Liverpool’s draw with Chelsea at Anfield yesterday felt like a defeat. Liverpool were the better team for the ninety minutes, created more chances, had more of the ball, actually played to win – but lost.

Referee Rob Styles failed to handle the game. Obviously whenever a referee awards a penalty in a game he’s going to get some stick from some fans – but when someone like Andy Gray is actually taking sides for Liverpool in such a situation you really can tell the referee got it wrong.

Often in football we hear a referee being referred to as a “homer”. Fans often claim that’s how refs work when they officiate at big grounds like Anfield and Old Trafford – any cry of “handball” or “offside” from the home fans actually influences the referee to give the decision to the home side. But that’s not seen as much these days. Nowadays we seem to have referees who over-compensate and actually give the benefit of any doubt to the away side.

However it seems that Rob Styles is a different type of referee again. At Old Trafford last week he sent a Reading player off who’d been on the field for something like seven seconds. Still adjusting to the pace of the first game of the season, his first attempt at winning the ball was an attempted block against United’s Evra. Evra quickly got rid of the ball, the Reading player accidentally caught Evra. It wasn’t two-footed, it wasn’t high, it was a genuine attempt to play the ball. Styles just reached for his red card and sent the player off. Up until that time Reading had been holding on for a draw but were capable of actually causing an upset and getting a breakaway goal, like Manchester City did yesterday. Styles brought the chances of that happening to an end, and probably helped Chelsea too in the process, because those tired Reading players had to face Chelsea a few days later. Chelsea won that match.

Before anyone reads suggestions that aren’t here, I don’t believe Styles is being paid by Chelsea to help them, I don’t believe he’s a secret Chelsea fan, I don’t believe his assistance to Chelsea is due to anything more than the fact that he’s not capable of refereeing Premier League matches. He seems happy to hit the headlines, and fails the test of any good referee in that he’s actually noticeable.

In yesterday’s game he was unbelievably inconsistent. Forget the penalty he awarded to Chelsea’s new Arjen Robben, Florent Malouda, who threw himself at Steve Finnan. He was just yards away from the incident; he knew Malouda had jumped from outside the area to collide with Finnan who was inside the area. He didn’t consult his assistant (I don’t think he ever does), he just awarded the penalty. He allowed persistent fouling from some players to go unpunished; he booked others at the first sign of trouble. Jermaine Pennant and Jamie Carragher got booked for dissent – John Terry touched foreheads with Fernando Torres and got a telling-off. He did book Essien for dissent – but then realised he’d already booked Essien so pretended he hadn’t actually made that second booking.

Just before half-time he saw Mikel Obi jump on the ankle of Fernando Torres. Torres needed treatment and struggled in the second half as a result. Styles saw it because he stopped play to allow Torres to get the treatment. Obi wasn’t punished at all for it.

Sky wanted to speak to him after the game. He refused. He knew he’d performed poorly.

Obviously a referee will make mistakes in every game. It’s part and parcel of the game. The players make mistakes too – any fan can look back at defeats or dropped points and point to one of their own players who caused the problem. A striker missing a sitter, a defender giving away a needless penalty, a German keeper making yet another clanger. When that happens the fans are unhappy but feel it’s something that can be fixed. Drop the player in question, or accept the player in question does far more good than he did bad with that one mistake. But at least your manager can sort it out the way he sees fit. There are also those games where a wonder goal loses you the points – again the supporters accept this, as disappointing as it may be, and in some cases with some clubs that wonder goalscorer may be joining your club next transfer window. But when a ref messes up – it’s an awful feeling of injustice.

It’s time that referees were given help. Technology could be brought in for incidents like yesterday’s penalty. If the referee has any feeling it may have been a penalty he should stop the game, get it checked by a video official, then the game restarts. It won’t work straight away, but given time and a fair trial it will work sooner or later. Red cards can be included in the list of incidents that are checked before being finally being decided. In incidents of diving a retrospective ban should be applied to a player found guilty. Timekeeping is another issue which often causes controversy – there is no consistency at all in the game where timekeeping is concerned, maybe it’s time that a separate official took care of that.

Despite all of this, Liverpool learned a valuable lesson yesterday. At least I hope they did. The lesson is that some days you really are up against 11 opponents and the referee. Some days the referee really does seem to have a vendetta against you, or the idea that any 50-50 decisions should go against you. On those days you need to be able to fight back, keep plugging away and make sure the referee can’t continue to ruin your day. Liverpool’s spirits clearly dropped yesterday after that award, and although they did keep plugging away, against an opponent who clearly wanted to escape with that one point, they didn’t have as much fight as they’d had before. Also a one-nil lead isn’t enough; you need to make it a wider gap as quickly as possible.

