ENGLAND POOR AND MAY NOT FINISH TOP OF THEIR EASY GROUP

England were poor in their 0-0 draw with Montenegro at Wembley-and were lucky to survive their opponents hitting the cross-bar.This Euro qualifier should have been won against a country with a population of just 650,000!Wayne Rooney,with all his problems and absence from the Manchester United team,should not have been selected.Sure England were missing some though injury and yes the opponents swamped defence but Fabio Capello is paid £6 million to deal with all that and get England top of the group.He failed badly in the World Cup and belately blamed the players.This time Senor Capello the buck stops with you...but by then it may be too late!

LIVERPOOL'S FATE DECIDED TODAY-SHOULD GO TO JOHN W HENRY

A Texan court will give its verdict at British lunchtime today and when we know the result I will update this blog.Courts can be unpredictable but the London High Court judge was very firm in his verdict and we would all be mightily surprised now if John W Henry and his NESV group are not in charge of Liverpool next week.Everyone it seems will be glad to see the back of Tom Hicks and George Gillett at Anfield.

WAYNE ROONEY MAY BE MIXED UP BUT DON'T TAKE ON FERGIE

Wayne Rooney has been going through a torrid time on and especially off the field.Most of it self inflicted.Over the many years I interviewed Sir Alex Ferguson I learnt two important things about the long reigning Manchester United manager.One is that he will fiercely protect his players in public but if any of them ever challenge his authority as manager they have to go.....Jaap Stam,Ruud Vann Nistelrooy,David Beckham and Roy Keane are classic examples.Now we have Wayne Rooney contradicting his manager in public.Sir Alex has said Rooney has been suffering from an ankle injury. Rooney says that is not the case.The ankle he says has not been a problem.What is Rooney playing at whether the ankle has or has not been a problem? Rooney must forgive me for therefore thinking that he must one of these things:stupid,arrogant,or wanting a move.All that money and attention can turn young people's heads.I don't know what is inside Rooney's head if he wants to stay at Old Trafford.And please don't come up with that misquoted line in hindsight.Now we wait to see the gaffer's public re-action.

DANNY MURPHY SHOULD BE HEARD

Fulham's captain and mid-fielder Danny Murphy is articulate and experienced whose views are worth listening to.I find it sad that he had to stand down from being and ITV analyst for the England match on Tuesday because he claimed certain bosses sent out teams to deliberately injury opponents.He cited Wolves Mick McCarthy,Blackburn's Sam Allardyce and Stoke's Tony Pullis as the main culprits.Pretty serious charges but there have been a few very dangerous tackles this season.Some pretty horrific.I am not sure Murphy was wise to actually name them.He should have made his points without actually naming individual managers unless he could show examples.But it does raise an interesting point.Its ok to mention the controversial( and in my book as well as no doubt Murphy's) tackles by Wolves captain Karl Henry and Manchester City's Nigel de Jong but not their managers,who will have their strong say on other matters.Managers and players may say no one sets out to injure opponents and you have to accept that although sometimes what you see makes that claim difficult to believe.Football managers have plenty to say on most matters with stinging words whether it is on referees or say Birmingham's Martin Taylor late challenge on Eduardo but as soon as an experienced player like Murphy makes a claim they get all sensistive.Whether Murphy was right or wrong he should not have been pulled off that TV show for an honest view,if in
hindsight ill-advised to mention actual individuals.Leave that to the managers!

LIVERPOOL NEED TO BEAT HICKS AND GILLETT IN COURT NEXT WEEK

Liverpool must win the High Court case next week in order to accept the £300 million bid from Boston Red Sox owner John W Henry and his consortium and get rid of the current owners,fellow Americans Tom Hicks and George Gillett.Henry has proved what he has done at the Red Sox and would be a real hero in turning the great English club around.Randy Lerner has done a good job at Aston Villa,Henry will I am sure do even better at this big club.Liverpool may be worth more than £300 million but in current times and with the Royal Bank of Scotland about to call in their £200 million from Liverpool,its a fair deal with the investment promised by Henry.By the way when Villa's previous owner Doug Ellis was open to sell the club he turned down George Gillett for Lerner.Villa fans should be very grateful...as Liverpool fans will be if the three other members of their Board win next week's court case to allow the sale to go through.The sooner this happens the better for a great club and their supporters!Its a disgrace that it has to go to the High Court,in view of everything we have been told this week.

ROY HODGSON AND LIVERPOOL STRUGGLING

Roy Hodgson was voted manager of the year by his peers after a good season by Fulham standards.Liverpool's expectations are far,far higher.Today the club that have not won the League title for donkeys years (while great rivals Manchester United do it with the frequency of shampoo!)are languishing in the relegation zone which just six points from 7 games,7 goals scored and 11 conceeded--all under Hodgson!The latest defeat 2-1 at
Anfield no less to the still favourites for relegation Blackpool.I know,I know Hodgson is class and its a long season.Rightly you argue you don't become a bad manager overnight but I will tell you what, Liverpool have for a variety of reasons become an average team.The club has the wrong owners,the wrong attitude and some pretty disappointing players.I feel for Roy Hodgson but he took the job knowing the score.Now he need to get some scores-quickly!

SVEN-GORAN ERIKSSON LATEST MANAGER AT LEICESTER

Sven Goran Eriksson has become Leicester's eighth manager in the three years that Milan Mandaric has been chairman.Nigel Pearson was not encouraged to stay at the end of last season despite being the best of the seven.The League Managers Association understandably condemned Mandaric for the latest sacking of Paulo Sousa after just nine games but failed to point out that Sousa walked out of Swansea after serving just one year of a three year contact.You cannot always have your cake and eat it.Ther LMA,like lots of other bodies,have selective memories.You get what you see with Mandaric,an ambitious,impatient,ruthless chairman but I have told Milan several times that you don't get success by quickly changing your manager so many times.Ian Holloway may have ultimately got Leicester relegated but where are Blackpool right now.Personally I did not think Sousa was what Leicester needed.I certainly don't rate him above Pearson who was told he was free to talk to Hull.Now Eriksson who has a two year contract and is seriously wedged up from football.He did ok for England,ok for Manchester City.But will he do it for Leicester without huge financial backing and top class players?I really doubt it.