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just because i'm paranoid, that doesn't mean that they're not out for world domination:- construction of the death star continues UEFA give Gill power to punish United's rivals... if they fall foul of financial fair play By Ian Ladyman PUBLISHED: 23:00, 17 June 2013 | UPDATED: 00:47, 18 June 2013 Former M********* U***** chief executive David Gill has been handed power by UEFA to recommend bans on clubs such as rivals M********* sChity and Chavski, who may find themselves in breach of new European Financial Fair Play rules. Having stepped down from his post at Old Toilet at the end of last season to become a UEFA executive member, Gill has now been appointed chairman of the governing body’s extremely influential Club Licensing Committee. The committee essentially decides which clubs are entitled to licences to play Champions League and Europa League football. This will become increasingly important as UEFA’s FFP rules shape the landscape of European football in the coming years. Influential: Chavski and M********* sChity could potentially suffer at the hands of David Gill Gill is a known advocate of FFP and one of four Barclays Premier League chiefs who proposed similar rules be implemented in English domestic football back in January. He said 18 months ago that the new European system would only work if ‘appropriate sanctions’ were imposed on those who missed the targets. Sanctions already discussed by UEFA president Michel Platini have included fines and, for severe offences, competition bans. Gill’s appointment will certainly raise eyebrows at clubs such as sChity and Chavski who are currently striving to ensure their losses are no greater than the 845million (£38m) limit allowed by FFP across last and next season. Long allegiance: Gill spent 10 years alongside Slur eckie Ferguscum at M********* U***** Money men: Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich have funded much of M********* sChity's and Chavski's success Both clubs have been used to viewing Gill as a rival in recent years and it will not have escaped their attention that the 55-year-old is to remain a U***** director and board member, despite handing over the chief executive baton to Ed Woodward. On Monday night, a UEFA spokeswoman confirmed that Gill’s committee will have an influence over whether clubs’ finances entitle them to play in major European competition. This is despite that fact that the Club Financial Control Body will go through individual clubs’ finances initially to see if they meet the targets set by FFP. Gill will play no role in this part of the process.

Here's the deal. I reckon there's around an 83% chance that Suarez is still with us next season, however this thread isn't for arguing the merits of keeping or selling Luis or even if he would want to leave. It isn't for stating the amount of money that we should consider accepting for Suarez. It is not intended for rants against FSG and/or Rodgers for not understanding football if they even countenance the sale of Suarez. It is for purely hypothetical suggestions of who could replace Suarez were we to sell him. He's more of the deal - this thread isn't for people saying "I'd also sell Downing, Shelvey, Allen and Assaidi and spend the money on two strikers and a defensive midfielder." No. Here's the proposition: You are Brendan Rodgers. You have a picture of yourself in your front hall and a strange hybrid Northern Irish/Scottish accent. You also have Code72's dream job of managing Liverpool. You have just received £45 million and want to spend it on a single player to replace Luis Suarez in the Liverpool front line. Bear in mind the reality of this situation, the cash to spend, the wages to offer (~ £120k/week) and the lure of the club. Who are you buying?

Clubs such as Liverpool will struggle to ever win their national league again unless UEFA changes how it distributes the huge financial benefits of the Champions League, the head of the Bundesliga has claimed. Two German clubs - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund - are contesting the Champions League final on Saturday but Christian Seifert, the Bundesliga chief executive, believes that UEFA needs to spread the rewards more broadly. Seifert fears that those financial rewards will continue to grow - and go straight to the top clubs and further distort national competitions. He told a briefing in London: "Money coming out of the Champions League is an enormous influence - in Germany it is double the money from the national media contract. "I think UEFA need to think again how they distribute the money from the Champions League and Europa League because each country needs an attractive national competition and not just two teams dominating. "Without a doubt it has an impact. If the money of the Champions League gets more and more and the gap gets bigger and bigger then of course it's probably not the best thing for national competition. "When I grew up one of the greatest teams was Liverpool. I'm not sure if they have the chance ever to win the Premier League again. "Because they have to compete with clubs who have a lot more financial opportunities like Man City and Chelsea plus money that comes from the Champions League. It's something you have to have in mind when you want to have a certain balance in between the league." The German top flight is viewed by many as a model league - 14 out of 18 clubs were in profit last season, 60% of the players are eligible to play for Germany, youth academies are obligatory and highly-developed and ticket prices are considerably lower than the Premier League - adult prices are as low 13 euros (£11) and average 23 euros (£20) - and there are strict rules on ownership. Attendances are booming and German clubs are held up as an example of how safe standing areas can work, and a Champions League winner this season is assured. Seifert insisted however that there was work still to be done. He added: "We are proud to have two teams in the final but it doesn't mean we have 18 teams on the level. For 10 years the discussion has been why we have no chance to win the Champions League. "You can't say 'wow - look what we have achieved', but in the last few years we have done more right than wrong."

