'Thank you, LFC family'

Here, Tore speaks candidly about the recent tragic events in Oslo, as well as the Reds' visit to Norway and his hopes for the forthcoming season.

Can you give us a feeling of the mood here in Oslo after the events of 10 days ago?

Everybody is in shock after what happened and at the number of people who died, so many of whom were young people. Everybody at Utoya Island, for instance, was very committed. They were members of the Labour Party youth camp and were there to make a change for the country and society. When you learn so many committed, young people have died, it's just terrible.

But what we are all saying is, 'He will not win.' He will not hurt us all in the way we've built this country and how this democracy works. We will win back our freedom again. There has been a good togetherness amongst the people throughout all of this.

Click the image below to watch our chat with Tore

Ian Ayre, the club's managing director, laid some flowers in the city earlier today. That's a nice touch from Liverpool, isn't it?

It is. We've had so many messages from branches of supporters' clubs, fans, organisations and Reds journalists. Everybody has been in touch with us and it's been great to see the big Red family giving us so many messages during this difficult time, so we'd like to say 'thank you' for that.

Obviously something like this puts football into perspective, but has there still been any kind of excitement here amongst fans ahead of Liverpool's visit?

Yes, of course. Especially amongst the youngsters, many of whom have never seen Liverpool play before, so it's very exciting for them. For the likes of us, we know what a pre-season game is, so perhaps what we're looking forward to is meeting our mates, other fans, having a few drinks together and talking about next season.

Has the branch done something to mark Liverpool's visit?

Yes, we had a big supporters' do yesterday and there were about 700 people there, including lots of travelling fans from England. We had Roy Evans over as a guest speaker and a live band. It's always good to be able to meet up when the team comes over.

700 fans is quite impressive and I know there are a lot more out there as well - why do you think there are so many Liverpool fans in Norway?

Norway is a little country and I think one of main reasons is that during the 1970s and 80s, we didn't have a good national team or any good club sides. Games from England were screened on television from 1969, so because of that everybody adopted a club. As we know, Liverpool were the top team then, so lots of people took to them. But it's not only that - there are also the traditions. People over here looked at how Bill Shankly built up the club and his ideas of how to play football and loved it. It's very easy to embrace that.

I know there will be a lot of red shirts in the stadium tonight. What can the players expect in terms of atmosphere - will there be more Liverpool fans or more Valerenga fans?

I think about 35 per cent will be Liverpool supporters and it will be loud!

What are your thoughts on the new signings we've made? Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing are all here...

I don't know much about Henderson, so I am looking forward to seeing more of him perhaps tonight. Downing is what we needed - a wide man who can get crosses in - and I think if we had signed Adam in January, we would have perhaps qualified for the Europa League. He will be very useful for us, especially with Stevie out until September.

How are you going to follow this season from over here in Norway?

All of the games are on television and we've also got a lot of people who travel over to Anfield and England many times during the season. There is actually one guy who travelled to every home league game from Oslo last season.

Finally, what are your hopes for the season? What can Liverpool achieve?

I am a bit worried about the injuries, but hopefully we will sort that out and perhaps we can finish third or fourth and get back into the Champions League. That would be very, very good for the team at this stage.