HICKS & GILLETTE TOLD TO PAY UP OR LIVERPOOL WILL BE OWNED BY BANKS

At long long last, those people who own our football club with borrowed money, have been given an ultimatum by their creditors Royal Bank Of Scotland and Wachovia to pay off the £250 million owed to them to buy our club in the first place, what was David Moores thinking when he sold out to them two years ago?

So that's the reason for Hicks to look to gain a new investor to give these men £100 million, not to invest in the team or the new Stadium or the team but solely to pay off some of the money they borrowed to buy Liverpool FC.

To think David Moores sold up because he ''couldn't take the club any further'', it has gone backwards since you sold out to those conmen Mr Moores!

Great isn't it? We have bankrupt owners of the club who need a bailout just to retain ownership of our club!

God they make my blood boil just thinking about them!

ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD

Liverpool slumped to their first defeat in the Champions League and their third already this season.

Fiorentina beat us 2-0 with two goals from striker Jovetic in the first half enough to secure the three points.

Liverpool were all over the place in the first half and were completely overrun by the Italian who launched wave after wave of attack while the Reds were totally off the pace and deserved to be two down at half-time.

Perhaps it was a bit fool-hardy of Rafa Benitez to put Aurelio straight into central midfield, out of position and just back from injury, it didn't work in the first half.

The second-half saw a much better display by Rafa's men they controlled the game and had ten shots on target but couldn't get the breakthrough that they needed.

Liverpool now lie third behind Lyon and Fiorentina in the group but there are lots of games still to play.

Next up its Chelsea in the league on Sunday.

Scroll down to leave a comment or vote in the poll, thanks.

MASCHERANO OUT OF FIORENTINA GAME

Xavier Mascherano is out of the Champion's League game tomorrow night against Fiorentina in Italy due to a slight hamstring problem.

However Yossi Benayoun is included in the squad despite suffering a leg injury in the 6-1 mauling of Hull at the weekend.

Squad: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Lucas, Kuyt, Gerrard, Torres, Cavalieri, Aurelio, Dossena, Agger, Plessis, Voronin, Kyrgiakos, Babel, Riera, Spearing.

The match kicks off at 7:45 tomorrow evening and we should be hoping for a good result, I mean a win against the Italians.

Meanwhile, the latest on the Middle- East buyout of Gillett's share of Liverpool seems to have some truth to it as Barry Didato, head of investment at F6 said ''Everything right now is on the table in terms of discussion. The investors are looking at the team's debt, the current squad and the club's facilities.''

When asked about a possible future date for the purchase, Didato said ''Within three to four months we'd be able to know.''

So there it is then, we might just be getting the type of cash-rich owners the club badly needs.

My only worry is that that awful man Hicks will mess things up again as he did before when DIC showed renewed interest but he turned them away with his crazy money demands, the fool.

What do you think? Should we welcome Prince Faisel with open arms?

Leave a comment or scroll down to the poll if you like

THE BEGINING OF THE END FOR HICKS & GILLETTE?

With news today that Saudi Prince Faisal is looking to buy a 50% stake in Liverpool from dreaded owners Hicks & Gillette, every Liverpool supporter must be delighted.

The Saudi Prince wants to own half the club, for now, at a cost of between £200 to £300 million.

According to Azhari Kowa, a spokesman for the Prince's Farma Goup, ''Prince Faisel is in London now discussing the purchase.
It is going to be finalised soon.''

The Prince himself said that ''Liverpool is saddled with £220 to £300 million in debt.''

That debt is directly due to the scurrilous Yanks buying our club with borrowed money which we have to pay back at £30 million each year, the scumbags.

Prince Faisel was at the 6-1 drubbing of Hull yesterday alongside Gillette, so I presume the Hicks camp are not totally involved in this.

Lets hope the Tall Texan doesn't scupper this deal to serve his own interests again.

Lets hope for a change at the top with new people in charge with real money in their pockets instead of American I.O.U.s!

Scroll down to vote in the poll if you like, thanks

TORRES TAMES TIGERS IN 6-1 ROUT

Fernando Torres scored a hat-trick as Liverpool gained revenge for last season's 2-2 draw also at Anfield.

The Spaniard opened the scoring on 20mins with a bit of trickery before drilling home in the far corner.