Liverpool’s next league game is away to Sunderland. It’s the kind of game that Liverpool would drop points in last season, and with former Manchester United skipper Roy Keane as Sunderland boss there’s perhaps more of an edge than there otherwise would be. Liverpool are capable of beating Sunderland by quite some margin, but they’re hurting after their defeat on Saturday. Following that game is the Toulouse Champions League qualifier second leg, arguably the most important game of this half of the season. Liverpool’s away goal is good, but not enough to relax and again Liverpool need to be ready to fight hard to win through the Champions League itself.

And we need to be ready to fight against eleven opponents and the officials, because the game will always have its bad referees, unless we introduce technology.

At 12.30pm today, Tuesday February 6th 2007, an announcement was made that could be described as the most important in Liverpool FC’s 115-year history. The club’s chairman and majority shareholder had sold his shares, and he and his board were recommending that all other shareholders do the same.

The statement read: “Liverpool FC today announced that the Board have agreed the terms of an offer for the Club from Mr George Gillett and Mr Tom Hicks. The Board are unanimously recommending that the Club’s shareholders accept this offer.
Full details of the offer were announced earlier today to the Stock Exchange.”

A press conference was called for 2pm to discuss it in more detail, but there were some quotes included in the announcement.

The first was from the chairman, Mr Moores. His decision to sell his shares to Gillett and Hicks is believed to have netted him around £80m, and he gets an honorary role allowing him to stay on at the club too: “I believe this is a great step forward for Liverpool, its shareholders and its fans. This Club is my passion and forms a huge part of my life. After much careful consideration, I have agreed to sell my shares to assist in securing the investment needed for the new stadium and for the playing squad.

“I am also delighted to accept the offer from the Hicks and Gillett families to continue my involvement in the Club by becoming Honorary Life President.”

That job as Honorary Life President was leaked last week and drew some criticism from fans who were wondering why the sudden u-turn had taken place, moving DIC from the people we should all trust to the people we should steer well clear of. Moores has always been painted as being only interested in the good of the club, but explanations are needed – and expected – at this afternoon’s press conference.

Next to be quoted was Chief Executive of the club, Rick Parry. It’s believed that he is to take on the role of Chairman on the new-look board, but this has yet to be announced officially: “This is great for Liverpool, our supporters and the shareholders,” he said, “it is the beginning of a new era for the Club.

“The partnership created by George and Tom is very special. They are bringing to the table tremendous and relevant experience, a passion for sport, real resources and a strong commitment to the traditions of Liverpool. Their approach represents exactly the sort of genuine partnership that Liverpool has been seeking over recent times.

“We know that George and Tom want a long-term relationship with Liverpool and that they also understand the importance of investing in our success both on and off the field. They have made clear their intention to move as quickly as practicable on the financing and construction of our proposed new stadium at Stanley Park and also to support investment in the playing squad.

“This has been an important time for the Club. We now have the right partners for the future. I am absolutely certain we have now ended up in the right place, with owners who will help the Club succeed and prosper.”

Strangely enough, the comments from Hicks and Gillett were jointly credited to the pair, rather than individual quotes from the clubs new owners:  “Liverpool is a fantastic club with a remarkable history and a passionate fanbase,” they said, “We fully acknowledge and appreciate the unique heritage and rich history of Liverpool and intend to respect this heritage in the future. The Hicks family and the Gillett family are extremely excited about continuing the Club’s legacy and tradition.”

Then a hint that Rick Parry will also be staying on at the club: “We are particularly pleased that David Moores and Rick Parry will have a continuing involvement in the Club. For us continuity and stability are keys to the future.”

Now we’ve had the announcements, we need to see more of the nitty-gritty of the deal. And we need to see if the promises will be kept. Hicks and Gillett later gave an interview to the official site.

Another rip-off is on the way for Liverpool supporters with kids, and for that matter the parents of any child who supports a top-flight club.

Liverpool FC’s website carried the news that as from next season the names and numbers used by Premier League clubs will be changing. There’s already been talk of the FA Premier League dropping the “FA” from their name, and to coincide with this there’ll be a new logo for those badges the players wear on the sleeves.

Anyone who’s bought the current Reds home kit for themselves or their children will now have to persuade the kids that it’s ok to have “old fashioned” numbers on the back. Chances are that the yellow kit will become next season’s third kit and so there may be a little fight on with the kids over that too.

The statement on the Reds’ website says: “From the start of the 2007/08 season, The F.A. Premier League is introducing a new design for the official letters, numbers and sleeve badges that will be printed on player kits and also produced for replica sale.

“The planned modernisation of the current designs, originally launched a decade ago, aims to further enhance the Barclays Premiership’s professional image, improve player identification and continue to protect against counterfeiting.

“New letters, names and sleeve badges will be available from official licensees for sale in club shops and other authorised retailers prior to the start of the 2007/08 season.”
The sad thing is, the powers-that-be actually believe that they’ll be able to “protect against counterfeiting”. I think they are being a little wishful in their thinking. Not a chance. There’ll be names and numbers on sale on auction websites from sellers in the Far East well before they are available officially. You’ve only got to look at the five-times UEFA badges we wear on our sleeves now in Europe for examples of how the counterfeiters beat the official sellers. Beaten on time and beaten on price.

