1) Was he a pawn in a power struggle between Rafa, Parry & the Owners?
2) He wasn’t performing well enough to fit his 20-million-pound price tag?
3) Insert your own ridiculous reason here

It is a known fact that Rafa’s 1st choice target during the summer was Barry. That boy will probably be counting his lucky stars it’s not him being pushed around like an unwanted baby.

Regardless of all the conspiracy theories, I am beginning to have certain concerns.

1) With Robbo gone, we have only Kuyt as a proper striker in the event that El Nino gets injured/suspended/overworked. Egg Nog just don’t cut it. Even then, Kuyt will never be as prolific as Nando, I feel.
2) We just lost about £5m on this deal.
3) What’s with Benitez saying things to the effect of Keane’s value will drop to about £10m at the end of the season when he just signed Keane for £20m at the start of the season? Doesn’t seem exactly like a great deal to have your purchase depreciate by half after just a year! (Someone please enlighten me on this!) Is this just some excuse cooked up when he was taking a crap that morning?
4) Benching Robbo after he scored 2 in a match just isn’t giving the boy a sporting chance, I feel.

All things said and done, somehow I feel relieved that Keane has moved back to a club where he is treated as he deserves. A class act and a hero. I haven’t heard any whining or complaints about the way he was treated by the Club. A true professional.

I trust I speak for most of us when we wish Robbie all the best in White Hart Lane.

Cheers, mate!

It would be one thing if there wasn’t already a huge governing body for the sport, but there is in FIFA. We have this thing called the World Cup, which incidentally, occurs every four years. Why do we need the Olympics?

I know other clubs have been affected, but Liverpool alone will lose Mascherano and Lucas, and I still can’t find out whether or not Babel is going to be included or not, but that’s a possibility of three very important players that won’t be available until September. This sport is headed in the direction of youth. Spotting talent early on and developing it quickly is where titles are won. Pretty soon, women in Brazil and Argentina will have the afterbirth quickly wiped off of their sons and kitted up so that they can go take a penalty. This is thwarted, however, with redundant competitions that interrupt normal club fixtures.

Players have to have a way of making a living and that is with the club. Recently, we have seen how important one match is as Barclay’s Premier League, the Scottish Premier League, and Serie A, all came down to the last fixture when deciding the league title. I guess what really pisses me off is that these kids could decline and stay with their clubs, but they have to feel the pressure of, “Well, if I turn them down now, they may never call me up again.”

I say get rid of football in the Olympics. FIFA has all the international competitions covered. We really don’t need a second governing body jacking with our league titles. But the more important thing is, what do you think? Feel free to express your views and vote in the poll.

How do you feel about football in the Olympics?
( surveys)

In a recent interview, Wenger said, “”If I had the power to change anything basic in football, it would be the transfer system which makes mercenaries of players . . . If they are bad ones, they stay and, if they are good, they think only of leaving.”

I couldn’t agree more. This is an age in the sport, and many other sports for that matter, where the loyalty to clubs has been replaced by loyalty to paychecks. People who support rich clubs are happy and excited when their team nabs a big signing, but this practice continues to degrade the quality and development of players. If the richest clubs buy up all the talent, it not only hurts the majority of the clubs because they do not have those players, but takes away the influence that they would have on their teammates.

Torres has hailed Benitez and Gerrard for inspiring and pressuring him to be a better player. This begs the question, if Gerrard had accepted an offer from Inter Milan or Chelsea, would Torres be the striker he is today? Now, I’m sure that some would say that the likes of Gareth Barry are doing the same, but I charge you to understand the difference of motivation. It is one thing to be motivated by new challenges and quite another to be motivated by money because money does not actually encourage results so much as reward past performance.

Motivation from money does not make a player show up and push harder than he did the day before. Wenger nailed it when he called these players mercenaries. They bring along with them discontentment and prima donna egos that disrupt when they should be uniting. This is fine though, because it will eventually come to a head. Egos will run wild and the money will run out and that’s when XI lads from Liverpool will prevail.