An excellent piece from the always interesting Swiss Ramble on the financial coming of age of the Europa League (That's the one King Brenny can't be arsed to enter). The Europa League has long been regarded by leading clubs as a poor relation to the far more lucrative Champions League, but Chelsea’s prodigious efforts after parachuting in to the junior competition might just give pause for thought, as they will end up earning more from Europe this season than any other English club. Although they earned €5 million less than Manchester United from the Champions League after exiting at the group stage, they will receive at least €6.5 million from the Europa League, even if they lose the final. If they repeat last season’s victory in the Champions League, the sum earned will rise to around €9 million. This means that Chelsea will receive at least €40.9 million (Champions League €34.4 million + Europa League €6.5 million), rising to as much as €43.4 million if they win the Europa League. The Swiss Ramble

Pellegrini set to replace Mancini at Manchester City, claim reports | Football | The Guardian Night before the cup final, and the humiliation is complete. Mancini to go. Pellegrini set to replace Mancini at Manchester City, claim reports • Spanish sources say Málaga coach has agreed deal • Bookies slash odds on Pellegrini takeover to 10-1 on Jamie Jackson The Guardian, Saturday 11 May 2013 Roberto Mancini is facing fresh doubts over his future at Manchester City after reports in Spain stated on Friday evening last night that Manuel Pellegrini, the Málaga manager, had agreed to replace him at the start of next season. It is claimed that City will pay Pellegrini's €4m (£3.4m) release clause to secure his services, with Isco, the Málaga midfielder, also interesting the club as they consider whether to make a formal bid for him. While it is understood that City were privately claiming no knowledge of any deal, Pellegrini has told his players that he will leave Málaga at the end of this season. The timing of the claims threatens to undermine City's quest to win Saturday's FA Cup final against Wigan Athletic at Wembley, with one bookmaker slashing the odds to 10-1 on that Pellegrini will take over from Mancini. As reported by the Guardian last month, Txiki Begiristain, the City director of football, met with Jesus Martínez, Pellegrini's agent in Madrid. When the meeting was put to Mancini, the Italian attempted to laugh it off but did admit that he did not know why Begiristain was seen with Martínez. On Friday Mancini suggested he is fully aware of how ruthless management can be. "I won seven trophies in Inter in four years and they sack me after four years [in 2008]. This is football. I know football enough to understand this situation." Mancini's long-term future at City is certainly in the balance. Yet victory on Saturday would mean a third major trophy in his three full seasons at City, to follow last season's Premier League title and the FA Cup triumph in 2011, which may strengthen Mancini's hand. Although Mancini still holds considerable power at the club, it is Begiristain and Ferran Soriano, the chief executive, who have begun driving the long-term strategy, with the pair behind the potential introduction of a new 4-3-3 playing formation for next season, and they are also working closely together on bolstering the squad this summer. And in Norway, a little heart breaks...

Nothing more to add really, he's a joke of a man.