Due to a kit manufacturer change Liverpool brought out three new kits this season, and to be honest there was little need to bring out three kits. The only team we are close to clashing with in both of our Red and Yellow kits are Watford, who wear yellow shirts and red shorts. For one game I’m sure we could have gone back to a pre-Shanks Red shirts White shorts combo.

So on the back of being under pressure to buy three new kits, Liverpool fans now find that two of them will look “wrong” for the start of the new season. Let’s hope most people went for the European style Adidas numbering rather than the Premiership version, otherwise I can see a lot of counterfeiters getting the money off parents next season, not the club.

A quick look at the internet versions of today’s papers confirmed to me that there was no point whatsoever in going out and paying for them. Sunday’s papers always seem to bring out the worst in the journalists in this country, I really don’t see why. Liverpool aren’t the only victims of the clamour to make the big news that will be spoken about all week. If there’s nothing true to sensationalise then it’s just made up.

The Mirror had a go at us on Friday through their interview with the cowardly traitor off the Liverpool board, their sister papers are determined to join in today.
Take the People. Well, don’t take the People, because if this is an example of the standard of their product then it’s really not worth paying for. They have a story today, by a Mr Bates, saying that Gerrard is off to Madrid. Well, they say Madrid want him. They want him so much that they let it slip to a tacky Sunday paper in the UK before they told their own contacts in their own press:

People.co.uk – MAD FOR HIM
EXCLUSIVE SPANISH GIANTS TARGET GERRARD Real plot £32Mraid
By Steve Bates

STEVEN GERRARD will find a £32million European bolt-hole at Real Madrid this summer if his fragile relationship with Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez reaches breaking point.

That was the word emerging from Spain last night with Madrid ready to part company with one English legend – David Beckham – and welcome another in Gerrard next summer.

I understand Madrid chief Fabio Capello is a huge fan of Gerrard and the Spanish giants are reported to be willing to pay the £32m it would cost topers uade Liverpool to part with the Kop king. Gerrard revealed after the disappointment of the World Cup how he hoped Liverpool would finally end 16 years of misery by lifting the Premiership title for the first time since 1990 this season.

But after a poor start they are in turmoil with dissent in the boardroom being compounded by fan anger and frustration to give Benitez his first full-blown crisis since taking over from Gerrard Houllier.

“Fan anger and frustration”? People were fed up I’ll grant you that after last weekend’s victory, but they were far from acting angry with Rafa yesterday. Not that Mr Bates would have checked this out anyway. He goes on…

Last night Benitez insisted Gerrard was happy despite being played on the wide right of midfield and he doesn’t want to sell his inspirational skipper – who feels he’s wasted in an isolated role.

But senior members of Liverpool’s hierarchy are concerned a substantial bid from Madrid for the Anfield skipper is in the pipeline – and this time the 26-year-old England star will go.

Well there’s only one “senior member” of Liverpool’s hierchary who’d go to the likes of Bates with his views in this way, and he picked the People’s sister paper the Daily Mirror for his moment of back-stabbing. The next paragraph from Mr Bates was sensationalist nonsense, because Gerrard still does not want to leave Anfield, no matter how many reporters and pundits try to make it seem that way:

He knows his only realistic escape from Anfield next summer is to Spain to either Madrid or Barcelona.

Chelsea no longer need him, while Arsenal couldn’t afford his fee or £120,000-a-week wages and he wouldn’t go to Manchester United.

Meanwhile the Sunday Mirror are just as bad:

SundayMirror.co.uk – WORLD EXCLUSIVE: GERRARD’S RAFA RIFT
29 October 2006
WORLD EXCLUSIVE: GERRARD’S RAFA RIFT
Skipper’s future in the balance
By Simon Mullock

STEVEN GERRARD’S future at Liverpool is hanging in the balance, with the Anfield captain growing increasingly unhappy with life under Rafa Benitez.

Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal the strained relationship between Gerrard and Benitez is now close to breaking point.

Gerrard publicly insists that he is happy to play anywhere in Benitez’s tactical system.

But privately, he feels his poor form this season is down to the Spaniard’s insistence that he plays wide on the right of midfield, while Xabi Alonso and Momo Sissoko play in his favourite central position. Gerrard is prepared to put his preference to one side for England – but feels his talent is going to waste at Anfield.

Benitez, who has insisted he will not quit Liverpool, now faces a third fight to keep the £30m-rated midfielder at his home-town club. Gerrard looked destined for Chelsea after Euro 2004, but was persuaded by Benitez when the Spaniard arrived at Anfield from Valencia.

Twelve months later he asked for a transfer after becoming frustrated by the lack of progress regarding new contract talks – but changed he mind again.

