GWistooshort

& possibly Dossena as well

LIVERPOOL CHASE RECORD SHIRT DEAL Kop chiefs and Carlsberg in talks over £60million sponsorship By CHRIS BASCOMBE, 28/03/2009 LIVERPOOL are pursuing a record sponsorship deal with Carlsberg which could net them £60million. The Merseysiders hope to conclude negotiations as early as this summer on an agreement which would eclipse those of Manchester United and Chelsea. Liverpool's current three-year contract with the Danish brewers is worth around £10m a year - including Champions League bonuses - and ends after the 2009-10 season. But co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett want to shatter previous records with a new four-year deal. They are out to top the four-year £56m arrangement United signed with AIG in 2006 and Chelsea's five-year £50m contract with Samsung, which runs to 2010. Previous deals with Carlsberg, Liverpool sponsors since 1992, were thought to be worth a lot less than those of rival clubs. A swift deal would give boss Rafa Benitez a transfer kitty and could help protect Reds' value if either owner is forced to sell his share. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/2417...SHIRT-DEAL.html

GARETH BARRY MUST ADAPT Liverpool ready with cut-price bid for Villa midfielder By CHRIS BASCOMBE, 28/03/2009 GARETH BARRY will be asked to become Liverpool's 'Mr Versatile' to finally secure his dream Anfield move. Kop boss Rafa Benitez is ready to bring his year-long pursuit of Barry to an end with a cut-price £8million bid this summer. Barry has a year left on his Aston Villa deal at the end of this season - and Villa will be in no position to demand £20m again. Last year, Barry was pursued as a possible replacement for Xabi Alonso but is now seen as a utility man who can play in central midfield, left midfield or at left-back. http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/2412...midfielder.html

From the Times............ "Rafael Benitez has temporarily called off his pursuit of David Silva, the Spain international, after baulking at Valencia's asking-price. Sources close to the club insist that despite the Liverpool manager withdrawing from negotiations he remains keen to sign the player but is unwilling to pay over the odds. Benitez had made it clear that he would walk away from the proposed deal if Valencia demanded an unrealistic price, but it was thought he was prepared to exceed the club-record £20.2 million he paid Atlético Madrid for Fernando Torres, the Spain striker, in July 2007 in order to snare Silva." http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5988002.ece

Story also carries another direct quote from Rafa re Albiol this time - "He is another good player but he is not our target" - he seems to be being unusually vocal re speculation about possible transfer targets

