It has all gone quiet in the corridors of power that run deep through Anfield. Ever since Hong Kong businessman Kenny Huang pulled out of the running as a contender to complete a buy-out of Liverpool FC last month, there has been little information released from the club’s press office regarding a takeover.

Current chairman Martin Broughton, brought in to oversee the sale of the famous club, is keeping a decidedly low profile, as the club’s supporters grow increasingly more anxious over the future of the Reds and their burdening debt.

In just 20 days, on 6 October, Liverpool co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks are required to repay their creditors, the Royal Bank of Scotland, loans totalling £285m. When deadline day arrives the Americans must have either sold the club, found new loans to finance their old ones or persuade RBS to extend the deadline once more. Alternatively, RBS can call in the debt and take temporary charge of the club until it is sold.

Broughton is currently overseeing the sale of the club along with investment bank Barclays Capital, who are advising in the sale. Despite this, Hicks has still been able to place an unrealistic £500m valuation on the club which so far has been refused to be matched by potential investors. RBS are clearly frustrated by the lack of developments, with the October deadline fast-approaching, and may look to take direct control over the sales process in a last-ditch bid to finalise a deal.

In the meantime however, the current much maligned five-man Liverpool board still retain control over evaluating all the offers and have so far been unable to conclude a takeover deal. The board initially wanted to conclude a deal before the end of last months’ transfer window but do not look any closer today to securing new investment. Broughton revealed last month:

“It still remains the objective to conclude a deal before the end of the transfer window.

“Any bids that go straight to RBS – and there have been several – come to me and are directed to Barcap,” Broughton said. “RBS are not involved. The control remains with the board.”

That was the last update Liverpool fans heard from Broughton as he revealed there were several offers on the boardroom table to be considered. The club have now spent five months looking for a buyer and given the lack of information from Broughton you wouldn’t bet on the Reds finding one over the next three weeks. Clearly the current offers submitted are not tempting enough for the club to sell and other potential investors may be waiting to see what happens on 6 October.

Should the club fail to find a buyer Hicks and Gillett will again attempt to refinance the debt and hang on until the club is sold at a price they can make a reasonable profit from. RBS would of course be more than happy to oblige given the amount of money they are making through interest. This would be the worst case scenario for the club and potential investors who are hoping RBS will force the Americans out and seize control of the club.

Should RBS take control they will be more interested in securing a deal at a cheaper price than the Americans for a quick return on their investment. This opens up more possibilities for the club in their quest for new owners and would remove the much despised Hicks and Gillett from the boardroom in a short space of time.

Fans should be careful what they wish for however and you wonder how much time, consideration and effort RBS would put into choosing the ideal candidate capable of building a bright new future for Liverpool. Ultimately the bank are likely only be interested in receiving the return of their investment as quickly as possible and will not care what the intentions of Liverpool’s potential list of new owners could be.

It seems as though the end of Hicks and Gillett’s desperate reign is slowly coming to its end as the deadline approaches, but Reds fans shouldn’t celebrate just yet, the future of Liverpool FC still hangs in the balance.

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Top TEN: Premier League Mavericks

Top TEN: Controversial Premier League moments

Tottenham Hotspur have in their grasp one of the most supreme young talents in the Premiership today. He comes in the form of Gareth Bale and the progression that Bale has made over the past couple of season is insurmountable and a credit to both the club and player. They have each shown their respective determination and faith in the other, with both parties realising what is on offer once achieved. They are now both profiteering from the aforementioned pact, with Bale a rampaging marauder on the left wing who seems intent on accumulating the most goals and assists he possibly can and Spurs reaping the rewards as a collective. Harry Redknapp has managed the young player’s mentality well, having a proven history in his management style of getting the best out of players. In Harry-esque fashion, when questioned over his psychological approach to Bale’s poor form, he is quoted as saying: “Have I had to talk to Bale about mental toughness? A bit, yeah. I just said, ‘Stop messing about with your barnet’. I said, ‘C’mon Gareth, stop messing about with your hair’. He was always at it.”

