait les diplômes mentionnés. Suite à cette nouvelle, l’ADQ songerait sérieusement à déclarer l’ex-candidat Jean-François Plante grand gagnant de la course…à la crosserie chefferie!

• Hier, le “Doc Mailloux” a été reconnu coupable de trois chefs d’accusation pour dérogation au Code de déontologie des médecins au Québec. Lorsqu’on lui a demandé s’il était inquiet, il répondit qu’il avait plus d’un tour dans sa barbe!

• Lundi ce sera le début du procès de Vincent Lacroix au criminel. N’étant pas trop bavard de nature, il souligna qu’il était positif face à cette nouvelle bataille. “Une de perdue, dix de gagnées” selon ses dires… À ce rythme-là, Lacroix passera plus de temps dans le tribunal qu’en prison. Que c’est beau la justice!!!

• Finalement, la météo indique de la belle température pour le Moulin à Paroles qui débutera samedi à 15hrs sur les Plaines d’Abraham. Raison de plus pour faire des activitées en famille qui soulèvent moins la controverse chez les québécois comme le vélo ou bien de l’arbre en arbre…

Et voilà, c’est la fin de cette quatrième édition de Ceci n’est pas un bulletin d’information… Nous vous demandons d’avoir une petite pensée pour les victimes et leurs familles en ce jour du 11 septembre et on se donne rendez-vous vendredi prochain! Bye!

The infamous summer transfer window is now well and truly shut. UEFA have told everyone to shut up and make do until January now. But are all the Premier League clubs sufficiently stocked?

Hull, Liverpool and Man City are next up.

Hull

Phil Brown’s side were lucky not to be relegated last season after a dreadful run of form in the last couple of months of their first Premier League year. The priority in the summer, like so many other clubs, was to add a goal scorer as well as strengthening all other areas of the team.

While Hull searched out strikers, half of their defence was leaving for pastures new. Sam Ricketts headed west to Bolton and Michael Turner signed for Sunderland. After targeting Michael Owen throughout the early part of the summer, the Tigers had to settle for Jozy Altidore and Kamel Ghilas. Hardly recognised players, but the early signs have been promising.

Without Turner, the defence looks much more liable to be breached this season. Ibrahima Sonko has been brought in on loan as a like-for-like replacement but there are doubts over his ability to do the job. The top league credentials of Paul McShane and Steven Mouyokolo are also debatable, but at £3million Stephen Hunt is a steal.

Liverpool

After Xabi Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa defected to Real Madrid, Rafa Benitez’s precedence was to replace the pair. Another striker to challenge Fernando Torres and company would have also not gone a miss- the likes of David N’Gog struggled to make an impact last season.

Benitez entered the market to sign an Italian crock at what he called a ‘bargain’ £20million. Alonso replacement Alberto Aquilani won’t be fit until October time due to an ankle injury, and has had many injury problems in the past. But he does have a lovely girlfriend. Glen Johnson was Arbeloa’s replacement and looks like establishing himself as England’s first choice right back in the process.

But Liverpool decided not to sign a striker. That was surely in some part down to the financial problems of Reds owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. An injury of any longevity for Fernando Torres and Liverpool’s title dreams could be over sharpish.

Man City

City had the aim this summer of going out and signing anyone who was any good and available. Or so it seemed.

First, and arguably most importantly, came Gareth Barry. His role as the seamless tie between defence and attack will be absolutely vital to City’s chances of success. Emmanuel Adebayor, Roque Santa Cruz and Carlos Tevez give manager Mark Hughes a mouth-watering array of forwards. Meanwhile Joelon Lescott and Kolo Toure will complement each other well at the back.

After basically changing the complete core of the side, City have done fantastically to start the way they have. It will be interesting to see if any players get reckless with Mark Hughes’ rotational policy and seek a move away in January.

Photos: Thanks to Diego M. Valenzuela (Altidore), lessio (Aquilani) and Alfonso Jimenez (Tevez).

What you missed while your chair was eating mice and flies for fuel…

• Manager Stuart Pearce is taking the novel step of actually practicing penalty kicks for England’s U-21 semi-final against Sweden.
• Bayer Leverkeusen midfielder Bernd Schneider is retiring due to a chronic spinal issue; the 37-year old made 265 appearances and scored 35 goals for the German club.
• Sepp Blatter will push to add more African teams to the World Cup if they perform well next year.
• If the Premier League had a salary cap, Liverpool could’ve been owned by Robert Kraft instead of Hicks and Gillett.

