Rusty Shackleford

Have to say Trent has been the worst player on the pitch so far.

The only thing you can trust on departures is the official Liverpool calendar. Trent appears in February, Mo in March and Virgil is there looking majestic in April. All off no doubt. Nunez is still knocking around in November which is disappointing. Chiesa bags June, which is ironic as next no football is played then. Somehow he has also wormed his way onto the cover alongside Alisson and our three departing legends.

Give me Jurgen riding up and down the front lines like King Theoden before a battle. Clattering spears with sword. But I also want this bald genius. Pushing his ivory war pieces around on a comically large map with his plotting rod.

You be careful out there mate.

Not knowing which players we may be losing on a free really does prevent us from knowing what we can spend on now. Another outstanding byproduct of this contract fiasco.

I do wonder what the ‘right’ way for him to go would be. Is there one at all? Costing us nothing and being part of two title winning teams including right before leaving for the biggest club in the world? Nah no fee and why are you leaving with things going so well. Demanding to leave last year for a knockdown price? Some money but nah walking out as we get a new manager. Didn’t give Slot a chance just as Owen didn’t with Benitez. Requesting a release clause in a new deal. No we don’t do those either. Waiting until we were s*** and penniless like Torres did? Nah that’s leaving us in the lurch whilst things aren’t going well. He can’t really win. I hate that we’ll lose an excellent player in his prime but there are no circumstances he can go that’ll really be accepted. I won’t miss all the chat about his defending and the other noise a few others have mentioned but who has really left this club at their peak with genuine goodwill anyway.

A loan to Hull City?

Aware of it. Accepting of it. Supportive of it. Aye probably. You can look backward to being paid in pound notes and getting changed in The Sandon if you like but there no accidents.

Have to agree to disagree then. Anyone advising a local, Liverpool supporting academy graduate about how best to mitigate the backlash in a City he will be returning to someday will be absolutely made up that money was offered for him. Anyway, i’m sure we’ve all got better things to do than go round in circles.

He spat on a Manc in moving traffic at 20mph. His aim is true enough.

Not that i agree with much of what Jamie Carragher says but he has tweeted the following: “No one’s contract or future should come in the way of that! I love Trent as a lad & a player, but his team would’ve told Real Madrid to bid & also would’ve known LFC would turn it down. It’s to try & cover themselves when he leaves for free. Again it’s something the club/fans don’t need with a huge game coming up”. I’d be inclined to think that a player who played with and is mates with McManaman, Owen and Gerrard and who was there with Torres (and knows Trent) will have some idea of how footballers and agents work behind the scenes around transfers away from a club.

I haven’t said he’s wholly in charge of it. But they’ll have known, understood that it had next to no chance of being accepted and then quite happy that it gives them some control of the leaving without a fee narrative. Madrid dance to their own tune but you’d be mad to think there haven’t been talks and that the scenario of a late December bid and its effects hasn’t been discussed. If anyone thinks that Trent is sat there surprised that Real Madrid have bid for him today then you’re pissed a few hours early.

Yeah he’s blissfully unaware of any of the goings on, no-one has been talking and his emailed request to stay hasn’t gone through due to unreliable dial up internet.

Not to me. Trent won’t want to leave before May because he won’t win the league with us (well he’ll get a medal through the post) and because he’d be seen as even more disloyal. Us turning down a bit for him massively helps him. In the past week four of our ex-players have mentioned leaving without us getting a fee as a problem. He’ll be very pleased the bid has gone in whilst they’ll know he won’t want to go until the summer. I don’t see that being without his knowledge. I genuinely wonder what he’d have done had we said yes.

Just so you know i’ve got one more card to play here. I personally know the pregnant girl he was trying to shag a few years ago. She’s not quite as attractive now, but for the right fee i could ensure she’s pissing a line on a pregnancy test before January’s end. Her and her fella rather than any direct involvement from me mind you. For the small price of them being Mortgage free we’d have enough to tempt the lad to stay.

Reckon the bid will have been driven mostly by Trent’s camp. Absolutely no way he’d want to go now with a title on the cards. They want the added comfort of saying it isn’t entirely his fault we got no money. That’s the biggest stick he’s being beaten with currently and what better way to take the edge of than this ghost bid.

We all knew he was off. This allows him to say how we could have gotten money for him. The ideal scenario for him is to leave on the back of a league title whilst being able to claim he stayed to help us win it. They’ll add that we chose not to take a fee. He won’t want to leave before the end of the season himself. They’ll know that too. I’m sure Real would love to have him now but it’s a PR exercise. He’s a top footballer but not without his weaknesses. I for one will be sad to see him go but won’t miss the micro analysis of his sometimes questionable defending for the next five years. He’ll always be tainted in the eyes of most of the support for going in this way. Pitfalls of being a local lad where the expectations of loyalty are that much greater.

I’d like to visit a parallel universe where Amorim joins us and Slot goes to Man Utd. A sort of Lucas Leiva peep around the corner. But for a moment before it collapses in on itself. Reckon we’d be about level with a ten point swing in both directions.

Mo is f***ing ridiculous.

Uh oh. That’ll be a six weeker.

Mad Robbo f***up side we have started very well.

I’m sat in 85 row of the main stand. It’s got quite a bit better over the last ten minutes but the goals can just about be seen through what is effectively a bathroom window. Perhaps this is how Nunez always sees them?

He’s a great footballer and I’m glad we’ve had him. But I must admit I am tired of the noise around him. I’m fed up of the debates around how he defends, his position, us f***ing about with in him in the midfield etc. His often languid style invites annoyance too. If he goes so be it. I’ll be annoyed that as a local lad he’s run his contract down and left us without a penny to replace him though. It will tarnish how most supporters see him and I hope he’s prepared for that.

They may surprise everyone this year. It is somewhat frustrating that they have a s*** striker that stopped being s***.

Looks like Tracey Chapman though. ‘Moves like a fast car’ will be his song’.