beejay

You may be able to question Bascombe's articles but are you saying that the quotes from Rafa carried by every single national paper the day after the final were false? Because Rafa was saying the same thing - where's the money? And unless I missed it somewhere I don't see that they have spent any money on the new stadium yet.

The fact is that despite the talk, talk G&H have shown no signs yet of dipping into the investment fund they promised Moores & Parry when charming them away from the Dubai guys. I wonder what Moores is thinking about all this. They have deferred the start on the new stadium and given that the reasons for doing so are highly plausible, we have all accepted this as a sign they want something bigger & better. But nonetheless, Moores sold the club primarily because of the investment needed into the new stadium and that money was expected to flow straight after the purchase to meet all the deadlines on the grants. It's now on hold pending the "redesign". Next, we have Rafa going on record to the entire press corps about delays in progressing his transfer targets and questioning where is the money. That wasn't Rafa's style when Moores was in control, probably because the two trusted each other. Now we have Bascombe who is on message with the same story about the gap between the promise of massive new investment and the reality that we may have to sell to finance the deals Rafa wants. I just hope that what we are seeing is the review of all aspects of the business that inevitably follow a company acquisition and particularly so in this case, because the due diligence was rushed through to get ahead of the Dubai bid. The other scenario is that G&H have spun Moores a merry tale.

Hit All Out Of Towners, bit harsh!

Some people still don't get it with Rafa. When has he ever worked on the basis of a regular 1st team supported by "bit-part" players? And IF Kewell is fit, why would anyone in their right mind class him as a so-called bit-part player, particularly given that Rafa clearly rates him very highly? So why sell him for beans when he is fit? Why not give him the 1st 3 months to prove his fitness and if he does, offer him a new contract? Maybe there's a bit of club spin going on here to keep the Kewells & Riise's on their toes during the summer

Don't agree with you about Tevez but let's see shall we. So now HK is fit and looking the part, we sell him for b*gger all to save his salary?? Who says he will be a bit part player - isn't that the whole point of a strong squad?? My point about SG is salary-only. Why should HK's "top earning" salary of £65k be a reason for dumping him when in fact our highest salary will be double that??

That piece from Bascombe has more holes in it than Blackburn Lancashire. Tevez AND Mancini for £30m??? Rafa wants Sami to stay when he's in talks with half the Prem (and Fulham can't afford his massive wages yet we can - see Kewell)??? Sell Kewell for a knockdown price to save his salary - which by all accounts will be half Gerrard's pay in his new contract??? It does sound very much like he's short on news (Rafa on hols) so has come up with a load of speculation to a backdrop of Rafa still being unsure of funds so has to sell before he can buy.

Bascombe's take http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0500liv...-name_page.html Really don't understand getting rid of Kewell for a knock-down price after all that effort to get him fit

I don't get those who think we should be going for Darren Bent at £15m - yet England's No 1 striker is available for £9m and he would swim the Mersey to return home.

Don't know enough about Malouda but it's inventiveness we need, craft on the ball, the ability to pick a pass in congested areas so hopefully he has these attributes or Rafa's other targets will plug this gap.

Yet which player would you have prefered at the time Pennant or Alves. Thats not rafa's situation now, he's been told name your players and the club will get them, its up to the club to act fast to secure them.

I think its completely right what he's been saying. He's frustrated that teams around us are able to get the best players in while we dilly and dally all summer long and go for our third choice targets. That Paco interview just before the final just serves as an indication as to how far we are away from winning the premiership. We lack the mental strength during the course of an entire season and some of our players are just not tough enough when we really need them to be. After the final all I could think of is that though we have a bright future we have to capitalise on the profile that we now have. We're now in a position to do so and if we're honest we really need to revamp our attack because we don't score enough goals to win us the league, if we had the same strength going forward as we do in defence then we'd walk this league, sadly we don't. If we can get Alves + a winger hopefully a simao, quaresma, ribery or even pederson and 2 strikers (Tevez and Eto'o I hope to god) then we'll be in fine shape next season. I was speaking to a few fans in athens about our forward line and though I do rate Kuyt and Crouch, they are both players that rely on others for their goals, thats not a problem but we do lack a moment of brilliance player up front that can create something out of nothing for himself, and the last player that did that for us, everyone agreed was Owen. Buying two strikers that can do that would help us no end. Finally I know that some are worried about many changes coming into the club this summer for the fact that they'll need to gel with the rest of the squad. Answer = Instead of treating our pre season like friendlies with half of our youth team out, how about we stick the first team out so that they can play their way into understanding one another. We were horrendous this pre season and it set us up for a bad start to the season, so lets hit the ground running and blitz teams with some pace and clinical finishing.

