Liverpool Split

Footy 24/7 revealed this afternoon that George Gillett, co-owner of Liverpool FC, stated that his relationship with partner Tom Hicks has become "unworkable".

The website's source for this piece of information comes from the BBC Sport page, who reports that Gillett and his family have received threatening phone calls in the middle of the night and that his relationship with Hicks has not been working for quite some time.

Supposedly Hicks aims to take sole control over the team and investment group Dubai International Capital are also interested in investing.

Gillett spoke to Canadian radio station Fan590 and described the decision to sell his share of the club to Hicks as "an untenable alternative".

He said:

"We were very fair. We gave our partner a long period of time to try to make arrangements to buy us out.

"We didn't put pressure on him but he ultimately did not get to the finish line.

"In the meantime, because of the things he said, the fans' reaction has been so negative towards him - and towards us if we sold to him - that has now made that an untenable alternative for us.

"When your public persona is more important than the facts, it's tough to have a rational relationship."

To read the full interview click here

Triple Gold for Britain

Buzzle.com reports that Great Britain has won three gold medals on the opening of the World Track Cycling Championships in Manchester.

The BBC sports page reports that the Individual Pursuit champion, Bradley Wiggins, won gold again as the British quartet beat Denmark in world record time. Former Olympic rowing silver medalist took home a second gold medal for Britain in the individual pursuit. BMX specialist Shanaze Reade and her partner Victoria Pendleton won the third gold medal by defending their sprint title.

Captain Ferdinand

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been named England captain for tomorrows game against France.

According to the FA website England manager Capillo has named 29-year-old Ferdinand Captain as part of his rotation technique.

The BBC quoted Ferdinand in saying

"It is a fantastic honour and an achievement in itself.As a kid you grow up wanting to play for England and lead your country out and I've been given that honour of being able to fulfil those dreams."

The Hearld Sun Online states that Capello overlooked John Terry's requests to be restored as captain after Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard was named captain last month match against Switzerland. For which England secured a 2-1 win.

But the Italian has stated that he will not name a long-term captain until just before the start of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, which will begin in September with an away fixture in Andorra.


Click her to watch Ferdinands speach

England V France

We have yet to find out if Michael Owen will win back his starting place for England in the friendly against France.

Owen, who has scored 40 goals for England, was left on the bench for the game against Switzerland and has expressed fears about being dropped from the suad due to Newcastles poor performance in the Premier League.

England coach Fabio Capello was quoted on the BBC website in saying:

"At the moment I'm experimenting and I'm trying to see how I can make the team play and what choices I can make."

Owen, who has scored 40 goals for England, has gained the status of an unused substitute and has expressed fears that he could be dropped from the squad due to Newcastle's poor Premier League form.

According to the Guardian Newspaper United manager Kevin Keegan believes that Michael Owen will soon take back his place on England's first team.

Keegan said:

It wouldn't surprise me if Michael makes an England place his own again. New managers try new things, look at changing things and some big names get sacrificed. But cream always rises to the top and Michael is 28, not 33.

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Daily Mirror - “Win it or Kop it”

After an excruciating defeat, to a lower league opposition at Anfield, Liverpool FC’s chances in the league look pretty grim, not to mention subjecting Benitez and his team to constant sniggering and a great deal of jokes on Liverpool’s behalf.

As Ian Spragg quite rightly points, it is human nature to celebrate the misfortune of the great and mighty. The bigger they are the greater, and more entertaining, the fall.

However, Liverpool’s victory over Inter Milan last week will surely help Liverpool recover from the shame of their last game, wont it? Jamie Carragher doesn’t think so.

The Liverpool defender was quoted by the Daily Mirror, shortly before the Liverpool V Inter Milan game, in saying:

“I don’t think that beating Inter Milan would make up for losing the FA cup tie in the way we did. We’re devastated obviously. It is a major blow to go out of the competition to a lower league team at Anfield. We realise that’s not good enough. This clearly isn’t the best preparation for Tuesday, but we had the same situation last season, when we lost to Arsenal twice in the cups and people were saying we were finished before we even played Barcelona, and we got through”.

Some people could argue that Liverpool deserved to lose at Anfield for believing that Tuesday’s game against Inter Milan was more important.

Rafa didn’t play his strongest team that day, even Steven Gerrard was on the bench. It clearly backfired on him because now, as the papers indicate, unless Liverpool can do a repeat of their 2005 triumph, Benitez risks losing his job.

The Inter Milan victory may not have erased the shame of the Barnsley match, however their latest 3-2 win against Middlesbrough has put them well on the road to recovery.

Despite the dodgy line-ups and questionable transfers over the years the Liverpool squad truly believe that Rafa is right for them. The PremiershipLatest website quotes Torres in thanking Benitez after his hat-trick in the Middlesbrough match.

“You cannot score three goals in a game without the help of your manager and your team-mates so I would like to thank them. The manager signed me for Liverpool so I am really grateful for that, and he also works with me all the time trying to improve me and make me a better player.”

Rafael Benitez, along with the Liverpool fans, believe that Torres will only get better and lets hope, for Rafa’s sake, he does!

MacLeod Cleared of Positive Drug Test

According to the BBC website, Scotland rugby forward, Scott MacLeod, has been cleared after testing positive for Terbutaline in January.

Google News reports that Terbutaline is on the World Anti-Doping Code Prohibited list. A therapeutic use exemption (TUE) must be obtained if it is prescribed through an inhaler.

As it turns out the Scotland lock has been suffering from asthma since he was a toddler and had been taking the drug in an inhaler.

Despite the positive result, he was was cleared and avoided a one year ban, under the grounds that he had “inadvertently taken a prohibited asthma medication". However he did receive a warning as he was taking the medication without the required permission

MacLeod said:

"I'm not a cheat and I'm pleased that the panel accepted that I'd used Terbutaline inadvertently and that there had been no intention to enhance sports performance. Hopefully other players will be a bit more savvy given what's happened to me. I want to put this behind me now and concentrate on the job in hand with the national team."

Asthmatic MacLeod did actually have a TUE, which was issued in April 2006, that noted he had been on Terbutaline in the past but it wasn’t available at the time.

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