GWistooshort

Well Rafa's not sure at the moment whether he'll have any money in Jan for any additions............ "We are making plans but it depends on the situation whether you go to Plan A or Plan B – sometimes that depends on money. At this moment I don’t know [what will be available in January] so I have to keep doing my job and wait. "At this moment I don’t know if I will have some money. I just have to keep trying to do my job, to win games and I’m sure that I will have some discussions with [managing director] Christian Purslow and we will analyse the situation but at this moment it is just carry on.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...-in-Europe.html

Because there was quite a bit of discussion about Winter earlier on in this thread (which was the most recent on the board as far as I can remember)

I don't know what Rafa has ever done to Winter, but he really seems to dislike him personally........ Rafael Benítez will blame everyone but himself for Liverpool's plight By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent Published: 7:30AM GMT 02 Nov 2009 "Virtually no one.'' So argued Jamie Carragher when asked whether Liverpool had anyone to replace Fernando Torres should the talismanic target-man miss Wednesday's Champions League tie at Lyons. "Virtually no one.'' This was a short sentence that sounded like a death sentence. Of all the millions of words screamed and scribbled about Liverpool's present plight, these three from the stand-in captain, a loyal servant of the club, carry the most significance. A keen student of the game and genuine managerial prospect one day, Carragher believes his team are lightweight upfront without Torres. His verdict is partly a compliment to Liverpool's exceptional No 9, but also an implicit indictment of the understudies assembled by Rafael Benítez. Blaming such individuals for being too poor (Andrei Voronin) or too raw (Ryan Babel, David Ngog) is pointless; culpability rests with Benítez for recruiting them while ignoring prodigal sons such as Emile Heskey and Michael Owen. Following defeat to a Fulham side expertly organised and motivated by Roy Hodgson, Liverpool are now besieged by headlines shrieking that their title dream is in tatters, but this is no sudden development. In August, few people outside Anfield considered Liverpool to have a squad comparable to those at Old Trafford or Stamford Bridge. Benítez, as usual, will divert attention elsewhere. He will bemoan refereeing decisions, injuries, tardiness in the transfer market and the comic capers of the American co-owners. He will even criticise "senior players'' such as Carragher and Steven Gerrard following the early-season loss to Aston Villa. One constant: Benítez never accepts responsibility himself. That is why some people tire of the self-absorbed Spaniard. We've heard all the excuses before. We've seen the utter reliance on Gerrard, Torres and, for all his recent woes, Carragher. Yet it is quite possible that Benítez, so good at the chess of the Champions League rather than the rollerball of the Premier League, can conjure up a victory over Lyons. But there will be another reverse, another storm. The occasional ray of sunshine piercing the gloom is not enough. Liverpool can afford to sack Benítez. Compensation would be less than £5 million under the "mitigating the loss'' principle if he found employment, but no desire can be detected within the club for a regime change. Besides, the two managers who would fit the Anfield bill, Fabio Capello and Jose Mourinho, are not available. The impressive managing director, Christian Purslow, is not the type for knee-jerk reactions. But it is known around Anfield that Purslow has talked to Benítez about his style of management, notably his cold detachment from the players. Sensible businesses plan for succession and any defenestration of Benítez should take place only in the close-season. Who knows? Benítez might win the FA Cup. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...ols-plight.html

