By Chris Wright

With charges, arrests and general controversy beginning to stack up, we are once again indebted to Taiwan-based media group NMA who filter out all the bull plop and present us with nothing but the clear facts using their trademark subtle blend of retina-searing imagery, dizzying overly-literal metaphors and featherlight grip on the actual incidents being discussed.

Are we being Eti-had? Why Ayre wants probe into City's sponsorship deal

After digesting the impact of the past 12 months on the club when meeting with Liverpool's managing director Ian Ayre last week, talk inevitably turned to the future. Liverpool want breakaway TV rights deal Liverpool were "on the brink" and could have gone bust under Hicks and Gillett Manchester United and Chelsea to oppose Liverpool's breakaway TV rights plan How are Liverpool going to compete, he was asked, against the oily millions of Manchester City, and a Manchester United side with .

Liverpool MD Ian Ayre interview: "Kenny Dalglish has brought everyone together"

The past 12 months have been the most tumultuous in Liverpool history – and it takes a brave man to attempt to sum them up. But Ian Ayre, the managing director of the reborn club, is happy to give it a go.

Liverpool were "on the brink" and could have gone bust under Hicks and Gillett

MD Ian Ayre makes shock revelation on the anniversary of FSG takeover

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-10-11 21:30:44 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Pepe: We were all put in a bad situation

Pepe Reina's autobiography is out today and depending on how candid he's chosen to be we'll maybe find out a lot more about the player than we deserve to. When we read it, rather than just take in soundbites hand-picked by newspaper columnists unconnected to the book and looking for something juicy for a headline, we'll have a better insight into a man we rely on far more than some would like to give him credit for.

Reina: Hicks and Gillett blocked my Arsenal move

Keeper was set to move last year

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-10-09 12:15:44 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Reina Reveals All in New Book

Liverpool's Pepe Reina has revealed all about the highs and lows of his career at the club in a new book serialised today by the Daily Mail . The star stopper tells of his ‘depression' under the previous regime, and how he came close to leaving last January but was talked out of it by his wife.

'Hicks & Gillett blocked my £20m Arsenal move because they hadn't sold the club' Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina

The Spaniard could have moved to the Emirates after winning the World Cup with Spain last year but was denied a transfer as he was classed as a vital presence at Anfield

View the full story here: Goal

A news article on 2011-10-08 22:39:00 from: Goal

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool have spent a total of £7.5 million per point in the Barclays Premier League, between last October when the new owners purchased the club and the end of last season, according to the FourFourTwo annual football rich list.
Fenway Sports Group purchased the club last October from previous owners Hicks and Gillett, and have taken the club from being close to ruin to in a stable financial position and capable of challenging for Champions League football.

Why Raul Meireles is no Judas

Following his move from Liverpool to Chelsea Raul Meireles has been quick to defend himself after being branded a Judas by some sections of the Anfield faithful. Of course, the comparisons with another ex-Red's recent departure are inevitable, but in reality the circumstances that led to the transfers of Meireles and Torres are poles apart.

The difference a year makes. From Hicks and Gillett setting the club's money on fire to FSG opening the checkbook at will. From an owl-faced over-matched media darling who "deserved a chance" as manager to the club's greatest living legend. Checking under couch cushions for the privilege of buying Konchesky and Poulsen to slightly less than £50m spent on Adam, Doni, Downing, Enrique, and Henderson.

As much as I hate my birthday (and have since I turned 21), I'm actually publicly acknowledging it this year for some reason. A moment of weakness, most likely.
So, with a lack of content worth scribbling about – at least until tomorrow's first friendly against Guangzhou (8am on FSC in the US) – I thought I'd post a self-indulgent infographic showing my age relative to Liverpool's squad from the season before.

Ian Ayre, Liverpool's MD, is an honest and refreshing man with a good commercial pedigree and thus far has proved himself to be the ideal man at the helm of Liverpool FC.
In a candid interview today he discussed the proposed new stadium, the former disasterous previous owners Hicks and Gillette and he praised current custodians FSG.

Revs supporters in The Fort. (Getty Images)

It has been a while since we had to discuss front office madness and things that can upset some fans. Well, over the weekend in the game between the New England Revolution and the Chicago Fire some stuff happened in The Fort, the main section for the Revs supporters groups.

This is what Hicks and Gillett did to Liverpool's playing squad.
Yes, Benitez had a Redknappian fondness for wheeling and dealing – and had to rebuild right away despite winning the Champions League in his first season – but an awful lot of that business was compelled by the tumors' poverty and indebtedness, evident in the number of transfers in the last two to three seasons.

AUGUST 2010 Well it started off at rock bottom for Liverpool, Hicks and Gillett were still at the helm, the life sucking hold on the club felt like it would never go away. Rafa had gone and his replacement of Roy Hodgson didn't exactly instill confidence into the masses. Nevertheless, the Anfield faithful were ready to give him a chance and we started the season in the best spirits we could.

How do you sum up that season? To the end of the universe and back. It turns out there's no restaurant there.
This everlasting gobstopper season really was two or three different campaigns rolled into one.
For the first 10 weeks or so, absolutely everything was on life support.

By Chris Wright

Fantastic imagery...

More topical Taiwanese CGI madness from Next Media Animation on Pies...

