Rushian

haven't a clue mate - all come out of left field.

Jimmy McGovern's brother isn't it?

The original Spanish article from the 15th March is this: http://www.maroc-hebdo.press.ma/MHinternet...Gif380/Juan.gif which is mainly about Rafa to Madrid, includes the 60m euro comment regarding the promise to Rafa which Rafa's agent told the journo, and mentions Villalonga in passing. The next Spanish article is from 22nd March: http://www.elconfidencial.com/buscador/not...?sec=23&id=1201 which doesn't mention any figures, but fills in the details on the investment bankers advising Villalonga and LFC, and includes the "quadruple the revenue" and "turn it from a domestic focus to a global focus" comments. It also has the courtesy to mention the blog entry as previously mooting a possible Villalonga investment. Next up is the Independent yesterday (26th March) which merely translates the El Confidencial article but excludes the "quadruple the revenue" and "turn it from a domestic focus to a global focus": http://news.independent.co.uk/business/new...ticle353584.ece Everything since (Express, NotW, Daily Post, BBC) is a mixture of the Independent and the two Spanish articles, badly translated and spliced together - hence we get a £42m investment.

The funniest thing is the £42m mentioned in all the English articles (including the Daily Post) doesn't refer to an actual bid. This is the money (60m euro) promised by the board to Benitez this summer according to Rafa's agent, who told the journo with the blog at the Adidas event in San Sebastian. However no one at the papers can be arsed to do a translation so they just see the figure and use it as "the bid".

just reposting these here to keep everything together: El fútbol es lo que tiene: Juan Villalonga negocia con la familia Moores su entrada en el capital del Liverpool CF Miércoles, 22 de marzo de 2006 tamaño del texto columnas El ex presidente de Telefónica, Juan Villalonga, que desde hace un año reside en Londres, mantiene conversaciones con la familia Moores, propietaria del Liverpool, para entrar en el capital del mítico equipo de fútbol británico. Y no es broma. Multiplicar por cuatro el valor del centenario club y modernizar la gestión para ?pasar de un enfoque doméstico a uno global? son los dos puntos sobre los que el empresario español ha construido su oferta, con la que pretende desembarcar en el equipo de fútbol que hoy entrena el también español Rafa Benítez. Villalonga está asesorado por la banca Rothschild y el Liverpool, fundado en 1892 y con 18 ligas, cinco copas de Europa, y tres copas de la UEFA, por Price Waterhouse Coopers. El equipo británico todavía no ha respondido a la oferta del empresario español. Este movimiento del ex presidente de Telefónica, que no deja de sorprender a propios y extraños, ya lo había dejado entrever en su blog el periodista deportivo de la Cope Javier Gómez Matallanas. Desde hace tiempo, Villalonga viene compaginando la gestión de negocios propios (construye casas de bajo coste para las rentas menos pudientes de los países emergentes) con la participación en otros ajenos, como el Consejo del Banco Espirito Santo, accionista relevante de Portugal Telecom, inmerso estos días en pleno proceso de OPA. También es presidente de la sociedad Telnic, compañía dedicada a la explotación del nuevo dominio en Internet. A parte del sector de las telecomunicaciones, su experiencia como presidente de Telefónica le ha acreditado como un gran conocedor de los mercados internacionales por lo que está asesorando a empresas de tamaño mediano ?para aumentar sus mercados, transformando su carácter local en empresas globales?. http://www.elconfidencial.com/buscador/not...?sec=23&id=1201 miércoles, marzo 15, 2006 Rafa Benítez no ha ampliado su contrato con el Liverpool y sigue muy bien colocado para entrenar al Real Madrid Saltaba la noticia a primera hora de la tarde: Benítez amplia una temporada más su contrato con el Liverpool, hasta 2010. Esta ampliación significaba que Rafa desaparecía de los posibles entrenadores del Real Madrid para la próxima temporada. Su representante, Manuel García Quilón, me lo ha desmentido en persona hace hora y media. El agente de Benítez, que acababa de regresar de Liverpool, estaba en un centro comercial de San Sebastián de los Reyes, donde varios jugadores han presentado la nueva bota de Adidas, me ha comentado que no han ampliado el contrato, que su vinculación con el Liverpool es hasta 2009. Benítez ha estado negociando con los propietarios del club los refuerzos de la próxima temporada. Los dueños del Liverpool le han prometido que dispondrá de 60 millones de euros. Detrás de los inversores del Liverpool puede estar el ex español Juan Villalonga, ex presidente de Telefónica. Rafa Benítez sigue, por tanto, muy bien colocado en la lista de candidatos para dirigir al Real Madrid la próxima campaña. Manuel García Quilón ha acudido desde el aeropuerto directamente a San Sebastián de los Reyes para buscar a Baraja, uno de sus representados, que junto a Villa, Kezman, Raúl García, Gabi, Diego Milito o Valera han participado en la presentación de la bota +F50 TUNIT, el nuevo modelo de Adidas. http://mata-dor.blogspot.com/2006/03/rafa-...u-contrato.html

