24/06/2007
Reprieve for Albert Luque
Given that we can't get a decent offer in for Luque rumour is that he's going to be given another chance in the new regime. Here is a view of what he used to do:
22/06/2007
Shut up Shearer
Alan Shearer's recent announcements to the press are that Michael Owen will probably stay next season, he will come and manage Newcastle one day and Newcastle must not sign Craig Bellamy. This really isn't helping Sam Allardyce steady the team situation. Just as a reminder to Shearer here is why Allardyce is considering buying Bellamy back, Note the pace of him Alan !!
But a reminder of what Sam Allardyce would have to manage, this goal celebration a few days after attacking team mate John Arne Riise with a golf club:
07/06/2007
Mike Ashley goes for the Abramovich model
Freddie Shepherd accepted the inevitable yesterday and from his hospital bed agreed to sell his 29 per cent share of the club at the offer price of £1.00 netting him around £37 million.
It appears Freddie would like to stay on as Chairman along with the other members of the Board. That would leave vice chairman as Douglas Hall, Chief Executive as Steve Walton and Chief Operating Officer as Russell Cushing. Mike Ashley apparently is considering this proposal.
To be successful a club does need stability and a united management team all pulling in the same direction. Whether this can be achieved with our current board headed by Mike Ashley is for Mike Ashley himself to decide.
What the club does need to do at the moment is concentrate on the key job in hand. The success of next season is very much dependant on Sam Allardyce getting top quality players signed up over the next few weeks. He must be fully supported in doing that.
So maintaining the current Board would certainly help in the short term. We wish Mike Ashley good luck in negotiating contracts with the existing Board but hope he keeps an eye on the small print around severance pay!!
07/06/2007
Transfer window activity looks good so far
One thing you need at a big club like Newcastle United is players with the mental strength to cope with the pressure of expectation. Scott Parker has clearly shown at both Chelsea and now Newcastle that he does not have that, so selling him on at £0.5 million profit looks an excellent piece of business.
One player for the big occasion clearly is Joey Barton, his famous comments on the England golden generation of players proved he is not intimidated by reputation. Just as Roy Keane himself had in his early days, Barton does come with some well documented personal issues which he needs to be addressed. However signing what could be the new Roy Keane at £5.5 million seems an absolute bargain.
Lets hope Kieron Dyer passes the ball to him when he wants it, fighting with Joey Barton on the pitch looks to be far more hazardous then a bit of shirt tugging with Lee Bowyer !!
See our page Transfer Window Special for details on latest targets and signings.
25/05/2007
Move over Liverpool and Arsenal, here come the Geordie’s
In the space of a few weeks we seem to have landed the best current English club manager ideally suited to modernising the playing side of the club and a billionaire owner anxious to make Newcastle successful and get a return on his money.
Mike Ashley specialises in buying quality brands which have fallen on hard times (e.g. Newcastle United) and making them great again. He shies away from publicity so will not be constantly speaking to the press on all things football. He is not a football man hence will not be telling Sam Allardyce how to pick the team and which players to buy. This all sounds great to us.
Meanwhile at 2 of our competitors for Champions League qualification:
Signs of unrest at Liverpool as Rick Parry and Rafael Benitez have a public fall out over transfer activity. Rafael Benitez has also proved by his tactics in the Champions League final that Liverpool’s scoring problems are not down to Morientes, Crouch, Bellamy, Pennant, Kuyt, Fowler, Zenden, Kewell, Gerrard, Alonso et all but down to having a coach who can stop goals being scored at one end but has little clue how to run the offensive half of the pitch.
At Arsenal, they have lost their great mover and shaker in David Dein, his closest associate at the club in manager Arsene Wenger has only one year to run on his contract and not rushing for a new one, a board full of old traditionalists and a team of young players who are still showing little more than potential.
So come on the Geordies, there are 2 vacancies at the top of English football to aim at, Champions league here we come!!!! (Hope your listening Michael Owen!!)
16/05/2007
Lets get down to it Sam
Unlike Martin O'Neil at Villa, Big Sam has actually inherited an expensively assembled, talented group of players. Add a couple of centre halves, a left back and a Shearer style target man up front and we've got a squad capable of an immediate challenge for a Champions League spot.
