Skully

With C & A & the appointment of Hodgson, I bet many of us would have been glad to escape this season with avoiding relegation or being midtable & getting our club back. As much as the timing stinks & Torres deserves all abuse he gets, if you had told me in August we'd be 7th, Dalglish back in charge & those two twats gone & we seem to have responsible owners & with just loss of Torres, I'd have taken that. Hard to swallow now but rebuilding starts here & from a higher level than maybe some though.

A long read.....but here you go Tony Barrett 1 minute ago Liverpool’s failure to match the ambitions of the Spain forward have led to the player’s disenchantment with life at Anfield “I identify with the values that define the club; hard work, struggle, humility, sacrifice, effort, tenacity, commitment, togetherness, unity, faith, the permanent desire to improve, to overcome all obstacles.” Fernando Torres: El Niño: My Story Somewhere along the way Fernando Torres stopped identifying with Liverpool. Their values were no longer his values, their paths, which had been intertwined, diverged and the loyalty that once meant he refused even to “think about playing for another English team” has given way to a desperation to join Chelsea. The blame game that inevitably accompanies the most acrimonious of separations is under way. In direct contrast to his image, Torres is being characterised as an opportunistic, shallow individual of questionable morals whose greatest skill apart from a profound ability to score goals is a propensity to market himself as someone who supporters can believe in. But past experience tells us that history is merely repeating itself where the 26-year-old is concerned and that his greatest “crime” involves harbouring an ambition that he feels Liverpool, like Atlético Madrid before them, are unable to satisfy. That is what Margarita Garay and Jorge Lera, his representatives from the Bahía Internacional agency, and Torres told Damien Comolli and Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool’s director of football strategy and caretaker manager respectively, during talks at Melwood, the club’s training ground, yesterday. The message was almost identical to the one they had delivered to Atlético officials 3½ years earlier — that their client’s hunger for success was not being sated and it was in the best interests of everyone for him to move on. The parallels between the pull factors that attracted Torres to Anfield in the summer of 2007 are uncannily similar to the push factors that are now driving him into the arms of Chelsea. “This was one of the reasons why I wanted to depart Atlético, getting the chance to play in the Champions League was key to me leaving Madrid,” Torres would later admit. When Torres joined Liverpool they had just contested their second Champions League final in three years, now they are facing up to a third consecutive season as outsiders looking in on Europe’s most glamorous cup competition and he can take no more. The process of disengagement did not begin this week, however. It did not even begin this month. Torres’s disillusionment with Liverpool’s decline dates back more than a year. On a flight to the city’s John Lennon Airport from Paris last February he discussed the problems plaguing Liverpool under the regime of Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr with a journalist friend. “We cannot compete if they stay but they are not the only problem,” he said, his disquiet with a club who were in danger of losing their way altogether painfully palpable. As the months passed and Liverpool’s decline was only accelerated during the ill-fated reign of Roy Hodgson, so Torres retreated into his shell on and off the pitch. The slumped shoulders and look of indifference that came to characterise him on a match day were equally evident when off duty. The man who previously had the world at his feet was now carrying the weight of it on his shoulders. He remained a popular, if diffident, figure in the dressing room but the distance between he and his team-mates was becoming increasingly apparent. When a team bonding evening was held at a Japanese restaurant in Liverpool city centre, Torres was the only player who did not attend. He also failed to turn up at the players’ Christmas night out, although that event did come shortly after he had become a father for the second time. The Spaniard once admitted that “fame means you end up retreating into ever smaller places with your closest friends, loyal people you can trust”. It was not the unwanted trappings of celebrity that drove him to solitude, though, it was simply a symptom of his disengagement from Liverpool. Chelsea were as aware as anyone of his disenchantment with life at Anfield. Indeed, their first unofficial “approach” actually pre-dated it with John Terry, their captain, making it clear to Torres that he should join him at Stamford Bridge when the pair bumped into one another at the Fifa World Player of the Year awards gala held at the Zurich Opera House in January last year. At the time, the bashful Torres just shrugged his shoulders and walked away, but the next time Chelsea came calling he was all ears. That came last summer when Chelsea used the channels available to them to make Bahía aware of their interest in Torres. The problem was that although Roman Abramovich coveted the forward and wanted to make him his latest trophy signing, Chelsea’s valuation fell well short of Liverpool’s and their interest was destined to come to nothing. Torres’s agents may have felt that the £50 million tag that had been placed on the head of their most lucrative client was excessive but on their own official website they listed him as being worth £44 million. Chelsea, basking in the glow of their league and cup Double, wanted Torres but they did not desperately need him at that stage and the failure of their interest to harden meant he had no alternative but to give Liverpool another season. There was one other factor behind his willingness to recommit to such an extent that on August 3 last year he told Liverpool’s website that his “loyalty to the club is the same as the day I signed”, a visit by emissaries of Kenny Huang to Madrid that led him to believe that the good times he craved were just around the corner. The representatives of the Chinese businessman, who launched an unsuccessful bid to buy Liverpool last summer, informed Torres’s camp that once their prospective purchase was complete the club would be able to compete for the best players in the world. Their promise to provide a quick fix came to nothing, however, and another seed of Torres’s progressive disillusionment had been sewn. But it is Liverpool’s failure to show any sign of a return to the standards that first attracted him to the club that has been the most crucial element behind his disenchantment After leaving his beloved Atlético he admitted that he could not afford to give his best years to “a transitional period” and with Liverpool’s rebuilding process only able to begin now after the departures of Hicks and Gillett he once again feels that his exit is the only solution

