Montse

Sorry for a possible Rom, but another life-long fan speaks.... JERMAINE PENNANT TALKS TO LIVERPOOLFC.TV Paul Eaton 26 July 2006 Before flying out to join up with his new team-mates at their training camp in Switzerland, Jermaine Pennant spoke to Liverpoolfc.tv about his dream move to Anfield. Liverpoolfc.tv: Welcome to Liverpool, Jermaine, how happy are you to be here? Jermaine Pennant: I'm over the moon. I've dreamt about this since I was a little boy so to actually be here and to be able to wear a Liverpool shirt and play at Anfield is a dream come true. So you're a Liverpool fan.... Yes. My family have always supported Liverpool and I grew up watching videos of them on the television. My grandad and grandma came here in the seventies and I think Liverpool must have caught their eyes. The love of the club has spread through the family ever since. I actually got my first Liverpool kit when I was about four years of age. John Barnes was my idol when I first started watching Liverpool but then as I got older I loved Robbie Fowler. How did you feel when you first got told Rafa wanted to sign you? It was a great confidence boost for me but to actually be here today and see it happening is even more thrilling. I've heard all the speculation over the last few weeks and it has been frustrating to have to wait so long. I had to remain professional because I still had a job to do at Birmingham but as soon as I found out a fee had been agreed it was the best moment of my life. I always wanted to come to Liverpool. This is the only club I would have wanted to sign for. There's always a doubt in your mind as to whether or not it will happen because you don't know if the clubs will agree a transfer fee but I just stayed positive and believed it would happen for me. It was only yesterday when I found out the deal was on and that it was going to happen. I don't think it has sunk in yet and it probably won't until I'm out in Switzerland with the lads training in a Liverpool jersey. It's been well documented that the manager has been looking for a right sided player for a long time. You are now that man so what can the Liverpool fans expect from you? I want to do what I'm good at which is getting past players down the line and getting plenty of quality crosses into the box. The stats say you put 497 crosses into the box last season - more than any other Premiership player. With Peter Crouch and others to aim for, the right side could be productive for Liverpool this season... Crouchie is a great target man and of course I'll be looking to make the service into the box as good as possible. I'm sure he's looking forward to it as well. I just want to work hard and improve as much as I can to play an important role for the team. Pennant on Anfield move I always wanted to come to Liverpool. This is the only club I would have wanted to sign for. There's always a doubt in your mind as to whether or not it will happen because you don't know if the clubs will agree a transfer fee but I just stayed positive and believed it would happen for me. It was only yesterday when I found out the deal was on and that it was going to happen. This is obviously a step up for you from Birmingham, how confident are you that you can be a success here? I'm more than confident. My best will come at this club because I am playing alongside top quality players who will only help me develop my game. What are your thoughts on the current Liverpool team? Over the last couple of years they've done magnificently well and there have been more signings this summer who all look really good. Obviously the captain is there as the central point of the team and there are quality players all around him. I'm looking forward to making the most of this opportunity. Have you spoken with your new manager yet? I've only had a quick conversation with him on the telephone but I'll be meeting up with him in Switzerland later and I'm sure we'll talk a lot more. Things didn't work out for you at Arsenal but you're now back at a top club. Is this the level where you feel you belong? Yes, this is the best club in the country and the best club to be at so if I can't do it here then I won't be able to do it anywhere. I've still got a long career ahead of me because I'm still young, but hopefully I'll enjoy all my good times here. How do you reflect on your time at Arsenal when you look back now? I enjoyed it there and learnt a lot at Highbury. I'm grateful for what I got out of my time there, but I didn't feel I was getting a chance and so I moved on. I'm here now so I think everything happens for a reason. I've certainly got no regrets about leaving Arsenal. I'm ready for this new challenge at another top club now. I've played a lot of games in the Premiership and am definitely equipped to perform at this level. What's your fitness like at the moment? I feel great. We came back about a month ago at Birmingham and have been away on a pre-season tour. I'm probably about a week ahead of the other Liverpool players in terms of fitness. So you could make your debut against Kaiserslautern this weekend.. Yes, if I'm needed. I'm fit to play. The club have won major trophies in the last two seasons - did you watch the finals as a fan and cheer on the lads against AC Milan and West Ham? I was away in Mauritius with my girlfriend when the Champions League final was on and I watched it along with a load of other Liverpool fans on the big screen in my hotel. When we went 3-0 down I just went back to my room feeling really disappointed. A bit later I put the match on again and saw it was 3-3. I couldn't believe it and started jumping all over the bed. How big a dream is it of yours now to win medals as a Liverpool player? I've come here to be successful and it'd be a great feeling if I can win trophies as a Liverpool player. Are you hoping this move can enhance your international ambitions with England as well? Yes, definitely, and moving to Liverpool will only help me. Playing with players of the quality at this club can only be good for my career. I couldn't be more excited. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N...060726-1737.htm Jeebus if we carry on like this we may actually end up with a bunch of players that want to play for us as opposed to having a meal ticket!

