Liverpool FC Forum

[Greavesie]

Nothing like keep on dragging up two year old arguments - time to move on .

do you not find it ironic that a poster who wrote off every Roy signing before they arrived is now preaching to everyone that they have to give people time?

I think it's hilarious 

not even remotely, the cases against Cole, Konchesky and Poulson are a lot stronger than any case against Downing. I don't remember anyone writing off Meireles at all but the former 3 mentioned were c@ck, absolutely no denying that

[metalhead]

I see where this is going

[7_Kewell]

Nothing like keep on dragging up two year old arguments - time to move on .

do you not find it ironic that a poster who wrote off every Roy signing before they arrived is now preaching to everyone that they have to give people time?

I think it's hilarious 

not even remotely, the cases against Cole, Konchesky and Poulson are a lot stronger than any case against Downing. I don't remember anyone writing off Meireles at all but the former 3 mentioned were c@ck, absolutely no denying that

Meireles was written off by Emerald Red too.   

[Benny The Noon]

The level of players like Konchesky and Poulsen and a manager like Hodgson were symbols off where we were as a club at the time - skint yet spending millions on poor players . We are streets away from that situation now and it does nothing but create to keep dragging up Rafa ( who actually did something for the club ) or Hodgson ( who did nothing ) .

Just let it be now and leave the last 12 months in the past where it belongs and concentrate on the future now .

[Homebooby]

Downing is decent, and probably has the right attitude, he is not special either, more a consistent 7/10 player every game, but £20m? ? For some reason we are being raped again on the prices. The players we have bought seemed to make it clear they want to join us, so why are we paying over the odds?

Quoting this post, but this applies to all concerned about the supposed pricing..some things to consider

1. As stated, we are not an overly attractive option to the 'star' players, 1 because we don't offer European football and 2 because it is pretty clear since ownership changed is that the relative gravy train experienced at Man U, Man City and Chelsea is not stopping at Anfield...so those people who are financially inclined will not be coming simple as that. Boo !n hoo.

2. Clearly there is a strategy to move away from European supermo primadonnas and build a core of grafters and reinstill the values of LFC from the ground up, without the disruption of someone like Torres.

3. Look at the clubs that we are targeting at the moment. In most cases we are poaching their best player, whilst the player has several years on his contract. Would we have let Gerrard at 27 go off to Chelsea underpriced? Or would it have been overpriced like Torres? Forget about jumping to conclusions about me comparing Downing to Gerrard etc, I am referring to the worth/value of that player to said club. Some people (like Gerrard) are seen as irreplacable and the gap left is going to be massive, so of course people will milk it for as much as they can and who can blame them.

4. Noone appears to be looking at the whole picture. Relatively these guys coming in could be WAY cheaper in the long run than any of the 'comparably priced' alternatives you are putting forward. Who knows what the wage bills look like for these guys, but my guess is their starting point is a hell of a lot more humble than a lot of the alternatives put forward here.

I could go on and on here, but take the point. None of you really know what is going on, however you were all made up that Kenny was back.  Whenever the owners have been questioned about putting money into the club (remember the whingers who complained that they actually didn't spend much when Carroll and Suarez came in because of the Torres fee) it seems that they are supporting the management team in every instance. We haven't missed out on anyone and we haven't baulked at spending money. For once we're free of scandal, free of rumours, we have stability and the possibility of a long term future at the top of the game.

I for one am enjoying it all and I shall look forward to seeing whether the tactics are working out throughout the season. Forget about in Kenny we trust blind foolishness, this is LIGHT YEARS from where we were last season and hopefully in 12 months, we'll be LIGHT YEARS ahead from now.

I have to jump on the ''good post'' bandwagon here Homebooby as that was a good post fella. 

However, I have reservations similar to Dalglish and Woof re Downing. I sincerely hope he proves me wrong.

To be perfectly honest, I have a lot of the same reservations as a lot of people on here, but they are the same reservations that I have had with pretty much all of our signings in the last 5 - 10 years. I remember the days when Trevor Francis costing a million was stupid money and Rushey at 3 million ridiculous, but yet today is even more nuts. The price put on a player has almost nothing to do with a realistic evaluation of the talents of an individual and most people here seem to have trouble understanding that. Each player contracted to a club is seen as an asset, plain and simple. When losing/offloading an asset, the business (which is the club) is obliged to get as much back for their investment as they can. Don't forget that the investment isn't just the purchase price, but the wage bill too. This is just a fact of life in the premiership.

On top of that, I will be totally honest with you all and say that I watch as many games (be it live or highlights) a week, but I am horrible with retaining information/memories of players at other clubs. It just doesn't stick and tbh, I am somewhat blinkered and only really caring about our team and how they are doing. Call me a lesser fan/expert if you will, I couldn't give a monkeys .

