Liverpool FC Forum

[tubby]

Has he sat down with Kenny 1 on 1 yet?

[7_Kewell]

does anyone know if H&G are still trying to sue our new owners? It has gone all quiet on that front, which i'm taking as a positive that it will not ever happen

[SouthCoastShankly]

If the new owners do pledge support to Hodgson at least until his contract expires, I will back him for the sake of club unity. I hate seeing clubs who boo their manager.

[Thommo's perm]

We means Roy Berkley, the guy who changes the floodlight bulbs.

Dont bring the Roy debate into this thread please Thommo, there are already enough places to vent your feelings.

OK Reg
It was just that Henry said it
Point taken

[Rush Job]

does anyone know if H&G are still trying to sue our new owners? It has gone all quiet on that front, which i'm taking as a positive that it will not ever happen

They havent got the money to.

Be a laugh if they did though, they would lose again and end up in the poor house.

[NANNY RED]

Has he sat down with Kenny 1 on 1 yet?

What Bav said

[Reg]

John Henry tells star players to commit to the Liverpool cause or they will be sold

Liverpool's new owner, New England Sports Ventures, has issued a warning to any players not fully committed to the club that they will be sold.

John W Henry, the club's principal owner, has been angered by reports that Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina would be leaving and has met the club's top players to reassure them of NESV's ambitions.

"It is a completely different system here to what we are used to," Henry said. "If a player has a contract in the United States they fulfil the contract. Over here, it seems players have much more say-so about where they are. Frankly, where we are, we don't want a player at the club who doesn't want to be at the club. It's really up to us to provide the kind of leadership, on and off the field, that any player at the club or who is coming to the club wants to be here."

Henry and Tom Werner, Liverpool's new chairman, are open to recruiting the right talent in January, following the appointment of Damien Comolli as director of football strategy. They are, however, determined to hang on to their best players, despite reports that Torres and Reina have contractual clauses that would facilitate their departure.

"I was upset about the assertion that they were leaving," Henry said. "There was one day when I read reports that we were not going to be involved in the transfer window because we do not have the funds. The next day I read that Torres and Reina were leaving.

"I have spoken with a number of our top players and was really heartened by the response. I was heartened by the intelligence of these players, who understand more about Liverpool than we do. They were good discussions."

Henry, who has been at Liverpool all week, was not as heartened by some of the discoveries he has made since taking over the club. "There were a number of unpleasant surprises when we did our due diligence because the wage bill is high and it's going to be higher next year – and we're not a young team," he said. "That was disappointing."

Comolli has been brought in to bring the age of the squad down, to identify the best talent by building up the scouting network and to help bring through academy players.

Henry was insistent that Roy Hodgson was "delighted" by Comolli's appointment despite only telling the manager it was going to happen a "couple of days" before it was announced and revealing that it was baseball maverick Billy Beane who had made the recommendation.

"When I first met with Roy it was obvious to me that he really wanted someone in that position," he said. "We are building a team. In Boston we have a team with an incredible collegial atmosphere. We build consensus. [Hodgson and Comolli] share the same agent. We needed to find someone who shared the same philosophy as us. That's why Billy Beane recommended Damien. I spent three weeks talking with Damien."

Werner conceded that Hodgson had not been consulted on Comolli's appointment but said they knew the two had a good relationship. "Roy said he felt he needed to bolster his staff. He was not asked about specific recommendations but we set about trying to find the best person we could find. I was aware they had a healthy respect for each other.

"We feel we can bring in more players that are home-grown. What we are used to is that the manager and the general manager work together. It's a big job analysing which players to bring in. We are trying to bolster Roy's operation and I think Damien is the first step."

Werner reinforced the message that the club are to target the Asian market to try to boost revenue and suggested they could play competitive games abroad, even though the Premier League has given up on its 39th game proposal.

"Pre-season matches are great but why not have an actual match in season," Werner said. "The Premier League is the strongest league in the world and its reach is global. It's been very impressive to me, the number of people globally who watch and we hope to expand that imprint. I think the more important the game, the more excitement."

Werner has also met Liverpool Council to discuss options for redeveloping Anfield or building a new stadium. As part of any new development, Henry said they will have to take on debt, but stressed the fact that they would emulate the way Arsenal built their stadium.

"How did Arsenal build the Emirates? I have never heard of a privately funded stadium of magnitude that was not funded by debt," Henry said. "It is such a big issue. It is a big issue with Manchester United. But the New York Yankees have $3.5 billion of debt and I've never heard a Yankee fan complain about it because they built a $1.5 billion stadium. The difference to be made is between stadium and acquisition debt."

[Kharhaz]

Henry, who has been at Liverpool all week, was not as heartened by some of the discoveries he has made since taking over the club. "There were a number of unpleasant surprises when we did our due diligence because the wage bill is high and it's going to be higher next year – and we're not a young team," he said. "That was disappointing."

The bill is going to be higher, so I am guessing then that Aquilani going out on loan is because of the ludicrous amount of wages he is on. Which also makes you question the wages of the other players that are out on loan.

What is Degen on?

[LFC2007]

On Comolli: Though we don't who was primarily responsible for signing each player, I suppose we can assume that he had a major role in determining who they signed and on the whole that record looks pretty reasonable. Berbatov, Modric and Bale are the standout picks, and they're all top performers in the league now. You have a few numpties in there too, e.g. Zokora, Kaboul + Bentley (useful player, but way overrpriced), and then the likes of Huddlestone, Lennon, Bent (a tad overpriced, but no Babel) and a few other OK signings who compare better than a fair few of the ones we signed in the same period.

