HOWZAT

So far, so good. Rooney and Gerrard function well at most times, swapping positions as they should despite Rooney’s ill-advised straying into an irrelevant discussion before the match. His statement that “my best position is up front” was taken as an indirect criticism of Sir Alex Ferguson, who often employs him to the left of Manchester United’s attack, but his best position is where Capello plays him in a 4-3-2-1 — and it is because Emile Heskey plays up front that he and Gerrard thrive.

Financial chaos at Anfield shows Platini’s concerns justified

Almost funny, isn’t it? Michel Platini draws attention to the dangers of the debt levels of leading Premier League clubs and is accused of being anti-English. Liverpool’s auditors do the same and everyone stands rigidly to attention. Yet basically Platini and KPMG are saying the same thing: that the new “English” model of football-club ownership — in fact, Liverpool and Manchester United are in American hands — may be unsustainable.

Those who have used Platini’s Frenchness to cast doubt on his motives should be ashamed of themselves; it was always his business. Uefa, of which he is president, runs the Champions League and only one of the past five finals has not featured United or Liverpool. These clubs were locally owned and debt-free when they first became European champions, United in 1968 and Liverpool nine years later, but now they serve as cashpoints for foreigners with “leverage” — in other words, not enough money to have effected their takeovers through a mixture of gift and interest-free loan such as Roman Abramovich at Chelsea.

While Sir Alex Ferguson’s United generate enough to cover the Glazer family’s loan interest — if not secure Carlos Tévez for the adoring fans — Rafael Benítez’s Liverpool make a lot less than Messrs Hicks and Gillett must pay their banks. Hence KPMG’s warning towards the end of last week: “There is material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt upon the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.” No longer, then, can improvement on the field — Liverpool finished second in the Premier League after beating United home and away — mask troubles off it. While Steven Gerrard plots the overthrow of Manchester United, the scrutineers of the books raise the spectre of Leeds United.

What of the state-of-the-art stadium Hicks and Gillett promised a couple of years ago? About £20 million has been wasted on that fantasy. The new Anfield, which they might as well call Neverland, remains an artist’s impression and an architect’s pension. With every day that goes by, the stupidity that prevented Liverpool and (to apportion blame fairly) Everton from pooling their resources with local and regional authorities to build a flagship arena becomes more depressingly obvious.

Next we are to discover how the Americans’ bankers, RBS and Wachovia, feel about continuing to lend Tom Hicks and George Gillett £350 million; the deal must be repaid or renegotiated by July 24. RBS is now publicly owned, of course, and, while I don’t know about you, fellow taxpayer, my appetite for the maintenance of any element of this hideously profligate industry, whose only reaction to the proper concerns of Uefa is to accuse Platini of making mischief, is waning fast.

Let the market decide? The market has returned RBS to us. So let us decide. All those in favour of Hicks and Gillett? Platini’s point, precisely (even though his Uefa has shown a favourable disposition to Liverpool by recently renewing their licence to take part in the Champions League).

If RBS were to respond to supporters’ groups sick and tired of the Americans, they would demand their — our — money back and open the way for a healthier form of ownership. It won’t happen. And the chaos at Liverpool will go on.