my liverpool fc

LIVERPOOL legend Ian Rush has demanded the FA should take action against Chelsea following their ‘intimidation’ of referee Rob Styles at Anfield on Sunday.

Rush, who scored 346 goals for Liverpool, said: “I did see the Chelsea players moaning at the referee throughout the game.

“I don’t know if they’ve been told to do it by the manager or not, but the FA need to act now to stop it.

“The FA should rule that any moaning can only come through the captain, he should be the only player allowed to speak to the ref.

“They do it in rugby and it works – they never get problems like this.

“Chelsea’s constant moaning has influenced the referee, but if you’re a Chelsea supporter you’re happy because your players haven’t broken any rules, they’re just using gamesmanship – and it’s up to the referee and the FA to know what’s gamesmanship and what’s not.

“There’s so much at stake now that the result is all important.

“Sportsmanship and fair play just don’t seem to come into it.

“People have to look at what Chelsea are doing and be aware of it.”

Rush claims referee Styles is getting a reputation for making decisions without thinking.

Styles controversially awarded Chelsea a penalty which enabled them to equalise after Fernando Torres’s opener, before causing confusion by brandishing a yellow card at Michael Essien – who had already been booked – but insisting it was John Terry being booked.

And Styles’s all-round performance at Anfield was so bad he’s been dropped by the Premier League for next weekend’s fixtures, a decision Rush thinks is totally justified.

He said: “The penalty was never a penalty. In big games you’ve got to be 100% certain and I don’t know how he could have given that.

“It’s easy to look back with hindsight – but it didn’t even look a ‘nearly’ penalty at the time, so it’s very disappointing.

“But just as bad as that decision was the number of yellow cards he dished out. It was not a dirty game, but he still handed out nine yellow cards – and there wasn’t one bad tackle in the game.

“Rob Styles is getting a reputation for acting without thinking and on this occasion he’s let Chelsea off the hook. But it’s not the first time he’s done it and these are major decisions which he’s getting wrong.”

But despite disappointment with the referee Rush, talking on football website Fanbanta.com, thinks Liverpool have proved they are ready to compete with the top two.

“Liverpool fans were disappointed leaving the stadium,” he said. “And to see the Chelsea players celebrating at the end as if they’d won the game, just shows how far Liverpool have come.”

I WISH I wasn’t such a killjoy.

If there is light at the end of the tunnel I always get the urge to extinguish it.

Admittedly Tom Hicks kept his promise and the plans for New Anfield are “spectacular” but I was always led to believe size isn’t everything. Unless all those women were lying.

Yet more appeasement for fans that still believe more money inevitably means more success. Like e-mails from Nigeria guaranteeing you a fortune if you hand over your bank details, it’s too good to be true.

The more we spend the less likely we’ll add to the list of cheap yet prolific idols like Rush, Hunt, Owen, Fowler, Keegan and Liddell.

Okay, there was Dalglish I grant you – but Kenny was the exception to all rules.

Besides, there’s the small matter of whether it will actually see the light of day. Someone really ought to publish The Big Book Of Liverpool Artists’ Impressions Of Things That Never Get Built.

Before there’s an upsurge in wrist-slitting let me just say I foresee no problems with the project. Even the detested idea of naming rights has been offset by the Arsenal role model, ‘Emirates’ being a fairly dignified title that most people could live with.

The usual suspects were asked for their thoughts on the blueprints. They all expressed a sincere desire to remain integral Liverpool figures once the stadium opens for business.

Whether they will be is another matter. Three years, in the maelstrom of modern football, can be an eternity.

In 2004 they’d have recommended a good psychiatrist for anyone predicting we’d play in two Champions League finals. You never know what’s around the corner.

Gerrard could still be here, maybe Carragher too.

It will have been 13 years since he flattened Townsend and scored at the Kop end, which seems a long time to stay at the top in the modern era, but if anyone can do that it’s Carragher.

The man least likely to be here is Rafa himself. Madrid will probably have had seven more managers by then, and the sigh of relief whenever the latest sacrificial lamb isn’t Benitez gets louder. How much longer can we dodge that bullet?

If he’s managed to survive, the summer of 2010 would see Rafa begin his seventh season in charge. That’s quite possible. As the last title win shrinks to a dot on the horizon each manager gets longer to end the wait.

Four years for Evans, five for Houllier. Will our new owners be as patient as Moores was?

But what’s the alternative? Rafa has already achieved the third highest points tally in our history; a total big enough to win 16 of our 18 titles is now regarded as a mere platform on which to build a challenge!

The ambition at this club is fierce, frighteningly so. Some teams’ fans would be ecstatic with a fraction of what we’ve achieved even in the so-called wilderness years – but not us.

The new Stanley Park plans prove one thing: our new owners share the same dreams.

Turning them into reality will not be so easy.

LIVERPOOL legend Ian Rush is backing the judgement of Rafael Benitez as he prepares to make Fernando Torres the next addition to his forward line.

Benitez will break the Liverpool club record fee to capture the signature of the 23-year-old Atletico Madrid captain, despite some hard bargaining over the £27million asking price demanded by the La Liga club.

However, Rush believes it could be money well spent as Benitez continues his efforts to transform the Anfield outfit into genuine Premiership title contenders.

“It’s a lot of money but Torres is a quality player,” said the ex-Anfield goalscorer. “His goalscoring record is not the best, but he’s the sort of player Liverpool need to strengthen their squad.

“Manchester United have been in the transfer market already and it’s important Liverpool do the same.

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“Benitez obviously knows more about Torres than those of us who have only seen him on television and we have to rely on his judgement – which has generally been spot-on in terms of the people he has signed.

“Making a judgement and standing by it is part and parcel of being a manager and I hope the deal goes through because he is a left-footed player, which is what is needed.”

Torres, who scored 14 goals last season, would have to make an almost immediate impact on the Premiership in order to justify such a huge fee, but Rush says the Spanish influence at Anfield would make it easier to settle in straight away.

And Torres, who in the past has been linked with moves to both United and Chelsea, is known to be keen to work with Benitez.

“Foreign players either live up to their reputation in the Premiership or they don’t,” added Rush. “It’s as much about mental attitude as anything and I’m sure Benitez knows what sort of character the lad is.

“And you can be sure Torres has spoken to the other Spanish players at Liverpool about what he can expect if he comes over here, so it might not be as big a problem for him as for others.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool this week confirmed that former Ajax player Piet Hamberg has been appointed as the club’s new Academy technical manager following the retirement of Steve Heighway.

And Rush admitted Heighway would be a hard act to follow after the Liverpool team successfully defended the FA Youth Cup last season.

“Steve did a great job there, but things change and move on,” he said. “I don’t know much about him but the new man has an impressive CV so he must be more than capable of doing the job, which is all about developing players.

“Ajax were the club that set the standards for everyone else on youth development.”