Rick Parry has a huge head

Literally and figuratively.

Also, from the linked article, Rafa states about recruiting promising youngsters from around the world, especially Spain: "They are 16 to 18 but I'm sure that in two or three years most of them will be ready for the first team. That means saving big money."

He's not going anywhere for a long time.

Today's Banter: Snake oil salesmen, drowning fish, or spin doctors?

Being American, Tom Hicks and George Gillett have received the best education in the world when it comes to advantageous utilization of media and the English press are always more than happy to oblige. The latest issues that appear to have their press relations firm(s) working overtime are the revising of the stadium plans due to rising costs and how that could affect the amount of money available in the upcoming January transfer window. At least the rift with Rafa has been laid to rest.

As I have mentioned prior, the very basis of the aforementioned 'tiff' was money. Does that mean now that since plans for the stadium have been 'scaled-back', there will be funds available in January? Some media are reporting that the board will be unwilling to approve neither a transaction to buy nor sell by Rafa, while others are declaring that he will have to sell first. Rick Parry says this is all rubbish and when the king puppet speaks, all the children should listen closely.

Personally, I don't know nor do I care. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see certain players sent on their merry way while a few diamonds in the rough are plucked and polished, but I could do without all the extracurricular melodrama. It may serve more of a purpose than just to confuse and frustrate the average supporter though. Machiavellian measures are always useful in denying the opposition information that may give them an edge. Think Ryan Giggs.

When the new owners took over they promised us the world and have delivered shit-all. Torres, Babel, Benayoun, Lucas, and Itandje have come at the price of Luis Garcia, Craig Bellamy, Mark Gonzalez, Djibril Cissé, and roughly £20m, or about what we've come to expect to spend in summer's past. It appears as if the improvement of our squad has had more to do with Rafa's cunning then lack of vowed 'big money' funds.

Honestly, I have no problem with supporting a 'small' club. It makes me appear a whole lot more intelligent and means all the more when cups are won. The problem is, I don't like to be taken for a ride, but in this day and age, that's just appears how business is done. I could definitely do without the coloring book antics of the official site and teenagers in Ireland manipulating headlines to lure clickers though.

Today's Banter: Owners 'rift' rubbished, A return to England for Cissé?, Riise to stay, & Rush praises Rafa's tactics

Club Chief Executive Rick Parry has stated that the rift between Tom Hicks and George Gillett is totally fabricated. The 52-year-old revealed that he has recently spent time with both owners and drew no such conclusions of a breach in their partnership. Even if there was, I sincerely doubt the papers would know about it before something major occurred. Parry added that Gillett and Hicks are still on the same page concerning the future of the club and are working on a refinancing package to be completed in the next 30 days.

Former LFC striker Djibril Cissé may be on his way back to the Premiership. The 26-year-old French international has fallen out of favor with his current club, Marseille, and is looking to go elsewhere. It is no surprise that 'Money Bags' Shinawatra at Man City and Eggert 'Big Paper' Magnússon of West Ham are the two being linked to him. Cissé is married to an English woman and still owns a home in Cheshire.

John Arne Riise has rubbished claims that he'll be joining fellow Norwegian John Carew at Aston Villa in January. The recently turned 27-year-old seems very pragmatic about his current dip in form and is looking to improve. Riise has had glimpses of brilliance, but they've been far and few between. He was simply dazzling in the preseason, but at the very least, wholly inconsistent since. Maybe he can get some pointers from Hyypia about how to find his top self once again. I'd rather he stick around, but if he's going to continue to be a detriment, I can't see any reason to keep him aboard.

Finally, Ian Rush has praised Rafa for the tactics he employed in the Fulham match, especially bringing on Torres at just the right time. One of the things that he states in that article that I agree with is that he doesn't believe Rafa wanted to keep the same line-up as the Besitkas match. I really think Rafa did so as a message to his players that he doesn't always rotate on the basis of who's fresh or for tactical reasons. I think he wanted to let them know if they perform well, they'll get more playing chances, a notion some don't think Rafa believes in. Cheers.

Today's Banter: Bellamy quit Liverpool?, Wigan limping, Babbel eyes return, & more

- This is interesting, according to Wigan midfielder Jason Koumas, Craig Bellamy quit us because of Rafa's rotation. Quit us? Who is Bellamy kidding? He barely had one foot in the door before most fans wanted him gone. The bottom line is, he just wasn't good enough for us. Too many offsides and not enough creativity. Room for Torres and Voronin were needed and Craig B had to go. In the link above, Koumas then goes on to say, like Bellamy did when he joined us, that he was a childhood Liverpool fan and wants the Reds to go on and win the title this season. Then he questions Rafa's rotation policy after saying it's hard to argue with Benitez' record due to our boss' ways. In the end, he just sounds confused.

- Wigan might have an even tougher time than usual against us as they will be missing five players due to injury. Kevin Kilbane, Ryan Taylor, Antonio Valenica, Denny Landzaat, and former Red Emile Heskey are all very doubtful for tomorrow's clash. It really doesn't matter if they have all their best players or not, if we play well, we should win.

- Per usual, the opposition manager has to chime in on his thoughts about Rafa's rotation policy and Wigan boss Chris Hutchings is no different. He claims that most players at Liverpool have grown to accept Rafa's tinkering ways and since a majority are also foreign, they are used to dealing with it. Hutchings also goes on to add that it doesn't really matter who Benitez puts out there, they are all top players and the Lactics will just have to deal with it.

- Former Liverpool defender Markus Babbel would like to return to the club he won the treble with in 2001 in the capacity of manager one day. The 35-year-old is currently an assistant with the club he ended his career with, VfB Stuttgart. The former European Championship winner with his native Germany was also part of the Bundesliga winning side last year, his final season of playing.

- Finally, Rick Parry feels the time is right for us to win the title. Though the 52-year-old Chief Executive of the club refuses to make a prediction on the grounds of frivolity, he thinks this year is different than past years as there is also expectation but not true belief.