GWistooshort

Latest comments from Agger........... "The ball is with Liverpool," Agger told Elkstra Bladet over his contract dispute. "I haven't heard a sound from the club since the beginning of November. "There is no reason to set the expectations too high. To be honest, I have no idea if they want to sign a new deal." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_4851346,00.html

Latest from Tony Barrett............... TONY BARRETT: No sign of an end to Liverpool FC civil warfare Jan 26 2009 by Tony Barrett, Liverpool Echo ANYONE expecting a swift and merciful end to the ongoing battle for the soul of Liverpool Football Club has clearly not been paying too much attention over the last two painful years. Kuwaiti billionaire Nasser al Kharafi is the latest potential suitor to come to the Anfield table, have a look at the deal on offer and walk away. Like both Dubai International Capital and the emirate of Dubai itself before him, Kharafi has found the investment "opportunity" not to his liking. Given the fact that the asking price for a partial or total stake in the club is not in keeping with its actual value it is little surprise that hardened businessmen don't want a piece of the action, especially with Tom Hicks looking to remain on the scene and carry on calling at least some of the shots. One city source told the ECHO that he was stunned that any potential investor would be willing to enter into a dialogue about the possibility of buying Liverpool at this time and was bemused by al Kharafi's emergence onto the scene. "With any business deal of this magnitude you have to ask yourself one very simple question – is the commodity on offer worth the price that is being sought," he said. "Remember that an asking price does not always reflect market value. "In the case of Liverpool Football Club, the asking price will inevitably fall in the months to come so why would anyone buy it now?" It is simple economics which makes this the case. Hicks and his warring co-owner George Gillett have until July to either find a new refinancing deal or to pay back the £350m debt they owe the Royal Bank of Scotland. In the current financial climate there is precious little chance of either happening and the longer the owners go without being able to do so the more likely they are to be dragged kicking and screaming into a buyers market. It is all a long way from a little over a year ago when Hicks and Gillett were in the box seat and confident enough in their position to be able to tell a bidder with the massive wealth of Dubai that even an offer in the region of £500m was not enough for Sheikh Mohammed to get his hands on the keys to Anfield. There was even a suggestion at one point of a member of Hicks' negotiating team informing a representative of Dubai that the asking price was actually £1bn. When asked why he thought Dubai would be willing to pay almost five times what Hicks and Gillett had bought the club for just a year earlier the representative replied: "Because you are Father Christmas". Whether this anecdote is an accurate portrayal of what occurred it does serve as an allegory to a time when Hicks in particular thought he was in a position to make such demands. That was pre-credit crunch though and the world is an altogether different place since billions upon billions of pounds were wiped off the value of global stock markets – and a crisis of confidence in the banking sector brought the usual lending and borrowing practices almost to a standstill. The source added: "Look, even Man United are having difficulties in recent months. "Back in September they were confident that the crisis in the financial world would not affect their lucrative sponsorship deal with AIG even though AIG were in serious trouble. "Last week AIG pulled the plug and now United are facing up to the prospect of having to find a sponsor in a climate which is nowhere near as healthy as the one in which they did their last deal. "Everyone is retrenching and the football industry will have to cut its cloth accordingly like everyone else. "If Hicks and Gillett were not already aware of this then they will be now. "The situation for them is clear. If they are to make the kind of money they had hoped to from their acquisition of Liverpool then they must build the new stadium. "But this is probably impossible now that lending has all but dried up and they will have enough trouble refinancing their current outstanding loans, never mind taking out new ones. "Realistically, an exit strategy is their only way forward and this has been the case for some time. "They will be hoping that a deal can be done in the very near future because with every day that passes and the closer they get to the date when they must refinance, the lower their asking price will have to become." Friday's leaking of al Kharafi's interest was the latest salvo in a PR battle which has been out of control for more than a year. Indications are that the story which appeared in almost every single national newspaper emerged from London and outraged al Kharafi who had demanded that any business be done in private. Sources in Kuwait have told the ECHO that the moment news leaked any potential deal was dead in the water and stressed that the plug would have been pulled on Friday had it not been a holy day in the Muslim faith. The motives for the leak are as yet unclear although one theory is that it was a thinly veiled attempt to try and generate interest by someone in one or other of the American owners camps. It will certainly not have been a co-ordinated move though as despite claims that Hicks and Gillett are working hand in hand, their mutual antipathy is as strong as ever. Also, the withdrawal of interest from Kuwait should not be seen as a takeover collapse. No deal was imminent and no price had been agreed. Al Kharafi tested the water and like others before him found the temperature not to his liking. But one thing is for sure, Liverpool's parlous ownership situation is not likely to improve in the months to come. If anything, things are only going to get worse as the clock ticks down to the July D-day for refinancing and the potential for the current owners to make vast profits diminishes with every passing hour. The past two years have been disastrous for Liverpool FC but the next six months are set up for matters to deteriorate still further. With hundreds of millions of pounds at stake, a bitterly divided boardroom and no apparent saviour at the Shankly gates, an already bumpy ride is only likely to become even more hazardous for Liverpool and its long suffering fans. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-22780609/