Zenit are in the middle of their windet break, that should work in our favour, the first part of the season ended 10/12-12 and it will start again 09/03-12, we will not find a better time to play them than this. Premier Liga 12/13: 1. CSKA Moskva 19 14 1 4 33-17 +16 43p 2. Anzhi 19 12 5 2 34-18 +16 41p 3. Zenit St Petersburg 19 11 5 3 36-18 +18 38p 4. Kuban 19 10 2 7 32-21 +11 32p 5. Spartak Moskva 19 10 2 7 35-30 +5 32p 6. Terek Grozny 19 10 2 7 23-27 -4 32p 7. Rubin Kazan 19 10 1 8 26-19 +7 31p 8. Lokomotiv Moskva 19 9 4 6 27-21 +6 31p 9. Dinamo Moskva 19 10 0 9 26-25 +1 30p 10. FC Krasnodar 19 8 4 7 33-27 +6 28p 11. FK Rostov 19 5 5 9 20-25 -5 20p 12. Amkar 19 5 4 10 19-31 -12 19p 13. Volga Nizhny Novgorod 19 4 5 10 19-30 -11 17p -------------------------------------------------------- 14. Krylya Sovetov 19 4 4 11 18-36 -18 16p ------------------------------------------------- 15. Alania Vladikavkaz 19 2 5 12 18-31 -13 11p 16. Mordovya 19 2 3 14 18-41 -23 9p We played Anzhi while their season was ongoing and while giving a few fringe players at home a chance we beat them 1-0 and only lost 1-0 away with almost a reserve team. Liverpool-Azhi 1-0 Anzhi-Liverpool 1-0 And if we look at the table we can see Anzhi is above Zenit, so with a winter break in Russia and a full strenght team I fancy our chances to get a good result in this game- We can also look at the results Zenit had in the Champions League before dropping to the Europa League in what I'd say is one of the weaker groups considering the current state of Milan and Malaga. 18/09 20:45 Málaga - Zenit St Petersburg 3-0 03/10 18:00 Zenit St Petersburg - Milan 2-3 24/10 18:00 Zenit St Petersburg - Anderlecht 1-0 06/11 20:45 Anderlecht - Zenit St Petersburg 1-0 21/11 18:00 Zenit St Petersburg - Málaga 2-2 04/12 20:45 Milan - Zenit St Petersburg 0-1 Champions League group C: 1. Málaga 6 3 3 0 12-5 12p 2. Milan 6 2 2 2 7-6 8p ----------------------------- 3. Zenit St Petersburg 6 2 1 3 6-9 7p 4. Anderlecht 6 1 2 3 4-9 5p I know football is not maths, but based on this I think we should be favourites and I will be bitterly disappointed if we dont go through overall and get a good result away in Russia.

Fuck off Sky with yere pro United bias. Started their report this morning with "some people are calling it 'the perfect match'". No! Some people aren't.....ye are! Don't remember this sort of build up when we played (and stonked) Madrid a few years back, even though we were rated number one in Europe at the time and have a better European record than the Mancs. I always want them to get beaten, but I want them to get absolutely fucking stuffed. 4 or 5 nil, with Madrid having 70%+ possession and play them off the park. Then let be known as " the perfect match", like us against Forest all those years ago. Probably no need for a new thread like, but just wanted to vent!

anyone arsed about this?

LUIS SUAREZ EXCLUSIVE: I will stay with Liverpool even if we don't qualify for Champions League | Mail Online The Delfina video at the bottom is very special

Well FA Cup is here again, Know a lot of people say they don't like just putting a completely new team in for these games but I think its important we give certain players a game, plus any LFC selection of first team players should be looking to win this -------------Jones--------- Johnson--Carra---Coates--Robinson ----------Allen---Shelvey------- Sterling-------Suso---------Borini ---------------Sturridge---------- subs Gulacsi Agger Wisdom Lucas Henderson Downing Suarez

I'm reasonably used to public speaking and can usually hold my own (my job is selling), however I've just found out that I'll be speaking next week on a subject that I'm really not familiar with. My co-panellists will be high level guys who are experts in the subject and I am a bit worried that blagging will not be enough to get me through. Any tips on how to deal with questions and particularly jargon that I'm not familiar with whilst not looking like an obvious blagging twat?

Training pics: Search - Getty Images : GBR: Liverpool FC Training Session I'd like to see - Reina, Wisdom, Skrtel, Agger, Johnson, Lucas, Gerrard, Henderson, Suarez, Sturridge, Borini - although it might be too early for Borini to start.

Boss if true:

*** shakes head at this fat twat's holier than thou attitude ***

Ian Ayre can't even sack someone properly. The Times have an excellent piece on the case this morning- unfortunately it is behind a paywall on the net. The Club originally talked tough, but settled before Ayre's incompetence was exposed in a Tribunal.

