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fuck it its been ages since a babel thread. will he make it? simple enough question.

Ryan Babel (Quality Assist) V Australia | Kop-TV definately working on his left foot:yes:

scored a goal in the 2-2 draw with the USA. if they lose to japen he will come back to anfield early.

Right guys. off to the U.S for the year and plan on buying a laptop when there but dont know which one i should get... my brother says i should get a Mac but i aint so sure... anyone used both laptops and have any advise? P.S i dont really use my computers for games, just music, work, internet surfing and a bit of footy manager...

101 Great Goals: Cameroon 0 - Holland 2 :thumbsup:

icLiverpool - Giving grounds for hope to an Anfield legend Ray Kennedy Things happen for a reason. In December 2006 my friend Karl Coppack fell ill. Once he’d recovered the last thing he could remember before the attack was a conversation with me at the JJB Stadium in Wigan. We’ve often wondered what sent Karl over the edge; the four goals Liverpool had scored in one half, the fact that Craig Bellamy got two of them – or that he saw me smiling at half time. Any one of these would have been enough, but all three at once proved too much. Perhaps it was fate that again brought him into contact with Andrew Lees. He was so ill that he had completely forgotten their previous meeting. He had contacted Dr Lees for a fanzine article in 2005 because he was the doctor and biographer of Ray Kennedy. A Liverpool Legend, and Karl’s favourite player of all time. This wasn’t borne from a desire to be different. Sure, everyone else would cite Dalglish or Rush and the young’uns (bless them) can seen no further back than Gerrard, but shared this high regard with Bob Paisley, no mean judge of a footballer. With Arsenal and Liverpool he won every prize it is possible to win, and did so with style and elegance. He did everything well, and the Reds were never the same side on the mercifully few occasions he was injured. So Karl was now on speaking terms with a man of fundamental importance to his all-time hero. Without ever breaching doctor-patient confidentiality it became clear that Ray’s quality of life was nothing short of a scandal. Hardly surprising really; he had for two long decades been afflicted by Parkinson’s Disease. The first signs are even visible in video footage of his heyday. After a magnificent playing career in an era when footballers were not as obscenely wealthy as they are today, it must have felt like the worst practical joke in the world. This fabulous athlete was laid low. The disease affected his speech and his movement. He would find himself seizing up in public, completely dependent on a kind stranger (usually a fan) who could get him home or to a hospital. He was denied the chance to earn a living. Even today he knows far more about the game than some of the jokers they call pundits. He was forced to sell his most treasured possessions, including England caps and winners medals, 15 years ago. Most people would hear this story, say “shame”, shrug their shoulders and get on with their own lives, especially if they’d gone through what Karl had. But he didn’t; he decided to do something to help his hero. Now fully recovered he helped create the Ray Of Hope appeal. What they lacked in organisational skills they made up for it with fervour and passion. Overcoming shyness they put their case to the media in England and used the Liverpool websites and fanzines to spread the word. After one particularly successful fundraiser held at Anfield itself, it was decided that still more could be done. Karl, along with friends Matt Anton and Stephen Hinds, embarked on a chaotic journey across England and Wales to visit all 92 football league grounds. Geeky, yes. Insane, undoubtedly – but it was all for Ray Kennedy, the hero of countless matches during Liverpool’s golden age and a Double-winner with Arsenal. He had given his all for us, so these Liverpool fans decided it was payback time. They not only visited the grounds they asked the clubs for contributions to be auctioned for the cause. Most did. Closer to home, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher had already provided jerseys worn in the victory over Inter Milan. By day four sleep deprivation and a recalcitrant Sat-Nav began to sap their strength and resolve. They were buoyed by further generosity and a visit to the home of the great man himself. They felt three quarters awe, one quarter sadness – but also an overwhelming feeling that their mission was just and appreciated by Ray. They were to meet various friends all along the route. They were given sustenance and a place to sleep. It was a magnificent effort all round. As they reached ground 92, Fulham’s Craven Cottage, they were greeted like conquering heroes, which of course is exactly what they are. The least their team could do was give them a performance and a victory, and thankfully they did so. Of course one of their visits was to Sheffield Wednesday, where they laid flowers at the memorial for the 96. Liverpool fans have never really been the media darlings, but there’s one thing you can never accuse us of and that’s forgetting our own. “You’ll Never Walk Alone” is a great song, inspirational even. For us it’s more than that. It’s an ethos, a code by which to live by. After weeks of public acrimony and interminable backstabbing from our so-called betters that made our club a laughing stock it is worth remembering that some still adhere to that code. Ray Kennedy can testify to that. For more information on how you can help Ray Kennedy e-mail rayofhopeappeal@hotmail.co.uk Please give as much as you can.

thought he was off the pace yesterday but there was a 10-15 minute burst from him that I thought was electric and he absloutely roasted ferrier when he went down the outside.