Comments from Kuyt's agent Karel Jansen re Juve's rumoured interest............ "Kuyt is good at Liverpool and until he actually receives an offer does not think of going elsewhere," Jansen told the Italian press. "If you receive a proposal from an important club then you think of this, but for now there is nothing. "I do not know anything of this story. At the moment I have not received any phone call, not from Juventus or anybody. "We are talking to Liverpool to try and renew his contract." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_4840891,00.html

From Sky Sports................. Ogbuke impresses big boys Nigerian international striker reportedly interests 'big four' By Kent Hedlundh Last updated: 25th January 2009 Hoffenheim striker Chinedu Ogbuke has been linked with a move to four of the leading clubs in the Premier League. The 22-year-old is reportedly being tracked by Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. The news is likely to alert the Nigerian international's former club FC Lyn-Oslo with the Norwegians set to benefit from any sale. Ogbuke joined the surprise Bundesliga leaders in August 2007 after scoring 14 goals in 29 games for Lyn where he played alongside Chelsea midfielder John Obi-Mikel. The striker has continued his goal scoring form in Germany finding the net 18 times in 39 games, six of those coming this season. "He is an attractive player for many clubs, Hoffenheim too," Lyn-Oslo director Erik Langerud told Aftenposten. "He might leave now, in the summer or next summer." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_4848339,00.html

The Guardian is running exactly the same article http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ja...-dubai-takeover Must be Press Association or the like

From the Sunday Telegraph.............. Investors will make Liverpool sweat Liverpool face months of uncertainty over their future ownership as potential suitors have indicated they will wait until the last minute to get the best possible price for the club. By Rory Smith Last Updated: 11:40AM GMT 25 Jan 2009 Out of pocket? Liverpool owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett may face to a wait to sell the Premier League club Photo: PA Reported talks with the family of Kuwaiti billionaire Nasser Al-Kharafi have been met with an emphatic denial by his representatives, and Gulf sources believe the fact that rumours emerged of talks taking place is just a sign of Hicks's desperation to sell. Investors believe that the current owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, will be forced to lower their £500 million asking price as the July deadline for the repayment or refinancing of their £350 million loan from RBS and Wachovia approaches. Should the American duo fail to strike a deal with one of "fewer than five" possible investors, the troubled banks could seize the asset or even call in an administrator to try to sell the club. City sources suggest the chances of the loan being refinanced are close to zero, given the current plight of both banks. Other investment giants are believed to offer little hope of redemption unless there is a massive upward turn in the state of the market before the summer. That leaves selling the club as the only viable option for Hicks and Gillett, but their efforts to do so thus far have brought little success, even as forced sellers. Telegraph Sport understands that Hicks has been actively seeking to sell the club for more than a year through investment bank Merrill Lynch. One potential stumbling block could be Hicks's determination to retain a seat on the board at Anfield, something investors may be unwilling to countenance. With the threat of administration, though, such considerations may be sacrificed. Such talk is hardly the ideal backdrop for Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, who insists he knew nothing about the latest development in the boardroom saga, ahead of today's FA Cup clash with Everton. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...pool-sweat.html

Looks like it might have originally come from football-rumours.co.uk that one I'm afraid "Manchester City appear to be winning the race to sign struggling Liverpool forward Robbie Keane, offering £20m, £5m more than the Irishman's former side Spurs. (www.football-rumours.co.uk)" http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...ry-1514378.html

Today's Liverpool-related transfer rumours........ Emile Heskey The Daily Mail quotes Villa boss Martin O’Neill as saying that Steve Bruce “felt the Liverpool thing [Heskey joining Liverpool in the summer] was on” & the Guardian claims that Rafa was “confident” Heskey would join Liverpool. However, Rafa said yesterday “It does not matter about Heskey, as everyone is saying, because we have Torres, Robbie Keane, David N'Gog, Krisztian Nemeth, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel”, according to the Daily Telegraph. Dirk Kuyt The Guardian Rumour Mill says that Spurs, as well as Juventus, could be after Kuyt.

& from the Telegraph........... Nasser Al-Kharafi: The world's 48th richest man, worth an estimated at £9 billion, the Kuwaiti tycoon has built his fortune in the Gulf construction boom, although his family also have interests in finance, fast food and tourism. Nasser held discussions with Liverpool last year and even completed the due diligence process, but ended his interest suddenly with the deal thought to be reaching a conclusion. He has also been linked with talks over a possible purchase of Newcastle, though the club's owner Mike Ashley has not suggested they were ever at an advanced stage. An avid viewer of the BBC, Nasser heads one of the Middle East's largest conglomerates, with the exclusive franchising rights for the likes of Pizza Hut and Krispy Kreme doughnuts in the region. His older brother, Jassim, is the speaker of the Kuwaiti parliament, while his sister Faiza was the first ever female rector of Kuwait University. The 65-year-old Nasser has five children, but has delegated his nephew, Rafed, as chief negotiator. It is thought he would be extremely interested in building Liverpool's long-awaited new stadium, but certainly has the financial might to buy out the club's American owners. Rafed Al-Kharafi: The son of Nasser's brother Jassim, Rafed is thought to be the driving force behind any potential deal. He is believed to have met with Tom Hicks's party to discuss investment in a new stadium but talks are thought to have soon turned to a complete buy-out of the club. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...egotiators.html