Tony Barrett 1 minute ago Possibility of a £50 million transfer to Chelsea for the Spain forward has Merseyside club preparing to buy three new players Liverpool’s determination to deny Fernando Torres a British-record transfer to Chelsea has not prevented them from lining up a trio of deadline-day deals in readiness for the possibility of life without the Spain forward. With Roman Abramovich, the Chelsea owner, ready to test Liverpool’s resolve by making an improved offer for Torres after having a £35 million bid turned down last week, the Merseyside club are ready to complete the £23 million signing of Luis Suárez, from Ajax, while also making a final attempt to agree a fee with Blackpool for Charlie Adam and looking into the possibility of setting up a deal to sign Ashley Young from Aston Villa. Torres held several hours of talks with Liverpool officials at the club’s Melwood training ground yesterday as efforts continued to persuade the 26-year-old to withdraw the transfer request that he submitted on Friday. Torres was accompanied by his representatives from Bahía Internacional, Margarita Garay and Jorge Lera, who continued to press for the move that their client is seeking. Liverpool believe the acquisition of Suárez for a club-record fee illustrates their ambition, but the Torres camp maintains that the move for the Uruguay forward, which will be completed today after he successfully came through a medical, is too little, too late to prompt a change of heart. In the knowledge that Torres remains determined to quit Anfield, Abramovich is unwilling to sanction an offer of £50 million, which has been mooted as the figure that would tempt Liverpool into doing business. He is prepared to do a cash deal, having ruled out the possibility of allowing Nicolas Anelka, the forward, to be used as a makeweight in any transaction, but he is hopeful of striking a bargain with Liverpool as deadline day wears on. Liverpool have also made it clear that they are not interested in taking Daniel Sturridge as part of any deal after Chelsea indicated that they would be willing to offer the England Under-21 forward in part-exchange for Torres, who trained alone yesterday after returning from Madrid. In what will be an intriguing final day of the January transfer window, Liverpool will pursue a deal for Adam, with their confidence that they can finally agree a fee boosted by the knowledge that Ian Holloway, the Blackpool manager, has signed Andy Reid, from Sunderland, as a possible replacement. Like Torres, Adam has attempted to force the issue by handing in a transfer request, but Blackpool have hitherto remained unmoved and have already rejected two bids from Liverpool for the midfield player. Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the Liverpool owner, has approved a final offer as it seeks to improve the playing squad. John W. Henry, Liverpool’s principal owner, contacted Randy Lerner, the Aston Villa owner, at the weekend to inquire into the availability of Young, only to be told that the forward is not for sale. Should Torres leave, though, Liverpool would be prepared to pay up to £18 million for Young.

