Some commentators think Ferguson wanted to rest his best midfielders for the League Cup semi-final scheduled for Wednesday against Man City – too bad he couldn’t forecast that game’s postponement on account of winter weather conditions.  Maybe Fergie merely thought this would be a good opportunity to expose younger players to a massive rivalry that would be a good test and a growing experience for his young bench warmers. Oh well, live, learn and perhaps exploit the current transfer window if you can.

On that note, Manchester United’s directors are reportedly consolidating the club’s debt by way of a 600 million pound bond issue. Is this the type of activity indicative of a mid season spending spree to capture Permier League and/or Champions League trophies?  Unlikely.  It seems more indicative of a mid season spending freeze or perhaps even a prelude to a sale? Many Man U fans feared such possibilities when the Galzer family purchased the club with club loans.  Out of curiosity whatever happened to the Cristiano Ronaldo windfall? Interest payments maybe?

One way to address a shortage of funds is to sell a current player from a position of strength. Unfortunately, defence is not an area of depth for Man U and there are indications that their star central defender Nemanja Vidic wants away from Old Trafford in favour of Spain, to the Bernabeu to be precise (though such comments are attributed to Vidic’s wife concerning the relative weather conditions of north-western England compared to sunny Madrid). While Real could certainly do with a central defender of Vidic’s caliber can Man U do without him and have a hope of winning the Premier League? Is Sir Alex game for another forced sale to Los Merengues?  And is the this year’s Canadian style English winter doing anything to help the cause? Vidic says he is committed to the Red Devils but anyone who followed the 2007-2009 CR9 saga is sure to recollect similar statements from the tricky winger.

Speaking of sales, Leeds United Jermaine Beckford is out of contract in 6 months time and is indicating he wants out of Elland Road.  He is Leeds’ leading scorer (20 goals in 28 appearances this season) and is an integral part of their current success  – this season Leeds is in a great position to achive promotion to the Championship. The one time Champions League outfit is considering selling their in form striker rather than lose him for nothing at the end of the season.  However, if they can’t replace him will the Whites promotion hopes be dashed? And will such a sale ruin any chances of further FA Cup upsets and of course pocketing more revenue? Intriguing decisions will be made at Leeds in the near future. Hopefully they’ll make the right decisions and Ken Bates’ club will soon rejoin the Premier League where they can line up regularly against  Manchester United and be properly disliked once again.

The proposal, as it was leaked, potentially makes the drop out of the Premier League less financially devastating and therefore perhaps avoiding the massive financing crisis set to paralyze clubs like Hull. While relegation/promotion between the two tiers of the new Premier League was understood to continue as is, just how a club rises from the Football League into the expanded Premier League is less certain but it will most likely require minimum standards of finances and infrastructure, i.e. it will be harder to be promoted and not necessarily based on sporting achievement. As for the Old Firm, well both Rangers and Celtic believe they need to be in a bigger pond if they have any hope of retaining the lofty achievements for clubs of their pedigree and of course from the Premier League’s perspective, they must somehow see greater revenue.

I am not thrilled with this proposal because I find one of the most entertaining aspects in English football, and soccer worldwide generally speaking, is the common threat/reward of relegation/promotion. Take that away and the game loses much of what drives the season and therefore individual games at both ends of the table and throughout each nation’s pyramid. With this proposal I fear lower league clubs will truly become farm teams and barring a Saudi prince or Russian oligarch, promotion for small clubs will be even less likely than today while potentially driving imprudent financing farther down the pyramid. As for the Old Firm aspect, I do not see any significant increase in EPL revenues by reason of their admission because people all over the world are already watching the EPL, unless of course there is some sort of admission/expansion fee, but the precedent could devastate smaller leagues around Europe (e.g. Should Porto & Benfica joining La Liga? Or Ajax & PSV going to the Bundesliga?), Welsh pro clubs in English football notwithstanding.

In my opinion, or maybe this is just wishful thinking, this proposal didn’t have much chance as it was structured (hopefully for more than just the Old Firm aspect which the EPL seemed to find problematic) and I’m sure there are a number of technical reasons why this won’t work and wasn’t adopted. Although I wonder how many EPL decision makers and club chairs (and which ones at that) were tempted or at least encouraged restructuring the proposal. Afterall the proposal wasn’t trashed, it was set aside for future consideration (perhaps when the current TV deal expires). So while this fundamental shift wasn’t adopted, I worry about what sort of fund raising / parity inducing scheme is next. A draft? An annual all-star game? Salary caps? Three point range goals? Sadly, what I seem to be dreading, whether such a proposal is accepted or not, is if the EPL is learning a little too much from North American sports. Although my advice to the EPL is to preserve the integrity of your game, I wonder who the EPL decision makers in fact are, how they are changing, and whether they share the fans’ priorities.

1) Best seats in the house:

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2) Wearing sunglasses when there is no sun:

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3) Toothpaste:

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4) Toothbrush:

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5) Dental Floss:

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6) Mouth Wash:

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7) Vigorously brushing teeth on TV while a substitution is being made.

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8 Looking from left to right while holding tooth-brush in mouth with no hands.

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9) Minimizing risk of gingivitis.

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First, the depth of talent isn’t there. Gerrard and Torres are among the best, after that Carragher is good and Mascherano can be but better players are needed.

Second, other teams have gained on the big 4. Tottenham, Man City and Villa threaten the Big 4 and teams like Wigan, Sunderland and the slow starting Everton are capable of trouble. Even the recently promoted teams have the ability to cause headaches.

Third, their Champion’s League form has been subpar. With three games left they can grab the second spot but not based on their post-Alonso form. Wins over Debrecen and Fiorentina are essential at a minimum but with the next match in Lyon this will be a difficult task.

Fourth, ownership is unable to give Rafa the transfer money he needs. And if even if there were will it be enough for this season?

Fifth, Rafa’s purchasing track record is not good – although Torres was a great one. Also Benitez doesn’t seem able to improve the players he buys. That said, Rafa’s contract is so big that he won’t be fired by current ownership.

Now, if Liverpool finish outside the top 4 the Champion’s League money is gone. If they are eliminated from the Champions League group stage this year, well that’s more money gone. Money is what this team needs and that’s been known for some time now. Then you’d have to wonder how long before Barcelona or Real Madrid pitch to bring El Nino home. Would that be irresistible to both player and owners given the potential circumstances? There may even be an audacious bid for Gerrard – he wouldn’t be the first England international to make a switch to a club like Real Madrid.

So while it seems far fetched, if you look back to Leeds and Newcastle you’ll remember teams in Champions League that spent big to stay but didn’t buy well, failed to make Champions League in subsequent seasons, dropped down the table, sold or lost out on good players, bought lesser replacements and often for big money, and before you know it your out of the top tier.

Those are some details and they can vary from club to club but the underlying similarities are questionable ownership and management decisions combined with lofty ambitions and limited resources. Now I recognize that Everton, of course, managed to stay in the top flight after an uneventful Champion’s League campaign but Everton’ spending was restrained and productive with a manager who improves players and seems to get more out of them – two qualities Rafa has not demonstrated at Liverpool. While this might be an oversimplification, the similarities are there making it an interesting, if not sad, comparison.

There are two factors that might be Liverpool’s saving grace, even if they drop out of Champions League in the group stages and finish 5th or lower in England.  One, ownership recognizes it’s limits and seems to be trying to address it. Two, the fan support for Liverpool is tremendous. Put together I expect a billionaire white knight is around the corner.  If not, Liverpool FC fans might have some worrying ahead of them.