Royal Family

I noticed, when reading about the latest gaffe by our Sports Minister Jeremy "Rhyming Slang" Hunt, that various reader comments on this piece in the Daily Telegraph are claiming that the events at Hillsborough were down to hooliganism. Whilst despairing at the levels of ongoing ignorance and indeed malice, I wondered whether any civic-minded folk might like to put the record straight? US Open 2011: Jeremy Hunt embarrassed after congratulating Rory McIlroy on winning wrong tournament - Telegraph

First time I saw Sami in the flesh was a home match against Watford ... which we lost and, to be truthful, he looked abject. How first impressions can be misleading! One of the finest players I have seen in the famous Red. I'm lucky enough to have met with his father, Jouko, a few times - he was a footballer too: an absolutely charming, intelligent, humble man, just like his son by all accounts.

Goodness me, Brian is going to get the hatemail from the usual suspects for that sentence! From what i've read so far - and it's a depressing read, isn't it - I think Gillett is getting off lightly: Brian tends to portray him as a gutless clown, whereas i think he's this but also a cunning, devious, untrustworthy, two-faced snake. In many ways he was more the poisonous of the two.

We (and Arsenal) were offered Falcao for £5m before he went to Porto. I haven't seen much of Hulk apart from his very unimpressive displays against United in the CL a few years ago - struck me as a bit lumbering then, but you can't argue with his form over the past few years, can you?!

I do think he'd be a better option than Charlie Adam. But Joey Barton has always struck me as a man who was born to play for Everton - everything about him and that club would suggest a marriage from heaven.

Darren Fletcher should be on that original list instead of £18m man Carrick. Reliable, efficient, never lets his manager down. I don't see how someone with an £18m tag can possibly be called underrated - surely it has to be a ratio of performance versus value and reputation, which also rules out Gareth 'Tortoise' Barry (criminally overrated by some, to the extent of being seen as a better option than even Xabi Alonso, although the Kop was never fooled) and Nigel De Jong too. Good call from a few about Kevin Doyle - he has been single-handedly carrying Wolves this year. Bobby Zamora also doesn't get the credit he deserves for a few truly awesome seasons at Fulham. Matt Etherington at Stoke should get an honourable mention too What about pride of place for the horribly underrated Danish destroyer, er, Christian Poulsen?* *realises too late it isn't April 1st and slinks away to the TLW undergrowth

Four pages and noone has mentioned Gabi Agbonlahor? Man United bid for him two years ago, yet i can't see for the life of me what his reputation has been based upon. Glen Johnson and Joe Cole would certainly be on my list. But top of the lot would have to be Robbie Keane - one of the most transferred players in global football history, subject of FIVE moves of more than £10m, a massive ego to boot, yet for that you get a man hopelessly out of his depth at any decent footballing club.

If a certain United left-footed midfielder gets a goal tonight, are we allowed to report his name, or is that covered by Justice Eady's superinjunction too? I'm so confused!

Still no point if he's always injured when you need to call upon him!

He's a solid player, but I don't think he's as good as Jagielka, who is one player I really wish we could bring in (or should have done when he was excelling for Sheffield United, albeit not at centre-back) I'm also surprised that if we're looking specifically at English players, Ryan Shawcross never gets a mention: he's been immense for Stoke for two seasons now AND there is the added advantage that Wenger dislikes him.

Pako and Rafa. Clough and Taylor. Houllier and Bergues. Morecambe and Wise. Love and Marriage. Harry Redknapp and his Brown Envelope. It's uncanny how often the double act is just so much better than the sum of its parts.

Oh, give it a rest - why no complaint about people talking on this thread about carra or gerrard? i also don't remember you being that interested about something that you now claim 'could have finished the club'. maybe if you listened to your elders and betters like goatboy - whose love for this club goes back years - you might learn something and actually be able to contribute constructively to debates on here.

