Rushian

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It's beyond parody, isn't it?

The perception may have been but I remember arguing at the time that there was no mention of it in any presentation or documents to win the award.

Of course not, but then the whole of English football revolves around these IOUs. It's just a mass of money floating in the ether which is theoretically insured against the "guaranteed" Premier League future TV income. I think it was only three years back that they changed the rules to allow all transfers between Premier League clubs to be paid in equal installments over the lifetime of the contract, switching from the previous scenario of half up front, half a year later. Chelsea are probably the only club who don't have much in the way of future transfer installments on their books.

This is the problem I have with Bose - he's including our staged payments for players, but not including Everton's. He's also included that season ticket "services to be rendered" addition of £20m. It's lazy journalism. Most of what he's written has been cribbed from the Daily Post a couple of weeks back.

We're not getting any money from Marseille till next summer at the earliest.

Seen you proffer that view before. For me forums were always a mix of what you like so much and the longer, more considered pieces. The first Reds forum of any note RAOTL always had a good mix of considered analysis, pub-style banter and discussions about white dog poo. You just chose want you wanted to read or contribute to and ignored the rest. However it now seems de rigeur to comment on anything of length with "can you summarise that for me" or "can't be arsed reading all that". Why bother replying at all? Anyway I'll let you get on with what you do best, castigating the Guardian's Public Jobs Section

Burn all writers!!! There seems to be a bizarre reverse snobbery now attached to anything more than a couple of paragraphs long. Has modern life made everyone lazy?

Irish journalist finds molehill, has designs on Everest.

The true value of the £5m deal will depend on which side paid up the last year of his contract. If it's Newcastle they've effectively paid £8m, if it's Chelsea they've received just £2m.

snippet in this article on us denying we bid for Duff: Benitez rubbishes Real's Alonso link LIVERPOOL manager Rafael Benitez has ruled out any move to Real Madrid for star midfielder Xabi Alonso as he prepares for further signings to bolster his squad. Benitez takes his squad to a Swiss training camp tomorrow, with three matches scheduled for the trip, and he has vowed to add new faces ahead of the Reds' Champions League third qualifying round tie on August 9. And one of the first could be Jermaine Pennant, with sources close to the player expecting a bid for the Birmingham winger soon. But first Benitez has been forced to quash speculation about Alonso, saying: "There has been no truth in stories about Xabi Alonso, we have had no official contact and for sure he is staying here, we do not want to sell him." The move for Pennant is expected later this week, with Liverpool still distancing themselves from claims they were on the brink of landing Damien Duff ahead of his move to Newcastle United. Liverpool sources claim they were 'offered' the player but did not make a bid. Either way, the club will now certainly move on to Pennant. Before Saturday's friendly win at Crewe, chief executive Rick Parry had pointedly denied an official move, however, that could well change in the coming days with a £5million offer likely. Liverpool desperately need a right-sided midfielder - left winger Duff would hardly have fitted the bill - with the long-running saga involving Sevilla's Daniel Alves seemingly having stalled. Benitez used youngsters Paul Anderson and Darren Potter in that role at Crewe, but admitted: "We are still looking for new players, everybody knows what we are looking for now better than me. "I am happy with the young players and they need more experience before being thrown in, that's why we will continue to work in the transfer market."

The guardian had an interesting take on it: "Liverpool had been granted permission last night to speak to Duff and would have had to declare a proposed figure, believed to be £10m, but it is understood that they showed an interest just to sound out Jermaine Pennant's availability at Birmingham City. Pennant is currently valued at around £6m by the Championship club. Rafael Benítez would have been prepared to use Duff on his troublesome right flank, however, having failed to prise his principal target, Daniel Alves, from Sevilla. Duff's preference is to play on the left and Newcastle offered him that."

Convinced we will and pretty sure it's a main plank in the club's financing strategy for the stadium. Remember Arsenal started building before agreeing a naming deal, having initially borrowed all the money. With the income coming in from the naming rights etc they're now reducing and rejigging their debts to lower interest rates etc But operating profits are after you've spent money on transfers etc and we spent hugely to back up Benitez's arrival. That season also includes the one-off payouts to get rid of Houllier and staff of £10.4m.

That table is nonsense. It takes no account of wages paid etc For instance we pay our players far more than Newcastle or Spurs as we're a Champions League club. Also they're taking a snapshot of a season - Newcastle dipping heavily into debt last summer to pay for Owen, Luque et al doesn't make the list. To move we don't need investment per se. We'll borrow the money and sign a stadium naming rights deal. Investment though would reduce any debt burden we choose to take on. You're right on the £46 price, but that's how many London clubs have boosted their earnings such as Spurs and Chelsea. We've got a better kit deal than any club apart from Man Utd and we'll get a nice boost when we sign a new shirt sponsorship deal.

But that's the point Kev, most of that extra matchday income is generated by having a much larger stadium, better corporate facilities in the stadium, or charging far more per game than we do. Now we could charge £46 a game like Chelsea and we'd see our matchday revenue rise considerably. Or we could build a new stadium, increasing capacity and corporate facilities enormously. Which is what we're trying to do. I read recently that Man Utd generate as much income from their corporate facilities as we do from the whole stadium.

Kev, that's absolute and utter nonsense. Take a look at the figures. Different council, different location. Aim your ire at the petty minded selfishness that pervades the city of Liverpool and those that run it, and sees progress strangled at every turn as can be seen by the utter balls up of the preparations for the Capital of Culture.

I don't think we have that much money. And I can't see us getting any two of those three for less than 15-16m which is more than I think we have to spend. Getting all three is wildly optimistic.

According to someone on RAWK posting in the early hours it was in one of the Madrid local newspapers (not Marca or AS).

Capello wants Emerson for the defensive midfield role and Alonso as the playmaker.

I thought we played some great football because Aneka was in the side. Allowed us to stretch the opposition. On the two games mentioned (Arsenal in the league and Spurs) the whole side was dreadful. Him and Owen got sod all service v Arsenal and Anelka came on for a very diappointing Heskey midway through the second half v Spurs. Anelka's performance v Newcastle was superb. You don't have to score 6 goals with your a*** to spark a great team performance.

He does and he doesn't. It all depends on the nature of the contracts. Juve can't pay for all the players they currently have on the books with massively reduced European, TV and sponsorship income. Their best (only?) move would be to shift many of these players on. Now it's ok Juve holding out for millions in transfer fees but some players may not want to move unless their contracts are paid up in full by Juve, which the club can't afford, so in lieu of this they could offer free transfers/loans allowing the buying/loaning club to offer the player a better financial package than if they'd had to pay Juve a high fee.

It was more of a "we have good contacts with many of the big clubs through the G14"

No. He just mentioned he thinks Rafa will get him.

Clearing off the line in the Champions League final?

It is, but the retro look is Nike's latest design style - many of their new shirts are similar in concept this season as you could see with Holland, Mexico and the USA's kits at the World Cup. All the "celebrating the 50th anniversary" is PR guff. Other non-World Cup teams have had similar redesigns like Belgium and Turkey.