Liverpool FC Forum

[NANNY RED]

Feckin hell another one jumps onthe bandwagon.
Funny in it Grahame the mess you fuc.king left is still being  felt today.
Some of our ex players need to shut up, the only thing hes got right is them two,

GRAEME SOUNESS last night ­revealed he fears for the future of his beloved Liverpool in the aftermath of the Rafa Benitez era.

Hardman Souey, who won five league ­titles, three European Cups and four League Cups in his seven-year stay at Anfield, reckons the decisions Liverpool make in the next three months may well define their next 25 years.

In a no-holds-barred interview with the Daily Star Sunday, Souness said: “That’s how critical the current situation is for the club.

“Right now it sits teetering on arguably the most crucial tipping point of its entire history and I fear for its very future.


“The bigger picture is finding new owners who can put the club back on a sound financial footing but it’s also crucial they find a safe pair of hands to take over the team from Rafa Benitez.”


Souness (right), signed by Bob Paisley in January 1978 and one of the brilliant side that ­included Alan Hansen, ­Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush, is worried due to all the behind-the-scenes in-fighting between co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett that has sullied the club’s reputation.


But all the aggro of the past two years means attracting a top boss may not be an easy thing to do.


And Souness warned: “Who the club would like and who they’ll end up getting could be two very different things.


“For the first time since the Bill Shankly era, the Liverpool hot-seat isn’t a job that all the big managers would want. In fact, most of them wouldn’t touch it.


“The club is in debt, their squad of players is poor, they don’t have a major stadium, they won’t be playing Champions League football next year and there’s no guarantee that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres won’t leave this summer.”


And the man who bossed Liverpool ­between 1991-1994, reckons the money ­needed to get the club back on track will be an astronomical sum.


He said: “Putting the club back on an even keel, securing the future and ensuring that they challenge for domestic and European honours on a regular basis is a job that could cost nearly a billion pounds.

“They need to spend at least £100million to buy players good enough to challenge for the Premier League next year and the Champions League the season after that.


“After that they need around £300m to clear the club’s debts and at least another £400m to build a new stadium.


“All that money needs to be found in the next two to three years and if Liverpool don’t find investors with sufficiently deep pockets, they’ll be dead in the water.


“The new manager who comes in will want his own players but the only way he’ll have any sort of a transfer fund to play around with will be if he sells players like Gerrard and Torres and gets exaggerated figures for them.


“And even if he wants to keep them, the matter might be out of his hands because the club may have to sell them to balance the books or the players themselves may be ­determined to leave a sinking ship.”


Souness also believes Gerrard and Torres will know in their hearts that the present squad simply is not good enough.


TV pundit Souness, 57, said: “Gerrard and Torres have been training all season with that squad of players and they’ll know that the majority of them simply aren’t good enough to be part of a team capable of winning a major trophy.


“Gerrard is 30 and doesn’t have many more years left to win the medals he covets, while Torres is in the prime of his career at 26 and about to put himself in the biggest ­shop window of all – the World Cup. He may end up winning a World Cup ­medal and after a high like that the thought of going back to a troubled club like Liverpool, where he won’t have players like Xavi, Iniesta or Villa to play with, isn’t one he’ll have a lot of enthusiasm for.”


And in a pop at Benitez and his flawed transfer dealings, he rapped: “It’s an indictment of Rafa Benitez’s six years at the club that the team should be so reliant on just two players.


“I don’t think it’s any big ­surprise he was fired ­because the thing that defines your time at a football club is how many good players you bring into the club – and Rafa simply didn’t sign enough of them.


“He was there six years and made a net spend of around £140m but only signed two players who I would regard as truly world class – Fernando Torres and Jose Reina.


“To have spent the kind of money he has and only come up with two players is an ­awful indictment and ultimately doomed him.


“When you look at the squad now, I think it’s actually worse off than it was when he first took it over.


“For a start, Steven Gerrard is six years older and, had it not been for Gerrard, I think Benitez would have gone before now because Liverpool were almost a one-man team for a long time.

“They won the European Cup without ­being in the top ten teams in Europe at the time, so they were lucky to win it really.

