Liverpool FC Forum

[tubby]

I think you all talk too much.

[woof woof !]

I understand your point Mick, but for me I think Rafa is just telling the truth. Whether or not thats always wise is another question lol. Barry stated he wanted CL football last season, and while I do understand that guaranteed FIRST TEAM football is a big plus, its not what he was asking for last season.

Thats exactly how I also saw it.

Rafa did have a bit of a smile on his face at the time but he spoke his mind, he didn't have to be so frank about expressing his opinion but he's entitled to and I don't have any problem with it.

[simolonge]

We all know he did it for the money.

Rafa tells it like it is.

He needs decorum ?

Fuc.k it - I remember a few forthright managers in our History.

[simolonge]

Oh and before I forget - it shows the lunacy on this forum at times when people defend a player who has never played for us over something the guy who is runnign things at our place !

Wont someone think of the children !

[supersub]

Oh and before I forget - it shows the lunacy on this forum at times when people defend a player who has never played for us over something the guy who is runnign things at our place !

Wont someone think of the children !

It shows the lunacy of certain members...usual suspects

[bigmick]

Lunacy? Feck me it was an innocent enough topic starter with numerous references to it not being important, not making a big thing out of it, not having a pop at the manager etc etc. Thinking about it perhaps it does show the lunacy of the mood at the moment the fella's got a point. Deary me

[babu]

Lunacy? Feck me it was an innocent enough topic starter with numerous references to it not being important, not making a big thing out of it, not having a pop at the manager etc etc. Thinking about it perhaps it does show the lunacy of the mood at the moment the fella's got a point. Deary me

no offense bigmick, but you had to have know that this would be the reaction of you starting a thread like this, with that title.

I can't understand why you can't see that.

Regardless of having a valid point or raising an issue, it's going to been seen as having another pop at the manager.

You may as well not mince words.

[LFC2007]

It's understandable. Rafa does his utmost to sign the guy the previous summer, even though it's apparently a huge wrench for him to leave his beloved Villa he'd still like to join us because we're a massive club, and crucially we offer UCL football....onwards and upwards. Fast forward 12 months, again he's available except this time for a reasonable fee. We come in for him, but he jumps at the chance to join Man City?? They're unlikely to break into the UCL places this season, they might not even in the next - they'll be close to Villa next season I would reckon, except Villa have a tight-knit group who've already been tested, something City don't. The overriding factor then has to be money, not ambition.

Admittedly, he could've just called him a k'unt.

[Dundalk]

Well he was asked about Barry and didn't just come out and say it, i think he was right to say Barry went to City for money. He made some comments about footballers who have a passion for winning trophy's and for success and TBH if a player is more interested in money then id prefer if he wasn't at the club

[Bad Bob]

It's understandable. Rafa does his utmost to sign the guy the previous summer, even though it's apparently a huge wrench for him to leave his beloved Villa he'd still like to join us because we're a massive club, and crucially we offer UCL football....onwards and upwards. Fast forward 12 months, again he's available except this time for a reasonable fee. We come in for him, but he jumps at the chance to join Man City?? They're unlikely to break into the UCL places this season, they might not even in the next - they'll be close to Villa next season I would reckon, except Villa have a tight-knit group who've already been tested, something City don't. The overriding factor then has to be money, not ambition.

Admittedly, he could've just called him a k'unt.

Well, look what the cat dragged in! 

[LFC2007]

My bus was late 

[GYBS]

Mick i dont think its yourself being mentioned about usual suspect - im guessing its the other person who cant resist the chance to have a pop at the manager - As LFC2007 has said surely you must of know what would of happened with the thread when you started it - its not rocket science is it - just like when you started that thread about me ? innocently starting it but you surely must know whats going to happen and what lines it is going to go down - unless thats the line you want it to go down .

[aCe']

Booo fcking Hooo... you guys want to get a debate going atleast someone is bringing a different angle of discussion to the table...
Not like the points i made were so wide off the mark they'd be interpreted as a windup...
You talk about money and Gareth Barry moving from Villa to City just for the money... well we just outbid the 2 richest clubs in the country to sign a fullback... we paid him ridiculous wages just to make sure we got him... this somehow is irrelevant i guess...
Back to Gareth Barry though... he rejected us (if he did) for understandable reasons... world cup year, wants a guarnteed starting place, wants to play in his favourote positions etc etc... It was down to eith ManCity or AstonVilla.. Is it so hard to understand why someone would move from AstonVilla to ManCity ?! Hell ManCity have as good a chance of challenging for the title as anybody does if they can manage to bring in a better manager and some of the world class players they're after.... its an exciting project and i for one understand why someone would move from any club outside the top4 to ManCity... im not saying money isnt a factor at all, but then again anyone who would think so would be an idiot beyond doubt...

[Reg]

Mick, Rafa's under pressure here, two key players want out without obvious replacements nor at a reasonable fee. No doubt he feels he pinned into a corner at the moment and Barry of course would have resolved one of his problems (in his mind at least)..........

[LFC2007]

This wasn't just 'someone' moving from Villa to Man City though, this was Gareth Barry, Captain and Villa through-and-through, a player who - by his own admission - would only move for UCL football. Villa are a bigger club than Man City, both traditionally and in their recent history, and for someone Villa through-and-through, and offered a packet by his existing club, playing as Captain with guaranteed first team football where he's tried and tested, then if anything a move to Man City could justifiably be seen as a greater risk to his England aspirations for 2010. I think he'll likely be a nailed on starter for City this season (great signing for them), but there is a risk he doesn't fit in straight away, and for his England career the safe option would've been to stay at Villa.

So it moves on to City's expected level of success. My view is premised on the expectation that City won't be challenging for the title this season, and that they should realistically be very happy to break into the top four once all said and done. Title-winning sides don't often emerge from the depths of nowhere - there's almost always a gradual progression to the top, the money just helps make it a bit quicker. If they should be challenging for the title in three years time they've done very, very well, but that's still just a pipe dream. They still need a host of other players, and a fair time to gel.

Villa themselves are further down the line of progression for me, they showed for a while they could mix it with the best and ought really to have got the fourth UCL place. With us I reckon he'd have got 30 games a season, the chance to mix it with his England teammates in Gerrard and Johnson and significantly the UCL footy he so apparently craved.