It can surely only be a matter of time now before Roman Abramovich settles on the ultimate solution to his problem with Chelsea: one of these days he’ll sack the entire squad and buy a replacement one, preferably Barcelona’s.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish insists there is "nothing drastically wrong" despite another performance which drew a blank and resulted in yet more dropped points at home.

A 20-year-old man arrested on suspicion of racially abusing Oldham footballer Tom Adeyemi during an FA Cup game against Liverpool has been released on bail, police said today.

Manchester City were handed belated Christmas presents recently when fellow title hopefuls Chelsea slipped up against Villa and local rivals Man United were inexplicably defeated by Blackburn.

Liverpool's major creditors the Royal Bank of Scotland will today seek High Court confirmation that the club's owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett are in breach of contract and not in a position to block a sale.

WELCOME to my third Irish Examiner article in four days. The Sex Pistols used to call it ‘cash from chaos’…

FOREWARNED, if not forearmed: “one major married United star might need to be trotting off to Court soonish too… it’d be just typical if the lad is unfortunate enough to be the odd one out who doesn’t actually get an injunction granted.”

WILLIAM S. Burroughs once said “Paranoia is just having all the facts”.

AROUND 1,000 Liverpool supporters staged a protest march against the club’s owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett yesterday.

THIS was supposed to be the day for Liverpool to bellow their title aspirations to the rest of the Premier League.

Dubai’s ruling family have not given up hope of buying a stake in Liverpool despite the club’s co-owner Tom Hicks breaking off negotiations.

Liverpool’s co-owner Tom Hicks on Monday night threw the future of the club back into turmoil by terminating discussions with the Dubai royal family.

Rafael Benitez and Jamie Carragher have joined forces to demand a big performance from Liverpool’s players and fans when they bid to keep alive the club’s Champions League dream tonight.

Outgoing chairman David Moores revealed his desire to see his beloved Liverpool take “a great step forward” convinced him to sell the club to American tycoons George Gillett and Tom Hicks.

The Examiner’s football correspondent Liam Mackey is taking a well-earned break floating along the Nile on a dhow to discuss tactics and the riddle of the diamond with the Sphinx. So for the next few weeks we’ve called Allan Prosser from the subs’ bench to mediate over your opinions and give the controversy pot a stir.

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Rafael Benitez praised Liverpool heroes Steven Gerrard and Jose Reina but insisted his FA Cup triumph was a team effort.

Rafael Benitez has injected a note of realism into the euphoria surrounding Robbie Fowler’s return by suggesting the player is not up to playing 90 minutes yet.

Just 49 days after Steven Gerrard drove Liverpool to Champions League glory, the inspirational Anfield captain struck his first hat-trick for the club to make sure their defence of their crown did not end in embarrassment against a bunch of unknowns from mid-Wales.

Steve Morgan may have won over the Kop, but his £73m (€108m) package to buy his way into Liverpool has not been met with the overwhelming approval of many small shareholders.

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LIVERPOOL'S maligned stars gave Gerard Houllier the lifeline he so desperately needed on a night when anything but a convincing victory would have given further ammunition to his detractors.

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