“That success brought him a lot of good grace but were it not for the fact that ­Liverpool fans are the best and most loyal in the world, he would have gone before now.


“His successor has a huge job on his hands. Finishing seventh this season was seen as a disaster.


“The very future of Liverpool Football Club is at stake and whether it’s a bleak one or a hopeful one may well be determined in the next three months.”

[shabelle50]

Feckin hell another one jumps onthe bandwagon.
Funny in it Grahame the mess you fuc.king left is still being  felt today.
Some of our ex players need to shut up, the only thing hes got right is them two,

GRAEME SOUNESS last night ­revealed he fears for the future of his beloved Liverpool in the aftermath of the Rafa Benitez era.

Hardman Souey, who won five league ­titles, three European Cups and four League Cups in his seven-year stay at Anfield, reckons the decisions Liverpool make in the next three months may well define their next 25 years.

In a no-holds-barred interview with the Daily Star Sunday, Souness said: “That’s how critical the current situation is for the club.

“Right now it sits teetering on arguably the most crucial tipping point of its entire history and I fear for its very future.


“The bigger picture is finding new owners who can put the club back on a sound financial footing but it’s also crucial they find a safe pair of hands to take over the team from Rafa Benitez.”


Souness (right), signed by Bob Paisley in January 1978 and one of the brilliant side that ­included Alan Hansen, ­Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush, is worried due to all the behind-the-scenes in-fighting between co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett that has sullied the club’s reputation.


But all the aggro of the past two years means attracting a top boss may not be an easy thing to do.


And Souness warned: “Who the club would like and who they’ll end up getting could be two very different things.


“For the first time since the Bill Shankly era, the Liverpool hot-seat isn’t a job that all the big managers would want. In fact, most of them wouldn’t touch it.


“The club is in debt, their squad of players is poor, they don’t have a major stadium, they won’t be playing Champions League football next year and there’s no guarantee that Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres won’t leave this summer.”


And the man who bossed Liverpool ­between 1991-1994, reckons the money ­needed to get the club back on track will be an astronomical sum.


He said: “Putting the club back on an even keel, securing the future and ensuring that they challenge for domestic and European honours on a regular basis is a job that could cost nearly a billion pounds.

“They need to spend at least £100million to buy players good enough to challenge for the Premier League next year and the Champions League the season after that.


“After that they need around £300m to clear the club’s debts and at least another £400m to build a new stadium.


“All that money needs to be found in the next two to three years and if Liverpool don’t find investors with sufficiently deep pockets, they’ll be dead in the water.


“The new manager who comes in will want his own players but the only way he’ll have any sort of a transfer fund to play around with will be if he sells players like Gerrard and Torres and gets exaggerated figures for them.


“And even if he wants to keep them, the matter might be out of his hands because the club may have to sell them to balance the books or the players themselves may be ­determined to leave a sinking ship.”


Souness also believes Gerrard and Torres will know in their hearts that the present squad simply is not good enough.


TV pundit Souness, 57, said: “Gerrard and Torres have been training all season with that squad of players and they’ll know that the majority of them simply aren’t good enough to be part of a team capable of winning a major trophy.


“Gerrard is 30 and doesn’t have many more years left to win the medals he covets, while Torres is in the prime of his career at 26 and about to put himself in the biggest ­shop window of all – the World Cup. He may end up winning a World Cup ­medal and after a high like that the thought of going back to a troubled club like Liverpool, where he won’t have players like Xavi, Iniesta or Villa to play with, isn’t one he’ll have a lot of enthusiasm for.”


And in a pop at Benitez and his flawed transfer dealings, he rapped: “It’s an indictment of Rafa Benitez’s six years at the club that the team should be so reliant on just two players.


“I don’t think it’s any big ­surprise he was fired ­because the thing that defines your time at a football club is how many good players you bring into the club – and Rafa simply didn’t sign enough of them.


“He was there six years and made a net spend of around £140m but only signed two players who I would regard as truly world class – Fernando Torres and Jose Reina.


“To have spent the kind of money he has and only come up with two players is an ­awful indictment and ultimately doomed him.


“When you look at the squad now, I think it’s actually worse off than it was when he first took it over.


