So this Portsmouth thing then? How does that happen?

I'm all for sport but HMRC are right, footballing debt should be no different to other industries. In essence the ruling today means that football clubs do not have to pay any more than 20% of their debts, which must be interesting news for the owners of clubs like Manchester United.

It's supporting the gravy train that English football has become. Everyone is on the make, directors, staff, players and no one is paying for it. The clubs make enormous losses and the courts just roll over when they go belly up, freeing them to carry on spending.

Portsmouth should be made to pay every penny back before they are allowed to kick another football. They should have to sell their ground and all their players if necessary as well. Hearing their representatives on the radio just saying it's 'great news' that will enable them to look to build a squad to get back into the Premier League just grated on me.

The worst thing though, football debts (Players and other clubs) are paid before HMRC. How the fecking hell is that allowed to continue?

The Liverpool fans I know were skeptical about Cole, being mixed on his injury record and high wages.

If you look around the forums, when we signed Cole, many were happy as well as skeptical, but I never really seen too much OTT stuff, whilst the forums seem to be delighted that Aurelio is back over the likes of Young and Konchesky.

I would say the reaction Cole got is a little similar to the one Fellaini got at Everton, some were delighted, others were unsure, especially with regards to the amount of money invested into him.

See the silly season is in true swing.

Rumour has it once-touted-next-big-thing Hatem Ben Arfa wants Marseille to let him join Newcastle over AC Milan, Hoffenheim etc, and also Yannick Djalo is on his way from Sporting!

Neither of them are available on free transfers, or a bid consisting of SportsDirect's unsold Newcastle merchandise from last season, so can't see either of them happening at all!

I can see good things happening between Gerrard and Cole.

Other than that, this match is garbage. Why didn't Rabies or what ever their name is just give up. Have they had a shot on goal yet?

Why are liverpool entering this tournament so early anyway? dont they have a good UEFA coefficient anymore?

I don't know why you think the Ben Arfa rumour is so silly. I've been following the story closely and from what I can gather, he does prefer to come to us. We've definitely made at least one bid for him so it's not out of the question for us to sign him.

There was some, like yourself I think, that where a bit dubious. Then again, after the way things had been going over the summer it was easy to see why a lot of people got caught up in the hype of Cole.



I haven't seen your opinion on the Young/Konchesky rumours but surely you couldn't have been happy with them, I notice a big divided reaction to the likes of the being mentioned. Insua looks like he'll be staying now too? There was a lot of emails to SSN as the news broke going quite OTT on Cole though, although most of them where from the footballing unknown.



Good comparison, although Fellaini's reaction was mainly 'cos no one had a clue who he was, really unoticed in the games he played over here in the European qualifiers and he took a while to settle. The reaction he got on his return from injury last night however was a huge. Great to have him back and fit for the start of the season.

The co-efficient only comes into play when a draw for a certain round is being seeded, they only got into the comp from a 7th place league finish so have to start in the round that equates to.

Young and Konchesky are poor players IMO, wouldn't want them near the club.

Insua's decent, potentially a solid player once he gains experience and uses it well, he has ability, but lacks real speed, which allows his inexperience to be easily exposed. I want him to stay, as I feel he's solid, but, with Aurelio coming back, I'm unsure if we'll go for another left back, I think we need one due to Fabio's erratic fitness, but funds should determine that. If we do go for a full back, I'd rather we went for somebody with something going for them, Young and Konchesky have little going for them.


Cole had a good game tonight, the team were nobodies and played like nobodies, but it was a decent performance, but still short of fitness IMO.

How many where on at Anfield tonight? Turned over after the rugby and thought I'd caught the mute button.