Liverpool F.C. News

Liverpool have signed Alex Cooper from Ross County - a Scottish Second Division club
in the Highlands.


16-year-old
winger Cooper will move from Victoria Park to Anfield after the clubs agreed a
£100,000 fee.




A winger
capped by Scotland Under-16s, he was reportedly tracked by Jose Mourinho when
the Portuguese was Chelsea boss.


But Liverpool wowed the youngster and Cooper
has signed with the Premiership giants until 2011. His father Neale, a former
Aberdeen star, expressed his enthusiasm
after seeing his son agree a dream move.


"All his
family are delighted Alex has been given the opportunity to sign for Liverpool.


"He
could have gone to one or two other clubs but he just loved the way he was
treated by Liverpool when he was there."

Goal.com UK

Rush Blasts Benitez Treatment

Rush's outspoken attack follows Tom Hicks' revelation to the media that the owners had held talks with Jurgen Klinsmann
and the talismanic striker, who scored a record 346 goals in 660
appearances for the club, likened the ongoing boardroom theatrics to
those at Newcastle United.
A Laughing Stock
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “Now people are going to say
the club is a laughing stock. In many ways, you can understand that
because this is not the way Liverpool normally do things.
“The tradition of the club — and the very thing that has made them
so hugely respected throughout the world — is to do everything
in-house. Not out in the open like this.
“Look at Newcastle — we certainly don’t want to get like that.
That’s just change for the sake of it. With Harry Redknapp turning them
down, it’s just going to drag on and on. That doesn’t help anyone.
“Now we all know that in football these days there’s only one winner — the owners.
“But admitting that Klinsmann was approached is poor timing and puts a lot more pressure on Rafa.
“It’s not just upsetting for Rafa but for the players and the fans
as well. Everything seemed to be dying down a bit but now it’s all been
blown up again.”
Benitez the Best
Hicks' justification for the meeting was that it was merely an
'insurance policy' should Rafa himself leave the club. There was also
mention - almost comically - that the owners wished to learn more about
football on the continent.
Rush, like much of the general public, has laughed off these claims.
He enquired: “With respect to Klinsmann, how can he know more about European football than Rafa?
“No one knows more than him. Look at his record with Valencia. Look
at the way he’s taken Liverpool to two Champions League finals.
“As far as Europe is concerned, Benitez is the best," he declared.
“And as for English football, I think Rafa may know a bit more than
Klinsmann!”
Rush, somewhat regrettably, is envious of the American owners a few
miles down the road at Old Trafford and has insisted that Liverpool
need to revert back to their old ways to avoid a dangerous decline both
on and off the pitch.
“I hate to say this but, perhaps, Liverpool should take a leaf out
of United’s book," he conceded. "Everyone was moaning when the Glazers
took over but United fans couldn’t be happier now.
“They don’t interfere, they stay in the background and they let the manager get on with it — and look at the results.
“That’s why Rafa must be allowed to try and turn things round.
“I don’t want to see him go — and nor do the fans, who will be furious with the weird timing of all this.
“He should be given until the end of the season and, if there is
progress, fine. If there isn’t, then you have the summer to make
changes. But not now.
“No, we’re not doing as well as we would want," he admitted. "But you always have good and bad parts of the season.
“I can see both sides of the argument. Rafa’s rotation policy hasn’t
helped but that’s what foreign managers tend to do, they pick their
teams according to the opposition.
“Yes, we are 12 points behind United and Arsenal and we have drawn too many home games. So we have to start winning.
“The bottom line is we have to finish in the top four and do well in the FA Cup and Champions League.”
Dead Man Walking
Following the release of Hicks' statement, both he and Gillett were
quick to offer full praise and support to Rafa, which Rush has again
laughed off as a mere facade.
He began: “What else could they say?"
“In fact, they shouldn’t have said anything. Now many will look at Rafa as Dead Man Walking.
“Well, that’s part and parcel of football these days. When Claudio
Ranieri can get sacked for finishing second in the league and getting
to the Champions League semi-final, anything can happen.
“And it has. We’re only in January and eight Premier League managers
have gone. Yes, expectations are high and owners want instant results
but some of the sackings have been ridiculous.
“Sammy Lee didn’t get a chance, nor did Sam Allardyce. But Liverpool must not go down the same path.
“And they certainly must not make it all so public.
“That’s not the Liverpool way. That’s not the Liverpool style that brought them respect and so many trophies.”
This astonishing tirade is hard to criticise, and many, whether fans of Liverpool or not, will be thinking the same thing.
Benitez's future with Liverpool remains in serious doubt, he is allegedly looking into taking legal action against co-owner Tom Hicks.
Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com

