dl2009

Well, it was cold.... P.S. Is that his latest injury?

He said to try Brady's Irish Kebab House on the Istan Breck Road.

I spoke with one of Galatasaray's fitness trainers today and he reckons that Turan won't move in January but will be heading to Liverpool in the summer.

Strongest: Technical ability Passing Intelligence Weakest: Made of Aquilaninium Pace Lack of aggression (may be linked to the first point)

Lucas' development: Liability --------> Poor --------> Mediocre ----------> Solid ----------> Pretty Decent ---------> Good ??

A journo (no, not Bascombe).

Rafa told Xabi's agent, in March, to actively look for other clubs. The second time in 12 months.

What I meant was, it was a bad call.

May I answer? What do you mean "no"?! Ahem.. It's the same reason Rafa recruited Voronin and Dossena; lack of judgement in those instances.

Excellent description.

Precisely.

I don't want Rafa sacked. I do, however, think that Tomkins' one-eyed approach, lack of objectivity, verbosity and general lack of genuine writing skills makes him one tedious mofo.

He had some bad games (West Ham away being a prime example...Rafa went ballistic on the touch line and it's there where I think he made his mind up to offload Xabi), but I really think this '2 poor seasons' thing is a myth.

Perhaps that's true in a parallel universe, but in this one, he was still amongst our top 2-3 performers (when fit) during his so-called '2 poor seasons'.

So you only read the preamble, then?

Fully agree. Although in Kuyt's case, he did deserve to start the season as 1st choice inside right owing to his form during the tail end of last season. As I mentioned in another thread, Rafa's undoing has been his belief that Lucas could replicate Alonso's function in the team at least until Aquilani was fit.

I believe that Rafa truly believes Lucas can perform the exact same function in the team as Alonso. If he did not believe that, Gerrard would've been moved into CM from day one until Aquilani (who is very adaptable) was fit enough.

Injured and asked to defer the surgery he needs, for the good of the team in the short term.

Our midfield at present tends to sit 10 yards in front of the defence (including our so called wide players at times), forcing Gerrard to drop back and collect the ball resulting in Torres or N'gog foraging up front in isolation.

I obviously haven't read the contract, but from what I understand, there is a clause which binds Dempsey & Makepeace to actively seek to sell sufficient equity to help pay the bills, so to speak. It's undefined in the sense that no 3rd parties have been mentioned specifically, no minimum slice has been outlined and no deadline has been mentioned. I believe that they merely require Cagney & Lacey to provide evidence of ongoing activity.

He forged a decent relationship with Mourinho (which is worrying in itself), but other than taking Rafa's word for it, there's no evidence to suggest that he actually did whore himself out to Kenyon et al. From Pako's point of view, he fundamentally disagreed with certain staff appointments, player recommendations (stemming from a particular newly recruited member of staff) and also Rafa's interference/increasing control over his fitness training regime.

Yes, option 1 is what RBS initially insisted upon. They had to demonstrate not only their willingness, but active plans to secure outside investment before the refinancing was granted. It's actually a specified, but undefined clause within the contract. I think they're too smart to allow 2 & 3 to happen and can't afford 4. The fifth option is to sell outright and start looking now.

Especially since every right sided attacker in the league has read him...

Rafa's too volatile when he's rattled. I think Rafa's ability to make life difficult for them is an ongoing concern. However, you're right, their priority is to ensure we maintain our status within the European super league. I'm fairly certain they do not have the will (Gillett) or the means (Hicks) to invest any serious cash in squad building, regardless of who the manager is. They hedged all their bets on the Emirates buying a chunk of equity, but since the spectacular collapse of Dubai and the subsequent $10bn bail out by Abu Dhabi (with Bahrain concentrating of mopping up some of Dubai's assets at a cut down price), the UAE will not even look in our direction. Troubling times.

Enter Roy Hodgeson. Thoroughly decent man who will form an instant connection with the fans. However, Roy doesn't like to rock the boat and goes about his business quietly.