Football Focus

[matthew123]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> Success would be to get the club back in the Champions League?

No. With the squad he has at Anfield I am expecting a big title challenge.

Thankfully Hodgson has so far managed to persuade the top players to stay at Anfield. I have no doubts if Rafa had remained Torres and Gerrard would have both walked. I have seen some diabolical performances by Liverpool in the final months of Souness, Evans and Houllier but never have I seen similar levels of performance reached with such a strong squad as that under Rafa, a squad I should add had an astonishing 12 players at the World Cup.

[Mick Mac]

Apparently the losing 3rd round CL teams (eg Celtic) make it through to the europa league play offs - so not out of europe altogether. Only a concern if we don't beat Braga 4-0 anyway.

Europa League Play-off round

Thirty-five third qualifying round winners join the 15 losing clubs from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and a further 24 teams who begin their European campaigns here

[Bluerevolution]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> Apparently the losing 3rd round CL teams (eg

> Celtic) make it through to the europa league play

> offs - so not out of europe altogether. Only a

> concern if we don't beat Braga 4-0 anyway.

>

> Europa League Play-off round

> Thirty-five third qualifying round winners join

> the 15 losing clubs from the UEFA Champions League

> third qualifying round and a further 24 teams who

> begin their European campaigns here

Draw for play offs is this Friday

[Mick Mac]

Celtics goalkeeper of 5 years left for Fiorintina last week, a great goalkeeper, gone.

Great saves against Drogba, Seedorf, Kaka, Ronaldo etc.

[Keef]

Torres gives Liverpool the news they desperately wanted.

This is actually turning in to quite a good summer, I feel excited about a season again, which to be honest, I didn't really last year.

[Sandperson]

It's tantamount to slavery isn't it?

Torres will stay at Liverpool until he's won a title....surely they'll let him retire at 65 like the rest of us won't they?

;)

[Ladygooner]

Sandperson Wrote:

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> It's tantamount to slavery isn't it?

>

> Torres will stay at Liverpool until he's won a

> title....surely they'll let him retire at 65 like

> the rest of us won't they?

>

> ;)

Didn't you hear the news Sandperson - the government is letting us work on past 65 now!

[matthew123]

Sandperson behave it's not like he rammed his car into a wall like Anderson or Ronaldo ... Torres likes being at Liverpool

[SimonM]

I think Torres should be given some credit for staying at Liverpool, and I hope he gets 30 goals this season!

[Annasfield]

I think he should be given a lot of credit. Fair play to him for not chasing the buck.

I hope he gets 40, which if he stays fit would be conceivable. In 41 appearances at Anfield he has scored 40 goals. 16/38 away from home.

[Keef]

To be fair though, he probably gets a fair few bucks at Liverpool anyway.

[Mick Mac]

did anyone else want him?

[Annasfield]

Yes I'm sure he does, but he could have got a hell of a lot more @ Chelsea or City.

[Mick Mac]

Apparently he earns ?5 million a year at Liverpool.

[Sandperson]

I'm sorry to say this but I think he's a crock. I genuinely think he would have struggled to get another club with his record of injuries. I know I'll get shot down for these comments and I hope that he has a full season (as long as he doesn't turn our defence inside out again) but I can't see it.

[Mick Mac]

Yep - I'm not sure there were any bids for him so not sure he had a decision to make.

[Mick Mac]

Mick Mac Wrote:

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> 3-0 oh dear- bit of work to do next week. Away

> goal for them and its all over. It was lennons

> first big test tonight and they performed like a

> new team by the sound of things.

Yes - "away goal for them and it was all over" :( lost 4-2 on aggregate.

Not to worry, would only have had to play Spurs in the next round and gone out then anyway. Now in the Europa League play offs might be lucky enough to play Liverpool, which should be easy.

[Annasfield]

I think that our Fernando has injury problems as he has consistently been hurried back from any niggles he's had, be it for Spain or Liverpool. He also hasn't had a summer off for the past three years and it must take it's toll.

A very good friend of mine has a mate that does the corporate stuff for Chelsea. He reckons that on a flight to SA last month Abramovich said he would get Torres no matter what the cost.