What you missed while watching for the longest day of the year and then missing it…

• George Gillett indicated he’ll be more committed to Liverpool by selling the Montreal Canadiens back to the Molson family. Liverpool also named equity expert Christian Purslow to the board of directors; Purslow will act as an interim Chief Executive until Rick Parry’s replacement is found.
• After parting with Papa Diouf last Wednesday, Olympique de Marseille have named Jean-Claude Dassier as their new chairman; new head coach Didier Deschamps had threatened to leave the club before the start of the season if he wasn’t pleased with Diouf’s replacement.
• Key points from Michael Owen’s 34-page brochure include refutations of the claims that he’s always injured, that he’s lost his desire, and that he flies to Newcastle from Cheshire in his helicopter daily.
• Rather than join Birmingham, Wolves, or Fulham, Oguchi Onyewu will be creating massive defensive holes in Fenerbahçe’s defense next season.
• Roque Santa-Cruz is supposedly taking a medical for Manchester City today; Santa-Cruz is rumored to have been sold to City for £18 million.
• Former Lyon midfielder Juninho will join Qatar champions Al Gharafa in the fall; Juninho had been allowed out of his contract by Lyon and was expected to return to Brazil.
• CONCACAF SuperLiga opening round recap: Chicago beat San Luis 1-0, Tigres beat Chivas USA 2-1, Kansas City and Atlas played to a scoreless draw, and New England spanked Santos Laguna with a 4-2.
• The Columbus Crew’s 2-1 loss to FC Dallas on Saturday ended a nine-game unbeaten streak.
• And, oh yeah: The U.S. will face Spain Wednesday after the planets aligned and they inexplicably advanced to the Confederations Cup semifinals.

Crowds gather to watch the unveiling of Liverpool's new MD

Liverpool today named Christian Purslow, 45, as their new managing director who will take overall charge of the club until a suitably useless replacement for outgoing chief executive and former head of the Premier League, Rick Parry, is found.

Mr Purslow has a degree from Cambridge,  an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Liverpool season ticket holder, although it has been rumoured that he bought them all on E-bay from a man in Singapore.

He speaks fluent Spanish and has an extensive knowledge of overpriced mediocre Primera Liga players and so will liaise with manager Rafael Benitez on his summer signings.

Co-owner George Gillett told the club’s official website. “There’s a lot to get done and Christian will be a valuable addition to the team… unlike most of Rafa’s on field signings!”

“Tom Hicks and I felt that it was important to put a highly experienced and respected executive in place to run the club and support the senior team and the manager but in the end we could only convince Christian to take on the role,” he said.

Co-owner Hicks added: “Christian has been a great supporter of the club for… oooh… at least three years, and in that time, since the Champions  League win in Istanbul, he’s built up great relationships at Anfield.” 

“His strategic and commercial acumen will be a real asset and we’re delighted that he has made a long term commitment to the club. Now all we need to do is brainwok his ideas into the mix, step them up to the plate and fly them from the flagpole to see which way the Soccerball is headed” he added before descending into a torrent of business jargon which made about as much sense as a plot explanation from a time travel episode of ‘Star Trek – The Next Generation’.

Purslow is an executive board member and co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners, his knowledge of football comes from his extensive collection of “Shoot” magazines from the 1980s and watching Sky Sport’s coverage of La Liga.

George Gillett has pulled off a stunning deal in America to rescue Liverpool from a financial nightmare.

Reds owner Gillett and partner Tom Hicks have been struggling to meet payments on a £350million debt incurred as part of their 2007 Anfield takeover.

But Gillett is selling ice hockey giants Montreal Canadiens to the brewers Molson for £340m – almost exactly double the price he paid them for an 80 per cent share in 2001.

News of his £178m profit comes just two weeks after Liverpool’s accountants warned of “significant doubt” over repayments due on July 24 and defender Jamie Carragher said he feared key players could be sold.

The sale should be finalised once NHL chiefs give it the all-clear. Canadiens spokesman Donald Beauchamp said: “We would expect the deal to go through in a month or two.”

Gillett was highly regarded in Montreal as he helped out with cash to sign top players. But he has not made quite the same impression in England.

Liverpool fans have become frustrated at his squabbling with partner Hicks. The pair took out a £350m loan when they bought the club in 2007 and have made no progress with a new stadium.

Accounts show Kop Holdings, the parent company of the club, lost £42.6m in the year up to August 2008. Interest payments on loans accounted for £36.5m.

There could be further good news for the Reds now though as Hicks is hoping to sell off his Texas Rangers baseball team and make a £97m profit.

The Sun