Ed-Zeppelin

I'm quoting the man himself. I'm not disagreeing. I put quotes around the 35 years etc as that was something Hodgson himself referred to recently when his method were questioned in a press conference. I'd have him out tomorrow if i had my way. For eveyones sake.

Absolutely. You couldn't make it up really. The comments, the form and his general demeanour. Given that he's had '35 years experience and is one of Europes most respected coaches' he couldn't look more out of his depth or out of touch with what it means and takes to manage a club like Liverpool. I'd cry if most of his comments didn't give me a good chuckle. The sooner it's over the better it is for everyone.

They've mentioned due diligence more than once and it appears they were doing homework at the Emirates not long before their involvement broke. As well as all the financial elements I wouldn't be surprised if they have also done their homework on the football related options. Has Parry been consulted, I did hear something along those lines? He tended to appoint managers well if nothing else. If not him I'm sure they've already got feedback from others. Pellegrini would be a great option.

I know. Thommo missed a trick on the groundshare though. All he needed to say was that the reason the bitters keep talking up a groundshare is because that is the only way they'll get a new stadium. We have other options. Let's just hope NESV come out soon and put this issue to bed once and for all and crack on with a new stadium. I'd like a design which captures more of the essence of Anfield than the latest we've seen.

This could be what was slowing down the meeting in London. I suspect they got told about this first and have to look into it before ignoring it! As others have said it looks like the last roll of the dice for a desperate pair. Wouldn't be surprised if Hicks and co have a different team doing this over there after the loss in court today. Embarrassing really, any last dregs of credibility they had going into this seem to be rapidly disappearing.

1719: Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson after the 2-1 defeat: "It's a very bad start to the season. It's a start we could not envisage. It's been a strange season so far but we are very unhappy we have only got six points from seven games."

Agreed. I'd take the hit now even if it meant 9 points deducted. Any extension for G&H will only leave the cloud hanging over us and likely result in more points dropped as a result. I just can't see any sense in extending the deal for G&H at all, except that for RBS it'll make them more money, or that they still require time to shore up their legal argument before pushing G&H out. If that is their motivation then fine but in any other scenario we're just delaying things and making matters worse for the club as a result, or even worse giving G&H time to find someone to help them refinance. No doubt this is all a big game of chess being played out in ways most of us haven't got a clue about I just hope it's currently 'check' and that in a week or so it gets to 'checkmate'!

Won't an extension just prolong the current situation whereby Hicks and Gillette's over-inflated valuation of the club remains a stumbling block. It looks to me that the best way to hasten a deal would be for RBS to take the club off the owners and sell for the debt value of £280m. That is surely what any potential buyers that are left have been waiting for? Either that or this is a ploy to flush them out now with the threat being that if they don't act now a further wait is likely! Meanwhile we, as a club, will continue to stagnate and the effects on the pitch will no doubt continue too.

This is surely one occasion where Rafa's stubborness and genuine affection for us is a real bonus. I reckon he'd love nothing more than to see them off.

Does this mean they are actively looking to sell now but that they are not going to invest at all in the club in the meantime or that, as has been suggested before, that they are happy for us to fall back to mid-table if we sit there whilst they pay off the debt and attempt to build the stadium in the belief this will increase their profit? I would hope for the former on the basis that they should, in theory, be gone sooner. In either scenario I just can't see how they will make a profit based on the fact that they bought a club near the top and without good investment are likely to be selling a club in the middle of the league, and at this rate without a new stadium. Can't help but think they just didn't get what was needed to sustain success in the PL, it's nowhere near the setup of any league in the US and I also don't buy into their supposed belief that our fan base is sufficient to sustain their debt repayments regardless of where we are. I'm sure Anfield will remain full for most games if we're in the PL but we'll lose masses of plastic fans who might not come to Anfield but do buy merchandise etc. We'll also lose money from European football and our advertising and marketing revenue would surely drop? It just doesn't add up and if they remain with their current attitude the only thing I can see happening is us declining. Depressing.

Agree with this totally. For me he looks a sligthly more attacking version and views from Italy are very positive. On the injury front I'm clinging to the hope that this is all part of the Roma/Spalletti curse which has been mentioned and highlighted in recent articles over in Italy. Lets hope if he does sign that his latest op combined with a new training regime sorts him out.

Someone has just repeated what has been written on the Livertweet page over the last few days. All of that stuff on the rumours site follows the same details. It could be the same people, or someone copying. Would be nice. But someone should really take down that Livertweet site as unless they genuinely are employees of the club it's probably on suspect ground and even if they are employees of the club i would think it unlikely they are privvy to that sort of information. I hate the transfer window.

Just been on that place and although i couldn't find the thread in question it's quite interesting to see how they percieve things over there. They do seem genuinely worried by the loss of Ronaldo and Tevez. Most interesting, for me, was how highly they seemed to rate Arsenal's chances next year. They'd generally put them above us for the title if they don't take it. I can buy the argument that they'd rather anyone but us but why Arsenal over Chelsea. Odd. And they have the same spread of optimists/doomongers as us!

