If football really is a business, one-sixth of Liverpool FC has been sold. In October last year, New England Sports Ventures (NESV) bought the club in a deal that valued it at £300m. On the last day of the January transfer window, Liverpool sold Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50m. The potential for comment here is almost endless. What of Liverpool’s aspirations to compete with and ultimately surpass Chelsea? What of Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool’s greatest striker, whose first significant move in his second coming as manager was to sell the man once touted as a possible rival to his crown? What of the idea that the Liverpool of 2011 is not the same Liverpool that rejected Chelsea’s huge-money offer for their other world class player of this decade, Steven Gerrard, in 2005? Perhaps claims to footballing pedigree and past glories can no longer ward off the cheque books of the world's wealthiest. Football's subprime These issues, the business of football, are overshadowed by ...