Liverpool FC Forum

[red till i die!!]

That deal he was offered is on the table a while now. He is still earning 35k a week so he has probably lost a couple of million already by not signing that contract. If he was all about the money then he would have signed it straight away seeing as he is being portrayed as "Greedy and Money Hungry". Another thing is that if he goes I guarantee he won't be earning 100k either at whatever club he does go to.

It will be sad to see him getting stick from the stands over this especially seeing as none of this should be out in the open.

[C-R]

In my current circumstances it would take me 3 years to get the 35k that he gets in a week

True he can play football well and i cant, but still it's all gotten a little out of control wouldnt you say

[andy c legs]

Un-fortunately, it seems that most footballers playing for top clubs have lost reality in comparison to your ordinary working man's wages. That's a trend that's never going to be reversed.

Sterling is still so young - 20. There have been a few exceptional players at our club down the years that I can recall playing at that age and Owen was one of them and 'God' himself. God never quibbled about money or stalled over signing any contract. Young Raheem on the other hand is stalling - at whatever money the club has offered him. That's the bottom line. That's what gets my goat about him. He says it's not about the money BUT reading between the lines, with my Sherlock spy glass, it appears to me as though it is.

I can fully understand him wanting to get as much as he can in any new contract - let's be fair, we all would. It's the fact that he has relatively done nothing in his career to date to warrant such a pay hike, that's the thing. Agreed, he has led the line this season and has pace but his finishing needs to be improved. If he had banged in 15-20 goals this season then I'd be screaming for the club to pull out all the stops and get him signed up asap. He hasn't though. Who is to say that if he does stay at our club - he won't do this. He is still on a steep learning curve and can only improve. If he stays with us, this WILL happen as if he keeps injury free his name will be one of the first on any teamsheet.

What could also be a factor in any negotiations is the fact that he has now played for England 14 times and last week finally scored. The more times he plays for the 3 lions then the more times he will again put himself in the shop window - like Owen did. This could benefit our club though as the likes of Real, Barca etc will sniff around him even more. It's a double edged sword.

He should have just come out and said in that interview that I love Liverpool and want to stay here for years. That would not have taken 27 mins. That would have done for me. Afterall, Henderson has reportedly stated this - without any fuss from the media and he has even less time ticking on the Liverbird building clock to sign his new contract.

At the end of the day though, contracts mean nothing. Look at Luis, he signed that new contract last December and what happened in the summer, he was gone. As quick as that. We knew he may have been angling for a move to Barca but at least then the club did not mess about and were determined to make the most out of any sale of him and so it proved as we got that £75 mill to spend. I hope that they do a similar thing with Raheem and say, that there is going to be a £40 mill buy-out clause, in any contract you may sign and IF he does not agree to this by a certain date, then put a £45 mill bounty on his head and see who comes in for him. But this would have to be in the middle of June as we would then have a chance to sign a replacement(s)

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

That deal he was offered is on the table a while now. He is still earning 35k a week so he has probably lost a couple of million already by not signing that contract. If he was all about the money then he would have signed it straight away seeing as he is being portrayed as "Greedy and Money Hungry". Another thing is that if he goes I guarantee he won't be earning 100k either at whatever club he does go to.

It will be sad to see him getting stick from the stands over this especially seeing as none of this should be out in the open.

He is the one doing interviews without the permission of the club mate, he didn't even give the exclusive interview to Sky Sports News or a newspaper or something, he gave it to the BBC evening news who usually cover world events.
Him and his agent obviously think that patronising claptrap like he's a '20 year old who just wants to play football' and 'it's not about the money' is as important to the general public as who the next Prime Minister is and other issues of global significance.
In an age of austerity, food banks, zero hour contracts, pay freezes, huge cuts to public services and record homelessness levels the last thing people want to see after grafting their @rses off all day for a pittance is a whiny overpaid spoilt footballer on the television going on about how he turned down £100,000+ a week because he is just so misunderstood.
When people are skint the last thing they want to hear is someone who is rich going on about how tough he has got it.
If that interview was meant to be a P.R exercise to win hearts and minds it was a spectacular own goal, even ex-United players like Paul Scholes are basically telling him to stop whinging and sign the effin' contract

