Down here in the dank basement from which I?ve been viewing the ongoing pre-season nothingness whilst trying to avoid the sweltering heat, a few things have caught my (red)eyes since my last address to you, the dear reader.

We?ve Got Another One!

In my rant about Liverpool?s signing of Craig Bellamy a few weeks ago, I alluded to the imminent arrival of another well-known footballing rapscallion, a certain Master Jermaine Pennant. And so, as Sun article condemning a footballer to hell follows Sun article hailing self same footballer to the heavens, Liverpool follow up one controversial signing with another.

As a footballer, Pennant is of high quality. High enough quality to make a sustained impact on a top team, I await to be convinced of. Certainly the wonderful Actim stats hail Pennant as having made more crosses (227) last season than any other player, the fact Birmingham only scored 28 goals (with Pennant claiming two himself and four assists) is perhaps more telling. Certainly, Liverpool?s forward line of Crouch, Bellamy and Fowler should be more potent with such deliveries than Birmingham?s Emile Heskey and a crocked Chris Sutton and Mikael Forssell were, and this is where the excitement lies.

I?ve had an interest in Pennant since his ?2 million move from Notts County to Arsenal when he was just shy of his sixteenth birthday. Indeed his early appearances for Arsenal, though sporadic, brought some highlights, notably a hat-trick against Southampton. However, this is where it started to go wrong. Jermaine Pennant became synonymous with the front page rather than the back, his litany of brushes with authority are well known, and this is why I would rather Liverpool didn?t sign players of this ilk.

Perhaps I?m old-fashioned, but footballers should be known only to football fans, and preferably happily married teetotalers who do lots of work for charity!

A Dangerous European Draw

Dangerous not in the traditional footballing sense of ?potential banana skin?, but dangerous as in bombs and missiles flying about.

Liverpool have been drawn with Maccabi Haifa in the Champions [sic] League Third Qualifying Round. Rafa Benitez and the chairman of the Liverpool International Supporters? club, Les Lawson, have already gone on record as decrying UEFA?s inaction over potentially placing our club in what is currently a war zone? and I agree with them wholeheartedly. The very thought of the Liverpool team, fans, hotel, or venue (be that Haifa or the more likely Tel Aviv) being targeted by suicide bombers, kidnappers or a stray missile fills me with nothing but dread. The match should surely be played at a ?neutral? venue, as Rafa?s Valencia side did in Cyprus against Maccabi Haifa a few years ago.

At the back of mind also is much sympathy with the Israeli footballing support. In the 1970s football was nearly destroyed in Northern Ireland as we were unable to play any internationals in Belfast due to ?civil unrest? over a three year period, putting severe financial pressures on the Irish FA. If it had not been for a brave Yugoslavian side agreeing to come to Belfast for an international match in 1975, goodness only knows what the long-term future of the local game could have been.

Still, it is only right that Liverpool?s players and official should not have to risk their lives for football, and highly unfortunate that politics, once again, gets in the way of sport. I can only wish a speedy resolution to the current situation in the Middle-East, and that the minimum possible damage is done, not only to football, but to the lives of those in both Israel and Lebanon.

Pre-Season Friendlies

I haven?t actually seen either of Liverpool?s friendlies to date (2-0 win at Wrexham and 1-0 at Crewe), and you can go find the match reports elsewhere if you are so inclined. I have however been pleased to see the goalscorers, Bellamy getting off the mark early, plus goals from two of lasts seasons FA Youth Cup winning side, Paul Anderson and Craig Lindfield. This can only bode well for the season ahead, and indeed the years to come.

Pre-season begins in earnest tomorrow with the first game of Liverpool?s pre-season European tour, against Kaiserslautern in Liechtenstein, and the return to the team of our Spanish contingent after World Cup duty. The England players will not be match ready for a few days yet, but some if not all should feature in the games with Grasshopper Zurich and FSV Mainz.

I?m assuming there?s good money to be made from this European tour, as I would have thought we?d end up in the Far-East or possibly North America in an attempt to establish the Liverpool ?brand? (ahem). It is pleasing that the effects from traveling to central-Europe should be less than if the team had trekked half-way round the world.

Captain Fantastic

On a much lighter note, allegations have appeared on some message boards that our vice-captain?s brother had a fling with the mother of the captain of one of our biggest Premiership rivals (and the biggest rival to Gerrard for the England armband) during the World Cup. Obviously I can?t name names until the SotG legal department looks at this in more details.

All I will say is I can?t wait for the tasteless terrace chants next time the Rentboys come to Anfield!

Kits Out

Just to say I think it looks class. Retro-Chic!

In Rafa we trust!

This entry was posted on Friday, July 28th, 2006 at 6:56 pm and is filed under Liverpool, Football News. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.