Daily Telegraph 26 Mar 2009 Hillsborough football stadium disaster: a fight for justice and wounds that never heal By Phil Scraton Twenty years after the Hillsborough football stadium disaster, questions remain unanswered and, for the families of the 96 Liverpool fans who died, justice has yet to be done. Stephanie Jones travelled to Sheffield the night before the game to stay with her brother, Richard, and his girlfriend, Tracey, both at Sheffield University. On the Saturday afternoon Doreen, Stephanie and Richard's mother, visited her father at his home. 'I was in the back kitchen but my father shouted to me to tell me there was trouble at Hillsborough.' Doreen rushed to watch on the television. 'I saw people lying on the pitch and people coming over the fence. For somebody who is very calm in herself, I started to panic, shouting, "My three are in there." I started to cry.' Doreen rang her husband, Les, who was also watching the coverage at work, 'already aware that there were deaths in the crowd'. Some time before 5pm Stephanie rang from Sheffield. She was in tears because she had lost contact with Richard, 25, and Tracey, 23, at the ground. Helped by another fan, she had returned to their car and a local woman had taken her into her house to use the phone. 'She said she'd hurt her ribs, hurt her arm,' Doreen said. 'I told her to go back to the ground and tell the police what she had told me. We told her we were leaving right away for Sheffield.' As they set off, Les felt sure that Richard was seriously hurt. The FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989, was one of the highest-profile domestic football games of the season. By any standards, policing Hillsborough was a massive operation. The 1,122 officers on duty comprised approximately 38 per cent of the entire South Yorkshire force. In 1989 Hillsborough, the home of Sheffield Wednesday, was typical of many First Division grounds. Built a century earlier, it stood two miles out of Sheffield's city centre, alongside the River Don. The east end, the Spion Kop, was a modern standing terrace holding 21,000, allocated to Nottingham fans. The west end, the decrepit Leppings Lane terrace, was allocated to Liverpool supporters. Access to the Leppings Lane turnstiles was tight. Gates in the fencing led into confined areas feeding 23 old-style turnstiles, with exit gates nearby. The turnstiles processed fans entering the Leppings Lane terrace, the West Stand and the North Stand: more than 24,256. Three years earlier a police inspector had warned that the Leppings Lane turnstiles 'do not give anything like the access to the ground… needed by away fans'. A beautiful spring day added to the carnival atmosphere. Many fans were led to the ground by police, who met them from trains and buses. But close to the ground there was no filtering of the crowd by the police. The bottleneck at the turnstiles became tightly packed and the mood changed. With walls, fences or gates to the sides and front the only relief was behind, but more and more fans arrived, oblivious to the mounting crush at the front. As kick-off approached, the crush became desperate, the situation critical, as men, women, children and police officers struggled to breathe. In later testimonies police officers talked of the crowd growing 'unruly', 'nasty' and 'violent'. Those in the crush gave a considerably different account. They commented that there was no attempt to manage the crowd, no filtering and no queuing: 'It stands to sense that if you have people trying to find their turnstiles in a narrow space which leads to different parts of the ground you need a filtering system further back.' Hillsborough's police control box was inside the ground, elevated above the Leppings Lane terrace, giving a commanding view of the crowd below. Around 2.30pm the CCTV monitors showed the sudden build-up of fans in Leppings Lane and at the turnstiles. Chief Supt David Duckenfield, the match commander, had virtually no experience of policing football. He had taken over from his predecessor only three weeks before the game. Now he faced a serious dilemma. The senior officer outside the ground told him that unless he opened the large exit gates, there would be serious injuries, possibly deaths. After some hesitation Duckenfield gave the command: 'Open the gates. 'Gate C was close to the turnstiles and fans walked through. 'We were just hanging back waiting for the crowd to thin out and the big blue gate opened,' one fan said. 'They called us through and we went. I had my ticket out but no one was interested. I thought, "Great, we're in," and walked straight down the tunnel in front of us.' Directly opposite Gate C was the entrance to a tunnel under the West Stand. It was signed standing. More than 2,000 fans walked down the 1-in-6 gradient into the already packed central pens. There was no way out to the sides or the front and no way back up the tunnel. 'I don't remember seeing any stewards,' another fan said. 'We went down the tunnel and into the area right of the fence. It was really packed.' The central pens now held twice their capacity. As the teams came out on to the pitch, the crowd was excited, cheering the names of the players. But in central pens 3 and 4 people were screaming. Others fell silent, unconscious. 'I couldn't believe what was going on. No one could move, not an inch. People around me were contorted in whatever position they'd been compressed. Heads were locked between arms and shoulders, the faces gasping in panic.' 'I was bent forward, from the waist, my full weight pressing down on people in front of me. At first the pain in my back was sharp but then it was in my chest. Suddenly, I knew I was going to die.' In pen 3 the pressure was so great that the fans at the front were squashed into the perimeter fencing, their faces distorted by the mesh. 'I realised that the guy next to me was dead, his eyes were bulging and his tongue out. It was sheer horror.' 'I saw a young boy go down and knew that was it for him. He went under people's feet but no one could do anything about it. The pressure was so great.' Fans screamed at the police on the perimeter track to open the small evacuation gates on to the pitch, 'but they just seemed transfixed. They did nothing.' As fans tried to climb the overhanging perimeter fence, officers on the track pushed them back into the crowd. In the police control box, Duckenfield and his colleagues had a perfect view of the central pens. Having opened the exit gate, he had failed to seal off the tunnel. Later, he stated his confidence that officers 'were patrolling the concourse area' and, acting 'on their own initiative… would have taken some action in the tunnel.' From the control box Duckenfield saw fans trying to climb out of the pens. It did not strike him, he said later, that they were trying to escape a crush. Then he saw a perimeter gate open, apparently without authority. 'My perception is… it was a pitch invasion.' This was the message radioed to officers around the ground as they rushed to the Leppings Lane perimeter track. They thought they were dealing with crowd disorder. Duckenfield and his senior officers failed to anticipate disaster. The collective mindset was hooliganism. Throughout the previous two decades 'football hooliganism' featured regularly in political debates. This led directly to the strategy of policing by segregation and containment. The 1977 McElhone Report on football crowd behaviour recommended lateral fences within terraces to prevent sideways movement. Perimeter fencing, high and overhanging, should be 'not less than 1.8m in height', designed to make access to the pitch impossible. Terraces were divided into pens – as many as six pens behind the goal. The South Yorkshire police 'operational order' for the semi-final identified drunkenness as a priority. Much of the policing outside the ground, from random coach searches through to the monitoring of pubs, was supposed to be directed against drinking. What the operational order failed to address was as striking as its priorities. There were no contingencies for the inevitable build-up outside the ground immediately before kick-off. There was nothing about the bottleneck at the Leppings Lane turnstiles. There were no contingency plans for coping with over-full pens or for closing the tunnel leading into the central pens. Committed to containment, it neglected safety. As the officers arrived at the perimeter fence the full realisation of the situation was immediately apparent. 'This was not a pitch invasion,' one officer said later. 'There were a large number of dead, dying and injured persons in the crowd. Some crushed against the fence were blue violet in colour, others had glazed eyes, apparently dead, others were covered in vomit.' Another officer saw a young boy close to the front of pen 3. 