After sharing that, I wanted to put across that I have read many many opinions of people on this board over the last 7 years and found in most cases a difference of opinion as to the capabilities and qualities of players and at the same time some players have been significantly more successful than others. I am SURE that will be the case with these signings too. We should expect that, it is normal...but isn't it lovely to see us bringing people in and then having the luxury of offloading rather than lose the key players at the beginning of the window and then scrambling for a replacement for the rest of it? It was mentioned earlier by someone else too....this is fantastic in comparison to the past...remember losing Alonso? That was awesome fun.

What I would really like to see on this board, and I say this now as I finally see some of the old school becoming more visible on the board again (hurray) and it seems like we might actually get to really talking about football again after 18 - 24 months of desperate nonsense here, is all the people on here actually putting their skills/knowledge to good use, rather than on each other and try to get into the mind of Kenny and the rest of the team. We can see the direction they are choosing and we know where the gaps in the squad are. Instead of the dream choices that you all have, apply what you have seen so far with the knowledge you all have and let's see how close you can all get to what actually comes in.

[neil]

F*ck off. It's got nothing to do with conforming. For once we've the money to spend and no bollox in the boardroom with a manager who knows us inside out, yet the moaning trollops on here still find a negative. He (Downing) hasn't kicked a f*cking ball for us yet, he or the other signings, yet they are still being written off as not good enough or overpriced. Arsenal offered 18 for him, we offered 2 million more and got him. About f*cking time we put our foot down when wanting a player. It was the same with Rafa. The signings he made - never good enough and overpriced. Give any signing at least half a season or a full season before opening yer gobs and at least get behind them.

why is this idiot back? forums been great lately, none of this drivel.

[metalhead]

This a great article about Stewart Downing in the perspective of his Dad, biased of course, but nonetheless an enjoyable read
-------------
'Andy Carroll will get 20 goals a season, easy, just on Stewart Downing's crosses' - new Liverpool winger's father reveals the determination that drives his son
Life-long Reds fan bursting with pride at son's £20m transfer and insists he will slot straight into Kenny Dalglish's team and not be overwhelmed by the weight of expectation
16 Jul 2011 09:20:00

EXCLUSIVE
By Rob Stewart

Liverpool supporters will fall in love with new signing Stewart Downing but, according to his father, no one at Anfield will adore him as much as fellow England international Andy Carroll following his big-money move from Aston Villa.

Downing’s Liverpool-supporting dad, also called Stewart, believes the Reds' faithful and his new colleagues will be head over heels with Kenny Dalglish’s £20 million capture as he supplies the crosses that will allow striker Carroll to break the 20-goal barrier next season as he spearheads the club's quest for a return to the Premier League's top-four places.

In an exclusive interview with Goal.com, Downing Snr said: “I’ve been hearing from Liverpool fans that they have been crying out for an out-and-out left winger and Stewart won’t let them down. They’ve been saying they can’t wait until he arrives and they’ve been saying he’s a better player than Ashley Young. I know that they will love him.

“Andy Carroll will be rubbing his hands together. I bet he can’t wait for Stewart to arrive.
Carroll will get 20 goals a season, easy, just on our Stewart’s crosses.

"Carroll has a good touch for a big man but he is brilliant in the air and he will lap it up when Stewart starts pinging those pin-point crosses into the penalty area in front of the Kop.

“It’s a mouth-watering prospect. Stewart will be playing with better players – the likes of Charlie Adam and Steven Gerrard - who can pick you out with a pass. He will take to it like a duck to water.

“When they see him week in, week out Liverpool fans will see Stewart is a real team player as well. Ashley Young can’t play left back but our Stewart can. Ashley doesn’t track players like our Stewart tracks them. That is why the right back and left back always say they want him on their side so he can run up and down and look after them.”

The 26-year-old’s dad is confident that the former Middlesbrough player will be able to cope with the extra pressure that comes with playing for a club of Liverpool’s stature.

“There is a lot of pressure that comes with playing for Liverpool but Stewart will be fine with that,” said Downing Snr. “He has played alongside Steven Gerrard and all of them in front of 90,000 people at Wembley for England and so playing in front of 40,000-plus at Anfield won’t bother him.”


Teenage dream | Downing first broke through with Middlesbrough
Having supported the Merseyside club since he was a youngster himself during their heyday of the 1970s, Downing Snr is well acquainted with the Liverpool way.

He went on: “I have supported Liverpool since I was a kid. They are the masters. They were the ones who showed everybody how to pass and move. They dominated football throughout the 80s with their pass-and-move approach. Great managers, great players.

“I loved watching them and I used to love the manager, Bill Shankly. And what did Bill Shankly say? ‘There are only two sides in Liverpool – one is red and one is blue and the blue side are the reserves.’