I realise i've just bitten, but you lot need to remember that envy is a terrble thing. ;-)

[Mick Mac]

Its better to bite than to shy away. People turning the other cheek does not make for good forum.

[matthew123]

Well hopefully there will be less injuries at Anfield this season with the new Sports Medicine department. The two things which I believe have contributed to his niggling injuries is 2 / 3 years of continuous football and secondly playing as a lone striker and thus taking the brunt every other week of donkeys like Rio Ferdinand.

Torres is probably earning a shed load extra money from the commercial deals he has associated with Liverpool. I saw on Sky yesterday that his name is sold on the back of more shirts worldwide than any other Premiership player - second is Gerrard, and third is Rooney. So although he may have got more salary at Chelsea or Man City who'd buy his shirts and alike to boost his commercial income so I think it evens itself out.

[Mick Mac]

Im sure money is not the issue - he most likely just wants to win trophies and he is not winning any (...apart from a world cup and a european championship...)

[silverfox]

According to The Times tonight (yes I've signed up)the Chinese government is to buy Liverpool FC. Keeping the red flag flying?

[Annasfield]

Was the article written by Tony Evans? (Fancy pasting it in to here?)

[silverfox]

Helen Power, Tony Evans Updated 1 minute ago

The Chinese Government is the mystery backer behind a bid for Liverpool Football Club, The Times can reveal.

China?s overseas investment arm China Investment Corporation (CIC), which already owns a stake in Canary Wharf, is funding the bid fronted by the sports tycoon Kenny Huang for one of Britain?s biggest sporting names.

The debt-laden club is expected to change hands this month and last night the Chinese appeared to be in pole position to win a three-way takeover battle. The other bidders are a wealthy Kuwaiti family and an American private equity group.

Liverpool?s lender, the Royal Bank of Scotland, forced the club?s unpopular American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, to put it up for sale in April. A number of potential foreign buyers have been circling, but until now the role of the Communist Government was unknown.

The acquisition would be just a tiny piece of China?s vast global investment plan. CIC was created in 2007 to invest billions of dollars for the benefit of the State. The country has been able to stockpile nearly $2 trillion of foreign currency reserves because it exports many more billions of pounds of goods and services than it imports. CIC has $332 billion to spend abroad.

The fund already has stakes in natural resources and energy companies in Asia, the US and Africa as part of China?s long-term strategy of securing its energy supplies. Liverpool would be its first football club and a high-profile entry into British cultural life.

Neither CIC nor Mr Huang was available for comment last night, but insiders said that CIC would end up owning the majority of the club if the consortium?s planned bid ? which values Liverpool at between ?300 million and ?350 million ? is successful.

China is not the first foreign country to covet English Premier League teams. Arsenal, Aston Villa, Birmingham, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City and Sunderland are all in foreign hands.

Manchester City, which is owned by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, a senior member of the Royal Family in Abu Dhabi, and Chelsea, owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, were bought as trophy assets. The owners have poured in money without seeking a profit.

It is believed that the Chinese would expect to make money by building a bigger stadium in Merseyside and developing the club?s Asian fan base.

Liverpool already has a sponsorship deal with the bank Standard Chartered, which focuses on Asia. Presenting the bank?s half-year results yesterday, Peter Sands, its chief executive, said that its sponsorship of Liverpool was the most cost-effective way of getting Standard Chartered?s name on to television screens across Asia.

The sale is being run by Barcap, Barclays? investment banking arm, and Martin Broughton, chairman of British Airways, who was brought in as temporary chairman of the club in April.

Insiders said that it was a three-way contest between the Chinese, Rh?ne Capital, a private equity group, and the billionare al-Kharafi family of Kuwait.

Any buyer must be cleared by the Premier League, which has held talks with the bidders. The main test is financial and it is unlikely that a bid would be blocked from the cash-rich Chinese.

Mr Huang reiterated his interest in Liverpool through his PR firm Hill & Knowlton yesterday but said that he had yet to make a formal binding bid.

[Annasfield]

Cheers

A light at the end of the tunnel, or out of the frying pan in to the wok? The thing that makes me laugh is the Premier League fit and proper test. Two of the clubs that have been through it since it was introduced are Liverpool and Pompey. Doesn't same much does it?