[Soupyzrx]

He is the one doing interviews without the permission of the club mate, he didn't even give the exclusive interview to Sky Sports News or a newspaper or something, he gave it to the BBC evening news who usually cover world events.
Him and his agent obviously think that patronising claptrap like he's a '20 year old who just wants to play football' and 'it's not about the money' is as important to the general public as who the next Prime Minister is and other issues of global significance.
In an age of austerity, food banks, zero hour contracts, pay freezes, huge cuts to public services and record homelessness levels the last thing people want to see after grafting their @rses off all day for a pittance is a whiny overpaid spoilt footballer on the television going on about how he turned down £100,000+ a week because he is just so misunderstood.
When people are skint the last thing they want to hear is someone who is rich going on about how tough he has got it.
If that interview was meant to be a P.R exercise to win hearts and minds it was a spectacular own goal, even ex-United players like Paul Scholes are basically telling him to stop whinging and sign the effin' contract

Great post, man.
It was indeed a bit of a PR own-goal, and the 'teatime tv' timing was ill-advised. Somebody needs a good kick in the nuts for deciding it was a good idea.
Yet again we get our squad's equilibrium dis-equilibriated (that's not a real word, I made it up, but it serves its purpose) at a crucial time by one player getting a bit big for his boots.

[red till i die!!]

That deal he was offered is on the table a while now. He is still earning 35k a week so he has probably lost a couple of million already by not signing that contract. If he was all about the money then he would have signed it straight away seeing as he is being portrayed as "Greedy and Money Hungry". Another thing is that if he goes I guarantee he won't be earning 100k either at whatever club he does go to.

It will be sad to see him getting stick from the stands over this especially seeing as none of this should be out in the open.

He is the one doing interviews without the permission of the club mate, he didn't even give the exclusive interview to Sky Sports News or a newspaper or something, he gave it to the BBC evening news who usually cover world events.
Him and his agent obviously think that patronising claptrap like he's a '20 year old who just wants to play football' and 'it's not about the money' is as important to the general public as who the next Prime Minister is and other issues of global significance.
In an age of austerity, food banks, zero hour contracts, pay freezes, huge cuts to public services and record homelessness levels the last thing people want to see after grafting their @rses off all day for a pittance is a whiny overpaid spoilt footballer on the television going on about how he turned down £100,000+ a week because he is just so misunderstood.
When people are skint the last thing they want to hear is someone who is rich going on about how tough he has got it.
If that interview was meant to be a P.R exercise to win hearts and minds it was a spectacular own goal, even ex-United players like Paul Scholes are basically telling him to stop whinging and sign the effin' contract

I don't blame the lad for giving that interview as he clearly needs practice  He couldn't string 2 sentences together without spluttering but obviously he felt he needed to speak out because he was being labelled as greedy. Whatever outlet he used is irrelevant as he just wanted to put his side across.

Rodgers is the one that caused most of this  He has been the one talking about his situation for months whenever he feels like it. Even today he is issuing warnings that raheem won't be going anywhere in the summer when the player never said he would. All he said was he wants to concentrate on his football till the end of the season and will reopen talks then. Maybe he wants to see if rodgers get's canned, Maybe he wants to see if we make CL, Maybe he wants to see what kind of players we are going to buy in the summer or maybe he just doesn't want to be played all over the pitch as he might just feel its hampering his progress.

Again Yakka its a ridiculous business that pays ridiculous and if people are judging raheem based on their own financial situations then how is he ever going to stand a chance. The lad said it wasn't about money and the fact that he has already lost millions by not signing the contract should give him the benefit of the doubt.

Scholes can say whatever he wants mate and I doubt any liverpool fan cares what he thinks. He didn't seem to have much to say when shrek held them over a barrel about 2 and a half seasons ago to get his 300k + a week or else he was walking across the city.

[Soupyzrx]

Rodgers is the one that caused most of this  He has been the one talking about his situation for months whenever he feels like it. Even today he is issuing warnings that raheem won't be going anywhere in the summer when the player never said he would..