From Sunday Times... Fernando Torres will be allowed to leave Liverpool if Chelsea are prepared to obliterate the British transfer record and stump up nearly £50m in cash or a package worth that amount, including a ready-made replacement such as Nicolas Anelka. Despite rejecting a transfer request from Torres late on Friday, a hardening of positions in the past 24 hours has led senior figures at Anfield, including Kenny Dalglish, the Liverpool manager, to accept that the club’s interests might be best served by letting Torres go — if the deal is right. Ideally, though, Liverpool want Torres to stay, rediscover his enthusiasm for the Anfield cause and create a strike partnership with new signing Luis Suarez. Roman Abramovich, Chelsea’s billionaire owner, now faces a test of commitment to his club. He has coveted Torres for years and been rebuffed in previous efforts, including one last summer, to acquire him. Having been a grudging buyer since 2007 while cutting Chelsea’s budget, Abramovich would now have to pay far more than the British record of £32.5m spent by Manchester City on Robinho. Chelsea have had two bids for Torres rejected, the second thought to be worth about £35m, and face a race to meet the asking price before the transfer window shuts at 11pm tomorrow. Their haste is attributed in part to a clause in Torres’ contract that lets him leave for any club offering £50m for him this summer. They believe now is the best time to secure him, with nobody else yet in the market. One of Chelsea’s proposals to Liverpool involved offering cash plus the young striker Daniel Sturridge. Liverpool would consider such a deal if the makeweight was more of an A-list forward, such as Didier Drogba or Anelka — to whom Chelsea refused a contract extension earlier this season. Having improved under Dalglish, Liverpool hope for a top-six finish in the Premier League and to win the Europa League. They need proven scorers for the job. Anelka spent seven months on loan with Liverpool during the 2001-2 season (Alexander Nemenov) Dalglish had envisaged pairing Torres with Suarez, whom Liverpool have agreed to buy from Ajax for nearly £23m, and who was at the club’s training ground yesterday for a medical. His transfer is expected to go through today. Dalglish took over from Roy Hodgson earlier this month hoping to keep Torres but, having witnessed the Spaniard’s restlessness, does not want unhappy players in his dressing room and will not fight Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), and the director of football strategy, Damien Comolli, if they sell at what they regard as the right price. Torres expects a deal to be agreed by tomorrow night. His wages of £110,000 a week are within Chelsea’s pay structure. Liverpool still hope to sign Charlie Adam despite having an offer of £6.5m for the midfielder rejected by Blackpool. Last night there were indications that Chelsea’s bid to sign Benfica’s David Luiz could be back on with the asking price lowered to £22m.

As I mentioned last night ,tell him its Real Madrid or no one...see how the fucker likes that

Sell him to Real Madrid...but I hate them...ahhh you see our point of view you twat

Geat post, couldn't agree more

Feel sorry for this dude - a dream move & positive intent by the owners & will get overshadowed with the shitstorm flying around. The legacy of the old regime strikes again just when you think its over. Mind you he could have acted on the broken promises before fucking 29th Jan

Apologies if already been posted Tony Barrett 1 minute ago By signing Luis Suárez for a club-record fee, Liverpool intended to do two things — give Fernando Torres the top-class strike partner he has been crying out for and prove to the Spain forward that their ambition matches his own. The question now, after Torres informed Liverpool of his desire to leave Anfield yesterday, is whether they will appear in the same team. Having wanted to leave Liverpool last summer only for his desire to be left unfulfilled by Chelsea’s inability to come up with the kind of offer that would tempt the Merseyside club to do business, Torres’s longing for a transfer has intensified during a season in which Liverpool have failed to live up to his and their aspirations. The Torres camp has long seen Chelsea as the ideal destination for a player who has been coveted by Roman Abramovich for the past two seasons. Chelsea’s owner sees him as the key that can unlock the door to the Champions League success he craves. That is why the move for Torres has been made now; Abramovich wants to win the competition this season, before Chelsea’s ageing squad is broken up. The other prime motive for Chelsea’s interest being hardened now is that Abramovich is hoping to avoid having to meet the £50 million release clause in Torres’s contract that will be activated at the end of the season if, as expected, Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League. There is also the small matter of Manchester City, Torres’s other long-time suitor, who would be ready to move in the summer and provide a challenge that Abramovich might not be able to match. Torres’s yearning to leave is fuelled by a belief that Liverpool are not the same club as the one that he joined in July 2007. He feels that the damage done by Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the former owners, will take several years or a spending spree unprecedented by Liverpool’s standards to make them competitive again. The Spaniard also feels that he has been let down by a series of promises not being kept and saw this season as the final chance for Liverpool to live up to his expectations. Seventh place in the Barclays Premier League was not what he envisaged. The Torres problem is one that was inherited by Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which has owned Liverpool only since October. It did not insert the clause in his contract — that was done by Christian Purslow, the club’s former managing director — nor did it spark the spiral of decline that has pushed Torres to the Anfield exit door. FSG has shown a mixture of ambition and prudence in conducting the Suárez deal. But Torres was looking to FSG to go on the kind of recruitment drive during January that would convince him to stay, as John W. Henry II, Liverpool’s principal owner acknowledged when he admitted that certain players “would prefer a quick fix”. Henry will be particularly disappointed with Torres’s decision. The move for Suárez for a fee that could rise to £22.8 million was intended to be a statement of FSG’s intent, an indication that they are ready and willing to compete at the top end of the transfer market. But with Torres making clear his intention to leave and Chelsea’s interest in the World Cup winner intensifying despite their opening offer being rebuffed, it is likely that even a club record purchase might prove too little, too late for Liverpool to keep El Niño.

