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Not to mention the fact it's a game against bloody Andorra at home and therefore anyone who would pay to watch that must be crazy.

Or due to issues with people thinking 'I've got football fatigue after a long season and it's a Wednesday night against Andorra and I don't really care about it?'

Interest payments've more than doubled and much like United, simply the manner of the takeover has crippled them completely. Word is that if they can't refinance in the next seven weeks they could be well up shit-creek as the interest rises further.

and a little smile crept across my face. I'm not sure why. But I now want to applaud Gary Cahill a lot.

but a completely different player altogether. LOL. Pretty much a nothing story fabricated, at least in part, maybe even in whole, by the press, though i can see the humour in it if true, obviously. I was just reading a couple of Villa fans declaring it THE ULTIMATE JUSTICE, when i think i'm right in saying Cahill's a Birmingham fan, so, y'know, i doubt there was any mallice in it at all, but let the press have their fun. Ironically, i was reading last night that we might be in for Cahill for around £12m. Pinch of salt, definitely.

The Villa fans attitude towards Barry is pretty funny, i must admit. Before the transfer they were mostly begging him to stay, now he's gone he's 'not that good anyway, was shit before O'Neill came, and mediocre this season, not half the player Stan Petrov is', i guess it's natural in a sense, but if one of us says so they're not happy. On a bit of a wind-up i told a Villa fan that Barry might not be an automatic starter and was met with disbelief, he's apparently 'quite obviously our best player, and a much better foorballer than Steven Ireland'. Hmmmmm, much more experienced, obviously, but i'm not sure he's a 'better' player. Stevie has to repeat his form over time, i suppose, but i think Ireland could do what Barry does, but maybe not the other way round. I'm sure cases could be made for them being as good as eachother, but a straight choice between the two, and i'm sure that anyone barring Villa fans and Rafael Benitez would take Ireland. These changing opinions are no worse than mine, i guess, but it's still quite funny. This game we love, eh?

this thread should not be stickied

someone get the Scholes photo.

he's looked nippy as hell this season but a bit of a steve mcmanaman in front of goal

I bet he'll try and sign Eto'o

I could see absolutely no reason Alonso would go to City. If he wanted more money, which he doesn't, he'd go to Real. There's no chance a world class player like him would sacrifice CL football at this point in his career.

the feck would he want to sign for Man City ! he's hardly gonna choose to drop down a level now is he..

I don't think Alonso is the kind of player to be solely motivated by money (he genuinely seems like a good guy) and even if he was, he'd obviously choose Madrid as has been said. I'll be quite surprised if Alonso is playing anywhere other than Liverpool come the start of next season.

I guess with the likes of City, Real and Chelsea prepared to throw mega bucks around this is going to be the silliest summer ever for transfer rumours.

now needs to go to a vote by their Supporters Trust membership for approval (they own a majority shareholding)

probably still is.

I much prefer old stadiums, truth be told, and specifically square ones like Anfield, even Old Trafford. When you go to these new-build grounds, though, you realise that they're a completely different kettle of fish. The Emirates, even Eastlands, are simply world-class stadiums, absolutely breathtaking, for me anyway.

It's a bit of a myth to a certain extent that there's a noticable effect on atmosphere. The only thing is that with extra room teams seem to attract a certain number of what City fans call 'happy-clapping cunts', but then with the Premier League being more popular nowadays and more policed all grounds are a lot more like that anyway, look at the rows of fans when the ball goes into touch at Anfield, mostly families, young kids, it's the same anywhere. I've known games to be quite as a mouse at Maine Road, Eastlands, Old Trafford, Anfield, and on other occasions be defeaningly loud, i don't think it's as black & white as 'GREAT EUROPEAN NIGHTS AT ANFIELD' and then quiet, plastic fans making no noise at a new clinical stadium, not at all. Moving to a new stadium wouldn't necessarily mean Liverpool lose anything in that respect (though i guess you could argue like that has happened at sides like Southampton).

I guess my point is that moving stadium is something Liverpool simply have to do, no matter how sad it might be to leave Anfield, primarily due to finances, United are said to bring in £4m per home game just from tickets and in-stand sales, Liverpool less than half that, so you can see over a season that (assuming they have good cup runs) United could be £50m/£60m better off.

What is it you particularly dislike about the thought of moving to a new ground? After seeing my own club do it i think there's quite a lot of myth and hyperbole surrounds new stadiums. They look amazing, there's no doubting that, they take the club to a different playing field in most cases (imagine we'd have showed Robinho around Maine Road, he'd have had a fit, not that it's too comparable to Anfield), brings in much more revenue as i said. At the end of the day it's the fans who make the atmosphere, not a stadium (extreme examples excepted, say fans miles away from the pitch). Barring the obvious sentiment that comes with leaving a ground, i can't imagine why anyone wouldn't want their club to play at the best stadium possible, and it would mean more tickets, too, which surely would be a big plus?

Freddy Shepperd isn't entirely against the idea of buying the club back

SIXTY.

A great player, but a lazy/dense twat. There are few players in the Premier League quicker over a few yards than him, he really doesn't ever need to be offside. Scored 1 in 2 for City, can't moan at that, but it easily could've been a goal a game.