Armin_Tamzarian

Nice to see some form returning for Dirk. He's been effective these past few games and was unlucky not to score yesterday. Whatever his limitations I admire his attitude.

How can anyone witness this shambles and not consider it a disaster? When they write the Encyclopedia of Football I fully expect to see disaster defined as Liverpool FC 2007-2008. If disasters were trophies other clubs would be in despair right now because our achievement would be unsurpassable etc etc.

The two aren't always mutually exclusive

Looks like a nostarter, he's off to Monaco

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There was a limit to how much the share project could be discussed because yesterday was really about the Union but Rogan did signal that things would start moving ahead soon. He also said that a press conference would be held next week, solely for the ShareLFC campaign. A working Committee would be established at that time. There'll be former players onboard etc. so you should start to see some movement on this. He's got plenty of press contacts so there shouldn't be any problem keeping it in the public eye.

Ant, I don't believe its just about money and wouldn't argue he's had 'no money to spend' however: The grass is always greener on the other side. Mourinho is happy to send out a team to play dour, unattractive football as long as he gets the result.

He said the response had been great. The pledges added up to £85 million. Not enough but a sizeable figure, not sure whether that included the 'maybes' though as I wasn't taking notes. I took a couple of pics just after the meeting finised, apologies for the quality.

I'd be taking a break from football. Duration unknown.

It went really well Ant. A credit to all involved. Fantastic display of banners on the first floor balconies, a full house on the ground floor, really impressive turnout. Nicky Allt was an excellent chairman, relaxed, funny and kept things moving. Jay Mclennan (sp?) spoke passionately about direct action, boycotting the club shop etc. Well received. Rogen Taylor gave some background to the ShareLFC proposal. He got a great reception and some good points were made in the feedback about the level at which the offer was pitched. Knox gave a brilliant speech, hit all the right notes, A scouse Danton. The aims and objectives of the LSU were strongly endorsed by a show of hands. I had to get off but the last I saw a large number of those present joined a march to the ground. To be honest the worst part of getting knocked out today is that attention will be taken away from the formation of a new voice for LFC fans. However its a marathon not a sprint. Well done to everyone involved.

Good point by Graham Taylor in the Telegraph on the cowardice of the FA:

Week by week, season by season, this sort of thinking is destroying my love for the game. It's always been a business but it wasn't necessarily one where the most money always won, or where clubs were seen simply as revenue generators. There was a genuine link between supporter and club, not customer and service provider. If the Premier League had a goose that laid golden eggs who would wager any money on it's lifespan being measured in hours rather than minutes?

You're inconsistent though. On the one hand you say that Rafa's success in the Champions League (2 finals in 3 years for a club which hadn't been that high for 20 years before) is unlikely to continue but at the same time you take 3 of the last 4 years results in the leaguw as proof Rafa can't deliver a title. If you've gone off him and want a change then fair enough but the argument you're advancing lacks consistency.

On past performance he's won 2 La Liga titles against sides with bigger pockets. In the 05-06 season we put together exactly the kind of runs that league winners need. We broke our record for consecutive clean sheets and had our best points total since the 80's. So there's a fair amount of evidence that Benitez can deliver a credible league challenge even if it hasn't happened this year. I'm always amazed at how dismissive some are of cup competitions by the way. I love to see us lifting trophies and I'd sooner have a manager that can challenge across the board than one who concentrates solely on the league. There are no guarantees after all.

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The difference is the level of hype that surrounded them. I think Liverpool were more than happy to go along with it, the season they signed we didn't do a lot in the transfer window. So the 'gems' received a lot more attention than they would joining a succesful Arsenal or United side. If I remember rightly they were paraded alongside Harry Kewell as 'edge of the seat' signings. It suited the club, wanting to seem ambitious despite a reduced transfer outlay and it suited a manager keen to show himself as a shrewd operator in the transfer market, particularly as Wenger had done so well importing young French talent. It didn't suit the two players though, both in raising their expectations and increasing the spotlight on them and the pressure to perform. The Liverpool Way used to be a low profile signing, stuck in the reserves for a season with no publicity and the first we saw of them was a seamless introduction to the big time. In this day and age it's unlikely to happen that way again but I think the low key way that Hobbs, Antwi, Roque, Anderson and now Nemeth, Pacheco have arrived is a sign of progress.

With hindsight the real mistake was signing Cisse. Only a couple of years SP's senior and both pacy, the mix was all wrong. It sent the wrong signals to SP and made it much harder to incorporate him in the side. SP has better technique than Cisse and perhaps with a bit more involvement he could've made more of a contribution. I'd sooner have had him at 2.5m warming the bench than 14m Djibril. Think back to the impact he made on the Olympiakos or Luton matches. Two key contributions that helped win the EC and FA Cups. Bit of an indictement of GH that when Rafa came into the club we had very similar strikers with the exception of Emile who was already on his way. I think Rafa made a reference to it at one point. If we could've got out of the Cisse committment (Ludlum fans take note) and hept Heskey there'd have been a better mix of strikers and thus more chances to involve SP as a sub, using his pace and technique once the game had opened up. Round about the time of Cisse's 1st broken leg I met SP and he was a really nice genuine kid. I did hear however that Rafa and he had different views of his readiness for first team action. Apparently Rafa felt SP thought he knew it all when in Benitez opinion he had a lot to learn about being a striker. Only second hand info though.

Anyone with access to the Rawk recycle bin would tell you otherwise.

Once the Mancs can sell their games overseas separately to the rest of the league their repayment problems will be at an end. Same goes for Hicks and Gillett if they can hang in there. They'll challenge the collective agreement, either through the courts or by getting sufficient chairmen onside.

They'd have no interest in promoting the FA Cup, they don't control that. It's the Premier League 'brand' they want to export.

nil satis nil investment

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The problem is that our rivals are shopping there to. Notably United and Arsenal who have brought down the age at which they recruit presumably to make their budget go further. I'm sure Nani and Anderson were on our radar and if Rooney wasn't a Blue he'd also have been someone we'd have gone for. We lost out to Arsenal for Walcott and Spurs for Bale. Did well to get Carson but missed out on Lennon who would perhaps have been a more useful acquisition. The one positive at the moment is our reserve team. Packed with promising talent. Given our financial situation we may need one or two of those gambles to come off just to keep our head above water in the next few years.