* The Guardian:
Stuart Pearce has urged his board of directors to retain their faith in his ability at Manchester City, with the club's manager of exactly two years facing up to the reality that he has two games, against Chelsea tonight and Middlesbrough on Saturday, to save his job.
City's slump in recent weeks has seen them jettisoned from the FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers and hauled to within six points of the relegation zone, a miserable run of four consecutive league defeats leaving them fourth bottom in the Premiership. The 8,000 travelling fans who attended Sunday's Cup defeat at Ewood Park chanted for the manager's dismissal and Chelsea's visit this evening hardly suggesting a revival is imminent.
It says much for the sense of deepening gloom at Eastlands that confirmation that Joey Barton, arguably the team's most inspirational player, had been arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage has hardly registered, with the priority remaining survival in the top flight. Barton will be available for both club and country having been bailed pending further inquiries, with Pearce confident there will be no repeat of last season's dire run-in, when three points were gleaned from a possible 30.
"You know full well that you're going to have good times and bad times in football, and you know you have to become stronger in the bad times," said Pearce. "The good times, when people are patting me on the back, probably sit more uncomfortably with me. At the moment, I know exactly where I stand, who's with me and, maybe, who's not with me.
"Not many aren't with me, certainly within this football club. Maybe there are one or two outside the club. But I have a very open relationship with the board. The chairman's here every Friday, bar none, sitting in on team meetings. We're very open. This year, the outlay we've put on players is £500,000 yet we're fighting against teams like Aston Villa, who have just spent £20m, or Charlton who spent £16m last summer. That's not a criticism. It's a fact. Even so, results haven't been good enough and that's my responsibility. But, against a fantastic side like Chelsea, you might say we have nothing to lose."
Yet the reality is that City can ill afford to see their run of defeats prolonged. Tensions are high within the squad following comments made by the captain, Richard Dunne, suggesting a rift between the established players and those recruited recently from abroad, while the abuse to which the team were subjected at Ewood Park by their travelling support visibly affected some players, most notably the teenage England international Micah Richards.
* The Mirror:
Stuart Pearce is fighting to save his Manchester City job while half his team are at war with each other.
City face Chelsea tonight with skipper Richard Dunne and teammate Joey Barton, who slammed the club's foreign contingent last week, being blanked by a group led by strikers Georgios Samaras and Bernardo Corradi and defender Sylvain Distin.
Caught in the middle of the amazing British v Foreigners stand-off are youngsters Micah Richards, Nedum Onuha and Stephen Ireland.
The simmering tensions between the factions were publicly displayed during Sunday's 2-0 FA Cup quarterfinal defeat to Blackburn when Corradi was seen mouthing a swear word at Barton.
Before the contest Pearce struggled to bring the two sides together and City went on to produce not a single shot on goal.
A City source said last night: "You could cut the atmosphere with a knife before the game and it's just the youngsters you feel sorry for because they have been put in a difficult position.
"They don't want to be seen to get involved so they are just trying to keep the peace."
* Laugh or cry moment:
The Guardian:
Thomas O Hicks and George Gillett Jr, the two American businessmen who are close to completing their takeover of Liverpool, have borrowed almost £300m from the Royal Bank of Scotland to finance the deal. The bank has loaned the money at 1.5% above the current standard lending rate, meaning that about £21.5m interest will be payable this year.
The debt is not being taken on by the club in the way the Glazer family loaded Manchester United with £660m borrowings from their 2005 takeover, but professionals close to the deal said it was nevertheless likely that Liverpool would pay the interest, or pay Hicks and Gillett "a big dividend" at the end of the year to enable them to do so.
The terms of the loans are in the offer document sent to all shareholders, revealing that the two men are borrowing £185m to pay for the £174m takeover itself and associated costs, with another £113m available as a "revolving credit facility" to absorb Liverpool's debts and fund the club and preliminary work on the new 60,000-seat stadium. A further £200m will be borrowed to build the stadium but the way that will be done has not been worked out. The initial £298m loans are guaranteed by Hicks and Gillett personally.
The offer document also reveals how stretched Liverpool became financially last year as the chief executive, Rick Parry, searched for someone to take over the club. In August the then chairman David Moores lent the club £10m - £2m personally and £8m from a family trust - to let the manager, Rafael Benítez, have some money to strengthen the squad, which he spent on buying the striker Dirk Kuyt.
* Speculation continues about Mourinho and Madrid, taking Fat Frank with him.
The Times:
After admitting that he would like to take charge at Real Madrid, José Mourinho is the supporters' first choice to become the next coach. The Chelsea manager received 55 per cent in a poll by Marca, the Spanish sports newspaper, that asked fans whether he should replace Fabio Capello. About 40,000 voted on the website.
Mourinho's comments will be interpreted as a signal to Real that he is willing to talk, should he leave Chelsea at the end of the season. "It's a shame that Madrid and Barcelona are out of the Champions League," Mourinho said. "I always want to play against the clubs with great tradition. Who wouldn't want to play in the Nou Camp or the Bernabéu?"
* It's all someone else's fault:
Wenger blames France for Henry's stunted season:
"It has not been his best season, the first to concede that would be Thierry. He tells me that he is sorry and he feels he has let us down a little bit, but he should not feel that because what can you do about injuries? I feel he has been badly managed after the World Cup. I don't take responsibility for that because I feel he has been badly managed by the French football team.
"After the final on July 9 I gave him a holiday until August 4. I left him out of the Champions League qualifier in Zagreb and they [France] called him up for the game on August 16 — less than 14 days after he came back — and they played him in the whole game against Bosnia. Why do they need to play him in the whole game?
"After that he played the whole game against Aston Villa as we were desperate to win the first game at the Emirates. Then they called him up and he has played every friendly since, when he was already on his knees."