The experienced manager, who has a superb CV has agreed a two year, TURN TO PAGE 71

FROM BACK PAGE pounds 4million deal to succeed Rafa Benitez and will be unveiled today.

Hodgson was installed as favourite to replace England's Capello (above).

But the ex-Inter Milan and Switzerland boss has insisted he is 100 per cent committed to Liverpool by refusing any small print allowing him to talk to the FA if the chance arises.

Hodgson has shaken hands on a deal with the Anfield board and the club have also agreed a pounds 2m compensation package with Fulham.

All that remains is for the 62-year-old to complete the personal terms of his Craven Cottage release, and he will step into the Anfield hotseat today.

His first priority will be to persuade his top-line stars to stay.

Steven Gerrard's future will be No.1 on the agenda, with talks set for before Gerrard jets away for a holiday. Hodgson will then turn his sights on Fernando Torres and Jav i e r Mascherano.

Torres will also be told they do not want him to leave, but with Mascherano desperate to move he could get his tiffany silver jewelry on sale wish.

Hodgson will be given pounds 15m to spend and any money he raises in sales.

So with Inter Milan and Barcelona seeking Mascherano's services, the new boss may feel a pounds 30mplus fee will give him more options to rebuild.

THERE'S NO ESCAPE FOR REDS BOSS

Clubs from all across the South West will be competing in what is believed to be Exeter's oldest sporting event.

Racing takes place over a 400 metre course along the River Exe. This provides close, exciting racing all day in eights, coxed fours, pairs and single and double sculls categories.

More than 500 competitors aged from 14 to 70 will take part in more than 100 sprint races.

I have been contacted by Eileen Loftus, cheap ed hardy nee Newton, of Blaby, who said her family lived at 154 Syston Street, at the back of the Morsey.

She said: "We used to play down there, jump over the brook, if we dared, then walk up to the tunnel and go so far.

"But if we saw a rat we would skedaddle back as fast as we could.

"We never did get more than half way through.

"I know what Mr Tebbutt said was true, with all the pig swill going over the walls.

"We lived the other side of the bridge leading to Catherine Street, almost opposite the wood yard. My brother John worked there for a time.

"I remember a story going around - I don't know if it was true - that somebody threw a newborn baby into the Morsey, at the Belgrave Road end. "

--------------------

Bounce

Matthew Syed

Harper Collins

RRP $32.99

Is a champion born or made?

Former tennis table title-holder Matthew Syed lays bare the truth in this page-turning expose of the "talent myth".

Using himself as a case study and drawing on the experience of dozens of other champions from a broad field, Syed smashes the theory that innate talent is the secret to success. Excellence, be it in sport, business, arts or science, is no gift from the Gods or genetic lottery but a matter of hard work.

It takes a brave man to admit his own genius is nothing special and an even braver one to make the same claim of Mozart and the like. But Syed takes pleasure in up-ending some of the most commonly held beliefs about what it takes to get ahead.

Drawing on the work of Outliers author Malcolm Gladwell and Daniel Coyle's The Talent Code and using an investigative journalistic approach, Syed provides persuasive evidence that high performance is a socially engineered construct. This is no small feat. Syed subscribes to Gladwell's theory that it takes something like 10,000 hours of refined practice to get really good at one thing. But it is not as simple as all that. Opportunity and circumstance would also appear to play a role as do motivation, passion and mindset. Getting the right combination could be more a case of luck than hard work but if science doesn't back it, Syed debunks it.

In Bounce, Syed does for sport (and pretty much every other area where excellence is either admired or desired) what Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner did for economics in Freakeconomics.

A terrific read for general audiences but particularly for those with high aspirations, either for themselves or others.

AMANDA MORRALL

Letters to Aston: Lessons learned from a lifetime of investing

Martin Hawes

Penguin Books: $40

In 1975, Queenstown investor Martin Hawes bought his first property for $1500, then sold it 18 months later for $2500. One might consider the 66 per cent profit a decent return on the investment but according to Hawes, he stuffed up. Thirty years on, that same property is worth 40 times its purchase price. Hawes counts it among one of his early lessons; on the importance of investing for long-term, not short-term, gain.

In Letters to Aston, Hawes shares with readers this and other "lessons learned from a lifetime of investing".

If the mistakes most investors made were only half as bad as Hawes, savings accounts across the country would be brimming. Despite Hawes' perceived shortcomings on his first amateur property deal, after 35 years of investing he is in the enviable position of choosing whether to continue in "paid work". He uses parentheses when describing his "job" as a financial adviser, public speaker and financial writer, because he professes to love what he does and so does it willing, not out of necessity.

A similar impulse inspired Hawes to write his 15th financial book, a legacy gift for his young grandson.

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> The Leeds Chamber of Commerce organised the first MPs' summit in a bid to give the city a stronger voice in Westminster. (Bvlgari). * Click here to watch latest YEP news and sport video reportsThe meeting was attended by seven of the city's eight parliamentarians: Stuart Andrew (Pudsey; Con), Alec Shelbrooke (Elmet and Rothwell; Con), Hilary Benn (Leeds Central; Lab), Fabian Hamilton (Leeds North East; Lab), George Mudie (Leeds East; Lab), Rachel Reeves (Leeds West; Lab) and Ed Balls (Morley and Outwood; Lab)* Click here to sign up to free news and sport email alerts from your YEPGreg Mulholland (Leeds North West; Lib Dem) was unable to attend because of constituency appointments but backs the initiative* Click here to follow the YEP on Twitter. (Seiko). The MPs agreed to work with businesses and Leeds council to help ensure that public spending cuts do not disproportionately hit the city and its businesses They have agreed to focus on transport investment, regeneration and education and will meet on a quarterly basisEach MP will adopt an individual policy portfolioIn return, the Chamber of Commerce and the council will assist the MPs by providing case studies and expertise to support their campaigns. richard mille The chamber has previously been concerned that local MPs were "failing to represent the entire city"Gary Williamson, chief executive of Leeds, York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce said: "It is great to see all the MPs in the same room and agreeing to be part of 'Team Leeds'. (Omega). "Leeds' lobbying efforts have been fragmented, but through this forum we will create a strong and unified voice, which is essential for the city to survive the savage spending cuts. Replica Handbags "Despite the differences in political colour, all the MPs have pledged to work together with the chamber in drawing up an ambitious plan for the city, with shared objectives and one aim a success for Leeds"