Then so too should Rafa have spoken out properly against the owners: he didn't even do this after he was 'mutually consented' and just muttered that it would be 'disrespectful' (not a courtesy he extended to his replacement or to Christian Purslow). Instead he decided in 2008 that getting Rick Parry out of the club was the most important thing in the short-term and formed his ill-starred alliance of convenience with Tom Hicks to achieve this. Personally, i would have liked to have seen the manager, coaching staff and all the senior players sign a collective declaration. It didn't happen, and in hindsight it's a shame, but it's not fair to single out one or two individuals on the playing staff as a result. it's also very interesting to have it confirmed that Rafa was speaking off the record with journalists during his tenure here - something which we were vehemently told on here time after time he didn't do and he wasn't pally with any Fleet Street hacks and was disliked because he didn't 'play that game'.

Indeed, but Rangers do have the benefit of CL football. Isn't Palsson the one that Rafa identified as his certain tip from the crop of youngsters to make it for Liverpool?

That's fair enough, although Wilson himself has trumpeted how he can play at left-back, even if it isn't his first preference:- http://www.clickliverpool.com/sport/liverpool-fc/1210001-danny-wilson-offers-to-ease-liverpool-fc-left-back-dilemma.html I have to say that for a lad who has played CL football and come here with a big reputation (and,m for his age, a big fee) I've been distinctly underwhelmed. He's not an inexperienced 17 year-old coming into the team: he played regularly for Rangers and has played CL football. Of course one has to give him time, but I am surprised by how raw and lacking in natural confidence he seems to be. I'm not entirely sure he's going to be given many more chances to impress, and wouldn't be surprised to see him shipped out on loan soon.

I'd much prefer James McCarthy if we're looking at lower league (Scottish) midfielders. Completely bossed Adam yesterday - he's got more tecnhical ability, more pace, and strikes me as the perfect longer-term replacement for Gerrard. Adam has had a four month purple patch in an otherwise outstandingly mediocre career - we've signed too many players like that from the Premiership in the past (Leonhardsen, Babb, Paul Stewart, Nicky Barmby, Pennant, Zenden, Robbie Keane(!)), etc, etc, ad infinitum). His performances since January have reverted to type, I'm afraid.

Goodness me, man. Have you not seen the dross that various scouts have managed to bring to Anfield over the past two decades? Did you really never see any of Eduardo Macia's inspired signings for the club? Robbie Keane, Jermaine Pennant, Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen, Milan Jovanovic, Philipp Degen, Bolo Zenden, Alberto Aquilani, Andriy Voronin??? All recommended by Liverpool scouts.

He lays the cones out on the pitch for the pre-game warm-up. Very skilled job that.

Seems as if Chelsea are looking at him to replace Ancelotti this summer. He's certainly getting an extraordinary amount of publicity at the moment in the english press (very mourinho-like!):- André Villas Boas steps out from José Mourinho's shadow at Porto | Football | The Guardian

No, he wouldn't. he really wouldn't add bite - creativity perhaps, but he's terrible at shielding the back four. He's slow, unfit and rivals Paul Scholes in the tackling stakes. I fear he would be a sadly typical signing for us - signed on the basis of a purple patch in an otherwise fairly mediocre (to say the least) career

Apart from finishing above Everton, I actually want to wake up one month into a season and STILL have a sense of optimism, rather than counting down the days until the next transfer window. Sadly, my great fear is that we won't - or won't be able to - do what we need to this summer, as per every summer since 2007.

Finishing above Everton again? I think a lot depends on what we see from FSG this summer - until then, I don't see the point in wild speculations. But even if there are wholescale changes, we need to be realistic about just how far behind we have dropped in the past two seasons.

I agree but I also think it's a bit naughty of you to make it seem that is my phrase by quoting there - i haven't asked for the owners to be 'held to account' at all, merely pointing out they can't expect blind faith in all their decisions given the circumstances that have afflicted us since 2007, and indeed arguably earlier. Borrowing money to buy the club isn't my idea of 'investment', mind. G+H did that too.

It's a great philosophy, but one can't help wondering if it's more motivated by money considerations than by footballing realities. After all, it relies on the Academy selecting and producing players who can be world-class (which, after all, every Academy tries to do). And I still think it's impossible to know whether most players will 'make' it at the age of 21, let alone 18, 16 or even 14. It also makes recruitment to the Academies important - Arsenal for instance rarely 'produce' theiur own (Willshire is a notable exception), as we have tried to do with local lads, but bring in youngesters from all over the globe. We absolutely need to do the same.

That's because he rarely plays due to injuries.... This would be a genuinely dumb signing.