Ronnie Whelan

Mignolet Manquillo(or Flanno) Lovren Sakho Moreno Gerrard Can Henderson Sterling Coutinho Sturridge The above is how I see the team shaping up come Sunday week. I know Brendan loves Allen, but I think Can will have made a big impression on him since his arrival and I have this feeling he might nick a spot in the starting 11 by the beginning of the season. He looks like a powerhouse and seems to be technically excellent. I can't see Johnson starting the season with the rapidly improving Flanno who would run through brick walls for us moving back to his natural position and the supposedly excellent Manquillo (he could be shite - I'm suspicious that Athletico seem to have given us such a brilliant deal). If Moreno isn't signed, then Flanno will be at left back in my opinion. At centre half, I think Brendan views the partnership of Sakho and Lovren as his future long term pairing, so I would expect them to begin the season together. Alot of changes in defence which is normally a very bad thing for a team, but in our case, we can't do any worse defensively than last season, so there should be an improvement.

I used to go to alot of the FA Youth Cup games and outside alot of the obvious ones already mentioned, Stephen McPhail of Leeds United was a definite cut above the rest. He was a magician with the ball. I genuinely think that if he had been a young player in Holland, Portugal or Spain, he would've become one of the best players of his generation.

A big part of me always respected Stevie for being very un-Scouse like and his own man and actually giving a shit about England. Even if it wasn't something most Scousers and probably 90% of my generation couldn't understand, I thought fair fuck Stevie. Even though I don't consider myself English, I respect people that do. Anyhow, fuck England. They don't deserve him. They are the Aston Villa of international teams - a decent past and a pretty mediocre present. I actually love international football, but I get more out of watching Germany-Ghana or Chile-Holland than I ever did that useless shower of knobhead bastards. It actually pained me watching some terrific Liverpool players look utterly garbage at the World Cup under the tutelege of Woy. Hopefully, our initial pre-season training consists of getting Hendo, Lallana, Lambert, Danny and Sterling to unlearn everything that the Hodge told them.

Rooney could have been a great player, but these days he is only world class about 3-5 times a season and normally against mediocre teams, which makes his world class performance in these games questionable. He looked good at times last year because his wanker team mates who are half shit anyway and only won anything over the past few years because of Fergie conspired to get Moyesy sacked by being totally shit. I can see Butthead getting rid, especially as he clearly gets on with Van Persie, who Rooney despises. Only thing is, I don't know many clubs that would by him for the price he'd be quoted at and those mental wages he's on.

This notion that we can't have a stadium of at least 80k capacity is totally redundant. God only knows how much more difficult it will be to get tickets for games if we have a real run of success in the future.

What really pisses me off is that people are buying these membership cards, getting their games built up on them, all the while building up to being able to get tickets for Everton/United etc and also selling them as part of packages for 3-4 times their worth. I can't count how many Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Norwegians and other English fans of the club (all mostly good solid fans that give a shit about the club and not my definition of a daytripper) who told me that they bought tickets for 100-140 a pop and were given a membership card that they had to send back to the "so called" member of the club after the game. One Welsh lad I got talking to at the Stoke game last year said that he came up on a coach with this fella as part of a package - 140 for ticket and coach and after the game this fucking beaut was going to be collecting the cards from all 20 on the coach. Nice profit for that scumbag. He probably has a little run to Old Trafford doing something every second weekend. The club should have some way of monitoring people coming in to the ground on membership cards. Maybe this isn't feasible with the numbers, but even random spot checks, or having future membership cards coming with photo id or something. Also the club need to reward people who have a history of going to premiership games and also things like the Celebration of the 96 etc.

