Liverpool FC Forum

stmichael wrote:A simple yet delightful and heartwarming fact occured to me last night whilst talking to a fellow Liverpool supporter of mine. The conversation came around to Theo Walcott, and the fact that Chelsea are rumoured to be prepared to offer £8 million for him. Now I'm not saying that we didn't make mistakes and waste money (especially under Houllier) but it should make you proud that we seem to be gaining our success not with money or star players with excessively big price tags. I mean Alonso for £10m is absolute peanuts when you consider how good he already is and could become. Garcia cost £6m and considering the important goals he scored last season, even his biggest critic would say it was justified. Ok Cisse was over the top, but everyone knows that Rafa would never have brought him in a million years if he had the choice.

When Manure dominated, Arsenal were the only general challengers for the title taking it on a few occasions in 1998 and 2002, but they never won the back to back titles that truely rubber stamps a domestic dominance and they also failed miserably to even compete in Europe let alone concur. It's the same with this current Chelsea team. They can't even slightly be considered great until they win a few more Championships and conquer Europe. I've said it before, Chelsea won't dominate for ten years, it's not as simple as that. We're already heading in the right direction but we've still got some way to go before we catch them up.

United, who after dominating for years domestically and stealing the European Cup in 1999, still could not convert this to long term success in the CL. So what was their approach? To buy big.

Veron = 28M
RVN = 19M
Rooney= 30M

I mean that's obscene money. Add Ferdinand at £30m to that and you're talking over £100m pounds. Yes I know Houllier wasted nearly £100m but that was over six years, not on four players.

Result = abject failure and now they are struggling domestically and are out of Europe. Fergie has lost the plot. They still haven't replaced Beckham and they have also lost their Captain and leader, possibly to Real Madrid. Despite having the Horse and Rooney upfront, they've got too many average players who just aren't up to scratch.


Now we have the emergence of Chavski, who have basically turned the football world upside down with their wealth. A truly great manager (yes it pains me to say it as i hate the ba$tard) and an open chequebook means that it's going to be hard for anybody to get near them in the foreseeable future. Ranieri put the foundations in place and "failed" by finishing second and getting to the Semi Finals of the Champions League. So what does Maureen do? Buy big.

Drogba = 24m
Carvalho = 19m
Ferreira = 13m
Essien = 26m
SWP = 21m

That's over £100m again on five players, three of whom don't even play regularly. Ok Chelsea are dominating domesically but once again are not exactly setting the world on fire in Europe (we seem to have the mesure of them for one). If they draw Barcelona, Juventus or Lyon come the draw on Friday, I honestly think it will be "no way jose" again in Europe for another year.


Then finally we come to our own beloved LFC.

We have a great manager who is still really in his infancy in management, yet has already achieved things which put other managers to shame. People need to remember that he got fired from his first two managerial jobs but then at Valencia everything changed. He took a Valencia side from challengers to champions in spain overhauling barca and real not once but twice in 3 years and also won the UEFA Cup in the process. They weren't really a team of superstars (he sold Mendieta, Kily Gonzalez etc) and instead built a team based on a tight defence and work ethic first, and then let the natural flair come through in attack. Notice the pattern?

Granted it took him time to master the language, (most manager would use an interpreter in his 1st season) but not Rafa. He studied past tapes players traditions and truely became ingrossed in out illustrious club. Last season saw the beginning of his work ethic. Everyone knew our squad was nowhere near good enough, as proved when we "magnificently" scraped into 4th the season before under Houllier. Players had to be brought. Did he buy big like Fergie or Maureen?

Well our highest transfer is still Xabi for 10.5m under Rafa. Cisse was a Ged buy and one rafa will rectify soon. (some say he is not wanted). All this whilst Newcastle (who aren't even in Europe) have been blowing £17m on Owen, £10m on Luque etc etc. OK, Rafa missed out on a couple of players we needed in the August Window and whilst we were all p#ssed off by this, it doesn't seem to have proved too costly judging by our League position. Like him or not Crouch has been good for the team and the goals will come on a regular basis. We have a better keeper now than anything we have had for years, Sissoko looks like a great signing despite still being raw, and Zenden came on a free as cover and is unfortunately injured now. In January, with the addition of a centre back, a right winger and a striker, we really will be going places.

We are Champions of Europe, and have walked into the knockout stages again this year in top place in our group. A team that is about to put LFC on the world map yet again in 2 days by cometing in the World Club Championship.

And all without a big wallet. Just hard work by a great manager and the best fans in the world bar none. If this doesn't make you proud then it should.

YNWA