Embarrasing this. EXCLUSIVE: Liverpool issue grovelling apology for tapping up Dempsey By MARTIN SAMUEL PUBLISHED: 23:10, 11 December 2012 | UPDATED: 10:45, 12 December 2012 Liverpool have made a grovelling apology to Fulham over the tapping-up of Clint Dempsey in the summer. A statement from Fulham, expected today, will confirm that in return the club have dropped their complaint to the Premier League over the affair. The peace deal came only after a personal visit by Liverpool co-owner Tom Werner to Craven Cottage chairman Mohamed Al Fayed was followed up by a letter from Liverpool managing director Ian Ayre admitting that the club’s behaviour ‘was wrong’ and ‘simply never should have occurred’. The letter, sent last Friday, confirms that a meeting took place between Werner and Fayed, during which the former apologised for Liverpool’s actions regarding Dempsey last summer. Fulham blame Liverpool for unsettling the player and creating the circumstances that led to his move to Tottenham on transfer-deadline day. Ayre wrote: 'Please also consider this letter from me to be an additional expression of sincere regret and apology from our club to your club for our actions last summer. Our club can do better and we pledge that it will.' Fulham’s official complaint followed a series of clumsy bulletins from Liverpool and their owners, the Fenway Sports Group. The first was an announcement on the FSG website that Liverpool had signed Dempsey from Fulham. This was followed by an interview on the Liverpool website with manager Brendan Rogers, in which he talked of the USA forward in glowing terms. Finally, pictures of Liverpool's new strip with Dempsey's name on the back were published. The 29-year-old had been on a summer break in America when the FSG announcement was made, and Fulham’s complaint to the Premier League intimated that their relationship with the player who was last season’s top scorer had not recovered from that point. Dempsey did not officially go on strike, but told Fulham he wanted to leave. The club considered he was becoming a bad influence in the dressing room and he did not play a game for Fulham before signing for Tottenham.

What the fuck is going on there? We're barely in a position to laugh ourselves as we've struggled for one reason or another since Cardiff 2006 with the odd exception here and there, but I can see our future. We have a plan - we've hired a young, ambitious manager who has a plan. Whether he is backed by the moron owners is another thing altogether, but I can see that there is a plan in place and there is a structure to try and bring this all together. But what exactly is Arsenal's Modus Operandi? They aren't skint but Wenger is consistently selling their best players for good fees and then bringing in deadbeats (with the odd exception such as Cazorla) for half the price. He's obsessed with bringing through youth, youth that isn't good enough. Is the end in sight for Wenger? I reckon it is. I don't think they're going to get 4th but the problem runs much deeper than that for me. It's about no long term plan. They have been watching their squad go backwards for 2-3 years now and suddenly it's caught up with them.

Disgrace to the shirt. Do yourself a favour man and just fuck off.

Our Glen is worth a fortune, best full back in Europe? If he was Brazilian then he'd be called Jofu. He also looks a lot like LennyKravitz with short hair. Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson Maybe a song with GMCJ instead of YMCA.

Announcement on Anfield redevelopment expected Monday by TheAnfieldWrap // 13 October 2012 // 0 comments LIVERPOOL supporters have waited many years and been through two changes of ownership since the club first made clear the desperate need for a significant increase in capacity for home games. Following the takeover by FSG in 2010 the club began to look at the possibility of a redevelopment of Anfield alongside the various plans to move to a new stadium in Stanley Park. The Anfield Wrap understands that an announcement will be made on Monday confirming that Liverpool intend to redevelop Anfield. The announcement, it is understood, will be made by Liverpool City Council and relates to the commencement of Compulsory Purchase Order consultations as part of plans for improvements to the Anfield area. Those improvements include work to redevelop Liverpool Football Club’s Anfield stadium. The intention, following satisfactory progress in the consultations which continue into next year, is for the stadium redevelopment to commence in 2014.

I reckon he'll go with the same 11 v Norwich. Maybe because it's Stoke, Coates in with Agger to LB, Johnson back to RB. I think we'll score a few, just hope we don't concede them again.

Could the stadium costs, be it a new build or redevelopment not be met by pre-selling season tickets to raise capital? If the club offered an 8 year season ticket from the season the stadium opens for £5000, meaning fans could save about £1800 and not be at risk to future price rises, would people want it? If the club managed to sell 60k 8 year season tickets at 5k, that’d raise £300m. I’m not saying they would, cos finding 5k would be difficult; maybe the club could look to work with a bank and offer a credit card for it or something. But in theory it’d be enough for a new ground before any naming rights etc. were brought in. At the moment, I’m guessing numbers, 40k ST holders paying £800 so bringing in £32m a year. So it’d mean that for 8 seasons we’re £32m down, so like Arsenal we’d have to be a bit shrewder in the transfer market and that’s shit. But a lot of the costs would be negated by the shitty stadium naming rights and the amount of extra income coming in from cup and European games. Not sure on the details but isn’t their some enhanced deal from Sky and BT coming, so use that to cover the costs a bit, fuck just adding it to players wages and agents fees. Does anyone think that’d work? I’m just sick of reading through all the shit in transfer threads and theirs loads of good points in the FSG letter thread, but it seems all it boils down to is the revenue we lose every match day to our competitors. I love the idea of these American marketing men expanding the brand and reaping the benefits, and fair play on the Standard Chartered and Warrior deals, they appear genuinely good deals, but that’s as much a reflection on the poor commercial running of the club from previous regimes as it’s a positive on FSG’s behalf. I’ve just spent a couple of months in Bangkok and Bangkok loves Liverpool FC. Thailand as a whole supports United, but Bangkok mostly Liverpool with United close behind. But nobody buys any proper gear, I bought a pretty decent copy of the warrior shirt about a week after it was released for £6. Copied stuff everywhere. Don’t get me wrong, these countries are getting richer and theirs a growing middle class who want the proper thing, but their support changes so easy that the main thing is if you want cash is your good on the pitch. The only way I can see these fans pay is by advertisements in live games, so the way to raise money is to be on the tele and City were on the tele when Aguero won the league and not coincidentally, a load of blag City shirts were been knocked out warehouses in Bangkok the next day. The only way we can hope to continually be a force in the game is to get the stadium built, most of our other big problems are a consequence of this major fucking one that’s gone on for 20 years. If not the idea above has anyone got any suggestions? Big clubs make money out of these foreign markets via sponsors and other companies. In Bangkok Chelsea and United players are on the sides of the sky train in association with Singha and a motorbike company makes the official LFC and MUFC scooters and bikes. But its only big clubs, Chang beer has no association with Everton in Thailand, I might have seen 1 thing at a shitty town. Instead all their advertisements are with Barca as their Asian representatives or some shite - it doesn't matter how good you are at marketting if what you've got on the pitch is shite. To get quality on the pitch year after year we need a stadium.