Good response from Didi to Whelan................. Hamann urges Reds to back Benitez By Jonathan Stevenson Former Liverpool star Dietmar Hamann says Reds boss Rafael Benitez is the right man to turn their fortunes around despite six defeats in seven games. Hamman, who played under Benitez at Anfield, has dismissed suggestions that the Spaniard should be sacked. "People calling for Rafa's head are being very premature," Hamann told BBC Sport. "He has been there five years and has improved them every season. "Rafa has got everything a top-class manager needs, he will turn it around." Defeat at Fulham on Saturday means Liverpool are on their worst run for more than 50 years and they face a crucial week in their season as they travel to Lyon in the Champions League on Wednesday and host Birmingham in the Premier League on Monday. Losing at Lyon would leave Liverpool's hopes of reaching the last 16 in Europe hanging by a thread, while they have already lost five of their 11 league matches this season - including a 3-1 reverse at Fulham on Saturday. Ex-Reds star Ronnie Whelan was quoted on Monday as saying "it's all gone wrong with the manager" and Benitez's days at Anfield are "numbered", while former striker Stan Collymore also said the former Valencia coach should be sacked. But Hamann, who played a pivotal role as a substitute in Liverpool's stunning Champions League victory over AC Milan in Istanbul in 2005, says his former club must stick with Benitez. "It's almost the first time in his five-year period at Anfield where they've had a bad spell like this," added Hamann. "Every year Rafa has gradually improved Liverpool, every year he has taken them forward. "There are still another 27 games left in the league and while I don't think they can win it after the start they have made, there is plenty of time to get into that top four. "The team is good enough to pull through. They were pretty unlucky at Fulham - they could have been ahead at half-time and both the sendings off were harsh, sometimes things just don't go your way. "But all they need are a couple of good results and a couple of key players to be fit again and once they've won once or twice everything will be fine again." Whelan heavily criticised Benitez's decision to take star striker Fernando Torres off after 63 minutes of the defeat at Craven Cottage with the score 1-1, but Hamann dismissed the Irishman's comments. "I don't think you can blame the manager for taking Torres off when he's clearly not 100% fit - maybe Torres asked to be taken off, who knows?" said Hamann. "It's just ridiculous that people are coming out and saying these things when only the manager knows how fit people are, only he is in charge of that team. I don't think that's up to anyone else to judge. "I think this game in Lyon on Wednesday is more important than any of the league games they have played recently. "Financially for Liverpool it is vital for them to reach the last 16 of the Champions League, so at this moment in time you can see why Rafa would prioritise Wednesday's game more than Fulham away. "There is so much time left in the league - and you saw with Manchester City drawing on Sunday that teams aren't exactly capitalising when Liverpool don't win. "The big four all lost at least twice in their first 10 games so it seems more competitive at the top and this will work in Liverpool's favour, because you won't need quite as many points as in previous years to get into that top four. "With Alberto Aquilani getting fit, Steven Gerrard on his way back and the fact that they won't lose any players to the African Cup of Nations in January, I think we'll see Liverpool improving from now on." http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...ool/8338757.stm

I think we can safely say that Rafa wasn't resting players for Lyon then............... http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N...091102-1449.htm RAFA'S UPDATE ON 10 INJURED PLAYERS Jimmy Rice 02 November 2009 Rafa Benitez is hopeful of having summer signing Alberto Aquilani available for selection in Wednesday's crunch Champions League clash with Lyon. The Italy international is recovering well from a virus which kept him out of Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Fulham. His return to the squad would be a boost for Benitez, who will definitely be without Steven Gerrard (groin), Albert Riera (hamstring), Martin Kelly (ankle) and Martin Skrtel (muscle) for the Group E encounter. "Aquilani had a virus. He trained today but was a little bit weak. Hopefully in two days' time he will be better," said Benitez. "Gerrard won't travel to Lyon. He has no chance. He is improving but we have to wait. He has had an injection but we have to wait two or three days and see how he reacts. "Skrtel has no chance. He has a small muscle problem. It's not too big but he is feeling something." Meanwhile, the Liverpool manager will make late fitness calls on the recovering Daniel Agger (back), Glen Johnson (calf), Fabio Aurelio (calf) and David Ngog (ankle), none of whom travelled to Craven Cottage. Benitez said: "Agger is improving - he will travel and we will then decide. He felt something in his back but it's much better now. We have to wait and see how he reacts. "Fabio is improving but he still has a small problem in his calf, so we will have to wait. "Ngog is much better, so he could be available. "Johnson is training and working with the physios but he is a doubt at this moment. He will travel to Lyon and we will see." Elsewhere, much was made of Benitez's decision to substitute Fernando Torres after 63 minutes of the Fulham loss with the score 1-1. However, the boss feared his star striker could sustain a more serious injury had he stayed on the field. Torres has yet to reach full fitness following an adductor injury suffered on international duty last month. "I was surprised with the critics after the game because Fernando has had problems in the last month after the international games," said Benitez. "We are trying to manage because he was close to having an operation. Still this morning, two days after the game, he is feeling something. "He is not comfortable. He has not got the power he had before, so we have to manage and try to protect him. He cannot play well if you keep pushing him. Maybe if you push him he will be injured for a long time. "So, I am really surprised with the critics. When you talk about big names, people just analyse the names and not how the player is when he is on the pitch. He was not 100 per cent fit. "We have to take Fernando to Lyon because we don't have too many options. We have to keep working with him and the rest of the players."