'He was still alive and had his fingers on the steel mesh. He was turning purple and looking straight into my eyes. I was totally helpless and could not reach [him]. I jumped down… and attempted to push my hands through the metal fence to pull him clear. It was futile. I spoke to him and told him to hang on and held his hands.' Not long after 3.15pm, after the match had been abandoned, Duckenfield told representatives of the Football Association, including the chief executive, Graham Kelly, that Liverpool fans had forced Gate C, causing an inrush into the stadium, down the tunnel, into the backs of those already in the central pens. Duckenfield stated later that, 'The blunt truth [was] that we had been asked to open a gate. I was not being deceitful… we were all in a state of shock.' He continued, 'I just thought at that stage that I should not communicate fully the situation… I may have misled Mr Kelly.' He did. Kelly unwittingly and in good faith repeated Duckenfield's lie to the waiting media. Within minutes it was broadcast around the world: an appalling disaster was happening, and Liverpool fans were to blame. The medical assistance officially on call at Hillsborough was provided by 30 St John Ambulance officers, five of whom were young cadets. As fans were pulled from the pens through the two narrow perimeter track gates they were laid out close by. As bodies multiplied there was congestion on the pitch. It was clear that those dying had suffered asphyxiation and needed proper medical care. To get them to hospital it was necessary to carry them the length of the pitch where they could be transferred to ambulances. Realising the urgent need for paramedical attention and hospital treatment, fans tore down advertising hoardings to use as makeshift stretchers. Bodies were placed on the hoardings and, running, fans carried them to the other end of the pitch. When they got there they were directed to lay people down in the club gymnasium. By 3.45pm a doctor who had been treating people on the pitch was asked by a senior police officer to go to the gymnasium to examine bodies and certify death. On arriving in the gymnasium he found four or five rows of bodies and, with a GP, began examining them: 'We were accompanied by a police officer who made a note of every body… I performed a normal examination on each body and pronounced life extinct in turn.' In an estimated 25 minutes, he examined and certified 20 bodies. Each body was given a number, put in a bodybag and allocated a police officer, who wiped the face with a sponge or rag. Polaroid photographs were taken, numbered and posted on a board close to the entrance of the gymnasium. Doreen and Les Jones arrived in Sheffield late in the evening. Relatives were held at a disused boys' club and bused to the ground. At about 2.15am, a police officer announced that they 'were being taken to the ground to look at some photographs'. Doreen shouted out, 'Why? What are we going to look at photographs for? Why aren't we being taken to a hospital?' She continued, 'He knew what the photographs were and I suppose I did… but I didn't know what was going on, possibly I didn't want to accept what was going on.' Once at the ground, they were shown the full horror of the gymnasium. Surrounded by gym equipment, and what looked like 'curtains hanging', they watched 'a guy standing there punching a brick wall… people screaming and God knows what… nobody even taking a blind bit of notice.' Les then saw the photographs, 'pinned on to the divider… any old way'. Doreen said, 'They were only small Polaroids and we seemed to go along loads of them. And then Les pointed out Richard without telling anybody that it was Richard… And then he said he couldn't find Trace. I said this was Trace… Les didn't recognise her at first.' They were taken through a door, 'and they brought us two trolleys together, pulled one out – unzipped it, just showed you the head and you just said, "Yes" and they pulled the next one forward.' Doreen bent down, 'to cuddle Richard', but she never made it. 'I don't know who it was but… they hawked me up and told Les that they [the bodies] were the property of the coroner and we couldn't touch him.' Of the 96 Liverpool supporters who eventually died, only 14 made it to hospital and, of those, 12 were pronounced 'dead on arrival'. Extensive press coverage the following morning carried explicit, close-up photographs and graphic descriptions of the dead and injured. Media coverage rushed to judgment, and unqualified blame was directed against Liverpool fans. Police sources and a local MP continued to allege that Liverpool fans were drunk and violent, attacked rescue workers, urinated on police officers while abusing and stealing from the dead. This led to the Sun's infamous front page three days after the disaster: 'THE TRUTH: some fans picked pockets of victims; some fans urinated on the brave cops; some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life'. Eight newspapers carried the allegations, consolidated by senior police officers in 'off-the-record' briefings. Consequently, Hillsborough became synonymous with soccer-related violence and hooliganism. In the immediate aftermath Lord Justice Taylor was appointed to 'inquire into the events at Sheffield Wednesday football ground on April 15, 1989, and to make recommendations about the needs of crowd control and safety at sports events.' On May 15, a month after the disaster, at Sheffield's town hall, the Taylor Inquiry hearings opened. The West Midlands police investigation had been gathering evidence since April 24 – 2,666 phone calls were evaluated by West Midlands officers, who eventually took 3,776 statements. On August 1, 1989, less than four months after the disaster, Taylor published his interim report. For those expecting the South Yorkshire police to be vindicated, his findings were stunning. He established that the immediate cause of the disaster was the police failure to cut off access to the central pens once Gate C had been opened. Effectively, this caused the overcrowding which, in turn, caused the deaths and injuries. Lack of leadership, together with the restricted size and small number of perimeter fence gates, hampered the rescue. Taylor considered that the dangerous congestion at the turnstiles should have been anticipated. While accepting that there was a minority of fans the worse for drink, Taylor found that 'hooliganism' played no part in the disaster. Yet, the 'fear of hooliganism' led to an undue 'influence on the strategy of the police' creating an 'imbalance between the need to quell a minority of troublemakers and the need to secure the safety and comfort of the majority'. The 'real cause' of the disaster 'was overcrowding'; the 'main reason… was the failure of police control'. Taylor went on to castigate senior officers. He was emphatic that once Duckenfield acceded to the request to open Gate C, the tunnel should have been closed. Worse still, Duckenfield 'gave Mr Kelly and others to think that there had been an inrush due to fans forcing open a gate.' Taylor continued, 'This was not only untruthful', but 'set off a widely reported allegation against the supporters which caused grave offence and distress.' Taylor concluded that Duckenfield had failed 'to take effective control of the disaster situation. He froze.' He also recognised that there had been a police-led campaign of vilification against Liverpool fans. Listing the allegations published in the Sun he concluded, 'not a single witness' supported any of them. At the end of November 1989 the South Yorkshire Chief Constable, Peter Wright, and his Police Authority offered 'to open negotiations with the aim of resolving all bona fide claims against him for compensation arising out of the Hillsborough disaster.' Eventually, over several years, out-of-court settlements led to compensation payments. By early 1998 there had been 36 settlements for loss of financial dependency, 50 fatal claims (restricted to funeral expenses and/or statutory bereavement payments) and 1,035 personal injury claims. Yet families sought answers to the specific circumstances of the deaths of their loved ones. The failure to identify and respond to the protracted crush in the pens coupled with the lack of immediate medical aid to the dying raised serious questions over whether more lives could have been saved. That resuscitation was successful in some cases, that some placed with the dead actually recovered, left lingering doubts about the adequacy of much of the spontaneous treatment. Added to this, cursory examinations, often no more than feeling for a pulse, were conducted in the heat of the moment by inexperienced, non- medical people. With certainty of death often so difficult to establish in asphyxiated victims, the deeply disturbing possibility remained: that some people were taken into the gymnasium, laid out on the floor, their faces covered by clothes and bin-liners, solely on the assumption of death. There was an expectation within the families' lawyers that specific circumstances, particularly relating to appropriate medical care and attention, would be unveiled and cross-examined at the inquests. Between November 1990 and March 28, 1991, the inquests took place at Sheffield's town hall. Evidence was heard from 230 witnesses, and were the longest inquests in history. On the evening of the disaster, the coroner, Dr Stefan Popper, took the unprecedented decision to record the blood alcohol levels of all who died, including children. This was portrayed as further confirmation that drunkenness was a primary cause. It implied that fans had contributed to their own deaths and to the deaths of others. At the inquests Popper announced that while evidence would be extensive, there would be no consideration of events after 3.15pm on April 15. He reflected that the 'damage that caused [each] death was due to crushing', that 'each individual death' was 'in exactly the same situation', that once 'real damage' had occurred, each individual was beyond help or rescue. In other words, all of those who died would have received fatal injuries by 3.15. He concluded: 'The fact that the person may survive an injury for a number of… hours or even days, is