More info on the Al Kharafis from today's Guardian............. Proposed Liverpool takeover would be a very different deal to Man City's Whereas Sheikh Mansour's takeover for City was essentially a big marketing campaign, Kuwait's Al Kharafi family are hard-nosed businessmen after a profit A new year, a new Arab takeover. It was almost exactly 12 months ago that news emerged that Liverpool's much maligned American owners, or at least one of them, had been in talks with Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, head of the Dubai royal family. The deal hit the rocks, thanks as much to the worsening global economic climate as the inability of the two warring factions to agree on a sale, but it hasn't stopped others sending covetous glances to Merseyside as news emerged that Liverpool's owners once again turned to the Arab world to escape the mess of debt, antagonisms and intrigue they have made for themselves. This time the dynasty is the Al Kharafi family, and the country Kuwait. It is a path that has already been well trodden. Tom Hicks came close to reaching a deal with the family last spring, after Dubai cooled their interest, before the deal was unceremoniously pulled by the Kuwaitis while Mike Ashley knocked on their door when he was prostituting Newcastle United around the Gulf. Two things appeared to have changed. The first is the willingness of both Hicks and George Gillett to at least listen to an offer. The second, and arguably the most important, is the collapse in value of the pound. The Kuwaiti dinar is currently the highest value currency in the world and worth 2.53p. In July it was 1.89p. Waiting a year will have given the Kuwaitis an unexpected 25% discount. The Kharafis are a prestigious family in Kuwait. Nasser is the 48th richest man in the world. And it's not petro dollars that have (entirely) funded the move, but burgers. And donuts. Nasser's huge retail business empire – he owns the regional rights for Wimpy and KFC and is the single biggest shareholder in Krispy Kreme - has made him the second richest businessman in the Arab world, with a personal fortune of over £7bn. His brother Jassem is a renowned politician, and sits as the speaker in the Kuwaiti parliament. While business in the Gulf tends to be an uneasy mix of patronage and state controlled capitalism, the family has amassed a huge private fortune and have not been shy of taking on the powers that be. Compared to the rest of the region Kuwait has a robust, if flawed, democracy that enjoys universal suffrage and where an open and heated battle is taking place between reformist and Islamist factions. Still, the Al Sabah ruling dynasty bristles when its power is checked and have dissolved the parliament three times in the past decade. Jassem has openly criticised the Emir and his fellow MPs but despite his outspoken reputation he has retained his position as Kuwait's second most important elected politician. What is emerging is that this will be a very different deal to the Manchester City takeover. While Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi royal family has poured a fraction of the Emirate's wealth into a venture that is essentially one big marketing campaign, the Al Kharafis are hard-nosed businessmen who will be expecting to turn some kind profit. Already they have driven down the price knowing that Liverpool's owners have until July to refinance £350m worth of loans. What is for sure is that this won't be the last we hear of Middle Eastern dynasties dipping their toes in Premier League waters. Sheikh Mansour has already tried to redraw the Premier League transfer map. Other private investors for Saudi, Qatar and the UAE are thought to be sniffing around British football clubs, albeit less high-profile Championship clubs who offer more realistic investment opportunities. There will be plenty of takers too. West Ham United's Icelandic owners would sell at the right price, while a slew of billionaire owners like Mike Ashley at Newcastle United, the Indian steel baron Lakshmi Mittal at QPR and even Roman Abramovich have taken huge financial hits over the past year. Never one to miss a good opportunity Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, the charismatic Emirati property mogul who fronted Manchester City's bid before being removed for getting too excited about signing the best players in the world, has emerged again this time fronting a consortium who want to buy Chelsea. Whether Abramovich, or Hicks and Gillette for that matter, will sell only time will tell. But one thing is for sure: football's economic power continues to shift towards the Gulf as the Middle Eastern football revolution continues unabated. When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone (Mainstream) by James Montague is out now http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/20...sser-al-kharafi

I think his comments since he went on loan have shown exactly why Rafa wanted rid He has shown a total inability to take any responsibility for his situation, preferring to blame others instead of looking at himself We're well rid of him

Oliver Kay in the Times today says "Benítez is known to be increasingly fearful of his prospects of staying at Anfield beyond his existing contract". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5576834.ece

