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• ‘His nickname, the King, says it all’, says captain
• Liverpool agree £5.8m fee for Ryan Babel with Hoffenheim

Steven Gerrard has told Liverpool’s owners to look no further than Kenny Dalglish for the club’s next permanent manager as they commenced their squad overhaul by agreeing to sell Ryan Babel to Hoffenheim.

Babel, who has failed to fulfil his rich potential at Anfield since arriving from Ajax for £11.5m in 2007, has travelled to Germany for a medical after Liverpool accepted an offer of around £5.8m for the 24-year-old. The Holland attacker only reiterated a desire to return to Ajax as part of a potential deal for the Uruguay striker Luis Suárez this morning but, with his former club unable to match Babel’s Anfield salary and Liverpool preferring a permanent transfer, he will move to Germany providing personal terms can be agreed.

In a statement released this evening Liverpool confirmed they “had accepted a bid from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for the transfer of Dutch international Ryan Babel. The Bundesliga Club have now been given permission to discuss personal terms with the player, who has travelled to Germany.”

Babel’s exit would be the first major transfer for Fenway Sports Group as Liverpool owners and the fee from Hoffenheim may improve their prospects of matching Ajax’s demands for Suárez. Frank de Boer, the Ajax manager, has said it would take “an absurd amount” for the 23-year-old to leave the Amsterdam ArenA and his club are believed to want between €25m-€30m (£21m-£25m) for their former captain. Liverpool’s valuation is closer to €20m but there has been no official bid as yet.

John W Henry, Liverpool’s principal owner, is on Merseyside to discuss transfer policy with Dalglish and Damien Comolli, the club’s director of football strategy. They will also discuss the managerial situation, stadium issues and the search for a new chief executive. Henry is well aware that Dalglish wants to remain at the helm beyond this summer and is the popular choice to succeed Roy Hodgson permanently, thereby complicating the Fenway Sports Group’s plans.

Now Gerrard, who was consulted by the then managing director, Christian Purslow, regarding Hodgson’s arrival last summer, has lent his influential voice to the Dalglish campaign. “I want to do everything in my power to ensure that he stays here for a long time, beyond the initial six months,” the Liverpool captain

• 3-1 reverse at Blackburn sends Liverpool to new low
• Hodgson refuses to discuss future in press conference

Roy Hodgson’s position as Liverpool manager became even more precarious last night when a ninth league defeat of the season left him refusing to answer questions about his future.

Fenway Sports Group, the club’s newly-titled owners, are under increasing pressure to bring forward plans to replace the 63-year-old after only six months in charge following a 3-1 defeat at Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool’s seventh loss in 10 Premier League away fixtures this season.

Hodgson vowed not to resign in the wake of last week’s home defeat by then bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers but came in for renewed and sustained criticism from Liverpool supporters at Ewood Park. Afterwards, in a press conference that was brought to a halt after three minutes and three questions, the Liverpool manager admitted to being dejected and disillusioned but would not elaborate on his own position at the club.

“I am not prepared to talk about my future,” said Hodgson. “At this moment I am depressed enough with the performance and the result. I am not here to talk about that. I have no comments to make and I don’t intend to answer any questions on the subject.” With that, the press conference was called to an end by Liverpool’s director of communications, Ian Cotton.

Liverpool were three goals down after 58 minutes to a Blackburn side missing eight senior players through injury and Asia Cup duties. They are now only five points off bottom place, out of the Carling Cup and face Manchester United in the third round of the FA Cup at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Before addressing the third question regarding his hold on the Liverpool job, Hodgson expressed sympathy with the club’s travelling support for serving up another miserable performance. “We are very dejected, we have feelings of bitter disappointment and frustration,” he said. “We thought they were poor goals to concede. In the second half the players gave it their best shot, we had plenty of the ball. Who knows, if Steven’s [Gerrard] penalty had gone in we could have salvaged something from the game. We are very frustrated and disappointed for the fans.

“If you are Liverpool and you lose away to Blackburn then it is impossible to put a positive slant on it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a really bad day. We had a very large travelling contingent and I know they were dejected at the end. What the fans are feeling, I can assure them that if they came into the dressing room they would see people similarly dejected.”

Hodgson again intimated he had no intention of walking away from Anfield. He added: “In football you keep going as best you can. You try and make sure the next result is a better one but that’s all you can do. Football throws up good and bad moments, and in a bad moment no amount of talking can change that.”