“Stewart has played before at Anfield so he knows what a great stadium it is and that is one of the reasons why he has gone there. He went there and got the sponsors’ man of the match award even though they were beaten. The same happened when his team lost 3-0 at Old Trafford and I’ve got the champagne here to prove it.



"Liverpool fans will see Stewart is a real team player. Ashley Young can't play left-back like he can. He won't track players like Stewart can"

- Downing Snr
“My message to Stewart has always been that if you work hard you get your rewards and thankfully he took that on board. I hope he will be successful and help the team win major honours. If he works hard at Liverpool he will do well.”

Downing helped nurture his son’s talent as a coach with the Teesside-based Marton juniors club - where Jonathan Woodgate also came through the ranks - before he was fast-tracked by Middlesbrough and ended up rubbing shoulders with world-renowned internationals.

“Stewart was at Boro when they had the best players they will ever have,” Downing Snr continued. “Apart from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka and Gareth Southgate, he was there learning the ropes when Juninho, Alen Boksic and Fabrizio Ravanelli and Emerson were there. You are talking world-class players and Stewart used to train with them when he was a kid.

“That helped him develop because that’s what happens when you play with better players. When they were at Boro, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink used to cane Franck Queudrue. He’d say he wanted Stewart up front with him and Mark Viduka, not looking after Franck at left-back.” 

Downing’s dad had trials with Aston Villa as a teenager and was a mentor for his son as he harnessed the youngster’s nascent talent both on and off the football field.

“I used to teach Stewart to be two-footed by putting a bigger boot on his left foot to make sure that he used his right foot,” Downing added. “You get a ball, go out to the garages or a brick wall and start using your right foot repeatedly until you get used to it. And then your right foot will be better than your left foot.

“You can’t beat education but you can only coach so many things. One thing you can’t teach anybody are pace and balance. You are gifted with it. You are born with it. Like Ryan Giggs, he was born to be a footballer and when you are born left-footed you are special.”

He would leave little to chance as his children grew up on the uncompromising Pallister Park estate in Middlesbrough.

“When he was a kid we wouldn’t let him play with any of the wrong ones on the estate,” he said. “He was always with me and then he would go to bed with a football. We didn’t have a car so I would ferry him all over the place on my mountain bike in rain, hail, the lot, when he was playing for Marton. I’ve still got the mountain bike.

“He’s a tough cookie because he is Pallister Park born-and-bred. That has given him a hunger, desire, drive and determination. It’s the way kids are brought up on the estate. There are some great kids there still and you could get a football team together from the kids that are playing there now – all dreaming of being the next Stewart Downing.”

Link

[damjan193]

He'll be wearing the number 19

[RedAnt]

I think this is a great signing £20m is a load of money sure, but my local store is charging 75p for a pack of Polo's! First time I bought a pack they were 17p. That was only 30 years ago. Inflation eh? Insane. Downing is another piece of the jig-saw set into place. He's one of those players I always hated turning out against us. I always was nervous he was going to do something special...and more often than not he did! We can't attract superstars anymore. Simple as that. We can turn players into superstars though. This is a step up for Downing, a promotion. I'm sure he will rise to the occasion.

Some people here still seem to suffer from the FM mentality. What makes me sad is that if Man U, Chelski, Man C, Barcelona had been in for him, people would be saying "Yes! Great signing!" Just because they weren't in for him dosen't make him a bad player. It just means that those teams had a wider range of options due to their current status in world football (i.e CL football) and didn't want to pay over the odds. We took what we could.

Welcome Stewart!

(I do worry about the backline. Not sure we have anyone who can cope with the likes of Rooney or Torres when they're on their game, which of course can potentially mean losing the games against the big boys, which makes all the difference when winning titles. I think we can make a CL spot this year. Anything above that would be F*cking awsome!)

Can't wait for the new season and to share with with all my fellow Reds. But c'mon y'all! Walk on with HOPE IN YOUR HEART!

[Homebooby]

75p for a packet of polos??

[RedAnt]

Yeah! A Mars Bar is 90p. Loaf of bread £1.40. Pack of Rizlas 35p. Crazy stuff.

[7_Kewell]

Has Downing joined the squad yet?  Any idea when he'll be involved with pre-season friendlies?

[metalhead]

Has Downing joined the squad yet?  Any idea when he'll be involved with pre-season friendlies?

he might start tomorrow against Hull

[Kenny Kan]

no pressure Dad.

[ConnO'var]

I personally think that he is going to be a solid if not excellent signing. He's got a good work ethic and is a proper wide leftie. Good pace, good cross on him..... all in all, a sound footballer. He may not be a marquee name but I don't think we need one. What we need is a good team player who can fulfill a role we've needed badly for years. For me, Stewart looks like a good fit. 20 Million quid sounds like a lot of money but in this day and age, this seems to be the going rate.

Welcome Stu and here's hoping you make a mark at Anfield...... I for one, have high hopes.