Following recent events including John Henry's open letter we have released the following statement asking once again for direction from FSG: FSG - We Still Need Direction - Spirit of Shankly Spirit of Shankly

Liverpool Football Club's principal owner John W Henry has written the following open letter to supporters: john henry I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window, but that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved. They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in. But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future - Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi - could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future. Nor should anyone minimise the importance of keeping our best players during this window. We successfully retained Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez. We greatly appreciate their faith and belief in the club. And we successfully negotiated new, long-term contracts with Luis and with Martin. No one should doubt our commitment to the club. In Brendan Rodgers we have a talented young manager and we have valued highly his judgement about the make-up of the squad. This is a work in progress. It will take time for Brendan to instill his philosophy into the squad and build exactly what he needs for the long term. The transfer policy was not about cutting costs. It was - and will be in the future - about getting maximum value for what is spent so that we can build quality and depth. We are avowed proponents of EUFA's Financial Fair Play agenda that was this week reiterated by Mr Platini - something we heartily applaud. We must comply with Financial Fair Play guidelines that ensure spending is tied to income. We have been successful in improving the commercial side of the club and the monies generated going forward will give us greater spending power in the coming years. We are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes. It will not happen overnight. It has been compounded by our own mistakes in a difficult first two years of ownership. It has been a harsh education, but make no mistake, the club is healthier today than when we took over. Spending is not merely about buying talent. Our ambitions do not lie in cementing a mid-table place with expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years. Our emphasis will be on developing our own players using the skills of an increasingly impressive coaching team. Much thought and investment already have gone into developing a self-sustaining pool of youngsters imbued in the club's traditions. That ethos is to win. We will invest to succeed. But we will not mortgage the future with risky spending. After almost two years at Anfield, we are close to having the system we need in place. The transfer window may not have been perfect but we are not just looking at the next 16 weeks until we can buy again: we are looking at the next 16 years and beyond. These are the first steps in restoring one of the world's great clubs to its proper status. It will not be easy, it will not be perfect, but there is a clear vision at work. We will build and grow from within, buy prudently and cleverly and never again waste resources on inflated transfer fees and unrealistic wages. We have no fear of spending and competing with the very best but we will not overpay for players. We will never place this club in the precarious position that we found it in when we took over at Anfield. This club should never again run up debts that threaten its existence. Most of all, we want to win. That ambition drives every decision. It is the Liverpool way. We can and will generate the revenues to achieve that aim. There will be short-term setbacks from time to time, but we believe we have the right people in place to bring more glory to Anfield. Finally, I can say with authority that our ownership is not about profit. Contrary to popular opinion, owners rarely get involved in sports in order to generate cash. They generally get involved with a club in order to compete and work for the benefit of their club. It's often difficult. In our case we work every day in order to generate revenues to improve the club. We have only one driving ambition at Liverpool and that is the quest to win the Premier League playing the kind of football our supporters want to see. That will only occur if we do absolutely the right things to build the club in a way that makes sense for supporters, for us and for those who will follow us. We will deliver what every long-term supporter of Liverpool Football Club aches for. JOHN W HENRY Taken from the offal.