The offer is £400m for the club. Gillett is willing to sell, more than likely out of embarrassment when it was revealed that he was the one that was looking to Jürgen Klinsmann as an insurance policy should Rafa need to be replaced. True to his word, Hicks is not willing to sell. The two have an agreement that states that either partner can block the other from selling their stake which is what Hicks is doing now. Instead, it’s looking like the Texan has raised the money he needs to buy out Gillett himself.

So what horrible things will happen if and when Hicks gains full control? Possible changes in the back office, a new contract for Rafa, and more money made available to him for transfers in the summer. I know, it sounds horrible. Hicks gaining full control is just what the club needs to progress: one owner that is committed to making it better. What the club doesn’t need is an outsider coming in shaking everything up. It’s time to build, not demolish.

While writing about Liverpool’s victory over Bolton, I stumbled on a video that had all the goals in a neat little package that someone had cut together. Very nice, or so I thought. While at work, I was checking the blog for comments (because bloggers live for that shit), when I realized that the video was no longer up. Whoever was hosting it had yanked it and when I say “yanked,” I don’t mean painted it red, white, and blue, but had taken it off because of copyright regulations.

Once upon a time, I was an author. Not a very good one mind you, but still, I’ve had a thing or two published. One of the most important things when publishing and quoting is naming sources. Now, in the writing world, if you need to borrow something from work that someone else has done, you put it in quotes and site them as a source and the world sort of continues to turn. So I must ask this question: Why is it that you cannot use clips of a match when the owner’s signature is plastered all over the score line? We know it’s Sky property. Why not let people use 2 minutes out of a 90 minute match to talk about it and maybe they’ll bother to tune in the next time you broadcast something? Ass hats.

Well, what do you guys think? Now keep in mind all the possibilities when you vote. The rumors are that Rafa and Hicks have turned a bumpy relationship into a love fest and that Gillett was the one who initially wanted to find a safety net in case Rafa left. Rumor also has it that DIC would drop Rafa and is already looking for candidates to replace him should they take control of the club. Then there’s the fans. Who knows what the hell they would do?

I’ve never used this polling script so hopefully it doesn’t cock up.

Personally, I’d let them have Didier Drogba for no other reason than he is a complete muppet. I’m happy this week, wait no, I’m upset, wait no, I’m upset at people being upset, wait no, I’m happy. From the people who brought you bipolar disorders…

On the other hand, if there was one footballer that I could definitely save, I would pick Steven Gerrard. He slips up now and then, but all around is entertaining to watch and produces some memorable moments. You can’t not pick the captain of captains.

What about you? Who would you get rid of and who would you save?

My big four XI (playing a standard 4-4-2):

CK – Cech (Chelsea)
RB – Finnan (Liverpool)
CB – Carragher (Liverpool)
CB – Vidic (Man Utd)
LB – Riise (Liverpool) **Edit – I clearly forgot about Clichy who’s having a storming season. I’ll put the Arsenal youngster in there instead of Riise**
RW – Cronaldo (Man Utd)
CM – Fabregas (Arsenal)
CM – Gerrard (Liverpool)
LW – Rosicky (Arsenal)
CF – Drogba (Chelsea)
CF – Torres (Liverpool)

A lot of ‘Pool players in there. I’d be willing to swap Clichy (see above) for Riise (Liverpool) or even Ashley Cole (Chelsea) if he wasn’t such an odious individual. Vidic just gets the shout over Terry (Chelsea) to partner Carragher as those two are a little too similar. I don’t think you can argue with the amount of Liverpool players in the back four, especially if you consider the amount of clean sheets over the last two and a bit seasons…not forgetting we haven’t conceded a goal that hasn’t been a penalty this season – in all competitions I believe.

In midfield, it’s well established that Gerrard and Lampard (Chelsea) can’t play together and that Gerrard is a far better, more *ahem* rounded player than Lampard so Fabregas gets the nod. I love what that pairing brings to my team – pace, guile, power, goals, passion and creativity. Perhaps Rafa can spend a few quid and get the little Spaniard…

The only other position of controversy is, I think, the left wing berth. Both Rosicky and Malouda (Chelsea) would do a great job but after I’ve gone for the Little Mozart out of personal preference and the fact I really dislike Chelsea.

How would your team look?