That's the one. Doing a search the page prior to that is where it has our name and 'flotation announced' below.

www.digitallook.com In the main search bar just type liverpool fc and it'll take you to it. Any chance this could tie up with Moores leaving and us appointing a new MD with a finance background, plus Gillette manouvering to get some assets/finance freed up? Also would something like this have an influence on the RBS situation. I imagine it would, but not sure in a good or bad way?

Is there anything of interest in the fact that according to Digital Look a shares/investment site there is an entry for Liverpool FC if you search for it and it has the wording flotation announced below. Clicking on the link to details it doesn't give much but has a date of 2009 so it looks like it's fairly new. Does anyone think this means anything or have i just missed something?

Wouldn't have been a bad addition by any stretch but if he ends up at City I would suggest it's clear what either his, or perhaps his agents/owners, priorities are. So we offer something in line with the current wage structure, say £80k per week. City are offering something like £100k per week net. If he end up there I'll take any rivalry statements with a big pinch of salt. I have a feeling City could have an air of Spurs about them for a year or two whilst they develop a squad and settle with a coach. Ah well. Let's get Johnson in in the next 48 hours, then head for an attacker in the mould of Aguero or Silva.

I'll be sad to see Xabi go if it happens, as seems more and more likely now. I'll also be happy to see Barry come in as a replacement, if that is in fact what he will be if he arrives. In our current formation next to Mascherano I think Barry would fit in very well. He offers lots of PL experience and is a club captain, something Rafa always likes. I'd hope he can come to us and revel in the release from that pressure in the way Torres has. Yes he wo't be 'The Man' as he may be a Villa but he'll have a better chance of silverware, boosting his international chances and get to play with some of the worlds best players. He's been one of Englands best performers recently and I think having the extra quality around him for England compared to Villa has helped him settle into a nice style of play whereas like Gerrard for us he's looked upon so much at Villa it almost hinders his natural game. It's taken Rafa a while to find a role where Gerrard is both free and happy and if Barry comes to us and plays in the midfield 3 I think he'll feel the same.

Utter nonsense. How have we been playing football out of interest? Not only is Crouch an excellent footballer but also one of the more intelligent players around and he works his a*** off whilst on the pitch as well. I wouldn't play him up front on his own in the current system because he's not mobile enough, but then it seems neither would Rafa and this has restricted Crouch's starts even further. But when he was playing regularly we still played decent football, and Crouch was more than capable of being part of that. His touch and control is very good. My biggest issues with Crouch are his lack of aerial effectiveness for his height, lack of pace and that it becomes all too easy to launch a ball at him (which isn't actually his fault!). Some of our best goals in recent season have either come directly from Crouch or with Crouch in the buildup!

Whilst I would agree with you entirely regarding Hicks' motives and also share your worries should he remain at the club I do feel you are being overly optimistic that he can actually make all this money from us, and as a result is actually as likely as you believe to stay put. Unlike his US 'franchises' we will have to be in the CL pretty much every year and remain fairly successful across the leagues and cups to allow him to keep his plans afloat. Given the debt he's already loaded on to us and the extra he'd need to add to build the stadium I can't see how we'd sustain investment in the team and build the stadium and remain successful all at the same time. I just can't see it. Even once the stadium is built we'll be in so much debt that investment in the team is likely to be an issue even with the extra match day revenue. So, given we might have a new bigger stadium we'd also have huge debt which unless we're winning the league or at least staying in the CL each year we wouldn't be able to pay for as a club. I can't see how with all the debt on the club he'd manage to make such a huge profit from us? He'll have added little value to the club, if any, if we fall away in the league. We certainly couldn't live without European football and meets his targets. Could he then really sell us on for a massive profit with all that debt, even accouting for growth of marketing etc? Given the above and the way the fans are reacting towards him if his plans were to unfold as some fear I think the fan reaction would only worsen. If Hicks can make a quick buck now I'd say it looks a tidy option given all the risks of his future plans for us. We are nowhere near the safe bet of his other teams, neither are we as fans prepared to lie down and take it as his other teams fans have. Perhaps you know more than me about the whole situation and are correct. I hope not as your doomsday proposals scare the life out of me!

Or sit still and let someone with no idea about us ruin our club infront of us? Some people may not have a clue about running a multi million pound company but our current owners don't seem to have any clue about how to soundly run a Fooball Club! Which in my mind is a different thing, albeit worth many millions of pounds in itself. Hicks could have started charging more for Weetabix and not updating the packaging as often and noone would really give a monkeys. In the world of football, especially in Europe, those principles and the ones he uses to run his other sports teams wont work. Frankly, given the extra financial weight we'll be under once he's got more loans for the stadium I can't see how it is viable. Other may have answers, but even Utd who are in far better shape than us to deal with that sort of debt are struggling. I'll spend Satudays, or whatever day it is we play, cheering on the team as always. But I'll happily spend the rest of my time supporting any cause that helps get Hicks especially out. To sit and do nothing at a time like this would be a sad state of affairs, and is an attitude I really can't understand. Lets just bury our heads, collectively, in the sand instead eh? Perhaps we should have just gone home at half time in Istanbul?