“For a start, Steven Gerrard is six years older and, had it not been for Gerrard, I think Benitez would have gone before now because Liverpool were almost a one-man team for a long time.

“They won the European Cup without ­being in the top ten teams in Europe at the time, so they were lucky to win it really.

“That success brought him a lot of good grace but were it not for the fact that ­Liverpool fans are the best and most loyal in the world, he would have gone before now.


“His successor has a huge job on his hands. Finishing seventh this season was seen as a disaster.


“The very future of Liverpool Football Club is at stake and whether it’s a bleak one or a hopeful one may well be determined in the next three months.”

Souness says only two of Benitez's signings during the last six years - Reina and Torres were world class players.

How many of Souness signings when he was Liverpool manager were world class players? Answer - zero. The only one that was any good was called Rob Jones a right back from Crewe Alexandra.

Let's not forget that Souness took apart a championship winning squad and allowed the likes of Houghton, Beardsley, Gillespie, Hysen, McMahon and Staunton all to leave the club when he took over in April 91.

Perhaps these are the reasons why Souness only lasted for not even three years as Liverpool manager and is why those who have followed him as manager at Anfield have constantly been playing catch up with Manchester United at the top of the premiership.

[tubby]

One thing he is right about though is the fact we need new owners if we are to move forward.

[shabelle50]

One thing he is right about though is the fact we need new owners if we are to move forward.

That really is rocket science. I had no idea the Americans were the cause of the problems at Anfield, until wise old Souey pointed it out!

[shawnk]

Think Rafa is going to win the CL league next season if he joins Inter? After inheriting a CL winner's squad from Mourinho, surely now with the experience, financial backing and etc. But I think he won't win it. Bet anyone?

[fivecups]

One thing he is right about though is the fact we need new owners if we are to move forward.

Actually a reasonable article until he starts into Rafa.

[JohnBull]

Souness might not have been a great manager for us but when he took over he saw THEN that we were falling behind the way the game was going abroad. His spell in Italy opened his eyes and he tried to make the difference overnight when he took over at Anfield.

As usual we were too slow to see the obvious and we let other, lesser, teams overtake us.

I can't see a lot wrong in what he says, other than the future at Anfield is going to be an awful lot better than he thinks. The same mistakes won't be made.

[Waldo]

Souness hasn't said anything in there that we weren't already aware of.

[shabelle50]

Why is Souness saying that the debt of £300 million has to be repaid in order for the club to challenge again? United have debts of £600 million yet are winning titles and are successful. Chelsea are in a similar financial position.

As for £100 million for players to improve things? Really. Last season minus Alonso and Arbeloa was the same squad as when we finished second with 86 points. We could have had Van De Vaart last season for less than we paid for Aquilani and only needed back up for Torres plus another wide player to have challenged again last season for the title.

I think Souness is wrong about £100 million with this squad of players. If nobody leaves and the players were to be as solid defensively as they were in 08-09 I think we only need a left back, back up for Torres and another wide player. We could get those players for significantly less than £100 million.

[NANNY RED]

Just had a vision of Rafa on his holidays in a bar belting out this on the kareoke.   yeh i know im off me head, fu.cking sums him up though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avU2aarQUiU&feature=player_embedded
 

[Rush Job]

Just had a vision of Rafa on his holidays in a bar belting out this on the kareoke.   yeh i know im off me head, fu.cking sums him up though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avU2aarQUiU&feature=player_embedded
 

I was expecting my way.

[NANNY RED]

just thought id stick this reponse up to the hatchet job that was done by Babcombe,

http://robbohuyton.blogspot.com/2010....es.html

Fecking tell him lad,

[GRAHAM01]

just thought id stick this reponse up to the hatchet job that was done by Babcombe,

http://robbohuyton.blogspot.com/2010....es.html

Fecking tell him lad,

fecking great read that san Babcombe is a muppet 

[tubby]

Tony Barret said today that he had spoken to a very senior player in the last 24 hours and the dressing room was no different to any other.
He didn't think there was any player power involved or any suggestion of losing the dressing room.

[Reg]

Of course there wasnt Bav, that was always bullshít from our 5 Live correspondent.