“World Exclusive”? You made it up! Sorry Mullock, but you aren’t one of Gerrard’s confidantes! He’s probably not even heard of you, let alone spent any time chatting with you. “Sunday Mirror Sport can reveal the strained relationship between Gerrard and Benitez is now close to breaking point” – I think you mean that Sunday Mirror sport’s lazy reporter made this story up on Friday afternoon, after Lipton printed the story in the Daily version of your paper from the idiot on the Liverpool board.

Some of the stuff being spread about Stevie around Liverpool is even worse than this, and equally fake. All kinds of stories about personal issues for Stevie, all kinds of stories about how one paper or other will have it printed soon, yet not a shred of evidence. No photo, no video, in this day of camera phones. No “someone close to the couple” quotes. Nothing. Why? Because none of it is true.

I don’t know how they live with themselves making stuff up like this, when they know that it can only cause hurt. Stevie hurt a lot of us when he said he was leaving – but he made up for that in other ways. We’d not have won the FA Cup without him for example and we certainly wouldn’t have finished third last season without him. All the players have started off badly this season, Stevie included, but yesterday they showed that they are determined to stop the rot. If Stevie comes out in the papers himself and says he’s leaving, that’s the time to slate him. Until that happens – and all the real evidence points to it not happening – then button it.
It’s time that Liverpool supporters (not all of you, just some of you) started to remember that Steven Gerrard is a life-long Red and a human being, just like you. Ignore the stories the mancs and bluenoses are trying to spread. And stop spreading them yourselves too – especially those of you who’ve sent emails to us with this nonsense. The press are already having a good go at ruining Steven Gerrard and Liverpool’s season, and I really don’t know why. Don’t give them that bit of help they need to finish the job off.

People who are close to the players know that these stories are nonsense, especially the rumours that no paper would dare to print because they are so fake they’d be sued. The rumours are so wide-ranging that eventually they might actually get one right, but there’s no way all of them could be right, they contradict each other. And if just one of them did turn out to be true, don’t Liverpool supporters owe it to Steven to allow him to sort it out in his own way?
As for what the papers can print, well between Friday’s Mirror and today’s two Sunday versions of that paper, it’s clear that someone in that group – at least the southern-based part of that group – has some kind of an agenda against Liverpool FC and maybe that’ll be clearer soon. In the meantime I think most Reds would be better finding something else to read instead.

The classless, faceless, nameless coward who set about destabilising Liverpool is probably feeling quite proud of himself this morning. Just about every Liverpool fan site has condemned his comments, condemnation also coming yesterday from Rick Parry. Rafa Benítez also had to defend himself, from someone supposedly part of the same club he works so hard for.

Other newspapers have now had a chance to put their own opinions into the mix. The Guardian starting off by putting Rafa’s views forward, and seemingly being in support of Rafa more than the coward who should (in our view) fall on his own sword today.

Benítez has club’s backing despite criticism from boardroom – Guardian Unlimited Football

Manager reacts angrily to claim his policies have put Liverpool out of title hunt, writes Dominic Fifield

Rafael Benítez pleaded for a sense of “perspective” last night in the wake of criticism attributed to an unnamed club director, though the Liverpool manager admitted that he had expected his side to perform more coherently in the Premiership this season after their heady cup successes in his first two years in charge at Anfield.

…

Benítez was visibly annoyed by the criticism. “People have short memories,” he said. “I don’t remember people talking about rotation when we were beating Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen, Chelsea or Milan. And last season, when we won 11 games in a row, people were not talking about [Steven] Gerrard playing on the right side, and rotation.

“If you haven’t won the most important trophies for years then there will be expectation. That’s normal. But we won the Champions League [in 2005] and something changed. Because we won that, and the next year we won the Super Cup and the FA Cup, then people – all of us – were waiting for us to become contenders for the Premiership. But we started really badly away from home and now it’s a similar situation to last season. Then we worked hard, changed some things and the team was better. We will try to improve now by working harder and better.

“I hope to see the same things happen this year as last year, but you need to have perspective and analyse the situation. Manchester United went 26 seasons without winning the league, and at Valencia it was 31 years. These things happen in football. You can improve a lot, but if the other teams are improving as well then it is more difficult.”

…Liverpool were sufficiently alarmed by the comments to launch an internal inquiry yesterday in order to unearth their source.

The Independent were also coming down more on Rafa’s side than on the side of the faceless  director who despite a fair length of time in office clearly doesn’t understand the Liverpool way. Andy Hunter referred to football losing its marbles.

Independent Online Edition – Benitez shakes off boardroom criticism
By Andy Hunter

Proof that football has lost the last of its marbles emerged at Anfield yesterday, when the only Liverpool manager to lift two major trophies in his first two seasons at the club was forced to defend his record against vehement criticism from within his own boardroom.

Liverpool have opened an internal investigation into the attack on the style and transfer policy of Rafael Benitez, from one unnamed director in a tabloid newspaper, and quickly announced that the comments did not mirror the views of chairman David Moores, a staunch ally of the Spaniard whose majority shareholding prevents dissenters from having an influence on the manager’s future.