Snippets from the rest of today's papers.......... Guardian "Al-Kharafi has now returned to the table but on vastly different terms, with his position strengthened by the Kuwaiti dinar – worth 253p compared with 189p last July – and with Hicks and Gillett under pressure to refinance their takeover of Liverpool. They must sell their 50% stakes in the club before July, when the club's £350m loans with RBS and Wachovia are due for repayment, and it appears unlikely that any bank will continue to support the Americans' highly leveraged operation. Hicks refused to comment on claims that he is looking to sell his 50% stake last night but it is understood he wants to retain an interest in Liverpool as the club attempts to move into a new stadium that will increase its market value. A full sale cannot be discounted, however, although the continued friction between the owners is likely to complicate any deal. Neither Hicks nor Gillett, it is believed, wants to sell up entirely if his business partner ­maintains a stake in Liverpool. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ja...-rafael-benitez Telegraph "Hicks's discussions with the Al Kharafis....are understood to have begun without the knowledge of co-owner George Gillett...Hicks's decision to return to the family to try to execute a new deal is understood to have infuriated Gillett and will further deepen the distrust between the two...According to well-placed sources there is a new willingness to sell on both sides." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...rpool-sale.html Times "Hicks and, in particular, Gillett appear to be encouraging offers and, while it has emerged that interest is being shown by other American investors, the strongest interest is coming from the Al-Kharafi family", who "continue their negotiations to buy the club". http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5576834.ece Sky Sports Kharafi Group vice president Loay al-Kharafi has said the reports [re a possible takeover] are "not correct". http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_4838791,00.html

Henry Winter supporting Rafa in the Telegraph............ Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez deserves transfer control - fact Spurs fans tuning into Manchester radio phone-ins could feel they have stumbled on an in-joke. By Henry Winter 23 Jan 2009 A word keeps cropping up, swiftly followed by giggles. The word is "fact'', currently used to underline any point. "It's a fact.'' "This is a fact.'' "Just facts.'' All are expressions that punctuated Rafael Benitez's ill-judged diatribe against Sir Alex Ferguson. Well, here are some "facts'' to consider as football debates whether "Rafa's cracking up'' in the pithy opinion of United and Everton fans. Here are some "facts'' to offset the unfair criticism Benitez receives during his contractual impasse with Liverpool's board over transfer policy. The "facts'' are that Nemanja Vidic, Anderson, Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey all graced Benitez's transfer wish-list before Premier League rivals exploited Liverpool hesitancy. It may not yet be "fact'' that Liverpool will lose Benitez to Real Madrid but it's a real fear. Benitez, whose roots run deep at Real, will be accorded a regal welcome when Liverpool visit the Bernabeu in the Champions League on Feb 22. If Benitez goes, Pepe Reina and Javier Mascherano could follow. Why risk alienating a manager who has masterminded a European Cup triumph, is revered by almost everyone in the Anfield dressing room and is adored by the Kop? If Benitez wants more control over transfers, give it to him. He's worth it. That's a fact. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...rol---fact.html