Liverpool’s principal owners, the chairman Tom Werner and John W Henry, are understood to be assessing potential candidates to succeed Hodgson but their search is complicated by availability at this stage of the season and their reluctance to appoint Kenny Dalglish, the fans’ favourite and now club ambassador, even on a temporary basis. A demanding sequence of fixtures – starting with United, a trip to Blackpool next Wednesday and then the Merseyside derby at home to Everton – may protect Hodgson against an immediate change but, equally, he may not survive more damaging results over that period.

Prior to the Wolves defeat, FSG were reluctant to dispense with the former Fulham manager until the end of the season. However, with attendances at Anfield dropping, continued revolt in the stands and a several dreadful results, the pressure to sack Hodgson is mounting.

Steve Kean, meanwhile, Blackburn’s new manager, insisted the club’s ambitious move for Ronaldinho is not yet dead despite the Brazilian’s stated desire to remain in his homeland. “We will pick that one up tomorrow and see where we are,” he said.

Roy HodgsonLiverpoolJohn W HenryAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

Liverpool supporters’ group takes first step towards setting up a financial foundation for fans to invest in the club

The Liverpool fans’ group Spirit of Shankly-ShareLiverpoolFC has taken its first step towards setting up a financial foundation for supporter-led investment in the club.

The society has teamed up with the Merseyside-based Partners Credit Union to provide a safe house for supporters to save towards the goal of taking up a stake in Liverpool. The Liverpool Supporters’ Credit Union scheme was launched on Saturday with the aim of making investing in Liverpool more affordable.

Fans will now be able to save towards having a stake in their club, something that the current sums involved put out of the reach of all but investment institutions and the super‑rich. “If you have 100,000 people all contributing £500, you can have £50m,” said Partners Credit Union’s chief executive, Tracy Fletcher. “Some credit unions have 15,000 to 20,000 members, this could be much bigger.”

One obstacle to the success of the union is that regulations restrict membership to people living and working on Merseyside.

However, the credit union movement hopes that legislation which may come into effect next year will permit wider membership – a development that would open the door to the Spirit of Shankly group’s tens of thousands of members worldwide.

Bernie’s Delhi dealings

Bernie Ecclestone is nothing if not forthright. And his words for the doubters who believe Delhi’s difficulties in delivering the Commonwealth Games facilities would be repeated for his inaugural Formula One race in India next July were characteristically so. “The people who are making a shambles [of the Commonwealth Games] are not the people who we are dealing with for the race,” Ecclestone said.

Those with long and detailed memories might recall that Suresh Kalmadi, at whose door much of the blame for the Games “shambles” has widely been laid, was closely involved in the events that led to the race being awarded to India in 2007.

He is a man Ecclestone knows well and there was speculation that the SK in the track owner’s acronym JPSK Sports referred to Kalmadi’s son, Sumeer, who was said to be a shareholder. Digger called Ecclestone to ask if, in the light of those issues, he still stood by his comments. He does.

According to staff at the company, it has in the last few months rebranded itself as JP Sports International. They now believe it to be a wholly owned subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates, although the company’s website does not reflect this. Perhaps Ecclestone would be advised to make sure when he heads to India to check on progress.

Keeping it in the family

Those speculating about the identity of the possible next chairman of the Football Association have unsurprisingly alighted on the name of Martin Broughton, the British Airways chairman whose association with the game has this year expanded from being a mere fan of Chelsea to being chairman of the board at Liverpool.

It is a perfectly reasonable suggestion: Broughton is one of the leading figures in British industry and is clearly engaged with football.

So no doubt Nolan Partners, the headhunter leading the search for the FA’s chairman, should expect Broughton’s CV to be at the top of the pile. And if it is not already then his son, Michael, can make it so: Michael Broughton just happens to be a consultant with … Nolan Partners.

Beckham’s shirt blunder

David Beckham is a man noted for taking care of his appearance. But even the best-dressed man’s plans can go to awry. So it proved when Beckham was representing England 2018 in Trinidad and Tobago, where, while joining in with kids’ football matches put on by his eponymous academy, one of the shirts he was wearing was emblazoned with the legend “Spain”. And who should be England’s two main rivals to host the tournament in 2018? Why, Russia and Spain.

LiverpoolMatt Scottguardian.co.uk