Hull grabbed an instant equaliser when a poor headed clearance by Skrtel fell to Brazilian Geovanni whose low shot beat Reina.

Torres restored the lead again on 30mins beating two defenders in the box before tapping the ball into the net, cool as you like.

Torres got his hat-trick soon after the second-half got underway with another dribble in the box to make it 3-1.

Captain Steven Gerrard, who had been having a quiet game 'til then, scored from a fierce curling cross from the right and the Reds were enjoying their football and were controlling the game.

Torres went off with half an hour to go to rapterous applause from the Anfield faithful to be replaced by Ryan Babel.
Steven Gerrard also made way for Mascherano, obviously with an eye to Tuesday's match in Florence.

Babel got a welcome goal for himself when he turned in a cross from Kuyt and a Reira shot came off Babel's heel to make it 6-1 on the day.

All in all, a very good day for Rafa and the Reds who remain in 3rd place in the league behind Man Utd and Chelsea who lost today to Wigan.
Scroll down to my poll if you like, thanks.

MASCH ON THE BENCH AGAINST HULL!

Javier Mascherano has been dropped to the bench in favour of Lucas Leiva in a surprising move by Rafa Benitez.
He partners Stevie G in midfield with Benayoun playing just behind Torres upfront.

The Team : Riena, Insua, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Lucas, Gerrard, Riera, Benayoun, Kuyt, Torres.

Subs : Cavalieri, Voronin, Aurelio, Kygiakos, Babl, Mascherano, Ngog.

LIVERPOOL DRAW ARSENAL IN CARLING CUP

After beating Leeds midweek, the Reds have been handed a tough tie in the next round.
Liverpool must travel to The Emirates to play Arsenal in the next round.

Tricky match for Rafa's men, will he play all the big guns or will he keep faith with the lads who won on Tuesday?

All games to be played on week starting 28th October.

AQUILANI BACK RUNNING AS LIVERPOOL FACE HULL

Good news from Anfield as summer signing Alberto Aquilani has begun running after his protracted ankle problem finally seems to have been cleared up, lets hope he is soon fit for first-team as I am dying to get a look at the play maker bought to try to replace the Great Xabi Alonso.

That's for another day as we face Hull at Anfield today where we will be looking for a good win to avenge last season's 2-2 draw in the same fixture when Stevie Gerrrard brought us back from the dead with two fine goals after Hull had gone two up after a McShane header and a Carra own goal had left us scratching our heads at half-time.

Liverpool will be looking to continue the recent good run of late including the tricky game against Leeds Utd in The Carling Cup where youngster David Ngog scored the only goal to record a good win without the big guns in the team.

Rafa will probably pick his strongest team to face the likeable Phil Brown's team still smarting from that 5-0 loss to Everton mid-week.

Provisional squad; Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Insua, Aurelio, Benayoun, Mascherano, Gerrard, Lucas, Babel, Kuyt, Torres, Riera, Cavalieri, Agger, Ngog, Voronin, Spearing.

Lets hope for a big 3-nil home win to keep us pushing Utd and Chelsea at the top, long season ahead, we can do it!

Scroll down to vote in my poll, if you wish, thanks

SPEARING & KYRGIAKOS START AT LEEDS

Jay Spearing and Kyrgiakos are among the changes to the Liverpool side for tonights match against Leeds at Elland road.
Gerrard and Torres are on the bench.

Team in full:

Cavalieri, Deggen, Carragher, Kyrgiakos, Dossena, Aurelio, Spearing, Mascherano, Riera, Babel, Ngog.

Subs:

Reina, Gerrard, Torres, Skrtel, Voronin, Plessis, Johnson

Match updates to follow...

12mins: Becchio goal ruled offside
54mins: Beckford shot saved by Cavalieri
60mins: Mascherano shoots well wide
63mins: Beckford shoots over
65mins: Goal Ngog spins in the box and scores!
75mins: Brad Johnson shot saved
77mins: Gerrard on for Ngog
88mins: Great run and shot by Babel, just over
92mins: Gerrad smashes shot at Leeds keeper

FULL-TIME: LIVERPOOL 1-0 LEEDS UNITED

CARLSBERG TO SPONSOR NEW STADIUM

The News of The World reported on Sunday that brewing giants Carlsberg have shown interest in the naming-rights for the mythical new Liverpool Stadium.