Regardless of which mental approaches, or lack thereof, that Redknapp took, it has now become reasonable for other clubs to take an interest in the 21 year old prospect. Tonight Spurs will face Inter Milan in the Champions League and if you’ve observed the latest media speculation, then you will have noted that Inter are interested in luring Bale to the San Siro. So what is to be made of this courting by Inter?

Well if Tottenham are to continue their voyage into the top positions of the Premiership and even possibly challenge for the title in the not too distant future, then suitors of this kind will have to be turned away at the door with bouquet in hand and tail between their legs. In the process of amassing a force that could challenge the dominance of a present regime, you don’t release one of your most valued assets and hope you could replace them. Luckily, Redknapp has been judiciously telling possible inquirers in no uncertain terms that Gareth Bale is much like the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, a no go area.

To progress and mount a credible challenge for the Premiership is no small feat indeed, but it is one made slightly less arduous when you have a character such as Bale. There are an infinite number of reasons why Redknapp shouldn’t be enticed by large sums of money for the acquisition of Bale by another club. Everything seems to be in the ascendancy for Spurs, having qualified for the Champions League after finishing fourth last season and looking strong this season with Bale at the forefront of Tottenham’s attacking options. All of this excellent work shouldn’t be jeopardized in the selling of Gareth Bale, but with Redknapp at the helm I’m fairly certain Inter, if they do indeed make an offer, will be left flicking through their little black book in order to try and salvage their pride.

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Newcastle United boss Chris Hughton has vowed to stand by Andy Carroll and provide support for the troubled striker.

Carroll, 21, was charged with assault on Monday following reports of an alleged altercation with a former girlfriend.

"With everything you have to learn by your mistakes," said Hughton."All individuals are different but these are issues we have to deal with.

"The most important thing is to give him the support and the guidance he needs and that he continues to keep doing what he does right on the training pitch and in matches.

"From my point of view and the club's point of view, these are the things we have to deal with and we have to deal with them in the appropriate manner."

Meanwhile, Hughton has confirmed that the four-goal striker could still be included in the squad for Saturday's trip to West Ham United.

"I have decisions to make regarding the squad but all those decisions will be made solely on footballing reasons," he added.

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"With Andy, he has concentrated very much on his football.

"He is a strong-minded individual and I am quite sure he will be in the right frame of mind to play football, quite sure."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Peter Crouch divides opinion, with his awkward style and ridiculous body shape he is not to everyone’s taste. And a scoring record of 18 in 62 games at Tottenham is not an overly prolific return for a centre forward often deployed alone this season. The most common criticism thrown at Crouch is that for a big man he is not commanding enough in the air when the ball is in the box and when he is this is usually done by conceding a foul. He rarely attacks the ball in the air, often over jumping and having to bend down in order to make contact. It is at this point he tends to get penalised for climbing on the defender. Although I feel his size tends to count against him here, with referees, particularly in Europe, being too quick to pull him up on this.

Where he is good is winning flick-ons and knock downs for a strike partner or runner from midfield to latch on to. His partnership with Defoe was developing quite well based on this fairly route one style. However he is now partnered with Van der Vaart who is not that type of player, lacking the pace to exploit any flick ons from Crouch. This is not to take away from Crouch’s technical ability on the ground as he is more of a footballer than just a route one target man. This was demonstrated the other night against Inter by juggling the ball brilliantly to evade two challenges out on the wing.