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is getting better almost on a weekly basis isn't he? if the crow does leave in the summer give him (ryan) the famour barnes 10 shirt

How long do these fucking cold/flu germs last? Each day I've woken up with it I've been hoping for an improvement after nukeing it with Flu plus shite, and each morning I wake up I feel worse and like I've been kicked up and down a cobbled street by a mad Donkey. How long did the rest of you have it for? Ive had it since Monday and I don't think the worst point has arrived yet.

hand on heart, do you honestly think he has what it takes opinion please. for the record I do but not out wide.

Dodgy politics and the desire for an even bigger slice of TV money are what stand out. Interesting enough read, but I'd like them to stay in the background from now on (don't think it'll happen though because they seem to enjoy the attention). Anyone reckon Abramovich avoids food and drink in case it's laced with polonium-210? http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=476114&in_page_id=1779 Gillett and Hicks buy into Anfield romance The conversation moves from English football to American politics and the reputation Tom Hicks has for putting presidents in the White House. 'I'm working hard for him,' Hicks says of Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York and a Republican candidate who can count the part-owner of Liverpool as a member of his political action committee. 'But I never worked hard for him,' he then says of the current occupant of the Oval Office. 'I just made him rich.' Hicks smiles and the man sitting beside him in a rather more modest office at Anfield lets out a huge guffaw. George W Bush? He owes Hicks big time, George Gillett acknowledges. Bush got rich when Hicks bought the Texas Rangers baseball team from a consortium that, in 1998, was headed by the 43rd President of the United States. Not only that, he provided Bush with major financial support in his climb up the political ladder. The subject is raised only because of the influence they might enjoy now they have seats at club football's top table. Hicks and Gillett, as the American owners of the five-times European champions, have friends in seriously high places, are worth billions, have a vast wealth of experience in owning major sports franchises and also have a background in television and broadcasting. In short, they are the kind of men who might make the game's administrators nervous when it comes to talk of breakaway leagues and independent television deals. TV money, and what they consider a potential area of huge financial growth, is partly what attracted them to Liverpool in the first place. 'When we played the Champions League Final in Athens I think they estimated the global television audience at around 400million,' says Hicks. 'The growth of international television around the sport, particularly around the Premier League and what here in England is the most important league in the world, is exciting. If you are in the business like we have been, you can see that very quickly. The Premier League has the best growth opportunities in global terms in sport.' 'Content is huge,' adds Gillett. 'The delivery system is becoming less important. Now it's content.' But do they pursue those growth opportunities as a collective? Do they see the Premier League clubs continuing to act as one? 'That's an interesting question and one we are sorting out,' says Gillett. 'We are discovering the fan base of Liverpool is much more global than we realised. Probably the second biggest in the world. 'We are not sure if the Premiership plays collectively that well. On the other hand, the four top clubs definitely do. We are trying to sort that out. I don't know that we know the answer yet. But we see China, India, some of the emerging nations that are doing well economically, as amazing opportunities.' Aware that it might all sound too business-like and a little unromantic for the owners of a football club that is so much about romance, Gillett appears keen to present their more sensitive side. The side that wants to stand with the fans on the Kop; that invited supporters' groups to have their say before agreeing on a design for Liverpool's futuristic new stadium. 'I think I speak for Tom as well when I say there are two parts to each of us,' he says. 'The head can tell you the logical parts, but the heart is really why we are here. Because no matter how good the numbers are, this is a long way from home. And if we didn't feel it in the heart we wouldn't be here. The interest in sport has to be in the heart. 'This is a decent business but not a great business. If we simply focused on the business there are other opportunities that we both have that, frankly, would be better. So if it didn't incorporate the heart in our emotion, I don't think we'd do it.' Gillett is charm personified. Friendly, warm, genuine. When he first appeared in the reception area of Anfield's office complex, he apologised for being late and then disappeared down the corridor to 'find Tom'. And when he then returned with Tom, he joined his business partner in jokingly trying to intimidate their interviewer. 'Is this you?' asks Hicks as he turns to the back pages of a copy of the Daily Mail. 'Did you write the headline as well? What does it say here, “Bonehead!”? Fortunately not, even if 'Bonehead' does accompany a report on Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo and the red card he received at Portsmouth. A report Hicks tries to read surreptitiously whenever Gillett is in full flow. Hicks says exactly what he thinks in his throaty Texan drawl, as he demonstrates when asked for his opinion on David Beckham's chances of putting 'soccer' on the U.S. map. But Gillett, who at 68 is seven years older than Hicks, is the more garrulous one. The one who likes to mingle. The one who cannot relate to the reclusive nature of the Glazer family at Old Trafford. 