Complete alarmist wanker. Love it media were guessing all along & nothing fed to them - from our side

Tony B in Times...not anything we didn't know Liverpool suffer new setback in their continuing attempts to strengthen their playing squad during the January transfer window Liverpool’s hopes of turning their hitherto fruitless trawl of the January transfer market into a successful recruitment drive have suffered a fresh blow after Ajax made it clear that they will not sanction the sale of Luis Suárez unless a deal can be agreed by Saturday. The ultimatum from Frank de Boer, the Ajax coach, effectively means that Liverpool will miss out on their top target unless the Dutch club accept a fee and agree terms with Suárez two days before the transfer deadline. Having released funds to strengthen the squad, Fenway Sports Group, the owner of Liverpool, will come under pressure to seal a deal for the Uruguay forward. Liverpool will be especially keen not to run the risk of emerging empty-handed from the transfer window given that Damien Comolli, the club’s director of football strategy, received the go-ahead to conclude at least one significant deal. Ajax continue to play hardball over Suárez, valuing him at about double the £12.7 million that Liverpool have offered this week for the 24-year-old, but with the player having made it clear to Ajax officials that he wants to complete the proposed transfer, they could be forced into reaching a compromise agreement. For the time being, though, De Boer is showing no signs of weakening his resolve on the matter and remains optimistic that Suárez will not attempt to force Ajax’s hand. “Let’s hope he doesn’t but of course that is up to the player,” he said. “I don’t want to be surprised on the last day of the deadline, so we have made that deadline January 29 and Liverpool have to come up with a good offer and the money we want by that day. “It would be better for Ajax if he stayed for another half a year, as it would give us more time, because it’s difficult to find a replacement who would get you 25 goals a year and provide so many assists.” Liverpool also remain in the hunt for Charlie Adam but are no nearer to agreeing a fee with Blackpool. The 25-year-old midfield player was bought by the newly promoted club for £500,000 from Rangers in 2009.

Guardian reporting Konchesky in talks with Fulham. Can but hope

If nothing else he'd solve our set piece problems...would just need someone to attack them then

Really interesting looking at BBC interview - very calm again but happy to answer Q. Don't think he likes he Transfer Gimp at Sky... BBC Sport - Football - Wolves 0-3 Liverpool

'We know our own fans better than you' Handed him his arse & no bowing down. A bit of a change from previous bloke!

Meireles Torres Lucas Thought Poulsen played well 1st half also, not a fan but fair doos

Kelly Pepe Aurelio

Feels like the last links to old regime finally gone. Happy days!!

It's the same for ever away game - not the 3 best but the 3 the least shocking. Still I can't think of anyone

Aurelio Wilson Merieles disguised passing of sweets to Torres Terrible

Meireles Lucas Ngog

Meireles Johnson Maxi

And I thought it was difficult after Wigan.. Skrtel Meireles....& Ngog for at least moving in the right direction

Kelly errrr Torres Pepe Outmuscled & thought after first 20 or so minutes

Can't even spell bloodstained correct , says it all!