love that, Bonnie la t**! And JAR dyes his hair that kid is a star!

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Not surprised Pongo is digging his heals in if true - who in their right mind wouldnt! Its always good to get a new twist to the saga, keeps us on our toes!

Mutu was sacked for cocaine use after he cost them £15 or so it all adds up. Money isnt an issue with them, small change for Rom and his dodgy accountants. What he really wants is titles. cups and the best fans and history in the world - the latter 2 are something money cannot buy

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This is pure class..... Our scouse heart

....and the girls! Cant help but think the collar looks really awkward, can imagine Xabi and the other latins wearing it up - if Bellamy did he'd never see out!

I dont think he did himself any harm to possible suitors in the Crewe game. Thought he played well. Hope it works out for him

I take one Pennant and raise you an Andy Johnson!

That would be a bit of a bargain to say the least, anyone know anything about this lad?

Oops sorry about that, feel free to delete Memo to self - must read all posts!

LFC WALK ALONE AT THE TOP Tony Evans, The Times 24 July 2006 On the day The Times' Fink Tank announce Liverpool as the greatest English league side ever, Tony Evans offers 18 league and five European titles as evidence. The Scouse voices sang it with gusto at the FA Cup semi-final at Old Trafford in April whenever a blue scarf came into sight: "...Chelsea FC, You ain't got no history, Five European Cups and 18 Leagues, That's what we call history." No other supporters cling to their heritage such as Liverpool fans. One man carries a half-size metal replica of the European Cup to games, passing the trophy round pubs as grinning reds queue up to have their photograph taken with it, as if it were the real thing. Callow adolescents sing of "the fields of Anfield Road, where once we saw King Kenny play", something that Dalglish last did seriously before they were born. Such anachronisms are easy to mock. Especially since this is a club that has not won the league since 1990. This is an age of insane rebranding, where the past is often seen as worthless. So, hail to the Fink Tank for daring to believe that the past matters; that football existed before 1992. Expect a letter from the Premier League's solicitors, Finksters - didn't Blair's Government ban all talk of the past some time in 2001? Yet another of the scourges of modern life is the utilisation of resources in academia to prove the bleedin' obvious. The man in the pub with the miniature European Cup could have saved the Fink Tank hours of research and mountains of cash. If one club has won the title 18 times - three more than the next contestant - then it is clear who is best. Only the mindlessly bigoted could disagree with Liverpool topping the table. Eighteen titles - championships, we used to say before the marketing men stole the word for the second-raters - begin and end the discussion. And that is before five European Cups are introduced as proof. But football is not about evidence. It is as subjective and complex as poetry and depends on interpretation. So the Fink Tank's mathematical certainty is just a jumping off point for the quarrels that will follow. Manchester United supporters, for example, their egos inflated by years of self-delusion - "We're the biggest club in the world," they say - will stake their claim. They invoke romance and tragedy, as if they are exclusive to Old Trafford, and cite massive, half-hearted fan clubs in Bangkok, each member wearing a fake replica kit, as proof of global greatness. Come back when you have won four more titles. Arsenal can make a case for ascendency with their longest continuous spell in the top flight, an impressive achievement. The marble halls and the sense of tradition make the club a unique institution. Recently, they have leavened the patrician attitude with a revolutionary attitude to importing foreign talent. It is hard not to be impressed. It is as compelling a case for greatness as can be made when you come to the table holding only 13 titles. Yet this is the club that began life in southeast London, decided