Click on the links below to watch the highlights or the post-match interviews................... Highlights (Virgin) [5:06] Rafa (BBC) [4:00] Rafa (Sky) [3:39] Carragher (BBC) [5:04] Fulham boss Roy Hodgson (BBC) [2:20] Hodgson (Sky) [3:39] Fulham striker Bobby Zamora (BBC) [3:07] Charlie Nicholas' 'analysis' (Sky) [6:35]

Latest from Bascombe......... HICKS WOOS TEN MONEYMEN By Chris Bascombe, 31/10/2009 LIVERPOOL rolled out the red carpet to TEN potential investment groups at last week's Anfield clash with Manchester United. Co-owner Tom Hicks evidently was not just in England to watch the football. He held talks with GE Capital in London as Liverpool pursue the finance to start work on their new stadium. GE's Europe President Charles Alexander is understood to be a Liverpool fan and has shown tentative interest in the Merseyside club in the past. Hicks also hosted guests in the Directors' box as the club showcased its assets during the 2-0 win over the Champions. Among those invited were former Kuwaiti foreign minister Mohammed Jassem Al Saqr, who was pictured with Hicks, plus Hicks' Middle East 'expert' Roy Baker, and Kop legends Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush. Hicks courted interest from Kuwait last season when Nasser Al Kharafi was in talks to buy a stake in the club. Club sources insist the invitations and discussions last weekend were no more than preliminary as part of an ongoing process. Accountants of both Hicks and co-owner George Gillett have been trying to raise £100million by selling a 25 per cent stake in the club, with the Middle East their prime target. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/foot...-investors.html

