Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:32 pm

This "clear out" is an intersting one. Could it be the start of an acceptance that perhaps we should concentrate on building one excellent team rather than two above average ones? It'll come too late to save rafa I would think, but it's definately the way we should have been going over the last four years. Arsenal have sustained a challenge upto this point despite being totally outgunned financially, and have done so by in the main picking a settled outfit and system. Man Utd have experimented with leaving their best players out and have usually lost so my suspicion is that will be used sparingly from now on.

If we could only rewind the clock, to the Pompey away game. We went in there, firing on all cylinders with everyone at the club believing this was our year. That we decided to go into the game with a heavily rotated team, devoid of Gerrard and Torres will be the point in time which history will indicate was the pivotal moment in this season for Rafa, and indeed in his reign as Liverpool manager. Redknapp said staright after the game that as he had now seen all the contenders, man Utd would win it. They had also only mananged a draw at Pompey of course, but the fact that we chose to go into the game without our two best players was enough to convince him that we wouldn't be challengers. Unfortunately he was spot on.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:42 pm

A clear out is what the club needs, but it shouldn't stop just at the players. Memebers of staff and members of the board should also be told to fu.ck off.

As for the players, I think there's a good 8/9 we could get rid of.

Intandje, Aurellio, Kuyt, Voronin, Kewell, Riise, Hyypia

and Alonso

I wouldn't want to see either Sami or Xabi go but I think Sami has had his best days and won't play to often next season, so get him off the wage bill. And for Alonso I think with Lucas coming on leaps and bounds, Mascheranho all but signed and Gerrard, no need to mention his qualities. I think now would be a good time to let Xabi go. Get some decent money for him and he's another off the wage bill then. If we want stability from next season onwards then we have to lose one of our 4 central midfielders and Alonso is the most sensible choice. We've just spent 18 mill on Mascheranho so he won't be going. Lucas has a great future ahead of him and I for one would like to see it Anfield. And Gerrard, well without him we'd be even worse off than we are now. So I think it's time for Xabi to go.

by **account deleted by request** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:49 pm

I don't mind the clearout if it means we can bring in some better quality FIRST TEAM players to replace them. What I don't want is a million and one excuses then flying about how we need a season for all the new players to bed in , and what can you expect when you bring in new faces etc etc etc, then following our first injuries of the season, the cry our squad too small

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 9:51 pm

Problem is Saint, that "new players need time to bed in" will always happen. Because of our desperation of a league title, each year we go without it, the harder it'll become and every season we bring a new player in he'll need "time to bed in" which is another year that's just passed us by. Which is why I've always prefered to bring local lads through or buy one or two people who know the English or do what we used to do and give every new signing a year or two in the reserves.

by **LFC2007** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:00 pm

Players of exceptional quality filter to the top, you can't create such players merely by playing them in first team games.

by **Igor Zidane** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:01 pm

If rafa were to go at the end of the season , what i would like to see is the new manager not buying anyone and saying to the fans . We are gonna start playing our reserve team players and see how they go . Personally i've seen a fair bit of our reserves this year ,due to lfc tv and i think that theres a fair few that could make the step up . Now this again would require patience from the board and the fans ,which i don't know if they've got . If it comes off and we can build a title challenging team from what we have ,we would have saved alot of money . If it doesn't come off all we will get is loads more sack the boss posts like we have now. Give it a good full season and see what happens.

by **NiftyNeil** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:02 pm

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:Lucas has a great future ahead of him and I for one would like to see it Anfield. And Gerrard, well without him we'd be even worse off than we are now. So I think it's time for Xabi to go.