I assume it comes from these: El fútbol es lo que tiene: Juan Villalonga negocia con la familia Moores su entrada en el capital del Liverpool CF Miércoles, 22 de marzo de 2006 tamaño del texto columnas El ex presidente de Telefónica, Juan Villalonga, que desde hace un año reside en Londres, mantiene conversaciones con la familia Moores, propietaria del Liverpool, para entrar en el capital del mítico equipo de fútbol británico. Y no es broma. Multiplicar por cuatro el valor del centenario club y modernizar la gestión para ?pasar de un enfoque doméstico a uno global? son los dos puntos sobre los que el empresario español ha construido su oferta, con la que pretende desembarcar en el equipo de fútbol que hoy entrena el también español Rafa Benítez. Villalonga está asesorado por la banca Rothschild y el Liverpool, fundado en 1892 y con 18 ligas, cinco copas de Europa, y tres copas de la UEFA, por Price Waterhouse Coopers. El equipo británico todavía no ha respondido a la oferta del empresario español. Este movimiento del ex presidente de Telefónica, que no deja de sorprender a propios y extraños, ya lo había dejado entrever en su blog el periodista deportivo de la Cope Javier Gómez Matallanas. Desde hace tiempo, Villalonga viene compaginando la gestión de negocios propios (construye casas de bajo coste para las rentas menos pudientes de los países emergentes) con la participación en otros ajenos, como el Consejo del Banco Espirito Santo, accionista relevante de Portugal Telecom, inmerso estos días en pleno proceso de OPA. También es presidente de la sociedad Telnic, compañía dedicada a la explotación del nuevo dominio en Internet. A parte del sector de las telecomunicaciones, su experiencia como presidente de Telefónica le ha acreditado como un gran conocedor de los mercados internacionales por lo que está asesorando a empresas de tamaño mediano ?para aumentar sus mercados, transformando su carácter local en empresas globales?. http://www.elconfidencial.com/buscador/not...?sec=23&id=1201 miércoles, marzo 15, 2006 Rafa Benítez no ha ampliado su contrato con el Liverpool y sigue muy bien colocado para entrenar al Real Madrid Saltaba la noticia a primera hora de la tarde: Benítez amplia una temporada más su contrato con el Liverpool, hasta 2010. Esta ampliación significaba que Rafa desaparecía de los posibles entrenadores del Real Madrid para la próxima temporada. Su representante, Manuel García Quilón, me lo ha desmentido en persona hace hora y media. El agente de Benítez, que acababa de regresar de Liverpool, estaba en un centro comercial de San Sebastián de los Reyes, donde varios jugadores han presentado la nueva bota de Adidas, me ha comentado que no han ampliado el contrato, que su vinculación con el Liverpool es hasta 2009. Benítez ha estado negociando con los propietarios del club los refuerzos de la próxima temporada. Los dueños del Liverpool le han prometido que dispondrá de 60 millones de euros. Detrás de los inversores del Liverpool puede estar el ex español Juan Villalonga, ex presidente de Telefónica. Rafa Benítez sigue, por tanto, muy bien colocado en la lista de candidatos para dirigir al Real Madrid la próxima campaña. Manuel García Quilón ha acudido desde el aeropuerto directamente a San Sebastián de los Reyes para buscar a Baraja, uno de sus representados, que junto a Villa, Kezman, Raúl García, Gabi, Diego Milito o Valera han participado en la presentación de la bota +F50 TUNIT, el nuevo modelo de Adidas. http://mata-dor.blogspot.com/2006/03/rafa-...u-contrato.html

Investment would only cover part of it so we'd have to take out loans of some kind. We could initially take out the loans and then get investment later ...

Apparently the electrical drawings have gone out for evaluation and various firms who specialise in "building envelopes" (roofing, walls etc) have been contacted to let them know the tender is due to go out. Doesn't mean it's confirmed but we certainly seem to be gearing up for it.

We'll find out this week

31st March is the Objective 1 funding, April 10th I think is NWDA (and that depends on EU funding).

