Liverpool visit Wirral as Tranmere Rovers eye up new faces

Jul 8 2008 by Nick Hilton, Liverpool Daily Post

THE little more than two months after closing the door on the 2007/08 campaign, Tranmere begin their public preparations for the new season with a friendly against Liverpool this weekend.

The visit of the Premier League giants from the opposite end of the Mersey Tunnel is on course to produce a 15,500 sell-out at Prenton Park on Saturday.

The afternoon promises to be a family affair, providing fans young and old with a chance to see Rafa Benitez’s squad of internationals in live action at a fraction of Premier League admission prices.

No one in the Rovers camp will be complaining about the loyalties of many of the paying spectators. The early summer windfall of gate revenue offers a welcome respite at the end of a close season spell in which the financial constraints on the Wirral club have been apparent.

Tranmere began training for the Liverpool game this week with barely enough senior professionals on the books to make a starting line-up to face the Anfield aristocrats.

Recruitment of new signings during the summer has been slow, while half a dozen senior members of last season’s squad headed out of the exit door.

Manager Ronnie Moore hopes he can add a fresh face or two by the weekend but there should still be scope for youngsters and trialists to make an impression.

It is less than a surprise to find Tranmere behind their usual schedule in putting together a squad for the new League One campaign, when you consider that last season ended with uncertainty hanging over the future of the club’s ownership and management.

Portuguese investment group Best Holdings, fronted by players’ agent Georges Rubenstein, showed an interest in a Prenton Park takeover in April, when their initial approach to Tranmere owner Peter Johnson was revealed in the Daily Post. There were no quick developments but the prospect of Best pursuing that interest in the coming weeks and months can’t be ignored.

Meanwhile, Moore was kept in limbo through most of May before his contract was renewed with a two-year extension. He may well find the job becomes more testing than ever.

In the absence of new investment and any significant income from transfers or cup-runs last season, Tranmere were always more likely to trim rather than increase the manager’s budget for spending on the squad in 2008/09.

So re-signing out-of-contract players and securing new faces presents a tricky balancing act.