Good one in the Times today as well......... The Times January 24, 2009 Jamie Carragher: no excuses if Liverpool do not win the title Matt Dickinson A voracious reader of sports books, as well as the author of his own bestselling memoir, Jamie Carragher recently delved into The Winner Within, by Pat Riley, the legendary basketball coach of LA Lakers fame. It is, the blurb tells us, a book about “motivation, selfishness, teamwork, complacency, winning and choking”. A self-help manual for sealing championships, applicable to the West Coast of England or the United States. Whatever your impression of Carragher, this is typical of the man; immersed in his work, seeking out knowledge, a self-improver who stumbled across Riley’s book simply by scouring Amazon.com in search of inspiration. Searching for The Winner Within has helped Carragher to renew his focus on the title, but, as Liverpool have faltered this month, it has been pertinent to ask whether everyone else at Anfield has their eyes on the prize, or whether they are looking in the wrong place. The manager has been playing politics with the board, the owners have been trying to sell up to Kuwaitis, the captain has been in court on a charge of assault and the team have slipped off the Barclays Premier League summit. Then there was the attack by Rafael Benítez on Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, that caught everyone, not least the Liverpool players, by surprise with its intensity and its scope. “The first I knew, I had a text telling me to turn on Sky Sports,” Carragher said. “What can I say? The manager had things he wanted to get off his chest.” As points were subsequently dropped against Stoke City and Everton, the impression hardened that Liverpool had slipped off course, tossed around in United’s wake, with Benítez not exactly a reassuring hand on the tiller. Carragher scoffs at the idea that Liverpool are rattled, succumbing to the sort of psychological warfare that Ferguson loves to turn on title rivals. “The dressing-room’s full of foreign lads who wouldn’t know what mind games are,” he said. “They don’t read the papers.” But he does accept that, as Liverpool seek to end a 19-year wait for the title, they should not be making life any harder than it already is in trying to usurp United. If he has a plea, it is that everyone at Anfield buys into what Riley calls “The Innocent Climb”, the first step to successful team-building — “when a team comes together unselfishly . . . and can feel the power surging, so internal rivalries, turf wars and selfish behaviour patterns are set aside”. Or, in Carragher-speak: “It’s just a few months, a great chance to win the league and we don’t want to look back with regrets. We all have our own issues, contract negotiations or whatever, but you just have to make sure it doesn’t distract from the job at hand. We’re still involved in the FA Cup, the Champions League and well placed in the Premiership. We can’t let the off-field stuff get in the way of things. “[Winning 5-1 away to] Newcastle was only three games ago and people were saying that was the best they’d seen anyone play this season. So I don’t see this as a wobble. “Perhaps there’s an edge. There is pressure on us anyway going for our first title. The supporters want it so much, but just because we draw one game at home, people are asking, ‘Have we blown the league?’ There are 16, 17 games left, that’s an age, and there’s nothing in it. We’ve lost four points in two games. It happens. Fergie said himself, teams will drop points. And now Man U are in the Carling Cup final, that’s another league game for them to rearrange, so they’ve got a lot on their plate.” There is no chance of Carragher losing his focus; quite the opposite. He thinks about football on his way into work, on his way home and as he poses for the photographer against a backdrop of Liverpool’s jagged skyline. “Just like New York,” he said, with playful deprecation. He dwells so much on the game that his intensity began to trouble him and he turned to Bill Beswick, the sports psychologist, to find out how to switch off. Now Carragher tries to set aside an hour every day when football is not a preoccupation. “If football isn’t going right, it affects my whole life,” the defender, 30, admitted. “If I’ve made a mistake, had a bad game, it kills me for days. Driving to work, I’ll be thinking, ‘Gotta do better next game, gotta do better.’ I get wrapped up in it. “That’s going to make it difficult when I’m a manager. I’ve been thinking about that a lot, about how it might affect my family. I think about football all the time. With the championship, mostly I think what a party it would be. Being a local lad, you are so desperate to give people what they crave. You think back to the Istanbul celebrations [which followed the 2005 Champions League final] and know it’ll be even better. It’s the chance to share something special.” There’s no presumption in that statement, just a tantalising thought of what it would mean to end the years of yearning. Liverpool may have given itself a facelift for the European Capital of Culture celebrations in 2008, but, as statements of civic pride go, nothing could top one of the football clubs — and let’s be honest, that means the Red one — being crowned kings of England. The party would be led by Carragher, now the most ardent Red but a 12-year-old fanatical Evertonian the last time that Liverpool lifted the title. As Liverpool prepare to face Everton tomorrow in the FA Cup fourth round, the second derby in less than a week after Monday night’s Premier League draw, today marks the tenth anniversary of the moment that Carragher’s allegiances to the Blue side were severed for ever. Walking into his local pub, The Chaucer, despairing at an injury-time FA Cup fourth-round defeat by Manchester United, Carragher walked into mocking laughter from his Evertonian mates where he had expected sympathy. Split loyalties had already caused problems, like the time he was on a bus with the Liverpool reserve team and cheered the announcement on radio of an Everton goal. The sound a decade ago of his mates laughing at his, and Liverpool’s, expense forced him into an urgent appraisal. From that moment, when he listened to the scores coming over the airwaves, it was with no affection for Everton. The tale is told with vividness in Carragher’s autobiography, which was the bestselling sports book of 2008 and this week hit 150,000 sales. Carragher is stunned by its continuing success. “I’m not exactly Michael Owen or Steven Gerrard,” he said. “I remember getting 25 free ones for my mates and family and worrying that I should be selling them to get up the sales.” At a time when players are being traded like Panini stickers, his appeal is not just as a one-club stalwart but as a footballer who has made the very best of himself. “Perhaps the man on the street, with the money that’s in the game, they see players like myself, Gary Neville, and see that it means more to us than players who earned a lot more money and weren’t as good as us,” he said. The respectful mention of Neville may appal the Kop, but Carragher is hugely admiring of United, including Ferguson. He is not about to bleat about an imbalance of wealth, particularly now that Liverpool have three £20 million-plus players. “United have got that edge on us financially,” Carragher said. “[Nemanja] Vidic is a classic case. He had a buyout clause of four or five million. We met that but United came along and paid seven or eight. But we can’t make excuses given the money we’ve spent.” Strong enough to have set the pace in this domestic season, Carragher accepts that should Liverpool finish behind United, it may simply be because their rivals are better equipped. Their concern must be to focus on the job in hand rather than side-issues. To do their all and hope for the best. His acceptance of Liverpool’s position might have been taken straight out of Riley. The coach writes, citing General Custer at Little Bighorn, that choking “results from failing to understand or accept the reality of your competitive position versus an opponent”. As it stands, the reality of Liverpool’s position is that they are narrowly behind United on goal difference — and still searching for The Winner Within. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle5576734.ece

From another article in the Independent......... "It is now accepted that Liverpool will have to be sold by July, with there being no chance of the Royal Bank of Scotland refinancing the co-owners' £350m loan taken out to buy the club two years ago. That loan was extended for six months at the beginning of the year, but the source said: "Hicks has been told time is running out, the clock is ticking." They added: "Hicks knows that RBS will not refinance the original deal." Gillett, who wanted to sell to Dubai International Capital last season only to be thwarted by Hicks, is understood not to be planning to block this current move in retaliation. In the 50-50 partnership, both sides must agree on a deal to sell. Gillett could block it, but business requirements will take precedence. The Americans know they must find a buyer or a new financial arrangement with another bank - or see RBS take control themselves. In the current climate no other bank is likely to take on such a new loan, while RBS's involvement in control of Liverpool would also put the Government in a difficult position considering they now own a majority stake." http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...rt-1514207.html

