Gillett breaks his silence

There is no greater kiss of death than the backing of Mark Lawrenson. Good old Lawro has backed us to beat Everton 2-0 on Sunday. Super.

The build up to the derby, normally quite a heated game (you need only look at the last October's at Woodison), has been dominated by this whole respect the referee lark. Sky even have a fancy graphic over a picture of Steve Bennett being a twat (sending off Mascherano for those of you not familiar with Bennett's twat like behaviour) when they interview various managers about respecting a referee. This includes Alex Ferguson, porn star Paul Jewell and of course our good friend David Moyes.

Of course this gave Gollum his chance to put in a customary sly and bitter dig about how "none of our players chase the referee" on Sky Sports News this afternoon. Evertonians are still reeling from when Rafa called them a small club last season so Moyes will take any opportunity to stick the boot in like a twat.

Both teams do have something in common heading into the 207th Merseyside derby, both will be missing influential midfielders in Javier Mascherano and Tim Cahill who has been ruled out for the season. It's a blow for the Blues and regardless of how Sunday goes it is a boost for us - he is a important player for them.

So too is Mascherano for us and today he admitted a charge of improper conduct ahead of a FA personal hearing next week before the Arsenal game which he will likely miss when the suits at Soho Square hand him Ashley Cole's punishment. \

This being the Ashley Cole whose outburst at Mike Riley was far more animated then anything Mascherano did last Sunday yet he got a yellow card and, in some quarters, praise for a swift and timid apology the next day. Anyway I've been arguing about this all week, it is probably time to move on.

Matters off the field rumble on with George Gillett today confirming what we have all known for months - that his relationship with Tom Hicks is non existent and thus the ownership issue remains up in the air.

We did at least finally get an insight into his thoughts on the matter, his wish to sell to DIC and to do well by the fans. Not all the fans necessarily agree with this as evidenced by the disgusting and unnecessary death threats he and his family have received. Shit like this is being perpetrated by people who should be ashamed to call themselves reds.

But what is most interesting is that Gillett has broken his silence not to any of the English media but to a Toronto sports radio station and only when he was pushed on the matter by the interviewer (The link above provides the audio). If Gillett is really trying to do right by the fans then he should be more open in his dialogue and not sit in silence as he has done since about December. Sure he may be worried of a public slanging match with Hicks but we need the whole story not just the Hicks propaganda being peddled by the Liverpool Echo.

In any case the issue appears no closer to resolution as we head into an important run of games. No predictions from me for Sunday but there's little doubting their importance for the club's future on and off the field.