At a club that prides itself on unity, however, the exposure of a fundamental rift within the Liverpool hierarchy, along with the despondency at the team’s poor start to the Premiership season, has come as a jolt. It was boardroom stability that had a major bearing on Benitez’s decision to resist overtures from Real Madrid and Internazionale earlier this year. With the club now in the third year of its search for new investment to fund a proposed stadium move, as well as the ambition of a manager who has had to sell to buy, the outburst has attracted little support…

The Times meanwhile talk about the sacking of managers in general. Stuart Pearce has been under threat recently, as have Alan Pardew, Iain Dowie and Gareth Southgate. Pearce has spoken of his desire to see the equivalent of transfer windows but applied to managerial appointments and dismissals. The turncoat director who peddled his tripe to the Mirror is probably even prouder today to see that he has managed to get Rafael Benitez pigeon-holed with those four.

Times Online – Pearce in urgent call for chop window
By James Ducker
Click here to see the odds on who will get the boot this season

STUART PEARCE called for the introduction of a transfer window for managers yesterday in an effort to bring an end to the culture of “farcical” kneejerk reactions that he believes is blighting the game.

The Manchester City manager wants a system similar to that which exists for players that would make it impossible for a club to dismiss a manager outside two “windows” in the winter and summer…

A 4-0 thrashing by Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium last weekend — City’s fourteenth defeat in 17 away games — prompted an angry reaction from John Wardle, the club’s chairman, who gave warning that a repeat performance would not be tolerated, but Pearce is by no means the only Barclays Premiership manager to be feeling the heat.

Alan Pardew, the West Ham United manager, Iain Dowie, in charge of Charlton Athletic, and Gareth Southgate, the Middlesbrough manager, have all come under varying degrees of pressure of late, while Rafael Benítez’s position at Liverpool was called into question last night after an astonishing attack from an unnamed Anfield director.

…

Having woken to discover an anonymous Liverpool director questioning the direction in which he was taking the club after a poor start to the season that saw them slump to eleventh position in the Premiership after a 2-0 defeat by Manchester United last Sunday, Benítez called for a little perspective yesterday.

“Some people have short memories,” the Spaniard, who has won the Champions League, European Super Cup and FA Cup in less than 2½ years at Anfield, said.

The tabloid that got the scoop from the fruit-loop puts Rafa’s views across today. The fact they didn’t ask him for his opinion the night before so they could be added to their article yesterday suggests that perhaps they were worried Liverpool might try to stop the story getting out. Or that it would then be a balanced article. Not all of the journalists at that paper hate Liverpool though, so expect some more interesting articles in the coming days. For now, they’ve stuck with this one:

Mirror.co.uk – RAFA’S FURY AT ENEMY WITHIN
By David Anderson

ANGRY Rafael Benitez last night hit back at his Anfield boardroom sniper when he said that criticism of the club should be kept private.

The Liverpool boss was shocked by the attack on him by an unnamed director in yesterday’s Mirror, who questioned his leadership and transfer dealings after defeat at Manchester United effectively ended their title challenge.

Benitez claims his critics have short memories and pointed to his Champions League and FA Cup successes in his two years at Anfield.

He said: “Everyone is in a hurry for success. But Manchester United did not win the league for 26 years and in Valencia it was 31 years before we won the league.”

It will be interesting today to see how the fans react as a whole. Most Reds are frustrated at the lack of, well, wins this season, but only a very small minority would want Rafa sacked. And of that minority, most would accept that doing so now without a replacement lined up would be absolutely, well, stupid.

Expect to hear Rafa’s name sung loudly and proudly. And if you hear any Christmas carols being sung listen carefully to the words being used!

Liverpool Football Club have a traitor in their midst. Early this morning readers of the Mirror were greeted with a story by their Chief Football Writer Martin Lipton that claimed Liverpool were concerned about Rafael Benítez’s work so far.

Lipton claimed to have direct quotes from a member of Liverpool’s board – but the coward had not allowed Lipton to name him.

The article was introduced with a statement from Lipton that “a senior Anfield board member admitted the club is concerned about the direction the Spaniard is taking them.” As the day went on it seemed that saying “the club” was concerned was exaggerating the truth somewhat. As far as we can tell, it’s not “the club” that is concerned, just one cowardly member of the board. His excuse for not having the balls to come forward and put his name to his comments was, according to the paper, “to avoid a boardroom split”. Hard luck Mr X, you’ve probably achieved that anyway now.

The unnamed board member was quoted as saying: “We have paid too many inflated prices and inflated wages for players who are not doing the job. When it comes to any manager, the view of the board has always been to let them get on with it. We do not believe in interfering. But the day will come when we may not be that way inclined any more. We have always been very respectful of any manager we appoint. The view has always been the same one, the right one – that the manager must stand or fall by his efforts.”