Obviously that squad needs to be organised, motivated, trained properly and physically prepared for a long Premier league season. Fortunately it appears Sam has persuaded Freddie Shepherd that he needs the back up team to provide this so we can look forward to watching the complete modernisation of Newcastle United's backroom approach. Of course this should all be same again for Sam as it is exactly what he has done at Bolton.
Where his biggest challenge will be along with Freddie Shepherd is in revolutionising the board room. It's only 3 weeks ago that one of the richest clubs in Europe were telling their manager that despite finishing 13th in the Premiership, going out in all cup competitions and serving up disgraceful performances on the pitch, Glen could stay on another year.
Well full credit to Freddie Shepherd to move quickly when Sam became available but to win anything the Board have to be supportive of Sam and be professional in their behaviour. Also some new blood is needed on the Board to add the expertise required to run a successful Premiership football club with a global brand challenging regularly in the Champions league, which is where we are aiming.
We are sick of watching the club ridiculed for the activities in both the board room and the dressing room, occasional signings of Hollywood style players on Hollywood style salaries and the appalling behaviour of some of those players.
We want a strong, united, organised, motivated squad of players who behave professionally and are prepared to play their hearts out for some of the greatest fans in football.
Sam, you have our full support in trying to achieve this. Good luck!!
11/05/2007
Freddie Shepherd, Sir Bobby Robson, loyalty and integrity
So Freddie Shepherd is discussing loyalty and integrity with the press over the Michael Owen situation.
Well Freddie perhaps you would like to consider this. Sir Bobby Robson has been our best manager in living memory, he is a statesman of world football and a knight of the realm, he is a Newcastle fan and true Geordie and always wanted to move up to a director of football role at Newcastle after his team manager job ended.
So why is Sir Bobby not involved in any capacity at the club that he loves, helping steer us through these difficult times? (ever heard of someone called Bobby Charlton at Manchester United ??). The reason is because you kicked him out Freddie! Now tell us where loyalty and integrity played a part in that.
Until you yourself publicly display some of the qualities you request from Michael Owen then please be quiet and stop rubbishing our employees in the national press.
What would be better use of your time and gain you more respect would be a public display of support to Sir Bobby as he fights his latest battle against cancer.
Anyway Sir Bobby, Trophy4toon certainly wish you good health and dearly miss your involvement and sensible stewardship in helping manage Newcastle United Football Club.
10/05/2007
Freddie you’re embarrassing us
So the news today is that Freddie Shepherd has publicly criticised Michael Owen for putting word round that he might be interested in activating his get out clause and that the appointment of Sam Allardyce is being delayed due to Freddie haggling over the number of back room staff Sam wants.
Well on the Michael Owen situation we can only say that you Freddie are responsible for what goes on at the club and if you allowed a get out clause to be inserted in the contract of your prize asset then you have only yourself to blame. You should act with integrity and accept the situation and stop attacking Owen in the press. Even better, what are you doing talking to the press about football matters anyway, it would be much better if you left that to the team manager.
What Sam Allardyce must be thinking we can only guess at. He decides to leave Bolton for a bigger club then discovers that the bigger club he thought he was joining won’t fund the backroom staff he believes he needs and that Bolton were more than happy to sanction.
Please listen to us Freddie. Managing the club is easy, hire a good manager, give him what he wants and stop talking to the press on football matters. If you screw up this time your job as owner/chairman of Newcastle United will certainly become untenable.
05/05/2007
Paying up for a new manager
So what is the going rate for a successful Premiership manager?? Well Mourinho gets paid £5.4 million a year at Chelsea, Ferguson gets £3 million at Man United, and Roy Keane gets £2 million at Sunderland to be increased to £3 million in the Premiership. We pay Glen Roeder around £1.5 million.
Well rumour has it that Freddie Shepherd has baulked at paying compensation for managers in the past and on current evidence does not seem willing to pay top rates to attract the top managers.
Well this is quite interesting coming from a club who have paid £9 million and £4 million a year for Albert Luque, £16 million and £5.3 million a year for Michael Owen and £4 million a year for Kieron Dyer.
As quoted by Jose Mourinho "I am only the team manager, I am not the Owner, the Chief Executive or the Chairman. I give my opinion to the club and they try to give me what is good for the team". This is certainly true but highlights two points, the manager cannot be successful on his own without a capable hard working board of directors to support him. Also that actually the club does need a top quality team manager in the first place to tell you what needs to be done.