From today's Independent.... “Benitez…was totally unaware of any talks between either of Liverpool's owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and the Al-Kharafi family. It is also understood that Liverpool's chief executive, Rick Parry, knew nothing about any takeover either, and that any negotiations that have taken place…were arranged privately by the owners, assisted by Liverpool's finance director, Philip Nash, and commercial director, Ian Ayre. Al-Kharafi is, apparently, looking to sponsor a major football club to help to advertise Port Ghalib. Credence was added to the buyout story because informed City sources have confirmed that Nasser Al-Kharafi came close to buying Liverpool last summer. He pulled out at the last moment, with one source saying that it was because Hicks wanted to retain a seat on the board and a small holding in the club, which he mentioned only late in the day. The timing and way in which news of the latest bid broke thickens the plot because it is understood that a PR firm linked to Hicks leaked it. At the same time his main UK-based PR firm, Financial Dynamics, offered a firm on-the-record denial that any sale was imminent. One theory is that Hicks wants to flush out interested parties to take the club off his hands before July, when the £350m he and Gillett owe to Royal Bank of Scotland and Wachovia is due to be repaid or rescheduled. They do not have the funds to repay the money "used to buy the club" and the banks want it paid or will take control of the club. Another theory is that Al-Kharafi has been in talks about some kind of partnership and, because of past interest in buying, Hicks hopes that interest can be rekindled. A third theory is that Hicks wants a minority investor to take a slice of the club off his hands at a big price. Any publicity linking big-time serious investors with bids can only add help, he feels.” http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...rm-1514369.html

'I am looking forward to Tony Adams speaking English. I don't know if it is the English mentality he dislikes but there are not a lot of English players at Liverpool. 'I have mentioned that before when I was at Arsenal so I guess I have not had much luck with foreign managers. 'Last season I played 34 games and in a Champions' League final the previous year for Rafa but now he has had a change of plans. 'It is not for me to question the manager because he has done so well for Liverpool but it seems very strange to go from playing every week to training on my own on Saturday afternoons. 'But that is Rafa for you and I don't think half the players at Liverpool can work him out. 'I have been speaking to a lot of the other Liverpool players and they could not understand why I was not being selected, especially in the games at home where they have struggled to win. 'It was the same with Peter Crouch and he had to get away too. 'I spoke to Crouchy a lot before I came here and he told me to join Portsmouth. He said it was a good club and that Tony would give me more chances to play.' 'It is weird that I cannot get into Liverpool's team but Real Madrid want me. 'It is very flattering to be linked with a club of their size because they are one of the best teams in the world. 'I did not speak to Madrid directly but my agent may have done. I did not speak to Milan either but again my agent may have. 'I am here for six months because I want to play regular football and we will have to see what happens after that. 'It would be a great experience to play abroad and I am not ruling it out.' http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/...Im-English.html