The
beanpole striker has been repeatedly linked with the likes of
Portsmouth, Manchester City and Aston Villa ever since the arrival of
Fernando Torres and Andriy Voronin, but despite having to get all too
familiar with the feel of the Anfield pine, he insists that he has not
thoughts of leaving.
Crouch said: "Everyone talks about me talking to clubs. Maybe it's
because I'm not playing every game.
"But at a club like Liverpool you're not going to play every game.
"I've come to realise that this is the case at a club like this, whereas
at somewhere else maybe you would play every game.
"But here we are competing for things and I certainly want to be a part
of winning trophies.
"No-one's approached the club and no- one's approached me.
"There's a lot of speculation and, like I've said, that probably comes
down to the fact that I'm not playing every game.
"But hopefully if I get a good run of games towards the end of the season
then those rumours will go away."


Reds boss Rafa Benitez is eager to keep his squad together
going into the business end of the season and has warned potential suitors that he is not
looking to offload Crouch or any of his other players.


Derek Wanner, Goal.com

Atletico Madrid slap in bid for Liverpool's Sissoko


tribalfootball.com -
January 22, 2008







Atletico Madrid have made an offer for Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko.Marca says Atletico slapped in the bid
yesterday after their derby defeat to Real Madrid on Sunday convinced
the board they needed to sign a midfield enforcer or risk missing out
on Champions League qualification this season.

Juventus chief: We could sign Liverpool's Sissoko this month


tribalfootball.com -
January 22, 2008







Juventus chief Alessio Secco admits they are trying to sign Liverpool midfielder Momo Sissoko this month."He is a player that we are interested in," said
Secco. "And we haven't ruled out the possibility of him joining us in
the winter transfer window. We will see."

Liverpool fans want Barcelona-style ownership

By Andy Hooper
Last Updated: 11:36am GMT 31/01/2008

Have your say Read comments

The Government's secretary for culture, media and sport has welcomed a proposal by Liverpool fans to follow the example of Barcelona and take the club into collective ownership.


Club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have, for the moment, seen off Dubai International Capital in the battle for control at Anfield. They have completed a £350 million refinancing deal with UK and American banks, with Liverpool now being saddled with annual interest repayments of £30 million.
Liveropol supporters
Show of strength: Liverpool fans have been vocal in their disapproval of the club's American owners

That will wipe out their operating costs, although manager Rafael Benitez has been assured it will not disrupt his summer spending. However, fans and critics are sceptical of the deal, with the new 'Share Liverpool FC' group revealing plans to former a supporters' co-operative to buy the club.

The idea is to produce a Barca-style members-share scheme to raise £500 million to buy Liverpool and build the new stadium in Stanley Park.

Rogan Taylor, an Anfield season ticket holder and a director of the Football Industry Group at the University of Liverpool, said: "It is time to answer the concerns that football fans have about the patterns of ownership developing at our major football clubs.

"Thousands of Liverpool fans have already demonstrated their dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.

"Large amounts of debt is often laden onto newly-bought clubs and the fans know that in the end, it will be them who will have to pay it off through increased ticket prices and other schemes. "In such a case, why not simply buy the club yourselves?"

The plan, to be unveiled at tonight at the University of Liverpool, was welcomed by new culture secretary Andy Burnham.

"Obviously we'll wait to see details but this is a fascinating development and it will be really important to see how it works," he said. "I was one of those who set-up Supporters Direct, an organisation with the aim to encourage supporters to take a greater share ownership in their own clubs.

"So far, it's happened mainly at a lower level. It had been a great success in the Football League and lower and this development will test the water in the in the Premier League.

"Rogan is very eminent in football matters and he pointed out that the Champions League has been won on six occasions by a mutually-structured club - the Barcelonas and the Real Madrids. It (the fans' proposal) is not necessarily incompatible with success."


Yesterday American billionaire Robert Kraft said he still has a potential interest in buying Liverpool.

Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots NFL franchise and Major League Soccer outfit New England Revolution, said: "We haven't ruled it out completely.