'Don't even go there,' he says when I dare to compare them. When Gillett read about a father of four who complained he could not afford to take his family to see Gillett's Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team, he invited them to watch a game in his private box. When he bought the Vail ski resort in Colorado he would greet skiers as they came off the chairlifts. 'I'm not very tall but I'm pretty strong and about 10 years ago I was on the mountain when I saw this great big guy who had simply frozen on the slopes,' says Gillett with a chuckle. 'He was petrified. He just could not get down. So I used my radio to call the rescue guys to see if they could get a snowmobile to get him off the mountain. But they were all busy. So I looked at this guy, he must have weighed 230lb, and I told him to climb on to my back with his skis either side of me and I skied him off the mountain. I took him directly to ski school and bought him a five-day ski school pass and then I walked away. 'What I didn't realise was this guy was the editor of People Magazine and he asked the guys in ski school who had rescued him. Two weeks later and there's a big story about it in the magazine.' 'That's George,' says Hicks, shaking his head. 'He was with me in Dallas not so long ago and I wanted to talk about Liverpool, but he just kept disappearing to talk to fans.' Liverpool's fans have impressed them enormously. 'I got in trouble for saying they were the best in the world,' says Hicks. 'Our baseball fans back home read it and started asking if I thought they were better than them. All I say now is they're very different. Very special.' Gillett said last season's Champions League semi-final against Chelsea was 'like watching a game on steroids', so loud were the supporters. 'I'd never seen anything like it,' he says. 'The noise and the energy. Just amazing.' It was the sound of the Kop that inspired the design for the stunning new stadium that will open in 2010 with a capacity of 61,000. It will then be extended to seat more than 70,000. 'The architects came to the Barcelona match and they got it right away,' says Hicks. 'Because that night the fans were so loud and they knew they had to keep the Kop. They said “we get it”. The Kop is the symphony stage and it needs to play to the rest of the hall.' Gillett adds: 'The stadium was a critical element in our decision to come here. It's a necessity. 'We are in a sport without a salary cap. And if you are going to remain competitive, and Liverpool's fans deserve to have a club that remains competitive, we have to have a larger stadium. We don't have the economics of London so we have to have size.' As both men agree, a new, improved Kop needs something in return. A winning team. 'We want what the fans want,' says Gillett. 'I can't go into any of the three stadiums I own without thinking how much people are paying to be there,' adds Hicks. 'We want to give them value for money. We want to win the Premiership. 'Before we arrived we were a team that could do well in Europe but not in the Premiership. We now have the depth to do that. We have brought in the players Rafa (Benitez) identified.' They might have only been here since March, and they might have appointed Gillett's son Foster to work alongside chief executive Rick Parry in running the club day to day, but they talk with great knowledge. Hicks gets excited about 'Torres and Babel'. Gillett mentions talent in the academy. 'That's the unwritten story,' says Gillett. 'We have a number of brilliant young players who are going to be the future of this club. 'Rafa believes in youth and we share that philosophy. That's why Tom and I are so comfortable with him. He's a very responsible man. He's not a slash and burner. He said we needed four or five new players to be competitive and we went out and got them.' 'A great example of what not to do is the New York Yankees,' adds Hicks. 'A guy (owner George Steinbrenner) tried to win in the short term by spending all this money on ageing stars. And they didn't win. They used to win when they had young, up-and-coming stars. You have to have a balance.' While Hicks says they have no intention of spending as extravagantly as Roman Abramovich, Gillett reveals a close bond with the side they meet at Anfield tomorrow. 'I went to the Community Shield in 2006,' says Gillett. 'But the Liverpool people were so nervous about me being spotted with them, I ended up getting tickets off Peter Kenyon (the Chelsea chief executive) and sitting in the Chelsea end. Foster and I nearly got beaten up when we cheered a Liverpool goal!' So Kenyon knew of their interest in buying Liverpool? 'Oh yeah,' says Gillett. 'We know Peter.' Gillett has only ever met Abramovich once, and notes how he 'never eats or drinks anything' when he visits rival clubs, but he says he found the Russian charming. 'The American invasion of the Premiership is a misnomer,' says Gillett. 'Seven foreign groups have come into the Premiership and only three of them are American, and all three have been involved in sports before. 'It's been presented as some kind of capitalist invasion, but I don't think that is an accurate representation at all. We are different to the Glazers and the Glazers are different to the Lerners, but we love sports.' Most Americans do but will the Americans ever take to soccer? 'It's getting better,' says Hicks. 'But I don't think Beckham will make … he's doing what they hoped he would do. Getting a lot of newspaper attention.' Gillett adds: 'There's a lot of competition already established.' 'And,' says Hicks, 'the new TV contracts will provide a lot of Premier League games in the U.S, across three channels.' Sounds like it would be easier to get Beckham in the White House.

looks absolute quality :inlove: that is all. as you were :party: