The Liverpool FC Thread

reply to post by Kandinsky
'Par with Utd' as in squad depth. Cheating and bad refereeing aren't the only reason they've been winning silver. A couple of world-class signings and two or three good prospects should nail it next season. History doesn't care who lost the premier...

oh wow a liverpool thread!!!


waaay heyyyy ahaha!!

gotta love me fellow scousers

calm down calm down hehe

Yes im from the pool and im proud !!!

YWNWA

Good gad, have you seen how much debt the American owners have put us in? There's talk that they are trying to refinance their debts to begin the building of the new stadium but I just can't see it. I hope another rich Arab buyer comes in and places a serious offer on the table so that Rafa can start to get in the players we need for next season. At the moment he only has £15 milliion to play with so he's going to have to sell the likes of Alonso to top up his funds. If he doesn't we could be next years Arsenal. Left behind while the other teams around us bought big names to push their title ambitions.

reply to post by Mintwithahole.
It's not good is it? After Rafa stopped frickin' about with rotation and the owners have been out of the press, the team have stabilised and could have won the Prem. Having very limited funds to spend without selling names is harsh. Farting about with new owners won't help at all. We're soooooooo close!

Lawro talkin' a bit of sense

[edit on 6-6-2009 by Kandinsky]

reply to post by Mintwithahole.


Where do you get 15 million from?

At the moment, only Rafa and the owners know how much he has to spend - and it might surprise people how much is put into the kitty...

But we shall see...

On the financial side, I wish people would actually read and understand the truth behind the media rumours.

The club made a profit of 10.2 million last season.

Kop Holdings made a loss because of sevicing the debt, which is in more than one part.

Some of the debt is on the club, and some of the debt is on the owners.

In fact, over half the debt is the owners PERSONAL liablility - nothing to do with the club in other words.

At the moment, the owners are in the process of selling, either in part or in whole, other sports holdings and shares, with the biggest being the Franchises they either own or part own.

The reason for this is very clear - they are concentrating on Liverpool, including the new stadium.

This is because there is more money, in the long term - but first and foremost, a new stadium is needed so that we can compete on financial terms with the other top four.

We are in the best position, financially, of the top four.

The debt on Man U is staggering and will amount to over a billion within the next ten years, even with the debt being serviced by the club, unless the Glazers reduce the debt.

Arsenal owe huge amounts to pay off the new stadium they built, and whilst they are basically liquid, they are in a much more precarious position than Liverpool - the reason Wenger will stay, by hook or by crook, is because of his supposed genius at buying young players and developing them.

Chelsea owe massive amounts to Abramovich - all the money for the players has been LOANED to the club by Abramovich, and he can walk away being owed hundreds of millions, including interest, any time he wants.

So please, put the tabloids down, do some research and learn the true facts.

My advice is this - if it ain't in The Echo it ain't worth the paper it's printed on.

Kandinsky
Rafa rotates no more than anyone else, and less than ferguson.

Fact

The difference is depth of squad, and the fact that a re-building job of such magnitude takes time.

We are starting to reap the benefits of his approach and youth policy, and this will be seen within the next 2 to 3 seasons.

[edit on 6/6/2009 by budski]

reply to post by budski

Rafa rotates no more than anyone else, and less than ferguson.

I was referring to 2007/08 season. Whole lot of rotation was going on. 08/09 was different and reaped the rewards

Squad depth is the key to success and it doesn't happen overnight, I agree entirely.

Sometimes when visiting here I'm not sure if Im with the Judean Peoples Front or the Peoples Front of Judea.



[edit on 6-6-2009 by zazzafrazz]

reply to post by Kandinsky


Even in that season he rotated less than ferguson and the special one.

He just didn't have the same depth of squad.

reply to post by zazzafrazz
Hiya Zazz

Sometimes when visiting here I'm not sure if Im with the Judean Peoples Front of the Peoples Front of Judea.

Gets a bit silly, eh? Some guys will argue that without a season ticket we're just plastic fans...

If you want to join the People's Front of Judea, you have to really hate the Romans...

Originally posted by Kandinsky

If you want to join the People's Front of Judea, you have to really hate the Romans...

You mean really hate the Roman.

reply to post by schrodingers dog

You mean really hate the Roman

No, I don't. I have a lot of detestification for Roman

Rumours are we want Crouch back for 4 million. So, would you like to see Crouch back or have we moved on?

reply to post by budski

Where do you get 15 million from?

It was in the Daily Mirror, reported on both Sky Sports News and Satanta. All reporters were saying that Liverpool could be left behind because of the shortfalls. Apparently Hicks and Gillette have lost over £24 million due to the recession. They were also strongly hinting that the Americans will eventually have to sell the club due to out-standing debts.
I share the view that we are so close to having a premiereship winning side. It would be a shame if some of our core first team players such as Alonso left for pastures new, possibly Real Madrid. There's also a big question mark hanging over Masherano. If he goes as well then our mid-field is ruined especially now that money grabbing Gareth Barry has gone to City.

reply to post by Mintwithahole.



The Masch story is more unsubstantiated rubbish.

I highly doubt that a basque (Alonso) will go to Madrid.

And as you can read in my previous post, we're in a stronger position, financially than many other teams, including Man U and Arsenal.

The Times reported today that Rafa will have at least 20 million.

Now whether that is true or not, remember that this is called silly season for a reason.

There are far better sources for news than the tabloid press you are quoting, which ATM is just re-hashing old stories which came to nothing.

The one thing I am sure of is that we will move forwards - otherwise Rafa would not have signed his new contract.

reply to post by budski

But Rafa signed his new contract long before the financial mire which the Americans are in was leaked to the media. Whether it be the newspapers or the sport news channels, all are reporting the same thing when it comes to LFC- they will have to sell to buy the targets they want such as Silva. It would be far better if the Yanks just sold the club as they are not going to keep their promise of building us a new stadium.

reply to post by Mintwithahole.


rafa and the owners would have known about the loss, and yet Rafa signed anyway.

It would have been forecast almost to the penny, so that argument doesn't wash, as they would have known and made plans accordingly, knowing that Rafa would need to strengthen, and that he would want assurances before signing a new contract.

Also, the club (rather than the holding company) made a profit of 10.2 million, with record turnover.

I agree that the yanks need to go - but it's also true that they are nowhere near as bad as they have been painted, especially when looking at the debt loaded on Man U by the Glazers.

Contrary to what many people believe, they have pumped a lot of their own money into transfers - unlike the Glazers.

As I said, there are many better sources than the tabloids, and the Murdoch press, including Sky and SSN.

Consider this - Murdoch owns (through various means) slices of Man U, Arsenal and Chelsea. Now consider how much they are critisized and stories sensationalised about Liverpool (whose owners refused point blank to let him anywhere near the club shares) in comparison.

The rest of fleet street just follow suit - it's a bandwagon they all jump on because little else is happening.

Try tracking how many of these "EXCLUSIVE" stories come true.

Not many, if any.

It's a scattergun approach to journalism - keep firing and hope that you hit something.

The problem is that some people believe it, and keep buying into it, which just perpetuates the problem.

reply to post by budski

I hope you're right but since I live less than a mile or so from Anfield and know many people who work there I'm not quite as confident as you. There are a lot of sad,long faces at Anfield at the moment because they know that just as they overtake (in my humble opinion) Man Utd as being the best team in the league money problems arise which are going to set us back. The difference between the Glazers and Hicks & Gillette is the fact that Glazers debtors aren't chasing him for money the way they are the Liverpool owners.
I appresciate what you're saying about the news media, especially the daily newspapers, blowing things up out of all proportion but take it from me, the money problems at Anfield are very, very, real and are going to hamper the purchasing of quality players this summer.

reply to post by Mintwithahole.


That's just not true - Man U are being chased for debt every year, and every year the debt mounts, as they fail to fully service the interest.
Within a decade they will be over 1 billion in debt.

There may be some long faces around anfield, but that's probably because people don't understand the debt structure, and believe what they read in the press - believe me, if there were real problems we'd be hearing from Rafa...

I am reasonably sure that as long as we don't get into bidding wars, we will easily afford the targets we have.

Some more info:

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has confirmed that he knew all about the state of the club’s finances before he signed a new 5 year contract with the club towards the end of last season.

Figures released last week revealed the club’s holding company, Kop Football Ltd, lost £42.6million on the year ending July 2008 and that any prospects of financing a new stadium are being swamped by interest payments on the loan co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett took out to buy the club in February 2007.

But Benitez says he was fully aware of the club’s financial position, and concentrated on getting key players to sign contract extensions last season.

source

And here:

Rafa Benitez insists Liverpool are ready to secure the 'one or two' top signings required to overhaul Barclays Premier League winners Manchester United.
The Reds boss is delighted with his current squad having overseen our best title challenge since 1990.

Benitez believes a few select improvements could be enough to transform Liverpool from runners-up to champions.

"I think we have enough money to add the one or two players that we need," he said.

"I'm very happy with the squad we've got. This season has been really good and we've competed on all fronts. If we can sign one or two players then I'm really positive that we can improve.

"I won't talk about any figures and I can't say how much we have."

source

Of course, Rafa's idea of top signings may differ from that of the punters, but he is manager for a reason and I back his judgement.

One or two top signings could mean anything up to 40 million is available, although this seems doubtfull without a few players moving on.

IF (and it's quite a big if) Silva comes in, then I expect Babel and possibly Benny to go, along with Dossena who has already requested a move and a few of the older ressies.

We also need some cover at centre back, as the youngsters are probably not ready to make the step up yet, although I hope to see Darby moving up next season, along with Spearing and possibly Pacheco and Nemeth.

I really don't think Alonso will leave for less than 25 million and he is NOT a priority for Real Madrid as they focus on securing "galactico's"

The Masch rumour continues to do the rounds amongst the "press" but he was pretty forthright about only wanting to go if the club wanted to sell him.

All in all, it's not quite the doom and gloom that the "press" have been predicting and I hope to see us make the signings that will take us to the next level and win no. 19

reply to post by Yossarian


i so hope that is not true

I think he should have moved on and i give him kudos but we need a new sammy H i think

total liverpool legend for me