Have been following this thread with interest as the topic of Alonso vs Monster is an interesting but the above inspired me to post myself. The last part of the quote highlights an astonishing level of footballing naivety on your part if that's the way you see Mascheranos role. I'm a big fan of Alonso, love the he plays the ball and hope he stays with the club for many more years, but he simply isn't a holidng defensive midfield player in my book, certainly not to the level of Mascherano. If Gerrard is to be given the freedom and attacking duty he so craves we need to counter that with someone willing to sit and breakup counter attacks from the opposition. There are few, if any, better than this than Mascherano. Alonso doesn't offer as much defensively as Mascherano. Oddly enough I think if you look at how Mourinho setup Chelsea we have the players here to do that nicely, and Rafa tried it against Wigan. Mascherno sits and breaks up play, ala Makalele, and plays the simple passes to Gerrard, Alonso or the full backs/wingers. Alonso dictates the play and flow of the game as Lampard often does for Chelsea giving Gerrard the freedom to play and support a lone striker. Taking the Alonso/Lampard analogy further we've seen how Gerrard benefitted from having a defensively disciplined Barry next to him rather than Lampard, and I think the same holds true for us. I hope we keep both as, as others have said, we need at least 4 top class centre midfielders to compete. But if we are intent on playing Gerrard in the middle then for me 'Monster' is the best way of keeping our 'team' at its best.

This makes for interesting reading. Given the fact that, as has been mentioned before, Mourinho is unable to take up work until the end of this season when places like Sky started linking him with a major European club in the summer, especially with the timing lining nicely with Rafa's spat with G&H, I thought of Milan, Real, Barca or us. I really don't see anyone else who is likely to be a draw to Jose. It wouldn't surprise me if Rafa did go at the end of the year. As others have said if this was the case then there are few comparable replacements and Mourinho is certainly amoung them. He's quoted prior to his Chelsea days as wanting to join us and I fancy the challenge of taking us to the league and out doing Chelsea in the process would fit nicely with him. I'm a fan of Rafa but still hold some reservations about whether he can take us to a league title, for a host of varying reasons. I'd be very worried what affect Rafa leaving would have on the squad, but of all the possible replacements I reckon Mourinho would have the best chance or keeping them together, motivating them greatly and making them just as good a unit as Rafa. Furthemore I actually suspect Mourinho would suit Gerrard better. The Chelsea spirit from Manager to Coaches to Players as one big team was undenyable and I think it'd be interesting to see how that would fit with our squad. One other aspect that would be of great interest to me if this happened would be the media take on it. They generally love Mourinho and it would be very interesting to see how they would react to Liverpool with Jose leading the show. Finally, if this happened it'd cost G&H a fair few quid to let Rafa go, hire Mourinho and then back the new man in the expected manner. As much money as Mourinho had at Chelsea I do think he has the style and ability to keep a team around the top one a budget such as ours, unless his arrival means G&H open the purse strings further for 'their' man, which may tie up with the stadium being scaled back. Someone early in the thread said G&H would be mad to hire Mourinho as he is a ****! This may be true, it's a matter of opinion I guess, but if G&H hired Mourinho he'd be their **** and that could be a key reason why Rafa is still on shaky ground, he's someone elses and therefore easier to push out in some respects. Either way, no trophies and more than 10 points off the title and at the end of the season and there are reasons to justify a change, even if you don't agree with it. Rafa has no doubt improved us massively, but I still harbour doubts about his style being able to win us a Premier League title. I'd love to be proved wrong.

What pisses me off most about all of this is that I don't think Rafa has said anything ou of order or particularly anti-England in all this! Correct me if I missed something but he just imtimated that we looked at Gerrard's injury and took the decision that he wasn't up to it and won't be risked and hopes England do the same for the sake of the player! What's wrong with that?! What all this really shows is judst how average, and overly reliant on a select few, this England team really is and exactly why we don't win things, hopeless manager aside! I've lost any sense of interest in England these days beyond hoping our players come back fit from games, the same as other internationals. The whole 'England' circus just f***s me right off!

I was sat in the Pompey section on the touchline last season when he played right back and we lost. I don't think it was his best game but it wasn't a strong backline period that day. He showed some decent touches that game though and wasn't afraid to get stuck in. He also wound up the Pompey fans something rotten that day with the odd bit of 'gamesmanship' and generally doing a full backs job well. I had to hide some delight in a couple of things which really caused outrage around me. I didn't get found out that day, the closest I got was a slight whinge when Xabi gave the ball away at one point, but I managed to cover it up by turning it into praise for an interception!! All good fun!