Yeah, he did say that, but I'm afraid I take that with a huge pinch of salt.
When Brendan says something like that you can bet your @ss that the thing he said will not be happening, is exactly what happens.
Like f'rinstance, Mario Balotelli will not be a Liverpool player (or words to that effect.)
I do think he'll be gone in the summer, and that BBC interview was the official opening of the shop-window curtains .

[red till i die!!]

Rodgers is the one that caused most of this  He has been the one talking about his situation for months whenever he feels like it. Even today he is issuing warnings that raheem won't be going anywhere in the summer when the player never said he would..

Yeah, he did say that, but I'm afraid I take that with a huge pinch of salt.
When Brendan says something like that you can bet your @ss that the thing he said will not be happening, is exactly what happens.
Like f'rinstance, Mario Balotelli will not be a Liverpool player (or words to that effect.)
I do think he'll be gone in the summer, and that BBC interview was the official opening of the shop-window curtains .

You don't have to convince me of his ability to talk utter $hyte mate 
The man would have been better off focusing on the arsenal game rather than sterlings contract and the interview he gave. Why can't he not just say its what it is till the end of the season and he won't speak about it anymore so don't ask.

Brendans words aren't to be taking with a pinch of salt as he likes to sweeten things up with sugar. Sugar is unfortunately flammable and he can't resist throwing it on to what already is a growing fire.

[red till i die!!]

John Giles take on it.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/ ... 16176.html?

Sterling has been in the news all week after Brendan Rodgers revealed the youngster turned down an "incredible" offer from the club.

That sparked Sterling to go on the defensive and he gave an in-depth interview to the BBC insisting that it is not about the money.

And writing in today's Herald, Giles has weighed in on the side of Sterling and has urged him not to be bullied by the club.

"There's only one way to respond to a bully and Raheem Sterling is doing just that by digging in his heels and telling Liverpool football club that he has all the power in his contract negotiation," writes Giles.

While Giles believes Sterling's BBC interview was ill-judged, he insists there is something fundamentally wrong with Liverpool's transfer policy if they can't hold on to their best players.

"There is a roadmap already in place for how to avoid the situation they are currently in. Do the opposite to what they did with Steven Gerrard.

"However, from what Sterling has said, the damage was already done while (John) Henry and the committee were talking to their captain through lawyers instead of doing the decent thing and offering him a deal to stay for another year at the club he helped keep alive over three decades.

"It was worth recalling the progress of Gerrard's decision to leave the club and his comments after he had announced he was going.

"Gerrard claimed that he would have signed a deal last summer if they had offered one. Clearly the club was playing hardball over cash and while that is fair enough, there has to be a different approach to a player of his stature."

Giles was very clear in his thoughts when Brendan Rodgers signed Mario Balotelli and the former Ireland player and manager has reemphasised the fact that the Italian should never have been brought to the club.

"Rodgers also ran into heavy weather when the club signed Mario Balotelli after he stated "categorically" that Liverpool would never sign him and now, he has been further undermined by doing the owners' bidding and heaping pressure on Sterling," added Giles.

"That is the only interpretation I can put on Rodgers recent suggestions that Sterling had turned down "an incredible offer".

"The implication was very straight forward. This is a greedy lad who has been offered a deal which he should be falling over himself to sign but has chosen to take the dark path.

"It was poor form from Rodgers. He knows well that Liverpool got Sterling for a song from QPR and while there are sell-on clauses, they could be dealing with a player who will ultimately net the club a £50m or £60m profit.

"I don't believe Sterling is one bit greedy. If I was dealing with the transfer committee at Anfield I would do exactly as he is doing."

