EMPLOYMENT opportunities are thin on the ground at the moment, but it would appear that Liverpool have embarked on their very own job creation programme, if reports in one of last weekend’s papers are to be believed.

For those of you who missed it, Liverpool apparently have 62 professional players on their books, more than any other Premier League side.

This compares to just 27 at Bolton at the other end of the scale; Arsenal are just three behind us on 59, Man Utd have 51, and Chelsea, believe it or not, just 46.

The accusation was that Liverpool were the prime culprits for hoarding talent, using their financial muscle to sweep up players that should more fairly be performing elsewhere, for the good of the paying public at grounds from Sunderland to Santander; and that as a result the local (or indeed British) lads were not getting a look in.

Of course, a rent-a-quote from UEFA, in this case David Taylor the general secretary, was on hand to condemn Liverpool and Benitez, helpfully adding that we can only play 11 at any one time (nothing gets past him).

And William Gaillard (remember him from Athens?) removed his foot from his mouth long enough to opine that national leagues should limit the number of professional contracts to 24 or 25.

As usual, of course, the numbers were twisted to suit the purpose of the story: to highlight more financial profligacy by the Premier League clubs, and Liverpool and Benitez in particular. But while these statistics were not quite damn lies, they were certainly fibbing a bit.

Making much of the size of our squad, the article quoted Mourinho and others as viewing 20-25 as the ideal first team squad size.

Their own analysis, however, made clear that only 36 of the 62 were first-team squad members. Even this number was based on those with a squad number, whereas you and I know that in these days of personalised shirts, even the Golden Goal sellers have a chance of wearing no. 276 on their back

By my count, there were at most 25 who could legitimately be deemed first-teamers, and that’s stretching it a bit by including Plessis and Degen (who?). As this is precisely the number allowed by UEFA to be nominated to play in their competitions, this doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.