BG

Yes - I was in Madrid and at the game. There was a lot of bad feeling from early on and that was just among the Atheltico fans who at a couple of points were fighting each other. Last ten minutes were ridiculous but the ref basically never had it under control. Aguerro looked very good, Torres loked a bit lazy.

He is Argentinian, I think.

I was at Athletico's game on Saturday in which he played upfront next to Torres. Looked very good - brilliant dribler, played some nice pass, good movement. I was much less impressed by Torres to be honest. Clever movement but would be surprised if Rafa went for him - his work rate is more Cisse than Kuyt...

Parry prefers Telex. Because Rafa loves his videos so much he's also managed to get a couple of state of the art betamax machines installed.

The original post represents a new low here. The only thing the owner should be feeling embarassed about is himself.

Good luck with that. I'd try Rafa first if I were you. Last I heard Parry was on a goalkeeping course and Moores was bodysurfing in Blackpool.

Just read the interview on the echo site. Kuyt Not sure about a Dirk Kuyt clothing line though ("as modelled by Dirk").

Latest rumour is that he's in the taxi from the airport with Ronaldinho and Kaka. Look out for a clapped out old VW Beetle. Apparently the taxi driver looks a lot like Maradona.

No, the big difference between us and United is their attacking players are better than ours. Take one of Ronaldo and Rooney out of their team and put him in ours and I think we'd have as many points as them, if not more.

Great point. We didn;t show much passion, drive and determination when we on the EC did we? Or when we were two behind in the cup final? Or when we got 80 points last season?

Eurosport seem to be sying he's about to sign... ...a new deal at Sevilla.

Independent running a similar story. Still sounds pretty vague and much like no journalist has spoken to anyone remotely close to it all. Independent

Times running this tomorrow. Times. Liverpool prepare for Arab takeover Oliver Kay Liverpool are close to accepting a £450 million deal that will allow a consortium from Dubai to become the latest overseas investors in English football. After a three-year search, the Merseyside club?s board believes that it has found the right deal to secure its long-term future and will allow the Dubai International Capital group (DIC), a subsidiary of the Arab state?s government, to begin the due diligence process this week. The news will spark a mixture of emotions among Liverpool supporters, but David Moores, the chairman, and Rick Parry, the chief executive, believe it is a deal that will allow the club to re-establish themselves at the summit of English football. Under the terms of the proposals, it is believed that DIC ? effectively owned by the al-Maktoum family, the billionaire rulers of Dubai ? will take on the club?s £80 million debts and provide up to £200 million for a new 60,000-capacity stadium, in addition to meeting Moores?s £170 million valuation of the club. In theory, this would allow work to start on the stadium in Stanley Park within months, while also providing funds for Rafael Benítez, the manager, to compete at the top end of the transfer market, but it is too early to say whether it would generate the kind of money that has enabled Roman Abramovich to turn Chelsea into the world?s richest club ? or indeed whether Liverpool, a club based on tradition and sensible housekeeping, would even favour such an approach. Liverpool have attracted offers from several other bidders, most recently George Gillett, the American billionaire, and John Miskelly, the Belfast-born property tycoon, but after serious consideration they are understood to have granted DIC, a subsidiary of the government-owned Dubai Holdings, due diligence, which gives them exclusive rights to study their accounts with a view to finalising a deal. The precise details of the proposals remain unclear, with uncertainty over whether it will be a full-scale takeover or whether DIC will merely take over from Moores as majority shareholders. It is also unclear whether Moores, whose family has been part of the furniture in the Anfield boardroom for 50 years, will stay in some capacity, but there have been indications that Parry will continue as chief executive. Unlike the Glazer family?s takeover of Manchester United last year, there is no great opposition to overseas investment in Liverpool, with many supporters regarding it as an opportunity to restore the club to the glory days of the 1970s and 1980s. There were serious concerns expressed when Thaksin Shinawatra, then Prime Minister of Thailand, made a high-profile bid to invest in the club in May 2004, but they had more to do with Thailand?s human rights record than with the principle of overseas ownership. There is certain to be concern, however, within the FA Premier League, which is known to be worried by the number of its clubs that have fallen into foreign ownership. In addition to Manchester United and Chelsea, Aston Villa, Portsmouth and West Ham United are all now owned by overseas investors.

I didn't see Zidane when he was very young but I saw both teh quarter final and semi final of the 98 world cup and I've never seen a player who was so strong on the ball as he was.

Does anyone have a shirt with the Sheriff's name on the back? Has one ever been sighted.

Can I be the second to say I've never seen anything from Warnock to suggest he's going to be a top player. I'd say he's about a David Thompson level player - i.e. good Premiership player, works hard, plenty of heart etc

Expect to see/hear more from Bose. As of next year he is head of sport reporting at the BBC. He only really does sport politics. His special area is IOC politics. Don't like him much either but, on the whole, I would say he has more credence in this kind of area than 99% of sports journalists - which isn't that hard.

If we could buy a bit of confidence we'd be a lot better. I don't with people saying we need loads of players. What we need is a bit of confidence and perhaps one/two really top attacking players. At the moment, with Xabi and Momo in the middle, we're too dependent on Gerrard to make goals and to chip in with goals from midfield. If you added one Christiano Ronaldo level player at right or left wing we'd be a LOT better.

Wathcing him in press conferences is absolutley embarassing. Like he's trying to be Mourinho but without the record, ability, cleverness to do it.

I would have preferred a stronger statement than that from Parry - promising to find the leak, stating that the board, the players etc remain 100% behind Rafa, that he is one of the best managers in the world etc etc

Parry/Moores should be on .tv today doing a video interview to sort this out. If a board member has said that it is an absolute disgrace - they should be packed off to Newcastle. That's how they doing things, not how we do.

That's good. When you play the likes of Bolton it might only be in play say 55-60 mins.

You're a more tolerant man than I mofus77. I could never marry a manc.

Sami and Xabi

That's good but not the one I meant. The one I like is on Corbis but I can't work out how to post it as there isn't a link to it. They're looking at it sort of like two kids would.