Today's Banter: Gerrard for foreigner quota, Eastenders sensationalizes Hillsborough, Carra enjoying time off, & more

I would write a headline like 'Gerrard hates foreigners', but unlike just the one single comment I have ever received calling me a 'wind-up merchant', I am in fact not and honestly, anyone who states such an opinion does not read me regularly. Furthermore, I cannot stand the non-news sites, a.k.a. 'wind-up blogs', who write rubbish trying to draw people to their sites so they can increase their hits. They are not fans of football and just do so for monetary reasons. It makes me sick. Maybe I'll do a post calling these people out in the near future because they severely water-down the soccer blog community and nearly nullify efforts such as my own to provide quality opinions and insight into my club and the sport itself. Those idiots give solace to the idea that football fans are thick-headed. Anyhow...

Steven Gerrard is all over the press like ants on sugar. First, our captain chimes in on the topic of a foreigner quota or at least a set amount of English players required for each Premiership squad. There's a number of reasons why this will never happen and the first is that it just won't work. All the propositions I've read about are having a set number of English players on a side's squad. With no limits on the amount of players a club can have, that wouldn't matter. Take a wild guess as to how many English players are in Liverpool's squad? Try nine and that doesn't include the seven we have out-on-loan neither the nine at the Academy. That's 25 of the 74 total players in all.

Second, if they set a quota for only allowing the number of foreigners eligible to play for a certain match, then you delude the quality of play on the field. Like it or not, it's no longer England's Premiership, but the world's, and it's going to have to reflect that notion to maintain it's popularity and economic status. To blame the failures of the national team on the lack of playing opportunities in the EPL is simply rubbish, especially when you have tactless and spineless individuals running your country's squad.

Speaking of McClaren, Gerrard sees 'no point changing managers every five months or every year.' Stevie G, I love ya, but what are you talking about?! McClaren has been at the helm for 15 months now and has the second worse record of any England manager in history. He's clearly out of his element. As long as he is allowed to continue, England has absolutely no chance of winning anything. I don't know why I'm complaining, eventually it just means more rest for Gerrard.

Popular BBC soap opera, Eastenders, created quite the controversy when it alluded to the disaster of Hillsborough as being the responsibility of hooliganism. The scene in question involves a group of 'hoodlums' in search of another character with a hooligan past, but are apparently confronted by a character who says, 'Five years out of Europe because of Heysel, because they pinned you lot in to stop you fighting on the pitch, and then what did we end up with – Hillsborough.' Though clearly socially irresponsible, it's not as if it doesn't represent the ignorance of most people who either choose to know nothing about Hillsborough and just chalk it up to hooliganism out of convenience or the other poor sods who use the disastrous event in poor taste as ammunition against LFC supporters.

The show does try to portray a social realist angle, but the insensitivity of the approach here is quite inconsiderate. Sadly the influence of imaginary people spewing mis-educated opinions is greater than truth and reality. I won't divulge anymore on the subject, but do agree that Eastenders owe the families of the victims and those that were present and traumatized by the event, a sincere apology.

Recently we've added a couple of kids to our ever-growing world youth arsenal. Lauri Dalla Valle, a 15-year-old Finnish attacking midfielder, was signed to a contract to join the club in January. Valle is considered one the best talents ever to come out of the Scandinavian country and was at Inter last year. Other clubs that pursued him include Chelsea. The plans are to keep him at the Academy for a year-and-a-half and then integrte him into Melwood. More recently, 16-year-old Swedish centre back Tim Bjorkstrom was granted a trial of indeterminate length to train at the Academy. Bjorkstrom has played with the Swedish U17s and for Swedish side Brommapojkarna.

Finally, Jamie Carragher is enjoying his two-week fixture-free 'holiday' since he doesn't have to suit up for England. The 29-year-old centre back is enjoying the light training sessions at Melwood and spending more time with his wife and kids. Doesn't that sound great, Stevie? Furthermore, he has no regrets about quitting England. He shouldn't, being played out-of-position constantly and not getting the opportunities he was entitled to and earned was just pure rubbish. Cheers.