Click HERE to watch a clip from Rafa's pre-match press conference

From this morning's Daily Post...... Liverpool FC agonise over Steven Gerrard operation ahead of make-or-break week Oct 31 2009 Ian Doyle RAFAEL BENITEZ faces a major decision over the fitness of Steven Gerrard ahead of another make-or-break week for Liverpool. The Anfield skipper has been ruled out of today’s Premier League visit to Fulham as he continues to struggle with a persistent groin problem. And “worried” Gerrard is a major doubt for the must-win Champions League clash at Lyon on Wednesday, with Benitez admitting the 29-year-old may ultimately require surgery to repair the damage. Gerrard has played just 25 minutes of Liverpool’s last four games after initially suffering the problem while on international duty with England earlier this month. The captain now faces an intense period of treatment at Melwood with Liverpool prepared to give him every chance of recovery ahead of midweek journey to France. But Benitez said: “I’m not sure if Stevie will need surgery. He’s working very hard with the physios. Now we have to be careful because we don’t want to take any risks. “The scan now is okay in terms of the adductor. It is a groin problem. So we have to talk with to analyse if he has pain or not and talk with the doctor and the physios every day. “He hasn’t suffered a setback this week, he’s just not progressing as we were expecting. We thought he could be ready for the last game, but it’s the same. “If he cannot improve in a few days we will analyse again the situation. Next week we have to decide about the surgery. If he’s not doing well, we have to decide.” Gerrard has a history of groin problems and the latest injury has prompted increasing concern among the club’s medical staff. “It’s a difficult situation and I don’t know exactly what it is,” said Benitez. “He has a pain his groin. We are working with him and he has no power. It’s not because of the muscle, it’s because of the pain in the muscle, so they are working there. “Steven’s worried, he’s a little bit low because he thought he could be better. He cannot kick long balls properly. It’s not too much, but it’s enough that he cannot play comfortably.” Benitez refused to be drawn on the possibility Gerrard could recover fitness in time for a call-up from England for their friendly against Brazil in Qatar next month. “We cannot look one or two weeks ahead,” he said. “The main thing for us is we have an important game against Fulham in which he cannot play. “Then we have an important game against Lyon and we have to check the situation every day, so I cannot talk about one or two weeks ahead.” Benitez’s injury gloom was further deepened with the news Glen Johnson has suffered a small tear in his calf. The England international will also miss this afternoon’s Craven Cottage encounter and could even be sidelined for the Lyon trip. Philipp Degen is almost certain to make his first-ever Premier League start in place of Johnson at right-back today. But with the Switzerland international not included in Liverpool’s Champions League squad and youngster Martin Kelly injured, Benitez could be without a recognised right-back in midweek for his team’s biggest game of the season thus far. “Glen has a small tear in his calf and he cannot play,” said the Anfield manager. “Maybe he will be out for four or five days.” Fernando Torres is among a clutch of players who will return after being rested for the Carling Cup tie at Arsenal on Wednesday, while Javier Mascherano has served his one-match suspension for the sending-off at Manchester United last Sunday. Alberto Aquilani, who made his long-await debut at the Emirates, will travel with the squad despite picking up a virus that has affected other squad members during the week. “Aquilani has a virus and could not train because of it,” said Benitez. “It is not swine flu, he just has a virus. “Lucas and Torres were the same and were okay after one or two days so maybe it will be the same with Alberto.” http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverp...92534-25055610/

Highlights of the match - they may not work for people outside the UK BBC [4:52] Sky [4:46]

Correct - Rafa last month “If you think about the money we were spending on players we then decided to spend £20million on Torres - that was a massive figure for us”. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverp...00252-24788745/

Also available for free on the official site in slightly better quality Clicky

Click on the links below for clips of the post-match interviews.............. Rafa (Sky) [1:55] Rafa (BBC) [2:47] AUDIO ONLY Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (Sky) [1:31] Wenger (BBC) [1:47] AUDIO ONLY

Available for free on the official site now Clicky

Thanks Was it this article?

Thanks for that - couldn't find it anywhere on the Observer website Any idea who the journo was?

The Guardian this morning says Wenger said Merida will play, who isn't in either of Randall's or Wilshire's teams - I assume it would be in place of Coquelin if he does http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oc...ool-carling-cup

Assuming the rest of that team is correct Eduardo will be in for Wilshire as Wenger has confirmed that Eduardo will be starting along with Fabianski, Nasri & Bendtner as CarraLegend posted earlier

Yeah Wenger's ruled him out today on the Arsenal website - he's got an ankle injury

The Daily Mail 26 October 2009 Sorry, Sir Alex, you're wrong - United defender Vidic rightly saw red and Liverpool captain Carra on Owen was just yellow By Graham Poll Let’s deal with the decisions first. It is frustrating for referees to get things right, then be criticised by observers who are ignorant of the laws. For a player to be dismissed for denying a scoring opportunity, the player fouled must be heading towards the goal, not just the goal line. So when Michael Owen was pulled down by Jamie Carragher in the 87th minute, Andre Marriner had an easy, routine decision: a direct free kick and a yellow card. It could not be a red card, whatever Sir Alex Ferguson and TV experts assert. Marriner was also correct to dismiss Nemanja Vidic in stoppage time for his second yellow card, after he deliberately blocked Dirk Kuyt on the halfway line — again not the denial of a scoring opportunity, but a cautionable offence. Carragher’s challenge on Michael Carrick was good. His momentum took him through the midfielder, but he came in from the side and got the ball. Sir Alex suggested Marriner’s inexperience might have been a factor. It was his first top-four clash, but he is an international referee ranked fifth in England with more than 60 games in six Premier League seasons http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...oure-wrong.html