I have concerns about FSG, because I don't fully trust American owners. I feel they would be delighted if we did an Arsenal and were consistently the 4th best team in the league, rather than pushing the boat out to win a title. They are in this for the profit first and foremost, whereas the Abramovichs of this world view football as their own play-thing, which at least guarantees trophies every few years. However, I do think we will sign a world class player this summer. They are well aware that we are losing a great player and that we will need a player to get the fans excited. My concern is that we won't try and get the 2-3 world class players that we need to become a really top team. That is what is likely to separate us getting top 4 and maybe winning a title. Brendan can work wonders as much as he can and does, but if our rivals are signing a Hummels, Vidal etc there is only so much he can do. IMO, our signings thus far have been positive if we weren't losing luis. can is meant to be ace and one of the best young players of his generation in Germany. Lallana is clearly a very good player - hopefully he can kick on and show last season's form, while Lambert is a terrific fella to have on the bench. It's encouraging that we are likely to sign markovic and origi who are two terrific talents. All of those players come in for the cost of Suarez leaving, so it will be very interesting who we buy for the rest of the window. It is possible that we could be trying to sign players from the 4 teams left in the World Cup, or we are in advanced talks with Moreno etc. the next 7-10 days will prove a lot what our business is likely to be. I do think this window will highlight for me how far FSG want to take us. I'm sceptical of them because of the last owners, but hopefully they prove me wrong.

I'm struggling to think of the last world class Scottish or Irish player and those countries used to churn out great players, especially the Scots. Newcastle produce fuck all as a city these days and they used to produce loads of great players and the rest of England is pretty shit for producing talent, bar maybe Liverpool. In the past, the coaching on these islands was shit, but players in these islands used to play street football, so they honed technical ability. Now, they just have shit coaches who think their Jose Mourinho. Bottom line, we won't be producing too many great players.

Lovren is somewhere between a good and a very good player. I do think that he'd be alot at 20million, but at least he's an improvement and he's young. I don't like to hear he's throwing his toys out of the pram to get a move to us. Who is to say in 2-3 years time, he wouldn't do the same to get to Barca/Real etc? I'd be cautiosly optimistic about him coming though. I don't like to hear that we won't pay the extra few million to get Moreno. These things balance out in the long run and if he reaches his potential, we're sorted at left back for many years. Of course, we may well be looking at other options like Rodriguez and Blind. To be fair, Brendan knows Bertrand and he looked very good when he broke through a few years ago. Personally, I think he's a West Ham/Southampton type signing, but we'll just have to wait and see. Alot of it could be tabloid bullshit. I've never seen Markovic, but any person I've spoken to has said that he's destined to be a really top player. I'd be looking forward to seeing him. Origi is in a similar boat, except I've seen him. He looks very raw still, but he could be a top player in the next 2-3 years. Sanchez and/or Shaqiri would be the dream for us, especially if Suarez leaves as I expect he will in the coming days. Both these players or players of their quality would go some way to make up for the devestation I will have when Suarez goes.

It's great that we're staying at Anfield, but 60k is nowhere near enough. We could easily get 75-80 k with the support that we have in Britain and around the world. There must be a few thousand Irish coming over each home game alone, let alone the Norwegians, Dutch, etc. We are one of the biggest clubs in the world and we play in a league where attendances aren't dropping like in Serie A. I'd personally like to see a much bigger stadium, with a specific amount of tickets set aside for locals at far reduced rates, especially from the Anfield area. It would be great if local families got to watch the team and with a bigger stadium, we would be in a position to take the lead for the rest of the country in this respect. I know this won't happen as money talks, but it would be terrific if it did. From a structural point of view, I think the Kop needs to be ultimately expanded to make it the most important and imposing stand in the ground and the centenary should be the same quality as the main stand. It might take over 20 years for both of these things to happen, but that's what the club needs to aspire to do. We can take a leaf out of the Manc's book in this regard. They have continued to build Old Toilet up and it pains me to give the wankers credit for this, but they do deserve it.

Incidentally, Belgium are 6-1 to make the final. They have a tough game tomorrow, and then will probably face Argentina if they win and then the Netherlands in the semi final, but decent enough price.