So come on Freddie Shepherd, this is easy management work for you as our Chairman, stop spending all our money on waster players and invest top rates in attracting a top quality, proven manager then work hard to give him what he wants.
So lets see our managers job advertised at £2 million compensation and £5 million salary (much less than we’ve paid for Michael Owen) and see what contenders that flushes out.
Newcastle United managed by Klinsmann, Mourinho, Hiddink, Felipe Scolari, Marcello Lippi, Louis van Gaal, Sam Allardyce or any other top manager all sounds great to us.
02/05/2007
The Case for Sam Allardyce as Manager of Newcastle United
Allardyce is an ambitious and proven performer, with his best days still ahead of him; he is a strong, abrasive personality, which makes him ideally suited to handle the pressures of the enormous job of managing Newcastle United. He has got no chance of getting a job managing any of the current top 11 Premiership clubs - Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Bolton (obviously), Everton, Reading, Portsmouth, Tottenham, Blackburn, Aston Villa.
Everything is in place at Newcastle, i.e. stable club management, fantastic stadium, large income, huge fanbase, all that is missing is a strong, proven manager to run the football team. As Mourinho proved at Porto, you don't need hundreds of millions of pounds to win the Champions League.
This is a great opportunity for both Newcastle United and Sam Allardyce together to compete for the highest prizes in European football.
29/04/2007
It’s the Newcastle fans to blame
There is an internet poll currently running (see http://www.newcastle-online.com) asking the question ‘Do you want to see a new manager take charge of Newcastle next season’. Amazingly 25% of us Toon Army still want Glen Roeder in charge. Come on you Geordie faithful, we are one of the richest clubs in Europe, roughly equal in income to Liverpool. Nothing short of Champions League football each season is acceptable. It is only by the fans accepting this rubbish on the pitch that allows it to happen. Believe in your club, actively voice your support for success, throw this management team out, they have failed.
29/04/2007
We are losing £2 million a month, are we another Leeds United
Newcastle United are currently losing £2 million per month. As Leeds United take another step on their march from Champions League semi finals to League 1 obscurity due to Board Room mismanagement one cannot help cast an eye over Newcastle United’s financial accounts. See the excellent analysis in www.nufc-finances.org.uk .
Some highlights from the club accounts are rather alarming.
- The wage bill has gone up by 12% in the last 12 months
- The wages to revenue ratio is currently 67% against a target of 50%
- In 1998 (Around the time Freddie Shepherd returned to take control after the News of the World scandal) the clubs net assets stood at around £56 million, now they stand at around £7 million
- By July 2007 the clubs net assets look to be going negative to around -£10 million
- The club is currently running on an overdraft of £20 million
This week the share price started at 62p on Monday and had risen to 77p by Friday believed to be on the back of small investor purchases.
Well unless there is a millionaire investor putting a bid together to rescue the club, it’s clear to see our financial position will not support us in the premiership for much longer.
So let’s hope we are not visiting Leeds United in the near future!!!
24/04/2007
Freddie Shepherd please sort this out now.
It's reported in the papers today ahead of the Champions League semi final that AC Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti is unlikely to keep his job at the end of the season unless AC Milan actually win the Champions league. After having 20 points deducted for match fixing AC Milan lie 4th in Serie A and are through to the Champions League semi final. This is regarded as failure and hence its rumoured Frank Rijkaard or Marco van Basten are the likely replacements of Ancelotti as manager.
Meanwhile just a few places down the European rich list the Evening Chronicle is reporting that it is certain Newcastle United will start with Glen Roeder as manager next season. This despite a current 13th position in the Premier League, knocked out early in both cups and defeat in the UEFA cup as soon as we came up against a half decent team.
This is totally unacceptable. Newcastle United are one of Europe's richest clubs with one of the biggest fan bases. The minimum each season is competing in the Champions league. This last season has been desperate and Glen Roeder should be sacked. The playing squad also needs some serious sorting out as suggested in our Solving the Injury Crisis feature.
If we wait until early into next season to sack Roeder as is Freddie Shepherds normal behaviour, then we have lost another season as the search for a new manager would begin. The time to change your manager is in the summer along with everyone else when all the quality managers are available for negotiation. Roeder has not brought Champions league football to Newcastle United hence he has already failed and should be sacked now.
