My initial reaction following last nights loss to Reading was that we must get rid of Rafa as soon as possible and that Liverpool needs a total ‘reboot’, something similar to CTRL+ALT+DEL. “Get him out now” was my thought. But again I look at the work that’s gone into reshaping the football side of Liverpool and I think we are on the right track. The academy is better, the scouting is better, the first team is better (on paper), the value of the club is better. That is a solid foundation for a long term dynasty of Liverpool success. It’s a lot more like the Liverpool of old that had the best structure in the league and the best young players in the league, the best run business in the league. Those are the things that got lost since Dalglish was manager and only now are they coming back. That project is what will make us a force again.

Man Utd. allowed Fergie to do the same when he came in during the 80’s. They built the best ground in the league, the best academy, the best training facility, the best business model. During that time they avoided relegation on the last day of the season on one occasion. But all that effort in setting themselves up properly has really paid off big time. They rode out the tough times and came out the better for it. One thing they did which we haven’t set about doing is buying great players. Man Utd. spent huge during those days. They broke transfer records at will.

I can’t remember the last time Liverpool actually had an all encompassing plan for the football Organization (not just the game plan). Under Souness the plan was “We’ll win coz we are Liverpool”. Under Evans it was “We’ll win coz I’m from the bootroom”. Under Houllier it was “We’ll win if we sign a lot of French guys”. There was no mention of managing the brand. No mention of maximising sponsorship earnings. No mention or physical plans for a truly world class stadium. These are the ingredients Man Utd. put together to end up where they are today. But we were stuck in the past thinking we are football royalty.

Only now are we actually thinking about Liverpool as an organization and not just a football club. This is not a social footy squad that just lands on match day to play!

I think we need to persist with the plan we have started. It looks good to me. I think the owners must support the plan with big money so that we can be competitive. We need to shake our season awake. A major world class signing would be the perfect boost for the whole team. Confidence is the only thing missing right now. The potential is definitely there.

We must hold our nerve people, ride out the storm. We’ll come out better for it on the other side.

YNWA

Reports have been surfacing since last week that Saudi Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud is set to purchase a 50% stake in Liverpool for between 200 to 350million pounds. Now there has been no official news yet from Liverpool about this deal but apparently the Prince has told Saudi newspapers that the deal is almost complete. The only thing we can be sure of is that the Prince was at Anfield on Saturday to watch our 6-1 win over Hull.

Now, let’s say that this deal is true and it does happen, the Prince will own 50% of the club and Hicks will own 25% and Gillett 25%. So we will have THREE people ‘running’ the club. Having just Hicks and Gillett was bad enough but now who knows what the Saudi Prince will want to do to the club? I just hope that the Prince will come in with a lot of cash to take us out of the financial problems we are facing. It would be nice to be able to purchase one or two top class players with the cash.

What I do hope for is that the Prince gets his 50% stake and then has a plan to take total control of the club in the next couple of months. I would rather have one owner than three. I can just imagine the board room fights that could happen with three owners!

I was over the moon this morning when I read reports that Liverpool have finally agreed a shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered which starts at the end of the current season. It will be strange seeing a new name in front of our shirts as we had gotten so used to Carlsberg for so many years.

But I really do not mind what name is on the front of our shirts, just as long as we are being paid well. And we are going to get paid really well by Standard Chartered! It is thought that the deal is worth £80m over 4 years. Now I do not quite know how this cash will be used but I am sure Rafa is going to get a large chunk of it so he can go into the transfer market. It would be nice if Rafa were to be given £20m a year from this money from Standard Chartered. That would mean that Rafa would be able to purchase a £20m player every year for the next four years which would be great!

We have seen in the past that Man Utd. have gotten very good shirt deals and have used that money well to go and buy £20m players. So hopefully we will now be in a position to do the same.

I do not know much about our new CEO, Christian Purslow, but I already like him! I believe he must have been a major driving force behind clinching this deal. Rick Parry would probably have resigned a deal with Carlsberg for a lesser amount! I am so glad Parry has gone now and we can not look forward to a new era with Purslow which will hopefully up the commercial appeal of Liverpool.

I’ve just spent the entire morning on an email thread with Ron and the boys. This is only one of three such “Liverpool email threads” I am on.

Damn it’s hard to pull myself away when everyone’s bashing me because I don’t see why we need to buy a new 20-goal-a-season striker when we are “obviously” well equipped in that position (watch out for a future post on this topic).

I’ve been on this thread since 9am and it’s now 12 noon and that’s the moment when I get that feeling I get before every season. That’s when I realize…

“I LOVE LIVERPOOL FC, I LOVE FOOTBALL. THIS REALLY MEANS A LOT TO ME!”

Liverpool Football Club means…

…the first game of football I ever watched…ever!
…delirious happiness at every victory.
…agony and heartache whenever we lose/draw/conceded a dodgy goal/concede any kind of goal.
…that tingling feeling when the boys are lined up in the tunnel ready for action.
…surging excitement as me and the Kop belt out “You Never Walk Alone” over the Champions League anthem.
…rescheduling my weekend because we have an afternoon kickoff on Saturday.
…in the park trying to relive Fowler vs Newcastle
…Istanbul (need I say more)!
…Getting thrown out of a pub in Cape Town for jumping on tables (I blame Jerzy Dudek and that save from Sheva for that incident).
…putting on my Liverpool shirt for the game even when I’ll be watching at home on my own.

Liverpool Football Club means all of this to me and so much more.

What does it mean to you?

It is to my understanding that Carlsberg may no longer be sponsoring our shirts at the end of this coming season after 17 years. I just can not picture us wearing a new kit with a different sponsor on the front. We have been one of the very few clubs in the Premiership to retain our shirt sponsor for so long. But I guess in this day and age when it is all about money, we need someone willing to pay more to have their name splashed out across our famous red shirt.