What’s ridiculous about those quotes is that Rafael Benítez has had much less time (so far) to prove how good he can be for the club than most of his predecessors going back to Kenny Dalglish. As far as inflated transfer fees and wages are concerned, Rafael Benítez is still having to deal with offloading most of those left behind by the previous manager. Liverpool are 11 points from the top at the moment, and six points off a Champions League spot. The team that currently sits in fourth place six points above the Reds is Arsenal, the next team we play away. A win in that game and the gap would be closed, yet this director who I’d love to name says: “One thing that we can’t hide is that we have to be in the Champions League every season and if we do not qualify it will be a major problem. The budget we have set up is still in balance if we do not get into the Champions League. But if we are to make investment in the team we are talking about £20m of income we need to have every season.”

It’s unbelievable. Liverpool lost in terrible fashion on Sunday, and many people were disillusioned at the way it happened, and rightly so. Then on Wednesday night Liverpool won their Carling Cup game. It ended closer than it should have done, but as the first of four home games in succession it really did feel like the start of a recovery was maybe, just maybe, on the way. Liverpool were lacking confidence and this brought some back. So what the hell was this board member doing?

I’ve heard people on radio phone-ins and internet forums talking like this, I’d not expect one of our directors to do it: “We were looking to do something in the league. We thought it would be this year and it’s not going to happen now. Normally, by the time you get to October, you’d expect the manager to know his best team and stick with it but there are no signs of that happening now. I don’t think he could tell you what his best team is.” I’m stunned that a director of our club has done this on such a high profile stage and done this to the manager.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, and those internet forums and phone-ins I mentioned are full of them – from the most over-optimistic caller with Red-tinted glasses to the most pessimistic defeatist types who post threads about how the end is nigh for Liverpool. This director is clearly one of the defeatist types, one of the most extreme ones too. He is entitled to his opinion of course, but why give it to a tabloid in this way?

Earlier this morning I wrote about how annoying I was beginning to find Andy Gray, the bluenose-turned Sky pundit who seems to be on a mission to ridicule Rafa. I was annoyed at him being like that, and felt it was pushing the limits of what he should be saying as a member of a national broadcasting company. If he shouldn’t be talking like that, what on earth is one of our own board members doing to be talking in much the same way?

It’s bad enough that the director has been so spiteful in what he says, complaining about Rafa paying inflated prices and inflated wages for players who aren’t good enough. Which ones would they be by the way? Very few of Rafa’s signings haven’t worked out, although in some cases it really is too early to tell. What’s most frustrating about what this director has done today is that he’s done it in this way. Anonymously.

He’s not had the guts to say it as himself, using his own name, which he should now change to “Yellow”.

He’d probably be better off sticking to his other job, he’s clearly spent too much time in that one to be in touch with how we do things at Liverpool Football Club. I wonder if he’s even realised that Rafael Benítez has replaced Gerard Houllier yet.

There’s only one option open to the remaining members of the board. Vote the traitor out.

As Wayne Rooney once said, “Once a blue always a blue”, and Sky pundit Andy Gray is one who’ll never shake off that fact about himself when he starts to talk about Liverpool. Speaking on his column on the Sky website Gray explained why he’s so worked up about Rafa Benítez’s policy of rotation and playing Gerrard wide right. And he is worked up: “I don’t care what Rafa Benitez says, in the English Premiership you need a certain consistency in team selection if you are going to be successful. By breaking up the team on a match-by-match basis it becomes very difficult for the players to get to know each others strengths and weaknesses.”

According to Gray, who’s never been a manager as far as I know, Rafa should look at the actions of the other three teams originally earmarked for league glory at the start of the season: “You only have to look at Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea. They make occasional changes but not to the extent that Liverpool do and certainly not in important areas of the field.  Drogba and Shevchenko have played in all the big games this season, as have Rooney and Saha for United.”

It actually comes across as almost patronising. Gray says the Spaniard is being caught out by the differences between the English and Spanish games: “It may have worked for him in Spain but this is the Premiership, not La Liga, and the same rules don’t apply. You need to pick a side and stick with it. I can understand the need to rotate and rest players occasionally but not in September and October. After Christmas give a player a rest possibly but not at this stage of the season.”

Andy Gray’s cries of “You beauty” as Steven Gerrard sent Liverpool through to knock-out stages of the Champions League on the way to Istanbul are legendary. Sky use them to advertise HDTV but it must be getting embarrassing for him now at meet-ups of the old boys from Everton. Instead of discussing with their former manager how it’s all Liverpool’s fault that Everton became failures after the mid-eighties he’s no doubt finding he has to defend himself over why he was so enthusiastic about the Reds that night. He’s now – it seems – enjoying a chance to dig the knife in a little: “I don’t think it’s any surprise that Liverpool have gone further behind this year than anyone was expecting. They haven’t matched the standard they have set themselves in the past couple of seasons and defensively they have given away too many sloppy goals.”