Word on the street is many Newcastle United season ticket holders won't be renewing next season unless there is change. This is going to hit Freddie Shepherd hard where it hurts him most i.e. in his pockets.
So, Trophy4toon message to Freddie Shepherd is 'sack Roeder now and bring us a top flight manager as soon as possible'.
15/04/2007
Cashing in on Owen
According to the Sunday papers today Manchester United are mounting a £12 million bid for Michael Owen. This triggers a get out clause in his contract which allows him to go to any club offering £12 million or more. It was rumoured that this get out clause existed when Owen first signed but neither Newcastle United or Michael Owen would confirm or deny its existence.
In any case Trophy4toon.co.uk believe we should be cashing in Michael Owen, see feature Solving the Injury Crisis.
Assuming that Owen does not play at all this season, he will have cost Newcastle United around £16 million in transfer fees and £10 million in salary over 2 years, totalling £26 million. During this period he has played 11 matches and scored 7 goals. So, Newcastle United have paid £2.3 million for each match that Owen has played, and £3.7 million for each goal Owen has scored.
Now that poses a few interesting questions given his well publicised £5.3 million annual salary. Can he and Martins function in the same team, being such similar players i.e. out and out goal scorers? Given that Owen has barely played for the last 3 seasons is he value for money on his salary? Does Michael Owen want to play for Newcastle and could he outperform Martins if he did? There is a strong case for staying with Obafemi Martins who has delivered on the pitch this season despite playing in a poor team. Therefore we should be cashing in Owen by selling him to a Champions League outfit willing to repay some of his enormous transfer fee and take on his substantial salary.
Then use the money for a fitter, up and coming goal scorer to understudy Martins.
14/04/2007
Appoint Jose Mourinho as Newcastle United manager without delay
For Freddie Shepherd as Chairman of a wealthy Premiership football club like Newcastle United running the football side of things should be fairly straightforward. Appoint a proven, experienced, successful manager, support him and leave him alone to get on with it.
So apart from the ridiculous rumours of bringing Sven Goran Erikson to Newcastle United, Freddie Shepherd now has a golden opportunity to recruit one of the best coaches in the world.
Jose Mourinho spoke to pro Real Madrid Spanish sports paper Marca yesterday saying he loved managing in the Premiership and would like to manage another Premiership club.
As campaigned for on Trophy4toon.co.uk on our the manager section we need to pay top salary for a top manager to run the club. It is incompetent to pay £5.6 million salary to Michael Owen and only around £1.5 million salary for the team manager. The manager should be one of the highest paid employee’s as with any other well run business.
Mourinho is clearly not going to be Chelsea manager next season and Freddie Shepherd may not get another opportunity like this. Newcastle United are made for Jose Mourinho, an under performing giant where he could have full control of team affairs, where he would be idolised by the whole City and where he has the opportunity of turning Newcastle United into one of the top clubs in Europe.
So don’t wait till a few games into next season Freddie to sack the manager like you did with Dalglish, Gullit and Robson. All the evidence shows the Newcastle United fans will be boycotting season tickets for next season till you sort out the current mess. Give the new manager the whole summer and pre season to sort the team out.
Offer any reasonable terms he wants and appoint Jose Mourinho as Newcastle United manager without delay.
31/03/2007
Sepp Blater declares Shepherd ‘greedy’
Well FIFA have finally com to the same conclusion as the majority of Newcastle fans. Having rejected Freddie Shepherd’s claim of £6.2 million from the FIFA compensation fund aimed primarily at developing football nations, Sepp Blater denounced Newcastle United as ‘greedy’ given that they come from the richest league in the world. Well if he’d done his research and realised that Freddie and his friends have taken £23.6 million out of Newcastle United in the last 9 years for themselves, he could have come to this conclusion a whole lot quicker.
23/03/2007
Sorry Kieran my son, but every match counts
Quotes from Kieran Dyer after the AZ Alkmaar defeat were that the season is now over and there is nothing to play for. Well we would just like to say that actually there are 50,000 season ticket holders who have paid a whole lot of money to be entertained by you. Given your circa £4 million a year salary we would expect you to keep trying your utmost to entertain the fans and win every match. Given that we are only 10 points behind Bolton and a UEFA cup slot then we should still be trying to win every match. Given that Newcastle United are one of the biggest clubs in Europe being one of the top 15 richest clubs there is no end to the season, every match counts.
