beejay

I've got a feeling this craven attitude of ours has a lot to do with all the stuff coming out of the club about a return to the "dignity" of Liverpool FC after the Rafa years. Carra has referred to it as well, but our reaction publically to any incident such as the Cole sending off or Ferguson's outburst is to turn the other cheek. Might make us popular with the FA but it won't win us any points

Has to be an organised walkout. The 1892 pens will lead and there will be loads of others on the kop who will follow. It would be effective for TV and the media. Sunderland game? SOS?

In my opinion, there can only be 3 logical reasons for Hicks refinancing through Blackstone. First, he thinks that by taking out RBS he will take control of the boardroom, sack the directors & appoint his own, then he can re-finance again at a lower rate using the assets of the club (players, stadium etc) as security. He can then perhaps plan for the same sort of bond deal as the Glasers to raise even more cash so he can fob us off with a transfer fund. And finally, he thinks he can raise the money to build the new stadium using sponsorship & selling the "new income" stream in advance. This scenario pre-supposes that our fanbase will be mollified by a PR campaign probably with Hicks blaming Gillett but now promising a new era with investment in new players which he will probably deliver for a couple of transfer windows, on the drip. Second, all this is a game of poker. The club do have a buyer(s) but no-one will commit until H&G are out of the picture which they were expecting to happen next month when RBS pull the plug. Hicks comes forward with a credible plan to refinance the whole debt with a 2 year plan in the knowledge that once he is back in control, the buyers will have to negotiate on his terms. The 3rd scenario is Hicks is full of sh*t and is trying to bully RBS into giving him the refinance deal he wants, through them. Personally, I reckon it's No 3 and in the next couple of weeks we will find that RBS reluctantly agree to provide Hicks with a new line of credit, probably with loads of PR about how they have saved us and it's in our best interests, there will be pre-conditions for debt to come down,blah blah etc but basically we stay as we are.

It's pointless to keep on about Rafa, he's gone. The question was, have we seen enough yet to judge Hodgson? Four league games is clearly not enough but there are worrying signs. That said, the inertia gripping the entire club is such that I find myself dissecting all his comments to see if there is some underlying message. It's paranoia, but Hodgson is the only one saying anything at the moment, so if he says "we can't compete until we have new owners" I'm translating that innocent remark into a sign that he is treading water until the imminent removal of G&H. It's reached the stage where I'm actually contemplating if our sh*teness is deliberate, because if we had started like a train the 2 b******s might try and hang on for another year in case we return to the big time. So Uncle Roy is under instructions to make us look like relegation fodder (and he's doing a mighty fine job) and to talk down our prospects in one final push to persuade the 2 s***houses to f*** off. Then after 6th October, the real Roy Hodgson steps forward to lead us on a thrilling charge to the title with Konchesky & Poulson vying for the bargains of the summer.... Think I need to go and sit down

Mancs have 2 extra days to recover so it would be daft to expose our key players. This is an opportunity for the manager to try out some of the players who are banging on the door for selection following our poor performances so far. Kelly, Aurelio, Meireles, Babel, Pacheco, Ngog should all play, possibly Joe Cole as well for match practise.

He's been here long enough to pick up a bit of the Didi or Molby twang la

That's an intriguing point. We are used to the cult of the manager, that he is one of us but Hodgson doesn't have that appeal, not yet anyway. The main criticism I have of Roy, however, is his demeanour - we are crying out for some hope in the face of the clusterf*** of last season and the never-ending depression served up by the cancerous duo, yet for some reason Roy thinks it's a good idea for him to wash his hands in public then spout "nothing to do with me guv" in his best pseudo cockney accent.

Shelvey is playing for the reserves tonight. Hopefully he may get a chance next week v Northampton.

Hodgson has done the complete opposite of what I expected from him. I thought he would be the breath of fresh air the club needed, lifting the spirits, putting a smile back on everyone's faces and we would go into the season with less pressure but with more intensity, a more competitive approach and a freedom about the attacking play. I expected to see more of a shape & balance in the side, more width and less of playing the wrong combinations. Instead, he has been dour, negative, miserable, downbeat and making excuses all over the shop. The team is suffering from all the same problems from last year but he has added to them with poor selections & tactics. Massively disappointing. It's almost as if he's homesick and wished he'd never taken the job, that he's quickly realised the task is beyond him and he's covering his back. He needs to man up, stop blaming everyone else and start motivating the players. How such an intelligent man can possibly believe the message he is sending out is the right thing to do is nuts, it's insane.

Biggest month in the club's history. If Gillett & Hicks find the money on short-term finance to pay off RBS & keep us, we are dead in the water they will sack the board and then re-finance using the club's assets as security. If RBS take over by seizing the shares, we can hope for a decent future without the money-sucking b*******s. I'm sure there are buyers waiting until this all pans out, inc Hueng & Harris' people but only at the sort of sensible prices Gillett & Hicks won't accept

As most of this thread is hijacked by those vilifying Broughton, Purslow & Ayres as the anti-christs perhaps a few of them will take time out to congratulate our board on throwing out G&H's latest wheeze to f*** us up completely. Thought not, carry on

But you agree that we were selling to buy, or are you trying to make some other point? We are in this mess because we are skint, end of.