not the question which I as a coroner have to consider.' The only conclusion to be drawn from Popper's ruling was that those who died did so regardless of medical attention received or denied. Equally, by this logic, those who lived did so regardless of medical attention. Within days a tide of allegations accompanied the inquests. Again the newspapers had a field day, as fans were portrayed as drunk and violent. The police again claimed it had been an orchestrated attempt to create mayhem outside the ground to force mass entry. Officers spoke of the 'unruly' behaviour of fans, their unacceptable and insulting responses, and their wilful rejection of reasonable police requests. A typical police statement concluded, 'the overall demeanour of the crowd was… quite evil'. One officer had 'never seen [such] a quantity of a crowd in possession of drink'; another considered it was 'as if everyone had delayed the time that they were coming to the ground and all decided to come later.' Lord Justice Taylor had already rejected these allegations yet his findings were now in question. Survivors were cross-examined at the inquests by multiple lawyers representing different police interests and working as a team, coordinating cross-examination. This was in marked contrast to the cross-examination of police witnesses when one barrister represented the interests of 43 families. Survivors who gave evidence felt they were blamed for the disaster, that they were 'on trial'. 'They didn't know what I'd been through,' one said. 'I'd lost someone dear to me, fought to survive and others died around me. People died before my eyes and no one helped. It was chaos and I know some could have been saved. They didn't want to know at the inquest. No questions about the first aid on the pitch, about carrying people on hoardings, about the police in the gymnasium. They didn't want to know.' On March 28, 1991, after a long deliberation the jury reached a majority verdict on all who died at Hillsborough: 'accidental death'. Bereaved families, survivors and witnesses, exhausted from the months of travelling, listening and waiting, broke down and cried. The optimism following the Taylor Report had evaporated. The Director of Public Prosecutions had already ruled out private prosecutions against the police. Eddie Spearritt, who survived the disaster while his 14-year-old son Adam died, commented, 'It was as if every door was closing on us. To tell the truth I didn't expect anything else. It was too big an issue, too many top people, too much to lose.' Yet, the families' tenacious campaign for justice continued, individually and collectively. Anne Williams, whose son Kevin died at Hillsborough, has campaigned for two decades following disclosure that a Special Police Constable suggested Kevin was alive at 4pm and had mumbled, 'Mum'. Another officer stated that after 3.15pm, while attempting to resuscitate Kevin on the pitch, he located a pulse and Kevin convulsed. As Anne Williams has argued consistently and tirelessly, the case for due consideration of the evidence and medical opinions concerning Kevin's death was, and remains, compelling. Having exhausted all domestic legal remedies, her case was submitted to the European Court of Human Rights on August 12, 2006. She is still awaiting a response. After more than a decade, a private prosecution brought by the families against Duckenfield and his assistant, Bernard Murray, finally came to court in 2000. The fact that the trial lasted seven weeks seemed to show there was a case to answer. Yet the trial judge's direction of the jury, the failure to reach a verdict on Duckenfield and the acquittal of Murray brought dismay. Families felt that, in directing that a guilty verdict would send the 'wrong message… to those who have to act in an emergency of this kind', the judge confused the actual circumstances of the case against the officers with broader policy implications of a guilty verdict. Given that the jury requested guidance from the judge, Doreen Jones considers his comments 'daunting and seemingly impossible to overcome'. Peter Joynes, whose 27-year-old son Nick died at Hillsborough, remains astounded that, 'given all the evidence, it's impossible to believe or bear' that '20 years on no one is held responsible for one of sport's biggest disasters'. The campaign on Merseyside against the Sun and its former editor Kelvin MacKenzie continues. In July 2004, after securing an interview with Liverpool-born Wayne Rooney, at the time an Everton player, the Sun published an editorial stating that its coverage of Hillsborough had been the 'most terrible mistake in its history'. Indeed, soon after the disaster the Press Council described the Sun's front page as 'insensitive, provocative and unwarranted'. The newspaper's owner, Rupert Murdoch, was contrite – the coverage had been 'uncaring and deeply offensive to relatives of the victims'. On radio MacKenzie accepted that 'with hindsight… most of the newspaper coverage of Hillsborough had been a mistake.' It was assumed that MacKenzie had been instructed by Murdoch to make a statement as the Sun had lost nearly 40 per cent of its regional circulation, which has never recovered. In November 2006, speaking at a business lunch in Newcastle, MacKenzie reportedly stated, 'All I did wrong there was tell the truth. There was a surge of Liverpool fans who had been drinking and that is what caused the disaster. I went on World at One the next day and apologised. I only did that because Rupert Murdoch told me to. I wasn't sorry then and I'm not sorry now.' On January 7, 2007, Liverpool played Arsenal in an FA Cup game at Anfield. The BBC broadcast the game at peak viewing time. Agreed by the club, the Liverpool fans' group Reclaim the Kop organised a protest directed at MacKenzie and the BBC for employing him as a presenter. At the kick-off the entire Kop, approximately 12,000 fans, held a mosaic above their heads in red and white. It spelt the truth. For six minutes, precisely the length of time played at Hillsborough before the match was abandoned, the Kop chanted 'Justice for the 96'. Jenni Hicks, whose two teenage daughters Sarah and Victoria died, regrets that 'after all that has been established it is that one deceitful article in the Sun that's remembered – that's the myth that's believed.' It is a myth that was supported by South Yorkshire Police. It is clear that major questions remain about the adequacy of the investigations and inquiries and the accountability of the police at the highest level. On the day of the tragedy, officers were instructed not to make entries in pocketbooks but submit handwritten 'recollections' to a team of senior officers. Working with police solicitors, the team administered a process of 'review and alteration'. Officers were taken for a drink by a chief superintendent who said, 'Unless we get our heads together and straighten this out, there are heads going to roll.' The transformation of officers' recollections into evidential statements, with sentences and passages significantly changed, was known and accepted by the West Midlands Police investigators, the coroner, Lord Justice Taylor and the Home Office. Experiencing a disaster on the scale of Hillsborough, through bereavement or survival or both, generates mixed, deeply felt emotions of loss, anger, guilt, failure, inadequacy. Coping should not be confused with recovering. Doreen Jones, 'just a mum who tried desperately to get some kind of justice for Rick and Trace and all the victims of Hillsborough', has 'no desire to be seen as a sad or angry person… I get on with my life'. But 'how are you supposed to feel when it all gets raked up? I have a smouldering anger, we all have it, you only have to scratch the surface and I erupt. It shouldn't be like this, I should be able to mourn.' As Margaret Aspinall, whose 18-year-old son James died, states, 'They took away our children and they took away our grandchildren, what they would have become… you can't stop that hurt or that anger.' Dolores Steele feels that the loss of her 15-year-old son Philip is a constant. Yet 'you learn to live a different life',accommodating but not recovering from grief. She states, 'The authorities all thought we were after money, big claims, but all we wanted was the truth and for someone to say, "We made a terrible mistake, 96 died and we are sorry." And it never came.' Peter Joynes considers that families are 'pushed towards "getting over it" or "building a new life" while we have been through the pain barrier so many times and we continually hope that one day someone will stand up and admit their mistakes.' Sue Roberts, whose 24-year-old brother Graham died, also emphasises lack of acknowledgement and its consequences for families: 'Personally, I'm just upset that so many parents and other family members are passing away without ever having had an apology or any other form of justice. The names of our loved ones remain tarnished, with some members of the public still believing it was other fans that caused their deaths. The insight we've had over the past 20 years into the cover-ups that have gone on is appalling and still needs addressing. They say time heals… but in our case, it hasn't.' Adapted from Phil Scraton's book 'Hillsborough: The Truth' (Mainstream), available for £9.99 plus 99p p&p from Telegraph Books (0844-871 1515; books.telegraph.co.uk) Phil Scraton is professor of criminology at Queen's University, Belfast http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...never-heal.html

