A Football Report

By Saf Hossain, writing from London

The small matter of Liverpool versus Manchester United is, arguably, the biggest fixture in any sport, anywhere in the world. This Saturday afternoon at Anfield was due to be a special occasion regardless, but the most illustrious match in English football will be forced to share the day with a very significant anniversary. October 15^th marks one year since Liverpool FC was formally taken over by John W. Henry’s New England Sports Ventures (now the Fenway Sports Group), saved from the cusp of financial oblivion and launched back into the flighty echelons that all clubs aspire to: financial stability. And, if your name is Tom Ollis Hicks, it marks a full year since the ‘epic swindle’.

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By Saf Hossain, writing from London

It’s done. After more than three miserable years, George Gillett and Tom Hicks can be vanquished from the minds of Liverpool fans around the world, never to be seen awkwardly singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with freshly-bought scarves in held aloft in a sickening parody of the Kop.

They’re gone. And perhaps sweetest of all was probably the way in which they left. I’ll stick with ‘tails between their legs’ but feel free to use whichever turn of phrase you see fit to describe the humiliation of this pair, because that humiliation was absolute.

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Empty seats were visible last night at the start of England’s UEFA Euro 2012 Qualifier with Bulgaria, not because of some ongoing protest against the Three Lions after the shambles in South Africa. It wasn’t because a seat at Wembley costs a bomb these days. You couldn’t even attribute the pockets of red plastic to the corporate spectators, still waiting in line for their pre-match prawn sandwich. No, by some questionable scheduling, England were playing on a Friday. The UEFA logic might’ve been that it would give players one extra day to return to club duties, but when several teams across Europe have dedicated national stadium, it certainly isolates many fans who aren’t lucky enough to be located a short commute away.

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Liverpool have struck a deal with Barcelona for the transfer of wantaway Argentina captain Javier Mascherano. Since the departure of Rafael Benitez, the manager who transformed Mascherano from a reserve player at West Ham Utd to the captain of his country, and since returning from the World Cup, Mascherano has has made no secret of his desire to leave Merseyside, for apparent ‘personal reasons’.

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By Saf Hossain, writing from London.

Manchester City 3-0 Liverpool

So much for that feel-good factor surrounding Liverpool. The new manager has brought a welcome change, they said. New players have been signed & existing players have been kept, they said. A buyout is imminent, they said. What was proven last night on that rain-sodden Eastlands pitch was that Liverpool’s current state of cataclysmic decline can’t be faulted on any manager - past or present. Simply, being Liverpool manager at this time would be difficult for anybody under these conditions.

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Liverpool today confirmed the signing of Danish international Christian Poulsen from Juventus for an initial fee of £4.8 million. The new Liverpool number 28 will pave the way for Javier Mascherano’s departure from Anfield, effectively coming in as a cut-price replacement for the want-away Argentine.

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