The Guardian Saturday 24 January 2009 The fear that drives Mr Liverpool Jamie Carragher explains how he is driven by feelings of insecurity about his place in the Liverpool team Paul Hayward As an avid student of football, Jamie ­Carragher has read every line except one. "There's one thing I've never seen in a paper. Jamie Carragher linked with this or that club," he says. "I'd never want to leave. It would kill me, break my heart." Carra, or Mr Liverpool, as the club's website calls him, exists in his own no-go zone of fidelity to the great institution he has represented 555 times. The whole game knows it, so rival talent-snatchers never punch his number. His red shirt has become a second skin. But there is a hidden dimension to his deep sense of belonging. Torment, self-reproach, a daily churn of fear. Carragher lives in terror of being denied the kind of exhilarating test that awaits him in tomorrow's FA Cup fourth-round tie against Everton: the second of the week's Merseyside derbies, following Monday's 1–1 Premier League draw at Anfield. Holding his place in the starting XI is one daily obsession. Another is his ­inability to forgive himself when he commits defensive errors. The best measure of his extreme and often painful sense of duty is that he pulled out of presenting a prize at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in the city last month because he was too ashamed to show his face after his own goal in the 2–2 draw with Hull. "I couldn't get out of the house, couldn't look at anyone," he recalls. "I said: 'I'm so sorry, I just can't go there. I can't put on a front, I feel so bad, I can't go on the telly in front of everyone.' "My dad thinks there's something wrong with me. He said: 'What are you talking about?' "I was thinking: 'Let me get another game out of the way.' The next one [after the Hull match] was Arsenal. I just needed to get to that and do all right so [the own-goal game] wasn't my last one. You're counting the days, thinking hurry up, hurry up. Longest weekend of my life." From the stands it was always evident that Carragher drives himself harder than just about any front-rank Premier League player. An abiding image is of him jackknifed with cramp in the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul but rising again to thwart Milanese attackers. This demonic intensity stems, you soon learn, from a reservoir of insecurity. A major reason for his retirement from the international game, he admits, is that he thought staying behind to train at Liverpool would give him an edge of freshness over the club's other centre-halves when they returned from trips. An inspiring presence and perhaps English football's best model of self-improvement, Carragher can watch the January transfer frenzy knowing it will never impinge on him, unless Liverpool buy a defender and Steven Gerrard's fellow talis­man has to fight off another threat. The Rafael Benítez years have afforded him greater security, but only retirement will fully spring him from his wheel of fire. "A couple of times when they kept buying players in my position I'd be thinking there was no reward for giving it all in training every day. Obviously you're still getting paid – but there's no recognition. Sometimes I think: 'There's another one gone, who's coming in next?' I see some of my own team-mates as challenges. Another one who's come to take my place. "Sometimes I can't wait till I've finished, in a way, so my head's not worrying about my place. Because I think about football all the time. Even now, you might say: 'You're one of the main players at Liver­pool,' but I still worry badly about my place in the team. That's why I don't miss many games. I could never miss a game when I wasn't quite 100%." A few words of reassurance about the high rank he occupies in the game's affections bounce off him, because he has conditioned himself to struggle, to fight, to renew his vows to the club with every kick. More than Gerrard, even, he is the high priest of the Anfield dressing room, and is sufficiently confident in his own judgment to say: "I see players linked with Liverpool and I think: 'He's crap, him.'" With his encyclopedic knowledge and his love of comedy and pranks, ­Carragher, who hits 31 on Wednesday, is not solely definable by his masochistic streak, but his devotion to the cause of ending Liver­pool's 19-year wait for a league title is a good antidote to the hostility aimed at modern footballers for supposedly ­earning way too much. As Carragher showed the way to an interview room at Liverpool's Melwood training complex, Benítez hobbled across the foyer calling to him: "English lessons?" "Yeah, English lessons," the Bootle boy responded, conceding the joke. ­Perhaps the most Scouse of recent Liverpool ­legends, Carragher is also the most ­curious, thoughtful and unassuming. To the neutral he's an automatic Liverpool selection. But not in his own head. "I've probably had that under Rafa but I've still had that doubt in the back of my mind. And it's mad really. At the start of this season we had [Martin] Skrtel doing really well and [Daniel] Agger coming back and I had fans coming up to me and saying: 'Do you think you'll play next season?' or 'You might play full-back.' "You just have to say: 'Oh, we'll see what happens.' I'm thinking: 'You cheeky b******s.' But you can't say anything. It's as if they forget everything you've done. "Football's so important to me. If I wasn't playing it would just destroy me. I'd always tape every Liverpool game and watch it when I got home, looking for my mistakes. Then I'd think – what am I doing that for?" Asked why she kept on writing ­novels, the author Fay Weldon replied: "To make amends for the last one." That ­workaholic's self-defence leapt to mind when Carragher confided: "Sometimes I do think: 'Am I good enough to play in a team that wins the title?' I think about that all the time. But then I look at other teams who've won it – no disrespect to them – and think: 'He's won two or three leagues, and he wouldn't get in our team, or he'd only just about get in.'" Liverpool have won all the cups since 1990 but no league championship. Sir Alex Ferguson's suggestion that they would "get nervous" if they maintained their current elevated position was an arrow fired at Liverpool's craving for a first Premier League crown. "Will we get nervous? I haven't got a clue," Carragher says disarmingly. "I'm not going to put an act on and say no, because I've never been there. It's only January. It's embarrassing, really, that I've only been in this position once, with Gérard ­Houllier [in 2002, when Liverpool finished ­second]. I'd be made up if every league game mattered. Even being involved in the mind games is a good thing. We've always been on the outside looking in, something we're not proud of. "I was an Evertonian as a kid, but I've never hated Man United. I've always had respect for them. They're a proper club, like us, and they should have respect for us as well. Man United aren't blasé or big-headed. I think Chelsea are, or have been in the past, a little bit. At Man United, there isn't a player who you think: 'God, I f***ing hate him.' They're all good lads, aren't they? Hopefully we come across like that. We're clubs from working-class areas." There is a duty, he thinks, for Liverpool to contest the title race every season. "We don't want it to be how it was under ­Houllier, when we challenged once and then completely fell away. We want to be fighting for the title every single season. We might not win it, but we're there. That's the minimum. Not fighting for fourth. We can't have that. Everyone's got the belief now, thinking: 'We can do this.' I wouldn't feel fulfilled if we didn't win the league. There'd always be this thing nagging at me." England – the circus, the tribalism – no longer nags at him, and though he warms to the martinet Fabio Capello there is no hope of him returning to claim an international jersey. In his startlingly forthright autobiography, he called some England fans "clueless" and wrote of the "sinister edge" to international fixtures. "I got a bit of criticism for criticising the fans. But about a month later everyone criticised them for booing Ashley Cole. I think I was just the first one to say it. I was just asking: 'What is going on here?' Booing Owen Hargreaves or Peter Crouch on to the pitch, not off it. On to the pitch. I just think it's all club rivalries. With the small clubs maybe it's their chance to go to Europe and say: 'These b******s we're watching on Match of the Day are on a hundred grand a week, we're going to show them.' What happened to Steve McClaren in Andorra, we can't have that. Having said that, in tournaments England fans were the best. "I look at foreign football and I've always said to the lads: 'Imagine playing for him [Capello]. He just wins.' Wherever he goes, the team wins. He looks the part. He just looks the b******s. If you look at McClaren, he doesn't quite look the part. Not playing was the final nail. But to be totally honest it was my Liverpool career. It was me worrying again, thinking that when the other Liverpool centre-halves go away I'll still be here, and I'll be fresher. "Even as a kid, I've always said it: England was this thing in London. I was jumping round the room in '86 or 1990 when Lineker scored, but it was never that feeling you get in your stomach, like if Everton lost to Liverpool in an FA Cup final, thinking: 'Oh my God, how can I go on?'" His memoirs are a perfect gauge of his intelligence: "I read everyone's books and I always knew the way I wanted to do mine. If I'm reading a book by a footballer I don't want to read about games, how he scored or played well. People want to read what you thought, not what happened. "If you're going to do it, just do it, and stand or fall by your thoughts, your beliefs." He even gives you the perfect epitaph. Jamie Carragher on ... Kaka ... "If I were a Man City fan I'd rather buy four or five players for that money. I think Man City need to become a top-six club first. Maybe what Everton are now. If you read what Mark Hughes is trying to do, it looks like the right way. Maybe they're trying to jump too many levels at once. That's what football is: you want it now. You don't want to wait, do you?" His favourite Liverpool side ... "The strongest team I've played in before this one is a team that didn't win anything – the 2002 side that finished second to Arsenal. It's all about winning trophies really. It doesn't matter whether this team's better than this or that one. If we don't win anything this year, people will say Rafa's best moment has been Istanbul – but that team wasn't that good" Life in the Merseyside pressure cooker ... "Because you know everyone, you're permanently getting text messages from family and fans, and if you lose you feel you've let everyone down. You just see how it affects everyone. I was wondering, If I played for another club – I'd never want to do that – whether it would be a lot easier after a defeat. Aston Villa or Tottenham, say. If you didn't know everyone" Derby games … "Football's that big now and in your face with Sky and the press and everything: it all just gets brought up a level. Football's just got that big with everyone winding everyone else up the whole time. Take Sky Sports News. Everything's bang, bang, bang. I've been an Everton fan myself, and it winds you up when the other club's more successful and challenging for honours. I've been there, I know" http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jan/2...ew-paul-hayward

