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Hodgson 'anxious' to meet with Gerrard

Roy Hodgson: 'I'm ready for this responsibility' © Getty Images

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Roy Hodgson has confirmed he will meet with Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard on Thursday afternoon, and he promised to do his 'utmost' to keep Liverpool's top players at Anfield.

Hodgson brushed aside financial matters during the first press conference of his Liverpool tenure, insisting it was 'disappointing' to be talking money on his first day in the job. Instead, the former Fulham manager was keen to immediately address footballing issues, most pressingly, making sure his key players are happy.

"It's certainly true that I'm meeting with them," Hodgson said of Carragher and Gerrard. "I'll be very pleased to meet them, I'm very anxious to meet them, two key players at the football club and two key players in the future of the club. I'm anxious to hear how they feel about the club, how they feel about things, and basically I want to talk to them on basic football terms. This is a big club with enormous traditions. Whether it gets taken over or not, it is only going to get stronger.

"It's very important for the club (to keep the top players). I personally can't nail their feet to the floor. What I can do is try to persuade them that, if they stay here and have a good season, it will be a good club to play for. But these matters are, to an extent, out of my hands. We will do everything within our power to keep the club's best players, but the fans understand the situation, they won't expect me to sit here on my first day in charge and give guarantees that players are staying."

Club chairman, Martin Broughton, quickly moved to reassure Liverpool fans that the club would not sell Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard unless the players opted to leave, insisting nobody has to be sold in order to raise funds.

"They're not for sale, we don't need the money, we don't have any desire or need to sell players in order to pay debts," Broughton said.

Key to Hodgson's attempts to hold on to his best players will be the calibre of players he plans to bring in to Anfield, although he revealed rumours of Brede Hangeland following him from Fulham are wide of the mark.

"I won't be raiding Fulham, I've made that commitment to the club," Hodgson said. "They were good enough to allow me to talk to Liverpool, I've got great respect for everybody there, and the one thing I said to them is that I do not want to go in and raid Fulham Football Club."

Broughton confirmed Kenny Dalglish had registered his official interest in taking over from Rafael Benitez as Liverpool manager, but the club's most revered player was 'never considered' as a candidate. The chairman also hinted that Liverpool fans should not expect a much-desired takeover before the start of the season.

"The process is a structured one," Broughton explained. "There have not been any offers. No offers have been turned down. We would not have expected offers at this stage. We are looking at the middle of July for first-round bids, but that's just the first-round entry stage. Hopefully we can get the takeover done before the end of the transfer window. So that's August.

"This is an auction. When it comes to it, we will deal with what we consider to be the best bidder. The best bidder might not be the highest bidder, it's not all about money, it's about stadium development, it's about the team, it's about the whole piece.

"Kenny put his name forward for the job, he wanted the job, we appreciated the fact he was so keen to do it but for us he was never a candidate. We explained that to him, he has an excellent long-term future at the club, Kenny and Roy will work together to define exactly what that role is. Kenny's recommendation (after conducting interviews) was Roy, so we took Kenny's advice."

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