flash

Passing from Gerrard is excellent, as the commentator just said - he's passing like Alonso.

he's quick tonight

i yhought everyone said cole had slowed, he's flying around the pitch.

effortless that from Gerrard. sweet.

damn right!

is that kuyts bird?

chases everything too.

new kit looks good.

agreed!

nice cross from Cole.

So where are we? It's been suggested and hinted at that there are 6 proposals on the table. Who are they? letas assume it's all people who have linked before... Mr Heung with China backing him Mr Kirdi with a consortium Probably Ambiani Probably that other Indian Geyser, the Gaming billionaire The clown from SSN representing Kuwait? And Probably DIC as they love us and we like a bit. So the chances are it may be neither Heung nor Kirdi and one of the other 4.

I though the story was that he isn't bidding, but is the front man for a chinese bid. In which case it's possible this statement means nothing.

The way i see it one of the official bidders has leaked some info to the press to hurry things along, probably in reaction to the Kirdi story in the Times. If there are other serious bidders they will probably now follow suit.

prolly 300m and they take the debt too, how these things usually work.

You may want to see a doctor!

just needs Ambiani to brief the press and that's teh three bids then.

One of my mates works for BarCap. I asked him about it all and he basically said that there would be no news until they wanted there to be news. When the big takeovers & mergers hot up all people there know apart from the negotiators is that it gets more difficult to book a meeting room. It's a very tight ship. Incidentally, he says the rooms are all booked up at the moment.

The football IS more important than the owners. Owners are just there to sign cheques, if they can't do that they should jog on.

i'm hoping that a new training regime will reduce injuries.

i think one of the criticisms that are fairly pointed at rafa is that the training methods had issues, which may be why we saw so many key injuries. Was it Paco Ayestaran that left? things seemed to get much worse after that guy left.

isn't prophylactic a posh word for condom, which is a posh word for johnny?

if G&H paid them off then that's different, there would be no loan facility to have terms. But the facility was extended to allow them to sell the club. Is what was said at the time anyway. Papers would have been signed with that stated.

impressed the medical staff apparently. how the ...?

It was the terms of the extension.

People keep saying that we may be 4 or 5 players to service debt, thats ludicrous. I'm pretty sure RBS & Wachovia extended the loan facility past July for 6 months on the condition that the club was sold. i also believe the offer to pay down the debt by 100m and retain the facility is no longer on the table. So you don't slice 25-40 milling off the value to service debt. you just don't do it. I And any iterested parties will have stipulated that they are interested provided the assets they are bidding on remain of the same value. i.e: IF we sell a 10m rated player, we must buy a 10m rated player or the offer is withdrawn. for example, you bid 200 on a fancy tea set at an auction, win it, and when you go to pick it up you find the seller has sold the saucers to someone else during the bidding process. it just doesn't happen. I know it's slightly more complex with a footy club, but the principle is the same. As for feelings - I'm gutted at the owners still being here, feel their days are very numbered. In the mean time everyone who deals with football matters is making damn sure we compete in the top 4 again THIS SEASON which is why Hodgson ihas been brought in. We were effectively relegated from the elite last season with a quad that shoudl have challenged for honours on all fronts. Hodgson will hopefully instill a seige mentality that will prevent that happening again this season.