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However he is often crowded out too easily by defenders when he has the ball at his feet and not clinical enough in front of goal to be the main striker at a club with genuine European credentials. The lack of a true goal scoring instinct is the most infuriating aspect of Crouch. The recent game against Everton cried out for a clinical striker to finish one of few chances made. Instead these chances fell to Crouch who was wasteful with timid finishes, that were little more than handling practice for Everton keeper Howard. The most notable being a free header just six yards out being cushioned rather than attacked to the goalkeeper’s grateful arms. The result was two points dropped that wouldn’t have been had a more convincing striker been leading the line. Compare this to a truly world class forward in rich scoring form, Samuel Eto’o was shown the other night. The latter taking his sole chance expertly after stepping inside Gallas and dispatching his shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Contrasted with Crouch who seemed too desperate to score, taking the wrong decision to go for goal on the volley from Bale’s cross when Van der Vaart was crying out for it to be rolled along the six yard box for him to tap home.

The tendency when playing Crouch, through no fault of his own, is to loft the ball up from the back, not only is this route one football sore on the eyes it bypasses Spurs’ best technical players in Modric, Bale and VDV. It also rarely results in any sustained pressure and is a sign of desperation more that a tactic designed to best threaten the opponents goal. As such it should only be used as something different when Spurs’ traditional passing game is not working. Crouch has shown he does not have the quality to be a lone striker that can be relied upon to find the net if only presented with one or two chances in a tight game, where things are perhaps not going all Tottenham’s way. If Spurs wish to cement themselves in the top 4 and become regulars in Europe’s premier competition, they need a more lethal forward. However Crouch can offer a different dimension from the bench if and when required, for this reason he adds something as a squad player. But due to his finishing limitations and age, he turns 30 in January, he can offer little more than this option from the bench, if Spurs want to join the established Premier League elite.

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Newcastle United central defender Mike Williamson has been charged with violent conduct by the FA following his weekend clash with Bolton Wanderers' Johan Elmander.

Williamson was shown by TV pictures deliberately blocking a run by the Trotters' in-form Swedish forward, a clash which was seemingly missed by the match officials at the Reebok Stadium.

An FA statement read:"Newcastle United defender Mike Williamson has today been charged with violent conduct.

"The charge relates to an incident involving Johan Elmander in his side's fixture with Bolton Wanderers on Saturday 20 November.

"Williamson has until 6pm on Tuesday 23 November to reply to the charge and under The FA's fast-track regulations may admit the charge and accept a standard three-match suspension."

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The heavy defeat at Bolton also saw Williamson's defensive partner Fabricio Coloccini red-carded for elbowing Elmander in the face as the duo chased a long ball forward.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has admitted he is concerned about Arsenal's style of play ahead of the Gunners trip to Old Trafford on Monday.

The Gunners are now the league leaders after seeing off Fulham last weekend, while United's game at Blackpool was called off due to a frozen pitch.

The Scot feels the north London team have become more aggressive and mature in their approach and feels this has helped them improve in their play; they are now able to combine their slick passing with a more physical edge.

The Red Devils boss has warned they will be much harder to overcome this time round. He also added that the fixture has not become any less of a major tie since the arrival of Chelsea as title contenders.

"I think they'll still try to play the attractive football Arsene (Wenger) believes in, but there's definitely been a slight change," Ferguson told his club's official website.

"The general shape of the team has been far more mature and aggressive this year.

"They're top of the league – that's a sure indication that they are better than they were last year and they'll have a chance.

"They were very difficult to beat in the days of Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira and the three at the back – Keown, Adams and Bould.

"That brought them great success and I think that this team is showing that kind of maturity now."

"The games, particularly four or five years ago, were so important because both of us were challenging for league titles."

"Chelsea have now come in and it's been ourselves and Chelsea over the last five years.

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"Nonetheless, it's Manchester United against Arsenal and the history of both teams always guarantees a match of intensity and a lot of the time, controversy.

"I think Monday night's game will be more or less the same because the pride and history of both clubs determine that."