Would it be that bad if Gerrard went? Maybe he is the cause of some of our problems. He's always seems like he's got a sulk on to me. Look at the improvements at Man U and Arsenal when they got rid of Van Nistelrooy Keane and Henry. They got rid of, arguably, their best players at a time when they weren't playing well. Unite went on to win their first title for 4 years, and Arsenal may follow suit this year.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:08 pm

I think Igor has it, but it's about the number of kids we bring in. We can't throw 11 lads in but 3 or 4 on a regular basis in the squad. I personally think our starting 11 could come close to any in the world. Reina, Finnan, Carra, Agger, Arbeloa, Pennant, Gerrard, Lucas, Babel, Crouch, Torres. Bring the reserve kids on for the bench and give them a run out here and there. Martin as our sub keeper, Threlfall because I'm a huge fan of his, Spearin, Anderson, Linfield. We'd still have the likes of Skrtel, Mascheranho and probably Kuyt in the squad along with other youngsters like Nemeth, Hammill, Antwi, San Jose, Darby and Insua if we're hit by plenty of injuries

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:11 pm

NiftyNeil wrote:
god_bless_john_houlding wrote:Lucas has a great future ahead of him and I for one would like to see it Anfield. And Gerrard, well without him we'd be even worse off than we are now. So I think it's time for Xabi to go.

Would it be that bad if Gerrard went? Maybe he is the cause of some of our problems. He's always seems like he's got a sulk on to me. Look at the improvements at Man U and Arsenal when they got rid of Van Nistelrooy Keane and Henry. They got rid of, arguably, their best players at a time when they weren't playing well. Unite went on to win their first title for 4 years, and Arsenal may follow suit this year.

Gerrard may look like he's got a sulk on, but so would you if as a fan you had to perform with the players he has to. When we were playing well we seen the best of him. If we go for the league, you'll see him run his socks off for the cause, it's the fact that we're always out of the title chase come Christmas why he looks disinterested.

by **account deleted by request** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:24 pm

The thing is though John big stars won't play in the reserves for 3-6 months. When we were buying players and sticking them in the reserves to learn the "Liverpool way", they wern't usually internationals and although they went on to become big stars, wern't big stars when they arrived.

Souness, Dalglish, Toshack,etc all went straight into the first team. McDermott, Molby and Mcmahon who did spend time in the reserves, while we payed a lot of money for them, and they went on to be big stars wern't in that class when they came. Molby although already a Danish international, had to have a trial with us before we signed him for example.

Todays stars have boot contracts, advertising contracts etc, they are not going to risk them and their international career "waiting for their chance" in the reserves. Its all about the money now mate.

I think we would be better served by buying no more than 2 or three top class players who can be integrated into the team and perhaps a couple of good prospects for the future.

As for our reserves....... I posted an article a while back showing what had happened to a lot of our reserve players over the last few years. Lots of them are now either out of football completely or playing part time. Very few have gone on to play at a decent level(1st div or prem). Which to me suggests that there is something wrong somewhere.

Players who actually made the first team on occasion seem to disappear once they leave. Even though very few have been given a chance in the first team, there has been very few that have gone elsewhere and later proved us wrong. Thomson and Warnock are perhaps the pick of the crop over the last few years.

by **god_bless_john_houlding** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:43 pm

I agree saint, it is all about the money, but even back then it's because we weren't buying the biggest names in the game. Ian Rush for example, he was a no mark from Chester, but he turns out to be our best ever forward. Emlyn Hughes (RIP) he played once for Blackpool before Shanks snapped them up. Pretty much like we did with Hobbs. But instead of putting them through their paces in the reserves, we're sending them out on loan nowadays, even Hobbs who's captained the reserves, insteading of putting faith in him, we take a punt on a more expensive and untried foriegner.

by **LFC2007** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:59 pm

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:I agree saint, it is all about the money, but even back then it's because we weren't buying the biggest names in the game. Ian Rush for example, he was a no mark from Chester, but he turns out to be our best ever forward. Emlyn Hughes (RIP) he played once for Blackpool before Shanks snapped them up. Pretty much like we did with Hobbs. But instead of putting them through their paces in the reserves, we're sending them out on loan nowadays, even Hobbs who's captained the reserves, insteading of putting faith in him, we take a punt on a more expensive and untried foriegner.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

If the quality doesn't exist locally or in our reserves, you have to look elsewhere. That's the reality of the modern day game.

by **Pedro Maradona** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:59 pm

heimdall wrote:
Ciggy wrote::oops: Fuckinell no wonder they dont want to sell us.

