beejay

No-one - not even Bascombe - is saying we will spend nothing. Just that our budget is similar to previous years rather than the mega bucks we were led to believe would be at Rafa's disposal. We also have more money coming in than usual through sales so could still find ourselves breaking our transfer record and G&H could then say they have supported the manager. I think it's odd that people can't have an open mind on this rather than hiding behind the mantra that our new owners wouldn't lie to us would they? Would it really be such a surprise if having spent a couple of hundred million on buying the club then trying to structure loans for the stadium that they should decide that transfers should be funded through the club's own cash flow not by more investment out of their pockets?

Whereas, it's the other way round with Torres so we should take it seriously? I hope

This will now be regurgitated on skysports and every site going as "rafa swoops for torres" with figures bandied around from £20-40m and sources close to the club confirming the deal "is on". Should then be good for at least another 20 pages on here complete with ne formation threads and numerous "he ain't good enough for LFC".

With all the money these footballers earn you would expect him to have a decent toilet in his villa

Yup, as soon as Rafa told the boys we're signing Diego Forlan they immediately put pen to paper

No chance. Rafa keeps saying we don't put enough of our chances away and also said that if Fowler goes we would have to find another "natural" goalscorer. All the signs are that he wants a topclass goalscoring striker, but whether that means Owen is debatable

Even taking the article at face value, if we have 18m to spend on a striker that ain't bad. Bent, Owen, Milito (very impressive last night), Defoe etc are all better goalscorers than Bellamy IMO. Too many getting carried away with the stuff about Eto'o & Tevez. 30-40m on one player when our previous transfer record is 14m? Wouldn't surprise me one bit if we went into the new season with 2 new strikers from the so-called B list plus 3 others - right winger, left winger, goalie and with Lucas & Leto also in the squad plus Garcia & Aurelio fit again that would set us up nicely. There - I even left Voronin out, it gets better

Another constant refrain of Bascombe at the moment is Rafa wants to sell Kewell and I, for one, can't see the sense in that given we are dispensing with both Zenden & Gonzalez. Bringing Malouda in would give us a strong left sided line-up with Riise, Aurelio, Kewell & Malouda. Defence, keepers & centre midfield are sorted so Rafa can concentrate on strikers & bolstering the attacking options on the right. I'm in the camp that believes Rafa is keeping his cards very close to his chest both in terms of his 1st targets and the money he can spend. Maybe Rafa is feeding Bascombe a line so that he can maintain this position.

Exactly my stance I admire your eternal optomism Leo No.8, but I am a sceptic and when Rafa makes out spoken attacks on our way of doing business, I have to worry about how good we are at negotiating the best players to come to our club. None of us know the amount that is being given to rafa to spend (... the way it should be), seeings as rafa doesn't know himself (based on reports only), the local media downplaying how much we have, and G&H saying we'll buy snoop dogg and it is player specific budget. Until the players start coming in, we cant judge the calibre of players that is going to take us to the next level. We have secured our best players, but we need more whether its a few or many, to change us from also rans to genuine league contenders.

As much as I am delighted to have got our best players under long term contracts I think I'll wait til the end of the summer to judge whether we are better placed to make an assault on the league. What we have done is preserve the core of players that have got us to two european cup finals in 3 years. This summer will decide whether we can get the players to have a sustained league challenge. We havent signed anyone that you would think are going to be automatic first teamers so we cant judge yet whether we have signed our top targets. I dont want to dampen your optomism but theres still a lot of work to be done before we can call this summer a successful one.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/t...nal/6733173.stm There's plenty about Henry leaving though - not to us however!

We've got the best midfield in the world

Eh? His article yesterday was Kop Trio sign up while most were going into overdrive about which one of Momo & Xabi was leaving

Might be a general consensus amongst a few on here but it's a fact that the JAR song is as popular as any on match day. Sami is the only crowd favourite I can think of who Rafa might trade

What's so funny about that. JAR gets sung a bout as much as any - y'know like Stevie G, Sami SAMI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They've already got a tall gangly striker who is deceptively good with his feet but can't head. Rafa would never sell Xabi to Arsenal and he wouldn't want to go. Leaves Mascherano but really can't see that. Hmmm

Great news if this is true. Centre midfield is the one key area where we have true strength in depth but I was starting to think that one of Xabi or Momo would be on his way and the debate became which one would you least like to see depart. We really missed Sissoko away in the League last year and hopefully his injuries are behind him and he can continue to progress.

This thread gets better - scouse humour at its best. Think we should have an Henry v Owen debate now - guaranteed another 50 pager

FWIW Tribal Football has a snippet about Torino wanting to take Leto on loan. Parry's saying the same thing "There's a lot of work - an awful lot of work - going on in the background. It's important we get the right players and there will be a lot of activity at the club to come but we're delighted to see Steven and Jamie sign these contracts today."

Exactly. What nonsense - loans are usually to cut your losses on liabilities (eg Diao) who are on huge contracts and therefore unsaleable, or to give experience to players with potential (Carson, Hammill etc). Cisse is unwanted here yet is still a saleable asset but much less so in a year's time so what would be the point of a loan? Sounds more like a shot across the bows of Marseilles before they meet us this week to discuss terms

If you bothered to read the thread, it was the other way round ie Cardie taking it for granted the stadium is already built. Oh BTW, it was Rafa who wanted immediate signings but you probably think he's talking b****s as well

Maybe if it gave us a better than 1 in 10 chance of a cup final ticket

When I went past this morning I could only see the old stadium

I didn't ask a question. I did put forward 2 possible explanations for the behind-the-scenes stories from Bascombe & others, that's all.

If that keeps you happy, great. Don't think Rafa believes it's enough, judging by his much-publicised comments. Read my post.