I hope that the two players that we have in place (according to the article on having to excess 10m players) are Alves and Tevez. Them pair would revolutionise the way we play, we'd have so much more thrust and ball carrying ability on the park, and both have the ability to go past players at will, we currently lack it badly. After watching the game last night I just kept on thinking that when it comes to the big game, where we really need players to score there werent any on that pitch except for Gerrard that could score for us on the big stage, and thats worrying. But rafa is doing something about it and fast it would seem.

just found out that my dad and mate were gassed and unable to get into ground! f ***in w***! c** on reds, so many fans have got screwed over, we deserve this

c*** f***in believe that they not allowin the big screens on top of all this, its well out of order! its f***in discrimination against us so called violent english hooligans, all they wana f***in do is watch a football match! on a lighter note, as long as we win il be happy + i had an exam and it went s***, so karma gona do us some magic tonite! thats how it works ... right?

my whole household is goin Athens (without tickets) and im left behind cos of f***** exam on the day of the final im havin a few m*ncs over instead, not real fans (tho none of them are) so i can rub it in ther face when we rubbish Milan haha c*** wait! im s***in it now tho

How much is crazy? I need 4!!!

I wrote to Rick Parry asking if there were any spares after take-up of the allocated tickets and explaining that none of our party of 6 was successful in the ballot. To be fair, he has written back in sympathetic tones but the bottom line is all the tickets are gone and there simply weren't enough in the first place to satisfy demand. We are still going but god knows what chance we have of finding tickets in Athens with so many in the same boat. Anyone with spares give me a shout 07799 888897

Villa fan I know reckons that one of their forums is running a story that Bellamy and Zenden were spotted at Villa's training ground at Bodymoor Heath on Monday. Probably internet sh*te but pass it on for what it's worth

Our lot are on the 6am flight from Liverpool on Wednesday returning straight after the game. No tickets between the 6 of us so the plan is to go straight to the stadium, see if we can pick up tickets round there, then hop on the train to the main square for a few . Hope to meet up with you guys there, if it's anything like Taksim it will be boss

Would be surprised if that's not right. Final decision may still rest on fitness ie if anyone has a knock or tactics if say we only play 1 up front (which I doubt). The only way I can see Robbie on the subs bench is for penalties but even that's a long shot.

I thought the closing day to accept the ballot offer was today? If it's put back to Thursday they are leaving it til very late to distribute any tickets that aren't taken up. That's me last hope of getting one before flying out next Wednesday

Don't pay him til you see the ticket

Is it warm at night as well? I remember Istanbul - shorts & Liverpool top were great in the sun but it was f****in freezing when we got off the coach outside the stadium.

Me and my mates for a start. We are struggling to get flights & accommodation for the Tuesday (one has an exam on the Tues am so we need to fly out 3pm onwards from Liverpool/Manchester) so looks like we will be on the early Wed flight to arrive 11-12am, go straight to the ground and try to buy tickets then on the train into the city for some ale. Bit of a b****d if there's no spares so hope Mike is right like he usually is

I think if there is to be the usual gobsmackingly surprise selection from Rafa it will be Sissoko to start with the instruction to chase their centre midfield in his own monster destructive way. It's crucial we don't allow them to slot into their passing rhythm. Harry will probably be on the bench but would be primed by Rafa for a key role.