From the Rumour Mill in today's Liverpool Daily Post............. Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso is a target for Real Madrid. Sport says Real Madrid presidential hopeful Florentino Perez will seek to bring Xabi back to Spain at the end of the season. ============================================================================= The management team of Liverpool hitman Dirk Kuyt have denied reports that their client is set for a big money move to Italian giants Juventus, reports Goal.com Il Corriere dello Sport reported that Juventus are ready to launch a 30million euro bid for the 28-year-old, and that Kuyt’s agent Robert Jansen has already spoken to the club. "Nothing has happened," a high profile member of Kuyt’s management team, who wished to remain anonymous, exclusively told Goal.com. "They write so many things. We don’t know anything. I think it is all lies." When asked specifically if Jansen had met with Juventus, and was due to commence transfer talks, the official replied: "We don’t know anything about these rumours. We know nothing about the whole situation. "A lot of things could happen, but at the moment we know nothing. There is no news." ============================================================================= Liverpool are set to scupper Everton's chances of signing Hugo Almeida this January, according to a report in British tabloid newspaper the Daily Mirror. The Toffees had been linked with making an initial loan move for the 14-time-capped Portugal international striker with a view to a permanent deal in the summer. But it is now thought that Liverpool are interested in luring the 24-year-old 6ft 3in forward to Anfield during this transfer window in order to reinforce manager Rafa Benitez's options in attack as they go in search of the Premier League title. The former Porto star has not been prolific in front of goal, scoring just twice in 12 Bundesliga fixtures this season, but it seems that he is in high-demand nevertheless. http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverp...64375-22761240/

Rafa was asked about the speculation today & said "I was surprised by what I saw in the press this morning, but I've just been focusing on getting my team prepared," http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_4838062,00.html

like Gerrard & Carragher, he means? He also said "My contract runs out at the end of the season so my long-term goal cannot really be to force my way back into the team at Anfield. If they offered me a contract I would definitely listen, but I wouldn't want to sign a new contract and sit on the bench every week. I just want to play regular football." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11669_4837988,00.html

The BBC's Mihir Bose reckons Gillett has already refinanced his personal guarantees http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/mi..._gulf_brid.html

But you realise they're about to sign Emile................

Villa have confirmed on their official site that they have had a £3.5m bid accepted by Wigan & are discussing personal terms with Heskey http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsD...1530337,00.html