Liverpool Quickly Becoming A Force Again

This seasons transfer window has only been officially open for 9 days and there has already been a number of big transfers in the Premier League, with Liverpool leading the charge in order to rebuild their squad.

Since the return of Kenny Dalglish at the start of January Liverpool have looked a completely different side to the one that was playing in the months prior. New addition Raul Meireles struggled under Roy Hodgson but really showed his true quality under Dalglish as he scored 5 goals in 6 games at the start of Dalglish's tenure. Losing a world class striker like Fernando Torres would hurt any team but due to Torres' influence and the percentage of the teams goals he scored it hurt Liverpool a lot. They needed a replacement imminently, Luis Suarez a young yet potential packed player from Ajax signed for £22.5 million and became the clubs record signing. Then merely an hour and a half later Andy Carroll who had had a good start to the season at Newcastle joined for a staggering £35 million eclipsing the fee paid for Suarez. Liverpool rescued their season securing 6th place having been 19th after nearly 10 games of the season.

Jordan Henderson with Director of Football Damien Comolli

As they look to the future and on trying to build on a very successful second half of the season, money will have to be spent in the summer transfer window. They have quickly jumped out of the gates snapping up two players who have proved they can play at high levels in the Premier League; Jordan Henderson from Sunderland and Charlie Adam from Blackpool. Many say that they overpaid again for Henderson after overpaying for Carroll, they forked out £20 million for the 20 year-old England international. However Henderson has a very very bright future ahead of him and I am sure he will become an integral part of both his club and the England set up in the not so distant future. Charlie Adam then eventually signed for an undisclosed fee that is believed to be somewhere in the region of £7.5 million, a bargain? Most definitely after the season he had last year scoring 12 goals and being nominated for the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

Manager Kenny Dalglish has promised more signings and they have been chasing England Winger Stewart Downing but Aston Villa are demanding £20 million which could prove to be a stumbling block for the Reds. Another player linked with a move to Merseyside is Wigan's Charles N'Zogbia. A player that has been heavily linked with a number of Premier League clubs is 23 year old attacker Juan Manuel Mata from Valencia, with both Manchester sides also chasing him, Liverpool will have to overcome a £25-30 million asking price for the Spanish player.

Liverpool could well be a safe bet for 4th place next year if the sinking ship of Arsenal loses 2 world class players in Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas. Spurs have also said they need to sell before they buy. A striker is  atop their list and typically strikers cost more than everyone else, which maybe opens the door for clubs to swoop for Gareth Bale and Luka Modric.

With Dalglish at the helm and an abundance of top quality players at his disposal Liverpool may well be climbing back to the heady heights of the top of the Premier League very soon.

Last Weekend of the Premier League

With only 1 team relegated (West Ham), that means there are another 2 up for grabs. Blackpool seem to be doing there best to take one of those places after having an amazing start to the season. Wolves are extremely erratic, having beaten Chelsea and Liverpool this season, they cannot seem to string wins together. Charles N'Zogbia is single-handedly helping Wigan, Birmingham and Blackburn have just been sucked into the battle although they have a good squad of players.

Blackpool, Wigan and Birmingham are all on 39 points whilst Wolves and Blackburn are one 40. With Blackpool away at the Champions Man United I fear for them and their mercurial manager Ian Holloway. Birmingham face Spurs whilst Wigan go to Stoke. Many possible outcomes are available but I believe Birmingham's stay in the top league may be over. As I previously mentioned Charles N'Zogbia is saving Wigan on his own and if he plays well against a downhearted Stoke Wigan may well stay up.

At the top Man United will be presented with the trophy at the end of their game vs Blackpool. Chelsea are virtually guaranteed 2nd. Arsenal need Man City to drop points at Bolton if they are to reclaim 3rd having been in the title hunt not too long ago. A massively rejuvenated Liverpool squad can benefit if Spurs drop points and take 5th having been 18th earlier in the season. As for the Golden Boot, Berbatov and Tevez top the charts with 20 each whilst Darren Bent and Robin Van Persie are on 17. Tevez looks to be the player who will win it as Berbatov may not start again for the Champions.

DJ Campbell of Blackpool said, "I'm trying to let the lads know it's not a nice feeling to be relegated". Whether this will fire up his team remains to be seen. By 4pm on Sunday they will need to be or it would have been a short stay in the Premier League.

500 Word Speech On The Salaries Of Professional Athletes

This is a short 500 word speech on the Salaries of professional athletes for an assignment.

