Joe Cole
“At first glance, the signing of Joe Cole by Liverpool might seem like madness. Cole will be twenty-nine years old later on this year and has had a wretched time of it with injuries over the last year or so. He remains a player whose best position remains something of a mystery after ten years of professional football. His four year contract will be worth almost £19m, and his physical condition is, if anything, more likely to slip further rather than improve as he turns thirty. This could turn out to be wrong, but in terms of signing footballers, as in the buying and selling of all other commodities, it’s a matter of balancing probabilities.” (twohundredpercent)

Jamie Redknapp: Joe Cole was right to choose Liverpool over Tottenham and Arsenal
“Joe Cole has made the right decision. Going to Anfield to play for Liverpool is the right move.
I know my dad, Harry, tried to take him to Tottenham and I can see why. He’s a clever footballer, who unlocks defences and who still has so much to offer, an old fashioned dribbler.” (Daily Mail)

For Hodgson, success won’t come easy in his step up to Liverpool
“Roy Hodgson arrived at Fulham in 2007 without much fanfare. He was regarded, probably largely because of an unhappy spell at Blackburn Rovers, as a moderate manager who’d had reasonable success abroad with a string of mid-ranked countries — Finland, Switzerland, Sweden — but who couldn’t really cut it at the highest level. His two years of rebuilding work at Internazionale in the 1990s, in which the Italian club finished seventh and third and reached the final of the UEFA Cup, was broadly ignored.” (SI)