there were richer pickings to be had by squatting in Tottenham Hotspur territory and blagged their way into the top flight without having to bother with something as tiresome as winning promotion. Luciano Moggi, the Juventus fixer, is a mere amateur compared with Sir Henry Norris, who managed to get a team that finished fifth in the second division into the first in 1919 - and a Tube station renamed for the club. Knowing that the aristocrats began life as robber barons puts their airs and graces in a different perspective. As for Chelsea supporters, who will feel rather put out that Huddersfield Town and Burnley rate higher, there is some sympathy. For all the importance of the past, being top of the pile now should carry some extra cachet. As it happens, the history at Stamford Bridge is rich and full of bizarre characters, from William "Fatty" Foulke, the goalkeeper who weighed 26st, to Ken Bates, the former chairman, whose idea of getting the supporters buzzing was to use electrified fences for crowd control. Sadly, the days when Chelsea were a sideshow were more entertaining than recent winning Saturdays at Stamford Bridge, when José Mourinho's overefficient drabs have succeeded without any sense of fun and left empty seats in their wake. Those stayaway Chelsea supporters prove that there is more to football than winning trophies. But Liverpool are the greatest club and, furthermore, this table proves that they are based in the greatest football city in England. All the Fink Tank records worth having are shared between the city's two clubs, with Everton - once the "Mersey Millionaires" and now, hilariously, "The People's Club" - playing the most games in the top flight and scoring the most goals. Mere dry statistics? Well, the city has bred England's two best players in Steven Gerrard and Wayne Rooney. The epicentre of English football sits on the east bank of the Mersey. The man in the pub with the cup could tell you that, too. He'd be even more vehement if he was carrying a newly-minted trophy this time next year - a Premiership replica would be ideal. Even though it is nice to be the best ever, history is far sweeter in the making than in the remembering. Offal via the Times

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I think he is an excellent player but we have an exciting left hand side which I cant wait to see in action. With our immediate concerns being a RW and a striker I think us going for Duff - which was only publicised yesterday - was strange. Sure rafa could use him on the right or up front but is that his most effective position? I wish him all the best at Newcastle but again they are in the hunt for a striker as well, its almost as though they are preconditioned to buy a player cos others are interested

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Agree with you on that one Chris, he had guarenteed (ish) Euro games with either us or Spurs so you can assume he must have been given assurances of a starting place and loads of money by the barcodes. As soon as any player demands first team action that has to set the alarm bells ringing, its about a team first not the player, they are only there to strengthen the squad and this is the mentality that Rafa has brought to us and I for one applaud that attitude.

I dont know the circumstances of this charge but does anyone think this is something we should be worried about? Could he get a custodial sentance IF found guilty? Grauniad

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I'm actually quite relieved, and couldnt understand why we were in the running anyway. Anyone fancy a wager on him being injured in the first few games of the season?

Have to say I'm surprised to say the least, we have an incredibly strong left side so why are we interested? As RafaShanks said SWP would be a great signing but there is no way we would be given permission to talk to him.

Wonder which kit we will sport tomorrow? They play in red and white dont they so it could be the Euro away again I guess?

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Isnt Rafa touting Zenden for a future CM spot so I think its more or less covered?

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