It's nice that you feel you can share this with us, but what's it have to do with the takeover?

This has been yet another enormous clusterf*** by the club, but the root cause is still our ownership position. We are in limbo and the bank won't advance any more money until we are sold or the debt is radically reduced. Therefore, we have been wheeler-dealing to bring money in before we can then buy and the delays in selling players (especially Mascherano) meant we ran out of time to complete our business. It's also taken Hodgson a bit of time to assess the squad and decide on the key areas of weakness and/or the players he wants to work with. On the plus side, there has been a pretty thorough removal of the dead wood with Degen, Plessis, El Zhar & Riera and this frees up the kids with real talent to step up such as Pacheco, Kelly, Shelvey & Wilson.

I've put 5th behind Chelsea, Arsenal, Man U & Man City but even that will be tough because Spurs, Villa & Everton are strong as well. My only hope, rather than expectation, is that this will be the last season we have to put up with low standards and an acceptance that we are not in a position to compete. That means ridding ourselves of the vermin of Gillett & Hicks. Roll on 6th October.

Sounds to me like Huang has gone public because he doesn't think the board will run with him. I'm steeling myself for an announcement in a couple of weeks that they have withdrawn and the board have accepted another offer, which then fails to materialise in a couple of months time so we are back to square one.

Rafa bought Josemi & Kromkamp FFS. Luke Young is Roberto Carlos & Paulo Maldini rolled into one compared to those t*ssers. Villa fan I know says Young is their best full back (on either flank) and would prove himself to be ours as well. He reckons he is very solid & good in possession but doesn't suit O'Neill's hoofing style. However, he will begin as decent, experienced cover for both full back positions so I don't see what the fuss is all about. As others have said, I'm more concerned about our centre backs and there are no indications that we are making any changes there, other than Wilson is 3rd reserve instead of Kyrgiakos. And the time to judge Hodgson on his transfers is when he spends big money - presumably, when we see who he brings in to replace Mascherano and Ngog.

You keep saying this but it's not true. Check the accounts - the interest is rolled up but not paid. It's a tax scam. Gillett & Hicks are not profiting from this loan, the bank are calling in the genuine loan and the b*******s have to sell at whatever anyone will pay for us. If it's not enough to pay off all the parent company loans that's too bad, they lose their money and will write off the bad debt against other assets (if they have any left).

Suprised that all the talk is about a tenuous link to Bridge when "apparently" Huntelaar is in talks

Torres injury serious by the sounds of it - ruptured thigh

According to the Post this morning, LFC have dismissed reports that the club are about to sell Insua & Lucas.

Depends on your definition of deadwood I suppose but Cavalieri, Insua, Lucas, El Zhar & Ngog isn't too far out for me. Throw in Plessis, Spearing, Degen, Kyrgiakos, s***andje etc and we're laughing.

So why were Rhone the only bidders in March? All being well, it will be a rich philanthropist who steps in but I wouldn't be in the least surprised if it is a private equity house. There have been plenty of noises about how the figures stack up, BarCap supplying finance for the stadium etc plus there are rumours that Purslow is involved in a consortium. NYR said that Goldman Sachs took a play all the way up to Board before it was laughed out. Maybe the figures have now become so attractive that it's not a joke for these guys anymore.

Let's speculate for the moment that Broughton & Barcap actually know what they are doing and have spent the last 3 months doing a professional job of marketing the club. Let's say that this process is reaching the stage where the first round of bids will come in at the end of next week and within 2 or 3 weeks a preferred bidder will have been selected. Happy for the moment? G&H to be gone before the end of the summer? Yanks Out campaign a success? What then, if it emerged that the bidder is American? An American private equity firm? What would be the reaction? Mayhem probably. But what if the new owners agreed to build the new stadium within say 3 years ; provide a healthy transfer budget year-on-year ; and to sell within say 5 years by a flotation to include a discounted offer to season ticket holders and Share Liverpool. And if they agreed to be bound by these guarantees in the Sale & Purchase Agreement? This is pure speculation on my part, but it's a fact that the pound is 25% off the dollar rate a year ago and US firms are sitting on big cash piles at the moment and UK assets are looking very cheap. The Sunday Times did a piece over the weekend about the number of UK firms being bought by US rivals for just this reason, they are cash-rich and the pound is seriously undervalued. We know that Rhone were the only bidders for a stake in LFC back in April. Would it be a surprise if they came in with a bid for 100% instead? The Middle East sugar daddy is everyone's hope but if that boat has sailed, who would you prefer - a Far East egomaniac or a properly financed investor with a plan?

No, it's 100% the owners' fault. But Rafa was not infallible, let's not try to rewrite history and pretend otherwise.