"But I'm worried a little bit. I want to be able to win whatever we do. But there are no rules in terms of spending on players.

"We would never want to be in a business where we couldn't compete and right now some of the structure doesn't allow you to compete on a level playing field."

Liverpool owners to make cool £65,000-A-DAY from sale


tribalfootball.com -
February 16, 2008




Liverpool's American owners will have earned a cool £65,000-A-DAY from their investment should they complete the club's sale to Dubai International Capital.

The News of the World says Tom Hicks and George Gillett will share a £50m bonanza when DIC finally completes it's expected takeover.The Arabs are closing in on the deal which will end the Americans' reign.Negotiations have reached a key stage, with
Gillett now most likely to be first to end his association with the
club. Hicks remains the main obstacle as the Arab investment group seek
a swift conclusion.The club is now valued at around £400m, but £350m of this figure forms recently incurred debt.That means if both Americans were to sell now, they'd share a £50m profit.

do you think they bought the club with the intention of selling it a year later?

all this BS about them talking about klinsmann and telling rafa off... all a stunt to wind supporters/players up?

they couldn't have been that calculative... could they????

If their aim was to make a quick profit, why would they undermine Rafa's credibility, and with it short term results?

i dont know.. im just questioning the series of events.. especially if they DO end up selling!

was it planned? or just co-incidental?

i hope hicks sells ... he's neither willing to help the manager out with transfers ( we had to sell sissoko to be able to buy masch ) whereas chelsea go ahead and buy Anelka just because drogba is out playing the africans nations cup.

Maybe american owners are uncomfortable with limitless spending like it is done in European football. In north america, all pro sports except baseball have salary caps for teams.

The other thing, I might have already said it in that forum, is that Rafa's efficiency in buying players is very questionable. Many of his signings have miserably failed. I'd be suspicious too if he was spending my money....

true.. he's been buying very moderate players... but given enough money, he can land good players ( torres ).

im hoping for a DIC takeover... and maybe villa in the summer

what do you think??? or are torres-villa not good together.. i havent seem them play a lot with the national team. are they compatable? or like lamps and gerrard?

Little I've seen of them they seemed to be going quite well together. But I've seen them play together only once really.

To me Villa looks like he'd be a good buy for you guys.

great job guys damn I was happy when u won.

LoL

29 unbeaten games? serie a champions? best team in europe?

hahahhaha

did you watch the game?

what do u think of it... the red card.. the 2 goals.. the tactics..

Materazzi at his best.

I'm really starting to believe that Rafa's a cup coach, although I still don't understant it, but results are there.

cup coach? he won the liga with valencia TWICE.

i think he's a wizard in europe.

but he doesnt have enough firepower to win in the epl, yet.

the epl needs a team to be fully fit all season long, or, a bunch of superstars sitting in your bench in case someone gets injured

our team is similar with lpool, we suck in domestic compettitions but in europe we can deliver very good results.

yeah... forza skorpio

any new graphics? ;p

materazzi'd red card ;p

or gerrards goal

i gotta feelin we're playin an english side next

plz tee dont say that.... i REALLY dont wanna face any english sides.... for once give us the easy teams... fener... shalke.. heck... even roma.. but NOT manU-arsenal-chelsea

chelsea in the semis hahhahaha

Argentine starlet Gerardo Bruna has signed his first professional
contract at Liverpool which will keep him at Anfield until the summer
of 2010.


The 17-year-old midfielder joins Spanish youngsters Daniel Pacheco and Daniel Ayala in signing pro-contracts with the club.



Bruna, who came from Real Madrid's youth Academy, is an attacking
left sided midfield player who has been a regular member of Gary
Ablett's reserve team squad this season.


"Gerardo has a lot of talent and he is one for the future," Ablett told Liverpoolfc.tv.

teee .. you should've scouted this boy!

do you know anything about him? what position?
where does he play.. is he like messi / aguero ?

he's gona need to beef up a little- too skinny. You asked me this before but i really dont know anything about this kid- but if he was at Madrid then obviously he has some talent. He scored 2 goals for the reserves 7-1 win in the Dallas Cup by the way.

but i don't know enough about this player, i've never seen him play.

no probs... under rafa, im sure he'll improve.. much like mascherano.. which, according to J.Zanetti, is the star of liverpool.. pool isnt just torres and gerrard .... pool is torres, gerrard, AND mascherano! and i agree with el capitano

inter are lucky to have him