Yeah I did this also. It makes sense to me because it should be easy money, although this world cup has burned me a few times with the play it safe logic!!I stuck 25 quid on this. I also went with Germany and France to be leading after 20 minutes at 10-1 (just 1 quid) and Benzema and Muller to both score first at 16-1 (just one quid). I'm going to probably lash down a fair bit on the Holland-Costa Rica, as it should be an easy earner, though Costa Rica have burned me in all three group games on various bets.

With the money those lads are on, they could have their own full-time taxi driver!

It's hard to fault the club for selling Luis this summer, once we get anything approaching 70 million. We can argue all we like about it not being enough (personally before this incident I would have said we could have got 100-110 million) but the club will know that Luis is going to be coming back to a country that despises him and a football association that is desperate to drive him out of the country. They are fucking desperate to give him a year long ban and it's odds on that Luis will do something mad next year if he stays. I love the lad, but Pope Fancis is more likely to join Al Queda than our Luis is to go a season without doing something mental. I also agree with Jocky that there is a very strong likelihood that he will bite again. The other elephant in the room is that while I have no doubt that he loves the club and cares about the team, he wants to go. I don't consider him a mercenary in any way like Torres was, but he is still a fella that clearly wants out.His wife means the world to him and her family who seem to have helped him when he was a young lad, live in Barcelona. I can see why he would want to leave, especially now with him knowing more than ever the kind of shit he'd be coming back to. I just hope that while he wants to go, he doesn't do a Tevez on us and stay in Uruguay come the end of October, if we play hard ball and refuse to sell. I personally don't think he would, but you just never know. I really will feel devestated if he goes and Liverpool won't be in any way a winner no matter what. It's next to impossible to replace Luis, but if we can get in Sanchez and 1/2 players of great potential, then it is better than having a player one mistake away from a huge ban.

The last thing I want is for him to get banned, but if that was a City, Chelsea or United player, we would be in uproar. I coach my kids' teams for years and it's absolutely barbaric stuff from Luis. I love him, but there is no place for that shite on a football pitch. As I said, the people I feel most sorry are us and Liverpool Football Club. I feel sorry for the Uruguayans as well.

If Fifa can ban him for only internationals, then his ban will be for about two years. If it's club also, then I reckon that we are looking at a ban until anywhere from December - March 2015. Fifa will want to send a message out that what he did was unacceptable. They are corrupt scumbags, but to be honest, they have to give him as hefty ban. It's hard to keep defending Luis. I love him, partly because he pisses off the British establishment with their self-righteous, judgemental moral compass bullshit and because he is probably the greatest player I've seen in a red shirt (only Kenny and Souness can compare imo). A country where the likes of Terry and Giggsy are lauded is pretty fucked up, especially when it is clear that Luis, despite all his madness, is 100 times a nicer fella and a good family man. Even if he had fucked off to Spain, I still would have loved the lunatic. However.....if he is banned for most of next season, then I don't feel I can argue too much. We can argue all we like about other players like Keane and Cantona, but he's done this three times and it's animalistic behaviour. At least, we have a justifiable argument that the last time, he wasn't banned from playing for Uruguay. The good news is that the Spanish clubs won't go near him. Neither need to touch him, when they have their pick of great players from around the world. We are stuck with him and while I think he will have one major controversy a year, I am delighted he won't be leaving us. However, I can't imagine how we will come if he is missing for anything more than 3 months next year.

We are not just a great club, but a truly great club, just like the two Milans are. Having said that if you were a top player would you play for AC Milan/Inter/Liverpool or City, PSG or Anzhi.?Personally, for me, there's no contest, but for your average top player these days, they are likely to be more drawn towards the $$$.