Plus, he was head scout at Arsenal for 7 yearsand that association with Wenger and his record of signing young, affordable talent bodes for us well I think. Remember, we're not necessarily looking for blockbuster signings, but more consistency throughout so when we look at our bench we see a Bent and not a Babel, a Huddlestone and not a Poulsen.

I expect Comolli to be the man who reports to NESV on the state of the team, so while his main responsibility will be to identify players worth signing i.e. chief scout, it will also be to report back to the owners on the performance of the manager. Someone at the club, independent of the manager and coaching staff, who has permanent oversight of progress on the pitch. I do hope that it can work. Key to it all may be who has the final say on transfers. In baseball it seems that the general manager is responsible for signings and the team manager is simply a head coach. Now, in baseball that may work since there isn't the same need to account for the requirements of the team - you either throw well, bat well, field well etc. (though I confess to knowing very little about that game, as with most American sports) or you don't, but a football team has an altogether different dynamic. There are many more different roles to fill and the best man to suss the right blend has to be the man who works day-in and day-out with the players - the manager and his coaching staff. That isn't to say I think managers shouldn't be accountable to somebody such as a director or football - they should: submitting your views for scrutiny is a good thing - but when there's a final decision to be made over who to sign, after all the discussions have taken place (and here you hope for some degree of consensus), then the manager's word has to be final.

[bigmick]

On Comolli: Though we don't who was primarily responsible for signing each player, I suppose we can assume that he had a major role in determining who they signed and on the whole that record looks pretty reasonable. Berbatov, Modric and Bale are the standout picks, and they're all top performers in the league now. You have a few numpties in there too, e.g. Zokora, Kaboul + Bentley (useful player, but way overrpriced), and then the likes of Huddlestone, Lennon, Bent (a tad overpriced, but no Babel) and a few other OK signings who compare better than a fair few of the ones we signed in the same period.

Plus, he was head scout at Arsenal for 7 yearsand that association with Wenger and his record of signing young, affordable talent bodes for us well I think. Remember, we're not necessarily looking for blockbuster signings, but more consistency throughout so when we look at our bench we see a Bent and not a Babel, a Huddlestone and not a Poulsen.

I expect Comolli to be the man who reports to NESV on the state of the team, so while his main responsibility will be to identify players worth signing i.e. chief scout, it will also be to report back to the owners on the performance of the manager. Someone at the club, independent of the manager and coaching staff, who has permanent oversight of progress on the pitch. I do hope that it can work. Key to it all may be who has the final say on transfers. In baseball it seems that the general manager is responsible for signings and the team manager is simply a head coach. Now, in baseball that may work since there isn't the same need to account for the requirements of the team - you either throw well, bat well, field well etc. (though I confess to knowing very little about that game, as with most American sports) or you don't, but a football team has an altogether different dynamic. There are many more different roles to fill and the best man to suss the right blend has to be the man who works day-in and day-out with the players - the manager and his coaching staff. That isn't to say I think managers shouldn't be accountable to somebody such as a director or football - they should: submitting your views for scrutiny is a good thing - but when there's a final decision to be made over who to sign, after all the discussions have taken place (and here you hope for some degree of consensus), then the manager's word has to be final.

Exactomundo.

[Keris]

"I was upset about the assertion that they were leaving," Henry said. "There was one day when I read reports that we were not going to be involved in the transfer window because we do not have the funds. The next day I read that Torres and Reina were leaving."

Don't read too much into the rags boss, they're poison.

"We are building a team. In Boston we have a team with an incredible collegial atmosphere."

Really hope they can emulate ^^^ into Liverpool.

[rocky29]

Henry, who has been at Liverpool all week, was not as heartened by some of the discoveries he has made since taking over the club. "There were a number of unpleasant surprises when we did our due diligence because the wage bill is high and it's going to be higher next year – and we're not a young team," he said. "That was disappointing."

The bill is going to be higher, so I am guessing then that Aquilani going out on loan is because of the ludicrous amount of wages he is on. Which also makes you question the wages of the other players that are out on loan.

What is Degen on?

aqua was on 70 grand a week. So for joe cole to come for 90 grand a week aqua had to go to keep the wages down. Now then youve seen joe cole. How the feck can u pay someone 20 grand a week more is older than aqua and offers far less than aqua can. And injury wise there similar. Lets just see if aqua can keep fit till end of season. If he can then id say feck joe cole off and bring aqua back. He creates far more than joe ever did

[maguskwt]

Henry, who has been at Liverpool all week, was not as heartened by some of the discoveries he has made since taking over the club. "There were a number of unpleasant surprises when we did our due diligence because the wage bill is high and it's going to be higher next year – and we're not a young team," he said. "That was disappointing."

The bill is going to be higher, so I am guessing then that Aquilani going out on loan is because of the ludicrous amount of wages he is on. Which also makes you question the wages of the other players that are out on loan.

What is Degen on?

aqua was on 70 grand a week. So for joe cole to come for 90 grand a week aqua had to go to keep the wages down. Now then youve seen joe cole. How the feck can u pay someone 20 grand a week more is older than aqua and offers far less than aqua can. And injury wise there similar. Lets just see if aqua can keep fit till end of season. If he can then id say feck joe cole off and bring aqua back. He creates far more than joe ever did

Aqua doesn't want to come back to you anymore rocky. He said he's found his new love...

[roberto green]

I was listening to Henry before SSN, I like the man. I think he has alot to learn but I think he already knows the state of the team and he knows what priorty comes first.

Good luck John

[loopyliverpool]

One of the stand out problems for LFC over the last ?? years has been the lack of talent coming through either from the academy or from young talent bought for the future. I think Comoli has a cracking record of finding players of the desired quality... Im heartend by the new owners first major signing. They have identified where the problem lies and have immediately addressed it. They seem to want to mix proven experienced players with young up and coming talent which should bode well for us.