Nice to see Mr Ferguson coming in for some stick from ex-refs............ The Guardian Monday 26 October 2009 Alex Ferguson under fire from referees after new outburst at Anfield Louise Taylor and Andy Hunter • Sir Alex Ferguson 'clearly doesn't understand the laws' • Jeff Winter says manager's conduct is getting worse Referees have responded forcefully to Sir Alex Ferguson's criticisms of their abilities by claiming the Manchester United manager's knowledge of football's rules is alarmingly hazy and that his twin attacks on Alan Wiley and Andre Marriner should prompt a stadium ban. "It's so frustrating when a manager as experienced and respected as Sir Alex Ferguson makes a statement about the laws of the game which is completely inaccurate," said Jeff Winter, a former Premier League referee. Winter was highlighting Ferguson's insistence that Jamie Carragher should have been shown a red rather than yellow card for hauling down Michael Owen on the edge of the area during United's 2-0 defeat at Liverpool yesterday. Another senior refereeing source, still officiating at Premier League matches, agreed with Winter. "Ferguson clearly doesn't understand the law about the denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity," he said. "The fouled player has to have full control of the ball and has to be moving towards the goal but Michael Owen did not fulfil either condition. "[sunday's match official] Andre Marriner was absolutely right to award a yellow card and a direct free-kick," he added. "It would have been totally wrong for him to have sent Jamie Carragher off. And Sir Alex should never have said that Andre Marriner was not an experienced referee when he is on the Fifa list and got all the important decisions right on Sunday." Ferguson's latest comments, although circumspect in comparison with his criticism of Wiley, were being analysed by the Football Association's compliance department today. It is understood, however, that the FA is unlikely to bring any charges against the United manager for questioning Marriner's experience to officiate a game of Sunday's magnitude or criticising the referee's refusal to dismiss Carragher or award a penalty against the Liverpool defender for a challenge on Michael Carrick. As a veteran of several run-ins with Ferguson, Winter wonders if United's manager was merely deflecting attention from a defeat. "I don't know if Sir Alex Ferguson has got a problem with referees but he has got a problem when Manchester United don't win and blaming the referee is the easy option," he said. "His statement about Carragher shows that either he doesn't know the laws of the game or he's resorting to mind games again." Winter disagrees with suggestions that Ferguson is mellowing with age. "There are signs that his temper is getting worse," he said. "Some of his touchline antics, when you see the veins standing out on his neck and see him swearing and shouting, are not too good for his own health let alone anyone else's. "I don't know whether it's age or what but he seems to be getting less tolerant of everybody and everything – especially when Manchester United don't manage to win. This sort of thing seems to be happening every other week with him now." Like others in the refereeing fraternity, Winter is hoping that the FA will punish Ferguson severely for not just yesterday's comments but his suggestions that Wiley's fitness was suspect following United's recent 2-2 home draw against Sunderland. "If I were the FA I would personally impose a Fifa-style stadium ban on Sir Alex," said Winter. "I think it's got to be harsh punishment to teach him and everyone else a lesson. The FA have to take serious action against him. Anything less and the Respect campaign is dead in the water. They've got to show Sir Alex and everyone else that behaviour like this will not be tolerated. A fine or, in this case, even a touchline ban won't be enough." A stadium ban would leave Ferguson watching from the stands and barred from any contact with his players before or during a match once they have entered the stadium. In 2005 Chelsea's then-manager Jose Mourinho received a two-game stadium ban following his comments about Anders Frisk following a Champions League game against Barcelona. Winter felt Marriner had a "very good" game but acknowledged it was the referee's first Premier League game involving two top-four teams. "There's a first time for everything, though," said Winter. "Andre did well because players from both sides had clearly been told to pressure him and I noticed that his every decision was contested by at least three players." He also feels the FA should speed up their disciplinary procedures. "All this suggests that Sir Alex isn't really concerned about the authorities," he said. "It's three-and-a-half weeks since his comments about Alan Wiley and still nothing has happened." http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/oc...nchester-united