The Guardian Saturday 28 March 2009 Bayern ready to fight to hang on to Ribéry Daniel Taylor • German club ready for 'brutal fight' to keep star • City encouraged by player's Premier League desire Bayern Munich are preparing for a "brutal fight" to repel the summer advances of Manchester City's billionaire owners for Franck Ribéry, the outstanding France international. Mark Hughes, the City manager, has identified Ribéry among an ambitious list of potential end-of-season targets that includes John Terry, Thierry Henry and Roque Santa Cruz. Despite his public statements to the contrary, Hughes is also open-minded about letting Robinho leave and one option discussed at length in both Manchester and Abu Dhabi is for City to offer the Brazilian in a player-plus-cash exchange for Terry or Ribéry. Bayern intend to demonstrate the stubborn determination that was evident when Manchester United wanted to sign Owen Hargreaves from them in 2006. The German club made them wait another year. "Our aim is to do everything to keep him," Uli Hoeness, the Bayern general manager, said of Ribéry. "But it will be a brutal fight. There will be questions coming in for him, so it is important that we do not budge and express ourselves very clearly so as to keep him." City, who announced yesterday they are building a £6m office block adjacent to their stadium, have also been encouraged by Ribéry's publicly stating he would like to play in the Premier League. Yet Hoeness is confident of keeping the left-sided attacker. "There is only the chance that a lack of trophies with regard to European competitions could significantly turn his thoughts to a move," Hoeness said. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ma...-ribery-neville