The paper claims that the Beer Company has offered £100 million in a ten-year deal which would be another small step in raising the £500 million needed to build the new ground.

As I have said before, the club needs investment of hard cash, which the dreaded Hicks and Gillette don't have.

These men bought our club with £400 million or more of bank loans which are already costing us £30 million a year in interest payments alone.

The fact that Carlsberg are willing to offer such money is good news as its an investment in the club and not a loan which we don't need to pay back.

Christian Purslow is proving himself to be a very good M.D. to date looking to improve the club's revenues and profile world wide.

But there is only so much he can do while con men Hicks & Gillette own the club on borrowed money which the club has to pay back.

On the pitch, we go to Elland Road in the Carling Cup tomorrow where Rafa will rotate the squad a bit to give Cavalieri, Kyrgiakos, Voronin and others a chance to shine.

They will need to be at their best to get past Grayson's Leeds who are flying high at the moment at the top of League One, should be a good game.

Scroll down to vote in my poll, thanks.

IS IT THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR JAMIE & CARLSBERG WANT TO SPONSOR NEW GROUND

My Anfield hero, my Liverpool Legend, Jamie Carragher has not had the best start to the new season.
Three mistakes today against West Ham when he was dispossessed by novice Hines on two minutes only for the youngster to hit the post.
Then he was skinned by the same player and ended up giving away a harsh penalty and finally he was found wanting at a West Ham corner when Carlton Cole was left with a free header to score unmarked.
Again, I am Jamie's biggest fan. He is a powerhouse defender who attacks every ball and organises the defence very well, or at least, he used to, until lately.
This season the Reds have been conceding far too many goals, especially from corners where nobody in a Liverpool shirt is attacking the ball and we have lost points because of this.
With Daniel Agger And new signing 6ft 5'' Kyrgiakos waiting in the wings. Carra must be feeling the pressure,as he said himself pre-season ''People might be surprised, but I never take my place on the team for granted, thats why I have been working out in the local boxing gym pre-season''.
Jamie, you have been a fantastic player for us down the years and I hope you quickly recapture your best form to help us win back our first League title in 19 years.
There's only one Jamie Carragher!
Meanhile, The News Of The World reported this morning that Carlsberg want to buy the naming rights for the mythical new stadium at Stanley Park for £100 million over 15 years.
I suppose its £100 million less that the Yanks will have to borrow to build the new ground.
The Carlsberg Stadium?
I dunno about that one, Anfield forever!
Scoll down to vote in the poll, thanks.

TORRES SCORES AGAINST WEST HAM

Fernando Torres scored a fine individual goal to get his fourth of the season on 20 minutes putting Liverpool 1-0 in front....

West Ham equalised after Jaime Carragher was harshly adjudged to have fouled Hines in the box and Diamante scores to make it 1-1....

From a Benayoun corner Gerrard heads it goalwards for Kuyt to touch it into the net 2-1 to the Reds...

45mins. Carlton Cole scores from a corner to make it 2-2 at half time...

75mins. Torres scores his second a header from sub Ryan Babel's cross...

Final Score Liverpool 3-2 West Ham

So a deserved win by the pool today to move us up to 3rd in the league. West Ham made it difficult for us by defending deep in numbers and two errors by us at the back meant we had to work hard for the win but we got there in the end thanks to El Nino and co.

GERRARD AND TORRES UPFRONT V WEST HAM

Stevie G and Fernando Torres link-up again as they did last season.
Xavier Mascherano and Lucas play in midfield, while Albert Riera drops to tne bench today.

Team in full: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Insua, Kuyt, Mascherano, Lucas, Benayoun, Gerrard, Torres.

HICKS PUTS MINORITY STAKE UP FOR SALE

That man Hicks is at it again.
Wheeling and dealing without a penny in his pocket using Liverpool as the bargaining chip.
His latest stunt is to instruct bankers, Merrill Lynch to find a minority investor to pay £100 million for 25% of our club.
In return they will get sweet F.A.
It appears he wants to trawl the rich Middle East to get his money, don't think DIC will go for this, or maybe they will and then try to leverage him out for once and for all.
£100 million won't build you a 60,000 seater stadium, so what is he playing at this time?
God only knows!
I see the Reserves beat Man Utd reserves 1-0, thanks to David Ngoo's first half goal, nice one.
Oh yeah, scroll down to vote on where we will finish in the League this season, thanks.