Hicks and Gillett's reign at Liverpool comes to an end

Wayne Rooney's hooker scandal

Ashley Cole guns down the work-experience boy

The Arsenal take-over looks like being a long way from the toxic take-overs of The Glazers and Gillett & Hicks. But, as SJ Maskell writes, custodianship is about doing more than saying and doing the right things and the real power in the game lies in the majority ownership of shares.

Welcome to today's Musket Rounds!

I don't know about you guys, but I've honestly already put Sunday's match behind me. I can't remember the last time I was this indifferent about an incorrect refereeing decision, but frankly, we didn't do enough to win that game and Houston probably did. Justice was served in the end.

An article by Mark Warmington.

You can follow Mark on Twitter at @markawarmington and also visit his blog.

There is a question that has been toying with me for the past few months; a niggling little itch of a query that I just haven't quite been able to scratch into submission.

Tweet

An article by Mark Warmington.

You can follow Mark on Twitter at @markawarmington and also visit his blog.

There is a question that has been toying with me for the past few months; a niggling little itch of a query that I just haven't quite been able to scratch into submission.

Tweet

An article by Mark Warmington.

You can follow Mark on Twitter at @markawarmington and also visit his blog.

There is a question that has been toying with me for the past few months; a niggling little itch of a query that I just haven't quite been able to scratch into submission.

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- Throughout the day, updates, comments and perspectives re QPR and football in general are posted and discussed on the QPR Report Messageboard...Also Follow: QPR REPORT ON TWITTER
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TEAMS - Doncaster vs QPR
QPR: Kenny, Orr, Hill, Derry, Hall, Helguson, Faurlin, Gorkss, Routledge, Smith, Ephraim.

Union

From a conference call with reporters on Wednesday:

• Noting that the roster compliance deadline is March 1, Peter Nowak said, "The roster is not in place yet we still are working on some things that could improve our roster offensive and defensively."
• Nowak said, "Having a forward or even grabbing another defender is still in the works.

Tom Hicks is seeking £1bn in damages from former Liverpool directors and RBS over the forced sale back in October. At the moment a court order preventing him from recovering damages is in place. Fortunately it is unlikely that Hicks' claim will be successful. Hicks and Gillett bought the club back in 07 for £220M and sold it for £300M to NESV on bad terms.

He's baaack.

Hey, so there were some internationals yesterday. Friendly internationals. And nothing much happened. Agger scored; Johnson set up a goal; England won. Dirk Kuyt scored from the penalty spot as the Netherlands won. Nobody got injured. Oh, and Christian Poulsen was captain of Denmark, which is good for him I suppose but somehow just seems odd and unexpected.

LONDON, England - The court battle over the sale of Liverpool resumed Wednesday with the former American co-owners seeking approval to pursue a $1.6 billion damages claim for what they called a "giant swindle." The case in London comes as Liverpool's fortunes on the field have been revived for the first time since Tom Hicks [.

Well for once it was an extremely exciting and eventful transfer window for Liverpool fans. After years of turmoil under Hicks and Gillett, the transfer window was something we feared not looked forward to. Yesterday spelt major ins and major outs for Liverpool. After it was clear Fernando Torres would be leaving the club, it was no real surprise when Dalglish and the owners upped their pursuit

And the deal's done. No link to Liverpool's official statement, but the BBC, among others, are reporting £50m, with a rumored wage rise to £175,000 a week. Fernando Torres is confirmed as yet another football mercenary. I don't know why I was initially surprised.
Torres is a tremendous talent – he's demonstrated that time and time again at Anfield – but just urinated all over his potential legacy.

And so it came to pass that a helicopter carrying Fernando Torres touched down on the wreckage of several earlier helicopters only thought to have been carrying Fernando Torres, and Fernando Torres raised his serene gaze from the book about helicopters that he had been reading on his helicopter and looked inscrutably out the window, leaving the rest of us to stare at his helicopter and wonder what it could all mean.

Only at Liverpool could a day where a fee for Luis Suarez is agreed first be dominated by news of Fernando Torres' possible exit. The last remnant of the Hicks and Gillett era is the perpetual expectation that only bad things are going to happen. It's going to take more than a few months where we've seen the return of the King and slightly improved results to wash away the preeminent feeling of paranoia.

By Ollie Irish

"I am ready for the Premier League" – Luis had watched many Stevie G clips on YouTube

Liverpool's hot pursuit of Ajax striker Luis Suarez looks to be over after they agreed a deal worth up to £22.8million.

The 24-year-old Uruguayan has yet to pass a medical and agree personal terms but he is so very close to being a Liverpool player, and it still looks possible that the sale of Nando Torres – who is still unsettled after the Hicks & Gillett affair, and reportedly keen to hear what Chelsea might offer LFC for his services – might fund the purchase of Suarez, and then some.

The humidity and a very damp pitch got to the Roar.
Perth relied on bashing the ball forward and, when Brisbane drew level, bashing Brisbane's front line. And it worked.
In this game, Brisbane missed Franjic. Brisbane was left with a left sided advance that Andy Todd smacked out.

Roy Hodgson seems like a decent, honest and honourable man. And because of that he needs to be put out of his misery at Liverpool.
His appointment never really caught the imagination with the supporters in the first place, but with each passing defeat anger and despair at the club's slide from greatness has increased, culminating in the angry, vitriolic reaction by supporters at Blackburn on Wednesday and the ‘Hodgson out' graffiti dubbed outside the club's training ground the following morning.