It's been a highly satisfying couple of weeks for everyone at Anfield with the news that Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Pepe Reina and Xabi Alonso have all signed new deals.
Liverpool managers have always talked about the importance of the spine of the team and Rafael Benitez is delighted that his number one goalkeeper, a highly influential centre-back, his inspirational captain and a key member of the midfield engine room have demonstrated their support for what we are striving to achieve at Anfield.
These are the players Rafa wanted to get signed and in the case of Xabi, it has ended ongoing speculation about his future at Anfield.
This is a very big contract for Xabi. He is 25 now and has committed himself to the club for another five years. This was a really important decision for him because it means he will now be playing at the peak of his career at Anfield. It's fantastic that he is staying because we have had a year of speculation regarding a possible return to Spain. There were reports a year ago linking him with Real Madrid and it's always unsettling when the newspapers continue to carry stories about a possible move.
Of course, we have been working hard behind the scenes to prepare the way for a new deal for Xabi, as we have with the other players.
All four signings are a signal of our determination to build powerfully for next season. Of course, the news that broke first concerned Stevie and Carra and that set the stage for the announcements about the others.
All in all, I am personally delighted that these important contract negotiations have now been concluded. We can now move onto the next challenge as we strive to take our squad from strength to strength.
Another exciting message coming out of Anfield this week related to our revised new stadium plans. All will be revealed in a visual sense in a few weeks time, but the architects have achieved a huge amount in a short space of time.
I'm sure you will find the plans very exciting. The challenge we set was to produce something that was unique to Liverpool and I believe this has been achieved. We are still talking about the summer of 2010 for completion.
Still not seen UEFA report
We have still not seen the much-vaunted report produced by UEFA in which they suggested our fans were the worst behaved in Europe. We have trawled through every game over the last four years and studied reports provided by UEFA and the FA during this period. We were extremely surprised, to say the least, at the suggestion that there might be 25 instances of bad behaviour by our fans. What we did find were many instances of UEFA being positive about Liverpool FC and our fan base.
I reflect on occasions like the visit of Juventus to Anfield in April, 2005 when Michel Platini himself was part of a friendship ceremony on the pitch before our Champions League quarter-final. Our fans presented a flag through Platini and Phil Neal that was carried to the Juve end. This was a night when we produced a special matchday programme under the banner: "The hand of friendship."
We also handed out a four-page publication, translated into Italian, that carried a personal message from Ian Rush who played for both clubs. Platini, now the UEFA president, was quoted as saying how impressed he had been with our fans that night.
We have had other massive Champions League occasions here like Chelsea twice and Barcelona when UEFA expressed satisfaction at the organisation and the colour and passion of the supporters.
To be fair to Platini, he has since come out and said: "Liverpool fans are not the worst behaved and that's official!"
However, it has all left a bad taste and that is why we were encouraged with the stance of Minister of Sport Richard Caborn who we had a dialogue with before and after his meeting with UEFA. We appreciate the fact that he took the trouble to contact the club, unlike UEFA’s director of communications William Gallard who we have never spoken to.
To repeat, we have still not seen the report and I made the point to the Sports Minister that we were unimpressed with the way details had been trailed in the media last weekend.
Gallard has half retracted the contents, talking instead about minor incidents. We would still love to see that report.
At the same time, we need to reflect on those people who behaved badly in Athens at the expense of their fellow supporters. We really feel for those Liverpool fans who had genuine tickets and still didn't get in.
To his credit, Dick Caborn is now focusing on the way ahead and the lessons that must be learned.
http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/NG156169070615-1207.htm