LIVERPOOL BELOW PAR IN CL WIN

Liverpool put in an average display but run out 1-0 winners against Debrecen at Anfield tonight.

Despite enjoying most of the possession, they had to rely on a Dirk Kuyt goal on 45mins to win the game.

Most of the players didn't play to their best but they did enough to win the game and collect three points.

I am not going to be overly critical as we won the match and that's all that counts at the end of the day.

Its West Ham on Saturday!

Scroll down through them pointless adds to vote in the poll, if you wish thanks.

RAFA PICKS SAME SIDE AGAINST DEBRECEN

Liverpool name an unchanged team for their opening Champion's League game at Anfield against Hungarian new-boys Debrecen.
Steven Gerrard and Lucas Lieva stay in midfield with no place for fit-again Xavier Mascherano who starts on the bench.

The Team is:
Reina,
Johnson,
Carragher,
Skrtel,
Insua,
Lucas,
Gerrard,
Riera,
Kuyt,
Benayoun,
Torres.

3-1 to the mighty Reds!

HICKS BACK WITH HIS USUAL GARBAGE

Tom Hicks, that paragon of virtue and sadly, joint owner of Liverpool has decided to speak to the press as I knew he would about the new sponsorship deal that M.D. Christian Purslow agreed with Banking giants Standard Charter yesterday.
Hicks was quoted on the PA as saying: ''You have to look at the cash flow not the accounting,''(in other words, the debt they have put on us)'' and we intend to operate Liverpool where it has a very strong strong positive cash flow so we have the resources to be as competitive as possible on the pitch--that's our commitment.''
What commitment?
The club itself is earning major amounts of money by being successful at home and in Europe so Hicks is saying he wants to use the clubs revenue, NOT HIS, to keep the club going.
He makes my blood boil, I see right through his smarmy small talk, the sooner he goes, the bankrupt buffoon, the better.
What do you think?
Leave a comment and let me know, thanks

WHO GETS THE £80 MILLION?

Liverpool today announced a new shirt-sponsorship deal with Standard Charter, a multi-national banking group.

The deal worth £20 million a year for four years will dwarf the £7.5 million a year that long-standing sponsors Carlsberg had been paying the club.

Liverpool's Managing Director Christian Purslow said: ''This is a huge step forward for the club financially and that can only be helpful to create the conditions in which we can restart the stadium project.''

That's all very well and fine but an extra £12.5 million a year is not going to lay too many bricks at the new ground without having to borrow hundreds of millions of pounds to get the place built.

Without major personal investment in the club by the owners or, hopefully new owners, the stadium will not be built and I would prefer it only to be built with new owners money or not at all.

I would prefer the extra revenue to be used to improve Rafa's team and squad.

The new M.D. Christian Purslow seems to be the right man for the club since he replaced Rick Parry.

Rafa Benitez is very pleased with him claiming the two are in touch everyday and that they are in complete agreement over transfers, player contracts and so on: ''I would say we have a meeting not just every week but every day. We are on the phone and as soon as I try to do something or want to do something, he is there.''

So good news all around at Anfield today then.

Where do you think the money should be spent?

On the team, repaying the debt or towards the cost of building the new stadium?

Scroll down to leave a comment or vote in the poll, if you wish.

BENAYOUN HAT-TRICK AGAINST BURNLEY

Yossi Benayoun scored a hat-trick at Anfield as Liverpool ran out comfortable 4-nil winners against Owen Coyles' newly promoted Burnley.

The Reds, with Stevie Gerrard in central midfield ran the game throughout and opened the scoring on 26mins when Benayoun danced past three defenders to coolly slot home the first of his three.

Liverpool had plenty of chances thereafter and Dirk Kuyt popped up to side foot another Yossi shot into the net for a 2-0 half-time lead.

The Liverpool onslaught continued in the second half and a great run into the box by skipper Steven Gerrard who picked out the Israeli in the six yard box to pass the ball into the net for his second and Liverpool's third.