He is determined that we all start to believe him over his opinions on Gerrard. He says: “As long as this malaise continues the Steven Gerrard issue is not going to go away.” So it’s an “issue” now?  Maybe, but really not as much of an issue as he wants us to believe. He carries on: “While they were winning games it was easier for him to accept playing out of position because it was benefiting the team. Liverpool fans may not want to hear this but if the situation continues, the club may have to consider selling Steven.”

Gray is probably also still reeling from the fact that David Moyes had to sell Wayne Rooney and wants Liverpool to do the same. I’ve heard Gray talk a lot of sense in the past but on this particular “issue” it seems he has his beloved Everton in mind as he comes out with each word. It really is stirring from Gray, who still won’t stop: “Benitez prefers to play with two holding midfielders and Steven is not one of them and would have to accept being moved around. It’s not inconceivable that he may find himself looking for a move away from Liverpool to pursue his ambitions elsewhere.”

You hope so Andy. Gerrard spoke yesterday about who he’s happy to play on the right for the good of the team. The thing is, if Gerrard was genuinely unhappy at Anfield, few Reds would stand in his way. What’s the point of having a player in your team if he’s so unhappy with where he’s being played that he plays poorly? Despite attempts by the rumour mongers, Gerrard isn’t so unhappy.

Gray tells us yet again (like he does every time we drop a point) that we can’t win the league. We know that Gray – although after what happened in Istanbul in 2005 we know that you should never say “never”.  Gray says: “Too many changes have affected them and the way they are playing at the moment there is just no way that they can win the league.”

Hopefully Rafael Benítez will have found Gray’s article and had it pinned to every wall of every room at Melwood, before having it enlarged and put on the board in the dressing room at Anfield. That’s where the players will be getting changed before their next match, against Villa. Gray seems to have forgotten to check that this is a home game for the Reds: “They face Aston Villa on Saturday and that is far from an easy game for them. Their home form has been good but their away form has been absolutely abysmal, and until that improves Liverpool will continue to struggle.”

We all know Liverpool haven’t played to their expected standards, but Gray’s comments are sounding more and more like that Blue you know from work every day!

A quick look at how the papers saw yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Blackburn. The general concensus is that our season was totally doomed until Bellamy came along and got us a point, rescuing us from that doom. Perhaps they’re right!
Independent on Sunday: Bellamy helps paper over the cracks of a crumbling season
Bellamy’s goal effectively got them out of the mire yesterday. Benitez believed his team’s dominance of the second half – in terms of possession, if not clear-cut chances – merited victory but there were plenty of frustrated voices among a 44,000 crowd that would give him an argument on that score. In reality, it had been as disjointed and unconvincing a display as they had witnessed so far from their side.

Sunday Telegraph: Bellamy rescues Liverpool
This was the perfect moment for Craig Bellamy to score his first Premiership goal for Liverpool. With the hosts drifting towards defeat against his former Blackburn Rovers team-mates, the prickly Welsh international headed in a far-post equaliser in front of a baying Kop to keep their unbeaten home run intact.

Liverpool had not lost at Anfield in the league for more than a calendar year, but they failed to play the disdainful, imperious hosts, instead proving sloppy housekeepers. This was an error-strewn performance from a side whose constant rotation is undermining cohesion. Home draws are not the foundation for a title tilt.

Sunday Times: Bellamy spares Liverpool blushes
Liverpool’s vulnerability remained. Faced with a routine through ball, Hyypia pondered and then panicked, allowing Jason Roberts to steal it from him and nudge a pass to Bentley, whose shot from eight yards glanced off the underside of Reina’s body and almost went in. Yesterday, Bellamy repaired a bit of storm damage but unless Benitez shores up his base the structure he has been building will never push to the skies.

Observer: Blackburn’s jetsetters show Benitez the way
While Rafael Benitez, pre-match, ranted and railed about the injustice of being denied Mohamed Sissoko and Dirk Kuyt because of injuries sustained playing for their countries in midweek, Blackburn’s Australian pair, Brett Emerton and Lucas Neill, were in the air, completing a round trip of more than 20,000 miles following their own international appearances.

People: HUGHES SORRY NOW AS BELL LANDS BLOW
CRAIG BELLAMY is used to breaking Blackburn hearts… so it was always in the script that he would score his first Liverpool goal in the Premiership against the club he loved and left.

The only surprise was that Bellamy had been so anonymous against his old mates until his vital leveller.

I read an article earlier today on the Liverpool Echo’s website, “Outrage as ex-Sun boss denies lies“, and found it quite frankly unbelievable. Former editor of The S*n and – in the eyes of most Liverpool fans at least – the lowest low life currently free to walk the streets, Kelvin McKenzie, has tried to claim that his lies weren’t lies. According to the person who upset so many decent people over what he said about those who suffered at Hillsborough, “They were great stories that later turned out to be untrue”.