Liverpool Echo Mar 27 2009 Rafa Benitez tells of failed David Silva bid By Tony Barrett RAFA Benitez today confirmed that Liverpool DID make an inquiry for David Silva only for their interest to cool after learning of Valencia’s asking price. As revealed in Thursday’s ECHO, the Reds boss had earmarked Silva as one of his top summer transfer targets and was willing to make an offer for the Spanish international if Valencia’s valuation was realistic. But Benitez today announced that he will not be following up his initial interest in the 23-year-old. Confirming the ECHO’s version of events, Benitez said: “It is true that we were asking about the situation with him but we are not happy with the situation now and he will not be a target for us.” Valencia are believed to be seeking as much as £30m for the player and even though Benitez rates the Euro 2008 star highly he would not be willing to pay that much for his services. The only possible way any such deal will now be resurrected will be if Valencia lower their asking price significantly. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-23248876/

:D

Problem is I think that team would be more reliant on Gerrard & Torres for goals than our current team is & I think we need more goals coming from other players not less

Totally agree - hopefully Xabi's form this season, his mentality in not letting the fact he was nearly sold have a negative effect on him & the fact that Keane failed (meaning that any potential plans for 4-3-3 or Gerrard playing in centre mid rather than just off Torres have hopefully been put to bed) mean that Rafa won't be looking to sell him this summer

That's better!

At the end of the day it all comes down to how big our transfer budget is & whether suitable players are available to fill our higher priority positions & how much they cost I don't think Barry is a high priority, but we potentially have the opportunity to improve significantly on Lucas as an option for centre mid at little (or possibly even no depending on prices) net cost, given that Barry's ability to provide cover for Aurelio & Insua at left back means that we can sell Dossena as well as Lucas if we buy Barry. He's also a locally trained player for Champions League purposes, which is important given our current CL squad is 2 players short because we don't have enough locally trained players. If getting Barry stops us getting a suitable player for one of our higher priority positions then I wouldn't support it, but if it doesn't I'm all in favour. IMO our priorities are (in order of importance): 1. Top quality left-sided player to provide more goals & creativity than Riera does 2. Effective back up for Torres who (i) will score goals & is able to play alone upfront if Torres is out, even if he's not been playing regularly, (ii) provides a different option to Torres, (iii) can also play effectively alongside Torres if we wanted to play with 2 out-&-out strikers up front & (iv) importantly would be happy to spend much of the time sitting on the bench. 3. Top quality right-sided player to provide more creative option than Kuyt 4. Decent right back to provide quality competition/option to Arbeloa 5. Improving on Lucas as option for centre mid Ideally we would reduce our costs by buying a wide player who can play either side or can cover for Torres. If Agger goes (which I hope he doesn't) then buying a replacement for him becomes a higher priority than getting Barry. If the reports that we are looking at Albiol, who can play centre back or centre mid, are true, that may be an indication that we couldn't afford Barry as well if Agger leaves.