Manchester United have been boosted by the return of Rio Ferdinand who picked up a hamstring injury against Valencia midweek. Paul Scholes (groin) and Patrice Evra are both fit so are likely to play. However, Arsenal's Kieran Gibbs (ankle) and Cesc Fabregas (hamstring) are both out for the clash at Old Trafford.Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email

First things first. Lee Bowyer can’t and should not be excused for his horrible challenge on Bacary Sagna during Birmingham’s recent defeat to Arsenal. It was sickening to watch Lee Bowyer carry on in the game, and continue to leave his boot in on Sagna at every available opportunity. Not for one minute is Alex McLeish defending his player’s behaviour, but has he landed on a point that shames the FA? Are the bigger clubs getting away with the same kind of challenges that the smaller clubs are being punished for?

It would be unfair to Birmingham if we highlighted all of the decisions Birmingham have had over the past two seasons and said that it is a case of swings and roundabouts. Lee Bowyer should have been sent off against Manchester United, something Sir Alex Ferguson stated after the game. Bowyer knew he was under the media spotlight, so why did he commit such a reckless crime? Against Arsenal, either Bowyer was looking for Sagna or the full back found himself at the wrong place at the wrong time. Hopefully Mcleish is not trying to gloss over three serious incidents, one against Manchester United and two against Arsenal, and try to deflect attention away from his player. Bowyer was handed the right punishment, he must accept that.

Alex McLeish wasn’t happy with Samir Nasri’s stud high challenge on Stephen Carr, and feels the bigger clubs are getting away with decisions.

“I don’t like to see trial by television,” said McLeish. “But, if we’re getting tried by it, then everybody has to be tried by television.

“We are just looking for fairness. We’re not defending anybody if they have made a bad decision (challenge) on the field. We’re not going to defend anybody.

“But that wasn’t slowed down by television. Slow that down, I’m sure you will think it looks a bad tackle.”

Personally, I feel McLeish has a point, but not with the Nasri challenge. Football is a contact sport, we hear it all the time, but if we slow down incidents we could condemn any challenge. As Andy Gray said a couple of weeks ago, every challenge can be perceived as dangerous. Lee Bowyer’s challenge was a red card in super fast motion or super slow motion. However, Alex McLeish does raise a point. There have been challenges this season that the top teams have got away with. Look at Jack Wilshere’s horror lunge on Nikola Zigic and Gary Neville’s slice on Matthew Etherington. Both players got away without punishment in these incidents, but had it been a player with a ‘reputation’ would managers have been more inclined to push the FA into action? We can cast our minds back to September and Arsene Wenger’s interview about tackles in the English game. Wilshere’s must have fallen into his ‘horror challenge category.’

It is definitely something that the FA must look at. Punishing players by television evidence will be good for the game. No longer can players make off the ball elbows, horror challenges or inflammatory gestures and get away with it. Granted, it is not a method of protection, as the player will not be sent off during the game, but it will hold players to account. Cricket has a similar system in place, and the game is played in a hard but fair manner. Football should continue to embrace these disciplinary measures but it must be on a fair playing field. Alex McLeish will lose Bowyer for three games, but Wenger could have lost Sagna for a great deal longer. The FA, in this case, have got it right.

The top managers get the most media coverage, that is something that we have to accept. So if a poor challenge is made on one of their players, they have a larger platform in which to call for action on such an incident. We just have to trust the FA that they do make the right calls on these incidents. The system may not be 100 per cent fair, but our game will be better with, rather than without it.

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With the exception of perhaps Howard Webb, I have never been one for ref bashing and believe they do their best in arguably one of sports’ toughest professions. It is a thankless task, although I don’t think the authorities help them.

Before you switch off and think I am going to join the masses who scream out for the need of video technology, I want to reassure you I am not and instead will be aiming my fury at the initiatives and guidelines that the referees are under instruction to follow. Only football could punish players for celebrating goals with a yellow card, while seeing scything challenges as just part of the game. The reason my frustrations have surfaced is having witnessed two red cards being branded against Tottenham in the past few days.

I’m not going to string up either referee on this occasion, because by the letter of the law they were both red card offences, but who writes these ridiculous laws in the first place?