Radio5: Rick we were speaking earlier, I don't know whether you heard it, to David Gill the chief executive of Man Utd, about the possibility of Europe's top clubs breaking away from UEFA and forming their own Champions League and he was saying there's no way Utd would do that, and that's the general feeling, and that's the way Liverpool would feel is it? Rick: Yes absolutely it's never been on the agenda and it's never been discussed as far as we're concerned. I think there' are attempts made to muddy the waters and try to detract away from the real issues being debated but that's never been on the agenda. Radio 5: Where do you think Liverpool are in terms of saying I think now we have the squad that can win the Premiership title? Where do you think you are with that? Rick: We're getting there, I don't think we're quite there yet. I think it's another season of progress. Clearly last season was a real rollercoaster. We had the disappointment of 5th place in the Premier League but tempered by the joy of Istanbul. This year we've certainly achieved more consistency in the Premier League we're well ahead of last season's points total already. So it's a season of progress but we're not quite there yet. Radio5: And on the subject of your manager, your manager is sort of constantly linked to Madrid. Does that annoy you and are you concerned at all as a board? Rick: No it doesn't annoy us. I think it is put to bed now that Rafa has recommitted his future to the club. I think whenever you are successful and you have a successful manager, it's a fact of life they're always going to be linked with the big jobs. At the end of the day it's Rafa's home city, it's his home club. It's a perfectly understandable link. If the position were in reverse we would expect Liverpudlians to be linked with Liverpool. So no, it doesn't annoy us. The only thing we have to keep on demonstrating to Rafa which we have certainly done this time is that we all have a shared vision, we all have a burning passion for success, and that we can all pull together to win trophies at Liverpool. That's the way to keep a successful manager. Radio5: Is that in fact with him, is it a situation where you'd like to keep him for as long as he wants to be a manager, a job for life as you were Rick: As long as we keep on winning at the end of the day. Nothing's for life in football. As long as we keep on winning he'll be happy and we'll be happy so why shouldn't that continue? Wyness: whinge whinge whinge goal for us is always to be consistently in the top 10 and pushing for Europe, that's if the G14 ever allow us to get into Europe, that's what we're aiming for ... dangerous group, motivated by greed and self-interest, would turn down offer to be allowed in ... whinge whinge whinge Radio 5: What do you say to that Rick, it's a dangerous group? Rick: It's not a dangerous group. There's nothing wrong with the major clubs exchanging views on issues of common interest. And getting into Europe is easy, you just have to win football matches. Radio5: Rick a couple of final points. Spurs got a bit irritated this week when Benitez made comments about Defoe. Can you knock on the head this morning that Liverpool are interested in signing Defoe? Rick: I think that wasn't the comment at all Gary. I think we were irritated about the comments about Cisse. That was the issue. We are in dialogue with Spurs and I think it's an episode we want to put behind us and try to move on and I'm sure we'll do that. But I think at the end of the day they're making the point that they're not interested in our player and we're not interested in their player. I think we'll resolve that one.

The best coverage of the Premier League is on Radio 5 - good commentators, intelligent analysts, people prepared to be controversial and upset the big clubs.

The latter - it was mentioned in an interview with Herrera earlier in the season.

No Anderson either ...

Hawthorns Station is about 5 minutes walk from the away end so you should make that if you don't piss about on the final whistle (i.e. you're halfway to the exit). Also the Metro runs every ten minutes to Snow Hill on Sundays and takes ten minutes. http://www.travelmetro.co.uk/times/wbss.asp and it's only a 10-15 minute walk to New Street from Snow Hill.

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it's a fake based on the design by lazy.boy on RAWK.

You were advocating that policy last week.

Kev, is there going to be extra stewarding in the Anny Road Upper this season above the Everton fans?

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The Manc thing was strenuously denied at the time in Dubai though. Think that was more a case of journos doing the usual 2+2=67 as the Mancs had set up a Soccer School in Dubai Sports City.

Posted here before that there was a Dubai interest as far back as last April - don't know if it is the same company or individual.

Not saying he would be easy to replace, but it's far from an impossible job and a damn sight easier than finding investment of an acceptable level and nature, or dealing with the myriad of quangos and self-interested parties determined to scupper the new stadium.

Why? I rate Rafa highly as a manager but he's not the only top coach in Europe who could do a job at Anfield. He's a professional, has no emotional attachment to LFC as he made clear this last week and a half and we should consider him as such.

a big manager for our big club to sign big names ...