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Well, Lads and Lasses, here we are at the beginning of a new season - large as life and twice as natural. With the continued success of The Toon last year, we are hoping for big happenings - with more expectations than in previous years. As Sir Bobby says: Ability plus Determination equals Results. The lads certainly have the talent. Let's hope they can all get the sort of determination that Alan Shearer has.

At the end of last season, especially with the prospect of more Champions League money coming in, we were all eagerly predicting which major players might be signed by the Toon. Ronaldinho and Kluivert were mentioned among others. Now at the beginning of the season, all we seem to be showing is Lee Bowyer, who was signed for a song. Sir Bobby must have a plan, but sometimes it's hard to fathom what it is as he's going into the season with pretty much the same squad as last year. In fact there has been recent speculation about reverse transfers, with Dyer being touted for Chelski or Moan U. A figure of £25 million for this transfer suddenly entered the picture. So far we've heard no more on this, although there's been a spirited exchange of views on the player in the Yahoo group. Why the Club would be looking for this kind of money is hard to understand since they are financially solvent and there's the potential for plenty of Champions League money yet to come in. Look what happened to Leeds when they became a selling club.

The Asia Cup is, well, the Asia Cup - but it would have been nice to start the season with a bit of silverware. It wasn't to be as the lads lost in the final to Chelski 5-4 on penalties. While Jenas got a shellacking from Sir Bobby for chipping his penalty over the bar, other notables who also missed the mark were Shearer and Robert, so there were plenty of tears to go around.

Freddie Shepherd was seen recently in Los Angeles hob-nobbing with Hollywood producers. The scuttlebutt is that they want to film a story about a South American player who has difficulty meshing in with a northern football club. SJP is apparently in the front row. Any guesses on a likely cast? Sean Bean (Shearer), Eric Cantona (Robert), Vinnie Jones (Bowyer), Robson Green (Sir Bobby), Jimmie Nail (Shepherd).

The Toon will either play Djurgardins, presently top of the Swedish League (which is halfway through their season), or Partizan, Belgrade, in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The two matches will be played in mid and late August.

A visit to Toronto by Peter Beardsley at the end of July had to be cancelled as his sponsor dropped out at the last minute. This was disappointing for the Canadian Toon Army as Vikram Parmar had organized an evening with Beardo in conjunction with the local Liverpool supporters club.

Harry S
Editor-in-Chief
Harry's Rant