Premiership in new £625m TV deal

Players like Wayne Rooney boost overseas viewing figures
The winner of football's Premiership will net £50m from next season after the league agreed a new £625m deal for overseas television rights.
The extra income from the deal means even the team finishing bottom will claim about £26m. Current title holders Chelsea won £30m last season.

The money adds to income from domestic broadcast and internet contracts.

"This deal really does take us on to another level," said Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore.

Overseas appeal

The new contract covers coverage of the 2007/8, 2008/9 and 2009/10 seasons in 208 countries worldwide.

We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off

Richard Scudamore
Premier League chief executive

English clubs in Euro cash fear

The £625m raised is double that from existing overseas television deals and takes the Premiership's earnings from media rights over the three seasons to more than £2.7bn.

Mr Scudamore said the largest increase in payments for rights had been in the Middle East and in Asia, with the battle to show live games particularly fierce in Hong Kong.

"We have a cosmopolitan approach to players and a cosmopolitan approach to ownership and that is paying off," he said.

"No territories have gone down but in some cases the rights have ended up being sold for three or four times the current amount."

Rights divided

BSkyB and Setanta are sharing the domestic television rights for Premiership matches from next season.

The rivals were successful bidders in an auction to show top-flight games, beginning in the 2007/8 season.

The domestic TV rights auction generated £1.7bn ($3.1bn) for the Premier League, with BSkyB paying £1.3bn for its four packages of games and Setanta £392m for its two.

The gap between the Premiership and the Championship may become wider

Richard Hunter, Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers

Setanta broke Sky's monopoly and has rights to 46 live matches a season, while BSkyB has won the rights to 92 live matches, including the "A" package of games on late Sunday afternoons.

The Premiership's appeal overseas has gone from strength to strength, thanks to high-profile players and the league's reputation for excitement.

"By focusing on the quality of the game, their players and their grounds, the clubs have produced a competition that people want to watch - both at matches and at home," added Mr Scudamore.

"That is the basis of our commercial success and I am confident that we will continue to invest in the best players and facilities to keep the Premier League where it is today - the most watched domestic football competition in the world."

Well in that case we are ok then as we'll get a guaranteed at least £26 million every year just from playing in the premiership, no wonder all the yanks are buying clubs in the Prem if they are this profitable!!

ummmmmmm well why else did you think they want to buy clubs? It not like Gillett or Hicks are fans of the game in the first place is it?

by **account deleted by request** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 11:03 pm

god_bless_john_houlding wrote:I agree saint, it is all about the money, but even back then it's because we weren't buying the biggest names in the game. Ian Rush for example, he was a no mark from Chester, but he turns out to be our best ever forward. Emlyn Hughes (RIP) he played once for Blackpool before Shanks snapped them up. Pretty much like we did with Hobbs. But instead of putting them through their paces in the reserves, we're sending them out on loan nowadays, even Hobbs who's captained the reserves, insteading of putting faith in him, we take a punt on a more expensive and untried foriegner.

I don't know if we even look in the lower divisions for players very much now, maybe its easier to scout for internationals abroad, than to scoure the lower reaches of the 3rd and fourth divisions for diamonds?

BTW Shanks TRIED to buy emlyn after 1 game , but it was the following season before he before he actually bought him, he played quite a few games for Blackpool, breaking Peter Osgoods leg in one of them. (seems strange to think they have both passed on now

)

by **RUSHIE#9** » Sun Feb 03, 2008 11:04 pm

I don't see that a big clear out is going to help Rafa much. Yes we'll get rid of deadwood like Voronin, Kewell, Itandje(Questionable), Kuyt, Riise & Aurelio but we've all seen in the past couple of years that when Rafa has a clear out in come another half a dozen players and more often than not they're no better.
If this rumour does come true then I hope that Rafa learns from the past few years and just brings in at most three quality players and replace each man for man.

Alternatively should DIC be the owners by then I would definitely expect a mass clear out and wouldn't be surprised that Rafa was one of them.

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