Liverpool Daily Post Mar 26 2009 Rafael Benitez mulling over move for Valencia’s Raul Albiol by Ian Doyle RAFAEL BENITEZ is contemplating a summer move for Valencia defender Raul Albiol – should Daniel Agger refuse to sign a new contract at Liverpool. The Anfield manager has been assessing his centre-back options with Agger yet to commit his long-term future at the club. And Spain international Albiol has emerged as a leading alternative, despite Valencia having slapped a prohibitive £18million price tag on the 23-year-old. However, with his former employers a reported £400m in debt and desperate to raise funds, Benitez is confident the player could be captured for half the asking price. While Valencia are desperate to hold on to crowd favourites David Villa and David Silva, the departure of Albiol would not cause a furore among the Mestalla faithful. The defender was at Valencia while Benitez was in charge and climbed through the youth ranks under the guidance of Eduardo Macia, who is now chief scout at Anfield. Benitez remains keen to keep Agger, but the longer the Dane’s new contract remains unsigned the less likely it is he will remain at Anfield beyond the summer, with his current deal expiring at the end of next season. The Liverpool manager ended speculation over his own future by signing a new five-year deal, but Agger admits that will not affect his own decision. “I’ll sign with the club, not with Benitez,” said Agger. “That’s something I must keep in mind.” Italian duo AC Milan and Juventus are among several clubs tracking the Denmark international, who cost £5.6million from Brondby in January 2006. Benitez continues to shape his squad for next season and is poised to offer Sami Hyypia a new 12-month deal in the summer after another impressive season from the 35-year-old. And Jamie Carragher has hailed the Finland international veteran, who has proven an inspired signing since arriving from Willem II for £3million in May 1999. “Sami’s been here nearly 10 years now and has always played a large portion of the season, hardly ever missing a game,” said Carragher. “He rarely has a bad one either – and even on the times when he does, he never allows it to affect his form. “He’s had his critics on a couple of occasions, but has always had the character to come through those periods. “Top players always bounce back when they have suffered a knock – and Sami is one of those players.” Meanwhile, Hertha Berlin have indicated they are willing to sell players to fund a permanent deal for Andriy Voronin. The Ukraine international, reaching the end of a season-long loan at the Bundesliga outfit, has proven a success for the title-chasers. Hertha are eager to sign Voronin on a permanent deal and are thought ready to tempt Liverpool into parting with the forward for a £4million fee. And Hertha chief Dieter Hoeness said: “Selling star players is always a possibility so that we can fund new signings. By selling, we have the chance to build our squad. “We can sell players and then spend smaller sums on quality new signings – it gives us a way forwards for the future.” http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverp...92534-23235529/

A comment from a Daily Telegraph journo on anti-Liverpool bias................ Liverpool love-in for real Kevin Garside Mar 24, 2009 To those who thought me loaded with anti-Liverpool bias in the piece I wrote in today's Daily Telegraph I say this. Liverpool would be worthy champions. They have improved this season into a more consistent unit. In Torres and Gerrard they have two players who would get into any side in the world. Cristiano Ronaldo could learn a lot from Albert Riera, who has made a huge difference to Liverpool in attack. As well as a great left foot Riera resists any temptation to over-complicate things, unlike Ronaldo who rarely wastes an opportunity to over-elaborate. At Old Trafford Liverpool were the better team and in my opinion would have won even had Vidic not seen red. They had the superior rhythm and played with great confidence and conviction. My point is that United have not become poor overnight. It was ostensibly a United piece to balance the appreciation of Liverpool scripted by my colleague Rory Smith on the facing page. I agree the championship race is better for the rivalry and tension created by Liverpool's resurgence. United will bounce back. Chelsea have not gone away and Arsenal loom for both Liverpool and United. May the best team win. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/kevin_garside...lovein_for_real

Darren Fletcher doesn't sound like he's that confident of turning it around.......... "We would have liked another game straight away to respond to a couple of difficult games, which are hopefully just a setback," said Fletcher on Sky Sports News. "It's easy to talk about it, but you've got to go out on to the pitch and prove it is only a setback. "We would have been desperate for another league game, but unfortunately the internationals have come about. "Liverpool would have been wanting the league to continue really and not wanting the international break, so you never know, it might be something that we just have to deal with. "I'm sure we'll be back to winning ways, we've got to be." He added: "It's easy for me to say it's only a blip, but we've got to go out on to the park and show it's only a blip. "I think it's easy talking about it, it's hard to go and do it. We'll all be desperate to go out and show when we get back that it is only a blip. "As I say, it's easier talking than it is to go and produce results." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5098931,00.html

IMO if we got Barry we would continue to play 4-2-3-1 & Rafa would choose 2 out of Alonso, Barry & Mascherano for the midfield 2 depending on form, injuries, suspensions, fitness & the opposition I agree that there are higher priorities than Barry (IMO 2 top quality creative wide players, back up for Torres & a right back to provide decent competition for Arbeloa), but buying him would allow us to sell Dossena as well as Lucas if we wanted so he may actually cost very little.