Could our manager please fine Kieran Dyer for such comments as they are a total insult to the fantastic loyal supporters of Newcastle United.
04/03/2007
The Graveyard Slot
Well we finally made it on Match of the Day. To avoid boring the nation to tears MoD scheduled us in their graveyard slot which finished with a quote from Gary Linekar ‘even Alan Shearer can’t think of anything to say about that match’. All in front of a crowd of 52,000, what a disgrace to us loyal fans. At least we still have UEFA Cup interest but that could soon change in the next few weeks if AZ Alkmaar live up to their reputation. Now Louis van Gaal, isn’t he a top, experienced manager who’s won the Champions league with Ajax, hmmm could we have a chat with him in the boardroom and see how he likes Newcastle. Its time for change at the club, (see Change the Board) and the sooner the better!
Meanwhile, Michael Owen compensation…….
As Glen Roeder bores us on the pitch our Chairman Freddie Shepherd persists in upsetting all football hierarchy with his constant chase for free money. Word is FIFA President Sepp Blater is furious with Freddie Shepherd over his claim for £6.2 million out of the £7 million fund set up mainly to help the poorer football nations. Quote from Blater “If you look who is asking for moneythen something is wrong because it is from the richest league in the world.".
Despite already getting £50,000 a week from the FA (the maximum allowed) Freddie has also lodged a claim with them for further compensation to cover having to sign Obafemi Martins for £10m (didn’t we need a striker anyway Freddie ??).
Strikes me that rather than damaging the reputation of the club by upsetting the ruling bodies and wasting valuable time chasing hopeless causes our Management team should be fully concentrating on what will earn the biggest increase in revenue i.e. success on the pitch !!
26/01/2007
Stuck in Limbo Land
With Shepherd now blaming the Hall’s for blocking all his improvements for the club we still remain inactive in any form of sensible management whilst the football team drifts along in the lower half of the table.
For our views on how to get out of this limbo see Change the Board.
Anyone with any ideas on how to get out of this please email us at trophy4toon.@hotmail.co.uk .
22/01/2007
There are still buyers out there !!
It's reported this morning that George Gillett is bidding against Dubai International Capital to buy Liverpool for around £156 million. As stated in our Why Liverpool section has anyone pointed out to these tycoons that Newcastle are on a par to Liverpool for income and we have one of the best stadiums in Europe unlike Liverpool who are planning to spend the next few years building a new one.
True that Liverpool are the most decorated club in England but Newcastle United could be that in the future. So hopefully the loser of this bid might turn to Newcastle and buy us out of the Hall and Shepherd limbo land we are currently in.
21/01/2007
Injuries, bad luck or bad management ???
Glenn Roeder stated yesterday Shay Given's groin has eventually gone after playing with it for a few weeks now. Is this bad luck or mismanagement from the physio room. With a home match and our very capable deputy Steve Harper now fit and on the bench should we have played Shay Given and risked serious aggravation of his injury. Same could be said of Damien Duff's belated return a few weeks back for 1 match then he's missing again for another long spell.
Interesting that the bottom 2 teams of the Physio league table (see physio room) are Arsenal and Manchester United who are renowned for their state of the art physio rooms whilst Newcastle top this particular league table and have a consistent dubious record over both the Souness and Roeder reigns for producing long injury lists.
15/01/2007
Newcastle set to sign ... ????
Despite being linked to every player available we are now half way through the January transfer window and still have not made any signings. It's clear to most fans and as stated in our The Squad section, we need in priority order, a commanding centre back who will organise the defence and bring on the promising youngsters, a holding striker in the Shearer mould who can help Martins up front and a proper left back. Strongest rumour at present is that we are considering buying Ronaldo from Real Madrid. Given that he fits non of the criteria that we need, would cost £5 million plus salary of £4.5 million a year and is known in Madrid for being "Fat and Finished", it would be ridiculous to buy him. So, that'll be happening next week then ...
14/01/2007
NUFC reputation dragged through the gutter
Trophy4toon fully support the FIFA campaign "kick racism out of football" and any contributor to this site who was proved to make racist remarks would be appropriately disciplined. What a shame our Chairman does not feel the need to make a similar statement about Newcastle United whilst the good name of the club gets dragged through the gutter as Emre faces an FA charge for his comments to Everton's Tim Howard. As for Emre who is paid circa £4 million a year (see Who takes what) by us to play football he would be best apologising for any embarrassment caused and keeping quiet till his FA hearing rather than threatening to walk out on the club if he is found guilty.