The Daily Mail 25 October 2009 So who got the Alonso millions at Liverpool? By Dan King LIVERPOOL spent less than £5 million of the £30m they received for Xabi Alonso on injured midfielder Alberto Aquilani. According to a release by Aquilani’s former club, Roma, at the time of the deal in August, Liverpool paid only five million euros up front for the player who made his first appearance for his new club in the reserves last week after recovering from his ankle problem. Further instalments of three, seven and five million euros are due over the next three years to make a total of 20 million euros and the cut-price initial payment could be regarded as a good deal for a player of Aquilani’s reputation. But following Liverpool’s poor start to the season, some fans may question why more of the Alonso money was not spent on a big-name replacement who was fit to start the season. With debts of £250m still to service after the summer refinancing, the club’s American owners may have good reason to want to hold on to the remaining £25m of the Alonso money for now. Manchester United fans will scoff at the clause which specifies a one million euro extra payment if Liverpool win the Champions League or Premier League before June 2014. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...-Liverpool.html

The Independent Monday, 26 October 2009 Sam Wallace: No end in sight to the desolate walk through Anfield of broken dreams Not one resident opposed the government's compulsory purchase orders in Anfield Back Rockfield Road, Liverpool, L4, should be one of the most evocative football streets in Britain because, as you walk down it, the most famous piece of any stadium anywhere in England looms into view. That is The Kop, more than 100 years old, sitting practically at the end of the street. It is one of those streets that you see in old black-and-white pictures of kids playing football in roads free of cars. To the right are roads of Victorian terraces and to the left are the backs of the grander houses of Rockfield Road. But supporters walking down Back Rockfield Road do not stop to admire the view. Rather, they keep their heads down and quicken their step. The area is virtually destitute. I walked around there before the Champions League match against Lyons last week and stopped to read the notice in a small public garden, on a patch of wasteland near The Kop where the television vans are parked. The garden was planted by the children of the Anfield-Breckfield community and the sign asked politely for people to treat the flower beds with respect. It was a poignant oasis of order among so much urban decay. The area north of the Anfield stadium, arguably the greatest, most authentic football stadium in the country, is in a desperate state. There are families living in streets where the majority of houses are boarded up and anyone playing street football would have to be careful of the security spikes that line the walls around abandoned houses. It is not a vision of Britain in 2009 you will find in any tourist guidebook. The question of blame for this awful mess on the doorstep of one of our most famous clubs is a delicate one. The city of Liverpool has had to cope with community disintegration on a huge scale, born of a population decline from 850,000 at its peak to 430,000 now, driven largely by unemployment. But one thing is certain. The longer the development of Liverpool's new stadium drags on, the slower the regeneration. The lives of the people who live around Back Rockfield Road are not the responsibility of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, the co-owners of Liverpool. But these two Americans, who once promised a gleaming new 60,000-capacity stadium on nearby Stanley Park, should know that their failure to make good on that promise has a direct effect on some of the least fortunate people in the city. Many Liverpool fans marched in protest against Hicks and Gillett yesterday and, for some of them, the issue of the new stadium relates only to their team, its success and the funds available to Rafael Benitez. But this is a great club of the people – a club with a conscience – and most Liverpool supporters will also recognise how crucial the new stadium is to the people who live around it. One man who has never been afraid to remind Hicks and Gillett of their wider responsibilities is Peter Kilfoyle, the Labour MP for Walton whose constituency encompasses Anfield. He is adamant that a new stadium, as promised by Hicks and Gillett, is the area's best chance of a revival. It would encourage investment, perhaps even new hotels. At the very least it would put an end to the shame of fans approaching Anfield through some of the worst streets in the country. Kilfoyle tabled a Commons motion in June to try to prevent the nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland refinancing Hicks and Gillett's debt. He hoped it would force them to sell up. But RBS went ahead anyway. "I'm not putting all the problems down to Liverpool football club, but there would be a lot of answers if they got their act together over the stadium," Kilfoyle told me this week. He met Christian Purslow, the new managing director at Liverpool, for the first time 10 days ago and does not believe that anything will change with the stadium until the club is sold. "I have watched various dignitaries of the club over the years try to come to terms with the area," Kilfoyle said. "They seem puzzled by how the club ended up surrounded by destitution. But maybe that tells you more about football these days." It is telling that when the government regeneration initiative, New Heartlands, embarked on compulsory purchase orders in Anfield, not one resident opposed them, unlike in the Edge Lane area of Liverpool where many locals fought to the bitter end. That would suggest that people around Anfield are as desperate to leave the past behind as the football club round the corner are to recreate their former glories. The financial mess at Liverpool has many victims: the most obvious are the supporters who are watching as their club is squabbled over by its co-owners. But indirectly there are others too, others who are less able to organise themselves to protest. On Tuesday night, many Liverpool fans were as generous as ever, waiting behind to applaud Lyons' fans and players for their last-minute victory. As those French fans streamed out on to Anfield Road, giddy with excitement at the victory, they will have reflected on the perfect night of European football. If they walked past The Kop to catch a cab back into town they might have glimpsed the burnt-out roof of one house on Rockfield Road, a reminder that not everyone in Anfield has their hopes and aspirations measured out in the results on the pitch. For those people, Anfield is not just a place they visit for home games. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...ms-1809454.html