I found it hard to find the right words to use to describe how I felt. Most of the ones I came up with were just four letters long. And although words like “vile” and “scum” were in the mix, they weren’t the ones I had in mind. I found another blog entry put it across quite well, very well in fact. Dave Usher of The Liverpool Way wrote: “Even a four year old is aware of the difference between the truth and a lie” as he goes on to describe his views on McKenzie – see “Kelvin McKenzie – Lowest of the Low”

The original article appeared in the Press Gazette, which is the trade mag for journalists. The author, Rob McGibbon, used to work for McKenzie and has the full interview on his website (see “Press Conference With…“). McGibbon asks his former boss: “Do you have any sense of shame about untrue stories generally? Is there anything you feel bad about?” Predictably, the answer is: “No. Nothing. What am I supposed to feel ashamed about?”

What are you supposed to feel ashamed about? Where do we start? Try these words you allowed on your front page back in 1989. Words you’ve never been held to account over, all in pretty big letters underneath that once-familiar block capped S*n headline lettering, screaming “THE TRUTH”. Words that were totally untrue, words that you’ve never apologised for. Words read by people who had been injured alongside those whose lives ended in such a horrible way. These words:

“Some fans picked pockets of victims
Some fans urinated on the brave cops
Some fans beat up PC giving kiss of life.”

Ashamed? That’s not even close.

He’s not ashamed, but he’s well aware that he did wrong. He claims he got away with his damaging bullshit for years because he knew he was working for the one man who would allow it – Rupert Murdoch. He says: “Only Rupert would have kept me on, you know. I would have been slung out years earlier by anybody else. People talk about the excesses of the ’80s and ’90s and, sure, you couldn’t do that kind of stuff now. I actually think the sale would be damaged. These are different times, more media-savvy times, with a greater ability for people to say: ‘I’ll buy something else.’”

Well thanks for those words McKenzie. “Buy something else” needs to perhaps become our new phrase as we try to ensure that The S*n boycott goes on.

Buy something else, listen to something else – stay clear of The S*n, stay clear of McKenzie. And try to point this out to anyone you know, relative or colleague, who’s not from Liverpool or not a Red. You see The S*n and McKenzie have no remorse and will tell similar lies again given the chance; and your relative or colleague could be the next one made a victim of the vile attitude of these scum.

Buy Something Else – boycott McKenzie and The S*n

Serial spitter El-Hadji Diouf always came across as being a few stickers short of a Panini album, but now he’s gone even further with bizarre claims of how good he believes he is.

According to the Manchester Evening News, Diouf, now of Bolton, wants people to think that he’s too good for the white shirt of Bolton, and instead should be playing in the white shirt of Real Madrid.

Laughable really. The paper quotes him saying: “I think all the time about playing for big clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona. I tell myself that it will happen one day. At present I am with Bolton and devoting all my energies to them. But if I have a good season I will get my reward in the future.”

Maybe we’re being harsh on him by saying he thinks he’s good enough to play for the likes of Real and Barca. He says he dreams of playing with them, and we all have dreams. I used to dream of one day playing for Liverpool, but then I realised that I wasn’t even good enough for the school team. Dream over. The gap between my school team and the heights of playing for the European Champions (as we invariably were when I was at school) is quite some gap. The gap between playing for Bolton (after being kicked out by Liverpool) and playing for the top sides in Spain is also quite some gap. And even now, twenty years after leaving school, I’d say I’ve more chance of realising my “dream” than Diouf has.

No other former Liverpool player fills me with as much anger as Mr Diouf. A lot of our former players are legends thanks to their part in bringing us one piece of silverware or other. Other former players still get respect because of some redeeming quality. They might have been an awful player who tried hard every week. They might have been a good player who missed out because we had someone even better in front of them. Just the fact they used to wear our shirt tends to get most former players at least a round of applause if they return to face us in some game. If we had a song for them when they played for us they might even hear it sung.

Not Diouf.

Michael Owen got a bit of a frosty reception last season when he returned to Anfield dressed as a barcode for Newcastle, but that was only some sections of the crowd. Owen’s problem was that although he brought us a lot of victories we’d have otherwise missed out on he upset some of our fans for years by making it seem his priority was England not Liverpool, something that ultimately cost him the chance to come back to Anfield. Had he been prepared to forget about the World Cup of 2006, the one he hardly played in anyway due to injury, maybe he’d have got a move to Anfield. It doesn’t excuse anyone jeering him though, he deserved better treatment than that.

The reason Owen deserved better treatment was because he’s probably one of only a handful of players booed on their return to Anfield. He never deserved to be lumped into a category that includes El-Hadji Diouf, the player who brought shame onto the club when he spat on a Celtic fan.

And if Owen, ten times the player Diouf is, struggled to get as many games as he deserved at Real Madrid then what chance has Diouf got of being looked at by Real?

Sorry Diouf, but Bolton are as big a club as you’ll ever get to play for in the future. Time to stop dreaming.