Reports suggest that Standard Chartered are set to take over from Carlsberg in 2010 as Carlsberg can not meet the amount we are demanding from them. It is said that Standard Chartered are willing to pay £15million a year for the sponsorship which is double what Carlsberg were paying. Yet again, I think the new management of the club has to be commended for this as it will give us more cash and hopefully that cash can go into strengthening the squad.

Looking back at our sponsors in the past, we had Hitachi then Crown Paints, then Candy which I will never forget as my first ever Liverpool shirt was the red Candy home strip. After Candy is was then Carlsberg. We have not won the league wearing Carlsberg and if this is their last season to sponsor us then surely we should win the title for Carlsberg!

I am not sure whether this is good news for us or not: George Gillett has sold ice hockey giants Montreal Canadiens to the brewers Molson for £340m - almost exactly double the price he paid them for an 80 per cent share in 2001. This sale means that Gillett has made £178m profit. Now will Gillett pump this money back into Liverpool or is he going to keep it for himself? Really, he is not forced to put a cent of it into Liverpool but if he wants the club to succeed as he told us when he bought the club with Tom Hicks then surely he has to give us atleast some of it!

It is clear for all of us to see that we are struggling with our finances. When Gillett and Hicks bought the club in 2007 they took out a £350m loan and have made no progress with a new stadium which they promised us. The club’s accountants issued a chilling statement about two weeks ago admitting there is ’significant doubt’ whether the company which runs the club can ‘continue as a going concern’ after results showed we made a £42.6million loss last year.

If Gillett has ambitions to remain in control of Liverpool then I hope he will put in some of this cash from Canada into Liverpool. It would be nice if it goes to fund transfers or even if it goes to building a new stadium. Hopefully now that Gillett has done this, Hicks will follow suite and sell his stake in the Texas Rangers and generate more cash! On the other hand, could Gillett use the cash he has made to buyout Hicks??? I may not like these two guys but if they decide to use all the money they make from selling their American sports teams, and put it into Liverpool then I will give them a chance.

Before this season started, I said that our best signing in the summer was getting Sam Lee to return to Anfield and become Rafa’s assistant. As the season is getting to a close, we have clearly progressed in the league and we may just be a bit short of getting the title this season but we are already making plans for making sure we win the Premiership next season and it all starts with the possible return of Kenny Dalglish. For me King Kenny is my all time favourite Liverpool player. I loved him as a player and then as a manager. I was gutted when he left his role as manager after the Hillsborough disaster. It is interesting to hear him now say that if Liverpool asked him to be manager again after Hillsborough, he would have said yes.

I would have loved to see Dalglish back in the dugout but I guess all good things come to those that wait and Dalglish may yet be back at Anfield. He may not be back in the dugout as I would have loved but whatever role he takes up, be it in the youth academy, a consultant or director of football, just having the King back in the running of the club will be a huge bonus.

If my understanding is correct, Kenny would become an advisor to Rafa and I think Rafa would benefit a great deal from Kenny’s experience especially when it comes to the league. Dalglish may spend more time working with the academy so he can develop the young talent on Merseyside and make sure they come to Liverpool and not Everton. What is encouraging to hear is that Kenny is more than ready to come back and help the club in anyway he can.

Please come back Kenny!!

I was reading a report yesterday on the Daily Express that Hicks and Gillett may finally be ready to sell the club to Nasser Al Kharafi from Kuwait, the 49th richest man in the world worth £9 billion. I have not been a fan of our American owners at all as they have failed to deliver what they promised us when they bought the club. Now I have a smile on my face at the possibility of being taken over by someone who seems to have the cash to meet our ambitions.

It is no secret that we need some serious cash for two reasons: to build a new stadium and to buy a couple of world class players. According to the report, Nasser Al Kharafi would be buying Liverpool for £450 million if he ends up taking full control of the club but Hicks may be stubborn and refuse to sell all his shares in the club. I just hope Hicks decides to walk away totally from the club and leave it to Kharafi and his millions, or should I say billions.

The thought of finally having some serious cash to spend in the transfer market excites me. Imagine being able to serious bid for the likes of David Villa, David Silva and Daniel Alves? Who knows, maybe even the Messi’s and Kaka’s of this world! Let’s wait and see what happens.

I had a good laugh this morning when I was reading an article in the Mirror where Stan Collymore was saying that he does not believe Rafa is the right man to lead Liverpool to success and instead Jose Mourinho should be the Liverpool manager. Rafa has just signed a new contract so chances of him leaving are very slim.

Collymore said, “And I am not sure enough players like Torres will go to Liverpool while Benitez is there. Mourinho is the true ‘Special One’ and I am still not convinced Liverpool’s players believe Rafa is anything out of the ordinary.”

What nonsense is that??? I do not think I have heard a Liverpool player play down Rafa. They all are full of praise for our Spanish coach. “Rafa is anything out of the ordinary” : what are you smoking Stan??? Are you forgetting his success at Valencia! Him leading us to the Champions League in his first season and now getting us even closer to the Premiership.
It amazes me that Collymore can come out and say this but I guess we are all entitled to our own opinion.

You can click here to read the full article by Collymore.

OurKop.com would like to expresses its condolences to the Morrison family following the death of Bryce Morrison today. Bryce Morrison was our Club Secretary and had been at the club since 1992. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.
Chief Executive Rick Parry said: “We are all devastated at the news and our thoughts and prayers are with Bryce’s wife Gill and his family at this very sad time. There will be a minute’s silence before tomorrow’s match against Aston Villa and as a mark of respect the players will wear black armbands in his memory.”