I understand the need to clamp down on flying elbows, as the likes of John Fashanu and Ben Thatcher have both used theirs with violent intent, but can Jermain Defoe’s really have been deemed in the same league? I ask the question as to how Defoe was going to be able to challenge for that header with his arms by his side and equally where was the intent when his eyes were clearly on the ball the whole time? Surely the rule doesn’t state that players are able to raise their arms, just as long as it doesn’t catch anyone in the face; how is that workable in what is ultimately a contact sport? What did Defoe do differently to say what Kevin Davies does week in week out for Bolton?

It is the same with Kaboul’s sending off. We all called the red card the minute he moved in with his head, but who was the real perpetrator of this incident? It was Tiote who was the aggressor and while Kaboul was stupid to react to the provocation, what harm was actually done? Had he made contact then fair enough, but common sense would ensure that this incident wouldn’t really warrant anything other than a stern talking to. Unfortunately therein lays the problem as referees aren’t allowed to officiate with that and failure to send off Kaboul would have seen the ref reprimanded and maybe taken off the roster for a week. Is it any wonder that referees are so card happy these days?

That is what really boils my blood is that managers and fans continually berate referees but what chance have they got, given the rules in place? You get yellow cards for taking your shirt off, dissent; while getting red cards for raising your arms, or in Kaboul’s case touching eyebrows with an opponent. It kind of makes you sick when you see incidents like leg breaking tackles, cynical stamps, or kicks from behind often going unpunished, and yet this is what would actually do the most damage to the game. The rules need to be rewritten and quick, in order to bring a semblance of common sense back to the game.

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Inter Milan boss Leonardo believes Sunday’s trip to Udinese will be the sternest test of his reign at the European champions.

With five wins from five since taking over from the sacked Rafael Benitez on Christmas Eve, Leonardo’s influence is turning around the club’s fortunes after a dismal start to the season.

But Udinese are in a rich vein of form at the moment, with a 4-4 draw at the San Siro against Serie A leaders AC Milan followed by a 4-2 win over Genoa in their last two league games, leaving them in eighth place, just five points behind fourth-placed Inter.

Leonardo sounded a note of caution to his players ahead of the clash and insisted it was far too early to be thinking of Serie A glory.

“We will be facing players in great shape, who are getting excellent results and we must be very careful,” Leonardo said.

“Alexis Sanchez and Antonio Di Natale form a very interesting partnership that is extremely difficult to defend against.”

“I think tomorrow might be truly the toughest test we’ve had yet. In any case, we too are in a positive period of form and I trust my team to read the situation with their tactical intelligence.”

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“As for the Scudetto race, I don’t think anything is decisive right now. There’s a long way to go. The important thing was to close the gap from the top and we have done that.”

Winger Philippe Coutinho is back in the Inter side after a prolonged absence with a thigh strain, as is Thiago Motta, but Walter Samuel, Diego Milito, Wesley Sneijder and Julio Cesar are unavailable.

Spain manager Vicente del Bosque was pleased with his side’s fighting qualities after they scored a 1-0 win over Colombia in Madrid.

The visitors had plenty of chances to score against the reigning world champions, but in the end it was Manchester City midfielder David Silva who scored the winner with just four minutes remaining.

Del Bosque said the spirit shown by his men was a welcome sight following the disappointment of their last match – a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Portugal in November.

“We had a very good game, and had a different attitude to that day in Portugal,” del Bosque said. “Our commitment was better, and resulted in Silva’s goal.”

“We were facing a very good team who made things uncomfortable for us. The most important thing for me is that I saw a different attitude in my side from the game we lost against Portugal and for that I am happy.”

Del Bosque added that Wednesday’s win provided valuable confidence ahead of his side’s Euro 2012 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Lithuania next month.

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“The concentration is important, and prepares us well for the qualifying matches in March,” he said.