Read John Giles' full column here

[ycsatbjywtbiastkamb]

He did the exact same thing before he signed this current contract when he turned 18.
If I remember correctly at the time Liverpool had a policy of giving young players £20,000 a week but Raheem 'I don't care about the money' Sterling wanted double that, in the end it was reported that the club and player reached a compromise of £35,000 a week.
It went right down to the wire though and at one point it was even reported that he was on the verge of signing for City, if you remember a lot of fans around that time had a cob on with him and his form tanked for about 12 months. A lot of people wanted to sell him even back then.
He's had itchy feet almost from the moment he started to become well known. I'd sell him, you can't build a team around players like him, he's always going to have one eye on the exit door and every time we go through an bad patch he'll be on the evening news again.
Sell him now while his star is flying high and we have the ideal replacement (Ibe) waiting in the wings.
I know the prospect of selling another top talent is unpalatable to some fans but having a player with his want away attitude can crush morale in the dressing room and as United's also rans proved at Anfield last week a team where everyone is pulling in the same direction is better than a team full of big names like Falcao and DiMaria who look like their heart isn't in it.

[sniffy98]

I don't know what to believe. The interview was stupid but why couldn't BR just shut up and not mention anything about the player turning down an incredible deal?

Yakka, Shrek did the same thing 'itching' to get out of the door, got the deal he wanted and stayed. He hasn't had the negative effect on the team that you implied happens in such circumstances. I personally do not want him gone and do not think Ibe will be at Sterling's level for at least two years. I don't want to see us wait for another player to 'develop'. Sure Sterling isn't the finished article but is much further down the road than Ibe.

[red till i die!!]

He did the exact same thing before he signed this current contract when he turned 18.
If I remember correctly at the time Liverpool had a policy of giving young players £20,000 a week but Raheem 'I don't care about the money' Sterling wanted double that, in the end it was reported that the club and player reached a compromise of £35,000 a week.
It went right down to the wire though and at one point it was even reported that he was on the verge of signing for City, if you remember a lot of fans around that time had a cob on with him and his form tanked for about 12 months. A lot of people wanted to sell him even back then.
He's had itchy feet almost from the moment he started to become well known. I'd sell him, you can't build a team around players like him, he's always going to have one eye on the exit door and every time we go through an bad patch he'll be on the evening news again.
Sell him now while his star is flying high and we have the ideal replacement (Ibe) waiting in the wings.
I know the prospect of selling another top talent is unpalatable to some fans but having a player with his want away attitude can crush morale in the dressing room and as United's also rans proved at Anfield last week a team where everyone is pulling in the same direction is better than a team full of big names like Falcao and DiMaria who look like their heart isn't in it.

He was just born greedy then 

[red till i die!!]

I don't know what to believe. The interview was stupid but why couldn't BR just shut up and not mention anything about the player turning down an incredible deal?

Yakka, Shrek did the same thing 'itching' to get out of the door, got the deal he wanted and stayed. He hasn't had the negative effect on the team that you implied happens in such circumstances. I personally do not want him gone and do not think Ibe will be at Sterling's level for at least two years. I don't want to see us wait for another player to 'develop'. Sure Sterling isn't the finished article but is much further down the road than Ibe.

At last someone is talking sense 

[sniffy98]

I do get the sentiment of these greedy players. It is incredibly annoying but it happens at every club and is just how football is. Shrek did it, Nasri did it, Walcott is doing it, Sterling etc etc. I just think it's too simple to say flog him and put Ibe in. If we start doing that, we are Arsenal mark two, who always seem to be building but cannot go up a level because they sell their best players. Suarez, Gerrard and Sterling is just too much to lose. Look how long it took us this year to get over Suarez. You could argue we wasted the whole season trying to find a team with an effective balance. And it's open to debate if this team is actually better than the one 12 months ago.

[Boocity]

I don't know what to believe. The interview was stupid but why couldn't BR just shut up and not mention anything about the player turning down an incredible deal?

Yakka, Shrek did the same thing 'itching' to get out of the door, got the deal he wanted and stayed. He hasn't had the negative effect on the team that you implied happens in such circumstances. I personally do not want him gone and do not think Ibe will be at Sterling's level for at least two years. I don't want to see us wait for another player to 'develop'. Sure Sterling isn't the finished article but is much further down the road than Ibe.

At last someone is talking sense 

I think Sterling thinks he's better than he is, if we had kept Suarez and had Sterling learning from him for another couple of seasons he had the potential to be great, this season he already believes he's made it and is invaluable but I believe he has regressed. Ibe seems to be more switched on and I reckon he will progress faster than Sterling and be a better player.