Do professional athletes get paid too much? How much is too much. More than their clubs will pay them or more than the public deem necessary.

The answer is more than their clubs will pay them, therefore professional athletes do not get paid too much. The average yearly wage of a Premier League footballer is £1,761,136. If the chairmen of all the 20 clubs thought that figure was too much then it would be lower, as the players do not put forward the contract offers.

A common argument that will continue in this country is; should soldiers get paid more than footballers? Whether they should or not is not the point, it is the fact that the government pays the soldiers not Russian billionaires like Chelsea chairman Roman Abramovich who can afford to pay his players large amounts. The average salary of a newly qualified soldier is £14,300 and they take their job knowing what the salary is and also the danger that is involved.

It is not only Premier League footballs that receive high salaries 2 two reigning NBA MVP LeBron James will earn $14,500,000 this year, that is the equivalent to £8,904,446. He is good enough to receive a high wage and the Miami Heat General Manager decided to offer him that amount, would you turn it down? The answer to that question is no, nobody would. James is working in his dream job that he chose to work in and is receiving his wage, no matter how large it is.

Professional athletes are not paid a lot of money just so their teams can secure their services, they are also advertising icons. Wayne Rooney received £600,000 a year from Coke Zero to be the face of their product. Tiger Woods received $90,000,000 a year back in 1999. Again the fact that neither Rooney nor Woods would have asked for this amount and still received it shows how companies as big a Coke and Nike can pay stars that much and still rake in profits.

Everybody in a capitalist society gets paid depending on their value and services in the so called market place. If sport and football is the number one spectator sport in our country then the players will keep on receiving these kinds of wages, because the clubs owners will be receiving money from gate receipts, merchandise and other such oddities.

The argument that sports players receive too much money is completely powerless and will never affect how much they receive in the future. It is only because professional athletes receive much more than the average wage that people argue against it and think they are looking out for the wider public. If soldiers were to receive the same amount as athletes people would then complain about that. Do not say you wouldn’t, people’s thirst for money will overtake any of their morals so Soldiers would receive the same amount of slander as athletes do now. Surely that is immoral?

Everything Is Broken!

1 broken record, 1 broken body and 1 broken team!


Saturday brought about two of the above; the broken record and team. The Premier League is the best league in the world and it showed why it is with an extraordinary day of action. Arsenal 4-0 after 68 minutes against Newcastle only for the game to finish 4-4. Louis Saha scored his first Premier League hat-trick and then one more bagging 4 in a 5-3 Everton win over struggling Blackpool. Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick in 22 minutes as Manchester City beat West Brom 3-0. All of his added together and more means that a whopping 41 goals were scored on Saturday, a new record for the Premier League. Maybe most surprising of all I was treated to watching Manchester United lose. It was the first loss they had suffered this season and it came at the hands of bottom club Wolves! Even with the adding of some 'Fergie Time' Wolves managed to defend their goal for the whole second half. Man of the Match George Elokobi said. 'I said to the boys, 'We've got to play for 50 minutes in the second half. We know against United we'd get about five minutes of extra-time.' Many of United's opponents believe that they receive more added time when they are losing.


If you want to know how much fortunes can change in a year ask the people of Cleveland and most importantly the Cleveland Cavaliers. This time last year they had the best record in the NBA and were looking like they could win the Championship, a year on from that they have lost the best player in the league and their longest serving player; LeBron James and Zydrunas Ilgauskas. As if that wasn't enough, they now own the worst record in the NBA (8-43) and the longest losing streak in NBA history. The streak shows no sign of ending.


Sadly something that does look like it could end is Robert Kubica's Formula 1 driving career. Kubica was involved in a crash as he took part in a rally. His car crashed into a wall leaving him with horrible injuries. A broken arm and leg, he may have to have his hand amputated as it was crushed in the collision. Kubica finished 8th in the final driver standings in 2010 and 4th in 2008. He has recently been labelled as a future champion by former F1 champion Mario Andretti. Reports are saying that he may miss the whole season which begins next month, but Kubica has received backing from fellow drivers that he will be able to race this year.


I told you everything was broken, hopefully you enjoyed my second post. They won't all be this long, unless you like them long... No seriously I just wanted to show off in this one. Thinking about it again I maybe shouldn't have put the Kubica piece at the end because it will be freshest in your memory and it isn't nice to think about.


Peace Out!