It seems to me there has been a shift in the media coverage of the owners in recent times, with more articles appearing that (a) criticise the owners & (b) show signs that they 'get' what the criticism is about. These articles in beginning to appear in places we might not expect them to & are no longer written just by those we would expect either. Importantly opinion pieces on the subject are also starting to appear, which is also an indication that the issue is rising up the news agenda. This contrasts with a situation not so longer ago, when apart from journos like Tony Barratt & the local papers, most articles would either not mention it or say something like "Hichs and Gillett who are unpopular with some Liverpool fans". IMO efforts like these videos & the marches etc will have contributed to this. Examples of a couple of recent articles below...........

I started keeping a list in a word doc so I could cut & paste the names into my transfer round up posts rather than having to type the names out each It all comes down to definitions at the end of the day - when you said earlier that we were never even linked with one striker to me that means in the mainstream media - hence my previous post. I would also say we were seriously linked to Tevez (more so than Negredo) - there was lots & lots of stuff linking us with him (along with several other teams) in the papers, including the broadsheets, consistently over a 3 week period, ending with Tevez’s adviser Kia Joorabchian saying, when he announced Tevez would be leaving Man Utd, that Tevez "does not want to go to Liverpool because of their competitive nature with Manchester United". I am fairly sure we at least made an enquiry there. We also had Tuncay saying he had heard of possible interest from Liverpool, but nothing official, which could mean he just heard some rumours, but also possibly more than that (a week or so later he then said he had contact "with several teams", but didn't name them) & Kleber claimed Liverpool made a £6m offer for him. Obviously we get to know very little of the enquiries & bids we make unless we hear from Rafa (as with Silva), from Elisha or someone else we trust or from the other club or the player, but the three above (Tevez, Tuncay & Kleber) were the others that stood out to me as being the most likely of the strikers we were linked with in the mainstream media in the last transfer window to be more than just speculation by the media, although this doesn't necessarily mean we were in for them - eg Kleber may have just been saying we were interested in him to try & get his club to give him a pay rise etc.