09/01/2007
Souness looking to buy a football club
Reported today that Graeme Souness has had a £20m bid for Wolves rejected. Well if he wants a chance to prove he can manage the whole club better than he can manage the football team then Newcastle would be a good challenge for him. As in our Who runs the Club section, the current incumbents may cost a bit to dislodge. Souness himself has stated that he wants to run a club properly and seems a far better bet than being owned by a hedge fund and a bank (Polygon and USB) and the rewards would be great if he was successful. In fact the rewards are pretty good already for the current Board even when we have not won anything for 52 years !!!
06/01/2007
Manager Alert
Trophy4toon make it clear that to compete in the Champions league Newcastle need a high quality, proven, experienced manager. News today that there is unrest between Guus Hiddink and Jose Mourinho. Abramovich is good friends with Hiddink, has a cool relationship with Mourinho and Hiddink is looking to leave his post of managing Russia in the summer.
Both Hiddink and Mourinho are managers targeted in our Manager section as potential managers for Newcastle United. We should be monitoring this situation very closely and making enquiries.
04/01/2007
Consortium pull out of take over talks
The Consortium "St James' Park Group" backed by Polygon have announced they are no longer interested in making an offer to buy Newcastle United FC. The share price having been at a recent high of 81p is down to 75p on the news.
All quiet from the club on Racism
With our clubs name all over the daily newspapers regarding allegations of Emre, one of our expensive star players, racially abusing an opposing Everton player in our recent match there has been no comment from the club Chairman. One would expect at the very least confirmation that the club supports "Kick Racism out of football" and will take any action necessary if in fact Emre did racially abuse a fellow professional.
02/01/2007 Well done the young un's.
What a brilliant display from our youngsters to hold the might of Manchester United and well done Nobby Solano for guiding the defence through it. What that has proved is that the purchase of a quality, experienced defender who would organise and lead our back four would enable us to dump some of our expensive, defensive non performers and give the youngsters like Taylor, Huntington and Edgar an opportunity to shine.
01/01/2007
Kick Racism out of sport
We all support that except for apparently our Turkish midfielder Emre. If the allegations made by the Everton players and some members of the crowd are true then Newcastle should take the lead. Given his £4m a year salary, he should be heavily fined and the fine donated to a suitable charity. So far no comment from the club but the FA are investigating
Michael Owen
Why is he coming back this season ??
Just like last season we will rush him back and risk further injury, but with no World Cup to justify the risk this time. And he'll only just be getting match fit by the season end. Why would you risk your prize asset like this ???
We should be planning on getting him fully fit for next seasons campaign and not relying on him for this season.
Surgeon Steadman has announced Owens knee operation a success.
Continuing optimistic comments from Roeder "When Michael comes back he will not only have a new knee that is working perfectly but hopefully the strength in his hamstring to get back the searing pace that used to blow you away"
31/12/2006
United top table
But nothing to be proud of, this is in the Physio room. We now have more players out of action than any other Premiership club. (see link to Physio room) Defence for the New Years day game against the league leaders Manchester United features Nicky Butt at centre half along with Huntingdon, Taylor and Solano. Looks like a case of how many will Man United score.
January Transfer Window Rumours
Newcastle are in the lower half of the league and Europe next year is unlikely. So which established quality players would want to come ???
Targets in
Matthew Upson - wants a move, has potential Champions League quality but needs a good physio room to keep him on the pitch. Competition for him will be hot.
Peter Crouch - Liverpool state he is not for sale
Joey Barton - would only consider a move to a top 4 club
Miroslav Klose - Werder Bremen, no statements
Mark Viduka - hints of Middlesbrough trying to off load the huge earning, under performing, usually unfit Mark Viduka onto us
James Beattie - looking for a fresh start and Everton with the success of youngster Anichebe could risk off loading their non performing striker
Wayne Bridge - Chelsea have enough problems without releasing this quality left back
Lucas Neil - wants to go to a top 4 club, Liverpool favourites.
Going out
Albert Luque - no rumours yet of where we can off load him
Emre - strong rumours of him returning to Italy
Milner - Villa still interested???