I would imagine that Sky (& Setanta) have some sort of contractual obligation where a game has been moved to a Sun for TV purposes to offer to switch it back to the Sat if one of the teams playing has a Tues CL game

The Guardian Wednesday 25 March 2009 Premier League to bring in test for clubs overloaded with debt David Conn • League plans to introduce 'going concern' test • FA to submit separate response to culture secretary The Premier League has become worried by the amount of debt racked up its member clubs. The Premier League is planning to introduce a "going concern" test aimed at ensuring its clubs are not laden with dangerous levels of debt. The test, according to Premier League sources, will work out if debts are manageable by assessing a club's financial health, including its turnover and cashflow. The test is being planned as a response to the culture secretary, Andy Burnham, who called last October for "football to reassess its relationship with money" and posed seven challenges to the game. One was for "greater transparency and scrutiny of clubs' ownership", including the level of debt used to finance a takeover and whether that debt is "sustainable and in the wider interests of the game". The Premier League plans to publish its reply next month, including the "going concern" test to address the debt question. The league is understood to be keen to avoid a discussion about how debt was taken on – whether to fund investment such as a new stadium, or imposed by new owners to finance their takeover, as the Glazer family did in 2005, giving Manchester United, previously debt-free, £667m in borrowings. Although Burnham explicitly asked for scrutiny of "debt used to finance a takeover", the Premier League is likely to argue it is not important how debt was incurred, but whether it is sustainable. The FA is preparing a separate response which is expected to go further; the governing body's chairman, Lord Triesman, is understood to stand by his warning last October, that football clubs' debts are too high. Triesman includes in his concerns "soft loans" made by owners because, he argues, clubs are vulnerable to the owner's circumstances changing. The Premier League's response is also likely to propose strengthening the "fit and proper person test" for club directors and 30% shareholders, in the light of Thaksin Shinawatra's 2007 Manchester City takeover. The former Thai prime minister was labelled "a human rights abuser of the worst kind" by Human Rights Watch after 2,500 people were allegedly killed by Thai police in 2003. Thaksin denies ordering extrajudicial killings. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ma...e-football-debt

Well he's still continuing to get in people's way..............

Agree that we need some decent competition for Arbeloa This summer I would try to sign: * Robin Van Persie £15m * Joe Cole £12m * Gareth Barry £10m * Glen Johnson £10m Total £47m I would sell/let go: * Babel £9m * Dossena £5m * Lucas £5m * Voronin £3m * Leto £2m * Itandje Free * Degen Free * Pennant Out of contract Total £24m Net spend £23m This would give us: Keepers: Reina, Cavalieri Right backs: Arbeloa, Johnson (Darby, Carra) Left backs: Aurelio, Insua (Barry, Arbeloa, Agger) Centre backs: Carra, Skrtel, Agger, Hyypia Centre midfield: Xabi, Masch, Barry, Spearing (Gerrard) Wide players: Cole, Van Persie, Kuyt, Reira, Benayoun (Gerrard) Off the striker: Gerrard (Benayoun) Strikers: Torres, Ngog, Nemeth (Kuyt, Van Persie)

"George is cracking up, he's cracking up, George is cracking up......."

There has been talk that he has a get out clause if a big team comes in for him Personally I don't think we're quite there yet - IMO our most pressing need is for at least 1 & ideally 2 wide players who will challenge Kuyt & Riera for the 1st team spots rather than being back up. Things are going really well at the moment with confidence & form good across the team & Stevie & Fernando firing, but I think this season has shown us that over the whole season we could do with more creativity & goals from the wide areas than Kuyt & Riera offer, especially when we play those teams that 'park the bus' against us & because the goal return from our centre-mids isn't high. I would be very pleased if the quality of the wide players we bring in means that Kuyt & Riera are more likely to be back up, although both would play their fair share of games, especially Dirk.

I reckon £8-10m, unless a bidding war starts

I still think Van Persie/Arsenal could be tempted in the summer if Arsenal don't win a trophy & he doesn't sign a new contract (which it sounds like he isn't going to do) & we offered Babel in part-exchange. If they fail to qualify for the CL group stages (& the qualifying round should be significantly more difficult next season) then the chances of getting him should be better. I think it's worth an enquiry - if you don't ask, you don't get.