If Luis has a release clause and he wants to go, then lets just try and get the best deal possible by ideally creating a bidding war, with us trying to get 2-3 top players off either Real or Barca + money. If he doesn't have a release clause, then selling him does more harm than good. He is as close as we will get to an irreplaceable player and it further highlights to the football world that Liverpool are no longer a great club that holds on to its great players - you don't see the new rich clubs like Man City, Chelsea and PSG having players leave them. Okay, you could argue the Mancs sold Ronaldo and Van Niestelroy but that highlighted for me that they are a selling club nowadays. Top players will want to play with Suarez. We will find it harder to attract them if he isn't around, unless we get a cracking deal from Real or Barca, whereby we get 2-3 top players and money, which might go a long way to building a better all round team. If Luis has his heart set on Spain, then try and get him to commit to one more season with us and then let him leave. At least, if that means that we can really strengthen this summer the blow won't be as bad and hopefully it means that we become one of the clubs that is very difficult to remove from the top 4 (hopefully he leaves a champion) - if we finish in the top 4, it puts incredible pressure on the other teams like the Mancs who really can't afford another season out of the Champions League. I am reluctant to criticise FSG, as they have done alot of things right for the club. I have no doubt that they want us to be a success, but I would question if they are going to put the hard yards in to put us back on our perch. Their business model is a sound one, but a world where players will leave great clubs to play in Siberia or Paris is a very different footballing one to what we know. Ultimately, money talks and if they can't provide it, then I'd much rather them leave the club and make a nice profit and we get owners that can take us to the next level financially and give Brendan the support he deserves.

Do we need to play dirty and get Purple Aki involved?

I would feel that it impacts on everyone involved in the club. Luis is easilly the third best player in the world and people like Liam Brady reckon he is the best player in the world. Lets say we want to buy a very top player this summer. He will want to play with Liverpool because we are a huge club and more importantly to players nowadays we are in the Champions League. The icing on the cake will be to play with someone like Luis Suarez. Without him, our ability to attract really top players diminishes a fair bit. Not totally, but significantly. The fact that other clubs will know that we have 100 million plus spare cash also means that we will get royally ripped off by other clubs. The impact on the morale of both the team and the fans will also need to be taken into account. Unless Barca or Real throw us a very good package, then morale will be very low going into the new season. Next season is massive for the club. It will either establish us as a Champions League club and put further pressure on Spurs and United (and hopefully establish us as a title challenging team) or else put us back to being a club who are among the also rans. No player is irreplaceable and if we get a very good package of money and 2-3 top players, then unfortunately it may make economic sense for the club to sell, but we really need to think long and hard before we do sell.

Until Luis actually says he wants to leave, then it's all hearsay. I would agree that there's a strong possibility that he will leave and I do think that he will ultimately end up at either Barca or Real, but I find it hard to take what English journalists say seriously. Aside from it being potentially the biggest transfer of the summer, they hate the man and they don't exactly love us either, so they will be more than happy to print shite.

http://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/hottest-girls-2014-world-cup-110.jpg please ignore the above!!

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/27827569

Fuck England. I really feel for Stevie, but I'm glad that our lads will get a little bit longer to rest this summer, than they would if they were still in the world cup. The English fans are not all bad far from it, but there is a very sizeable amount that are knobheads and a good proportion that will join in the nastiness. A good example for me was when I was in Krakow in 2012 for a mate's stag with about 20 other scouse lads. The place was full of Irish, Dutch, Germans, Portuguese etc whether they were going to other Polish cities or the Ukraine. The atmosphere was electric with everyone having fun and we joined in with the banter - one of the best YNWA I've ever been involved in was in a pub in Krakow with Irish, Dutch and German lads. A few other English were there and were sound. Then large groups of English started coming in and the atmosphere totally changed. They were trying to kick off with everyone - the hillarious thing is that they would have been battered by the Irish, Dutch, Germans and Poles but they probably were telling their mates back home that they cleared a pub and Johnny Foreigner wasn't up for it.

I stuck a tenner on both Suarez and Sturridge to score anytime tonight at 7-1. That looks a pretty good bet in my opinion. Also bet 4 quid on luis being first goalscorer, 2 quid on Danny being first goalscorer, 2 quid on Cavani and 1 quid on Potato Man scoring first. I get my money back on England first goalscorers if Uruguay win. Watch now it will be a fucking 0-0 draw.