Three minutes later Benayoun was denied his hat-trick when he put the ball in the net again from a free-kick only to be flagged offside.

Stevie G made another surging run into the besieged Burnley box only to hit his shot against the post.

On 81 minutes Benayoun got his third following a good pass from sub Voronin to make it 4-0.

It should have been five on 89mins when Voronin was clean through unmarked in the box with only the keeper to beat but his shot went wide.

So a very good display by Rafa's team which moves us up to 4th, at the time of writing.

Crisis,what crisis!

Scroll down to vote in my new poll or leave a comment, if you wish, thanks.

MASH OUT, GERRARD IN MIDFIELD

As I predicted yesterday, Xavier Masherano is out injured and does not make the squad.

Steven Gerrard goes back into central midfield alongside Lucas.

Benayoun plays behind Torres upfront with Riera wide on the left.

Aurelio doesn't even make the bench.

Team in full;

Reina,

Johnson,

Insua,

Carragher,

Skertel,

Lucas,

Gerrard,

Riera,

Benayoun,

Kuyt,

Torres

MASCHERANO OUT OF BURNLEY MATCH

Bad news Liverpool fans, Javier Mascherano is out of the game at home to Burnley tomorrow.

The Argentina skipper suffered a knock away on International duty mid-week and is ruled out of Saturday's game.

Rafa Benitez now has a major problem in midfield without a recognised holding/defensive player.

Options include that man Lucas who I just don't rate at all.

We will have to drop Steven Gerrard back into central midfield and hope the two of them together can control the engine-room.

Fabio Aurelio is back fit and maybe Benitez may use him instead in midfield, where he played last year against Portsmouth and he scored from a free-kick.

Either way The Mash will be missed tomorrow in a tricky match against newly promoted Burnley, who have already beaten Man Utd (ha,ha) and Everton.

Scroll down to comment or vote, I would love to hear from you, thanks.

STEVIE G SCORES TWICE AS ENGLAND QUALIFY

England beat Croatia 5-1 at Wembley Stadium to qualify for the World Cup Finals in South Africa next year, with two games to spare.

Congratulations to England,
but commiserations to Scotland who are out after losing to Holland to end their World Cup dreams.
Wales and Northern Ireland also lost tonight to make it difficult to get out of their groups.
So now that all that is out of the way, Its back to business at Liverpool for the important match against Burnley.
I can't wait, bring it on!
Scroll down to comment and vote in my poll.

LIVERPOOL ANNOUNCE FULL SQUAD FOR CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Liverpool announced their squad for the Champions League with the main players named as well as goalkeeper David Martin, defenders Martin Kelly and Steven Martin along with Jay Spearing and Damien Plessis as the English-based players to satisfy UEFA rules on native talent for the competition.
Lets hope for a thrilling campaign this season, lets hope we avoid Chelsea as they are the only team who know how to beat us in Europe over the past few seasons.
Scroll down for my poll.

NO NEW STADIUM UNTIL 2018

Bad news on the building off the new stadium at Stanley Park with new M.D. Christian Purslow saying this afternoon ''Construction on the new stadium will begin when the current contraction in the banking industry ends''.

In other words when Hicks and Gillette can find a bank daft enough to lend them £450 million to build a stadium which, without significant personal investment by the owners, will only saddle Liverpool FC with huge debts which could cripple the club and end up meaning we have to sell Torres and co. just to pay the interest on the new debt.

While Hicks and Gillette stay in charge of the club, I hope the new development does not come to pass.

I would much prefer it if the two Yanks sold their stakes to a buyer who will invest their own money into the club to build the stadium with their own cash.

Moores should have sold to DIC that time, maybe its not too late.

But without significant private investment by somebody, we are facing major problems building the 60,000 seater stadium.

Scroll down to vote in my poll.

CHELSEA BANNED FROM TRANSFERS

Chelsea have been banned from making any transfers by FIFA until 2011.
In an extraordinary move, they announced that former Lens player Gail Kakuta was 'induced' into breaking his contract to join the chavs in 2007.
The player himself, still in his teens, has been banned from playing football and ordered to pay nearly £700,000 while Chelsea themselves have to pay £114,000 to Lens.
With an ageing squad this is good news for Liverpool fans, as title rivals, this will weaken their challenge in future.
They are, of course, to appeal.