Armin_Tamzarian

His sons are at boarding school and he's ready to take on another job. I dislike Leeds but still hope he does well.

He has a unique way of stopping wingers getting past him.

Whilst season tickets are in scarce supply people hang onto them, even if they no longer can / want to go themselves. The one I'm using at the moment for example. Once that scarcity is removed it will be far harder for existing season ticket holders to sell their ticket on for individual matches or seasons. So you may see a lot of the season tickets simply changing hands rather than new season ticket holders appearing. There could also be a knock on decrease in the demand for corporate season tickets as people choose to take the lower priced offering. Considering the waiting list has been administered by our ticket office I expect it to have a large number of duplicated entries, deceased/non existent people etc. I'd be surprised if the true level of demand is even a quarter of the reported figure and I'd expect a large number of current regular matchgoers to be in that number.

Not sure about challenging for the league, I never thought we would this year and that was before the self inflicted wounds. I'd definitely argue we've progressed though, the team is far better than the one he inherited. Sadly United, Arsenal and Chelsea have all progressed as well.

He's one Christian I'd happily feed to the Lions.

Shankslegend is a rawk poster with good links with the club. He's posted this:

They may not have liked the paper he went to, who does? It shouldn't have obscured the fact that he's a good journalist. There's a very good article by Dion Fanning in the Irish Independent. Sorry if its already been posted:

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I'll admit I'm a huge fan of Benitez but I'd have thought even his biggest detractors would realise the number one concern at Liverpool isn't the manager but the owners. To take your post as an example, if the players aren't up to it then a fresh start won't help because there's no money to buy new ones. LFC has better things to be spending its cash on such as interest payments to fund our new owners purchase of the club.

You can't build a siege mentality when the enemy is within the keep. Authority control and discipline within the club come down from the manager. Undermine him and the effects spreads. Rafa has been fatally undermined by the people that were supposed to back him. The stronger more disciplined characters will continue to work but when Rafa tries to exert authority players will know that he won't be around in a short time so they won't worry too much. I'm just hoping the spirit built up over years within the team and the experience of the senior players will carry the sinking ship into port.

I admire your passion but I honestly don't think this will help mate. It will be twisted and misconstrued, next thing there's US flags burning and attitudes hardened and polarised. If you are doing it then do it safely. There's crowds of people milling round after all. Might want to not advertise it overmuch either because others reading will have an interest in stopping you. Also tactically I wouldn't include Rick Parry, not because he shouldn't be criticised but because at the moment him and Moores are the only voices of old Liverpool left on the board, isolate the owners and make them the target of your protest. Finally I hope the effigies are better than the pitiful Guy Fawkes the local scalls were parading in November. If you've given Tom Hicks a hoody you're going to confuse a lot of Texans.

What wasn't football, at least until 2 years ago were hitherto financially healthy clubs being saddled with massive fan funded debts so that speculators could chase future revenues in global media markets. It's f*** all to do with funding player acquisition, if it was at least the supporters could see what they were paying for on the pitch. To do that nowadays you'd have to watch the match with a copy of the Wall St Journal and a blackberry to catch the latest base rate fluctuations.

If football didn't raise the passions now and then it wouldn't be worth following. People, myself included, go overboard from time to time, it happens when you care about things. The fact that some arguments are overstated or excessively emotive doesn't negate the underlying issues though. It's a cop out to seize on the extreme arguments and conclude there's nothing to discuss. One reason I can sympathise with those United supporters is that although football is a business, football supporters, by virtue of exactly that passion you're mocking, don't enjoy the same kind of consumer power that regulates other markets. As a Liverpool supporter I either go or I don't, I can't switch to Everton cause their prices are cheaper. Demand is inelastic, which shouldn't mean it's exploited to the point where consumers are bled dry.

Aside from the argument at hand is there any need to adopt such a patronising tone? Whether you're slagging people who hold a different viewpoint as hysterical or making assumptions about others business background it's not furthering your argument, at least not from my perspective.

Which proves what? They had a very good team, they still have a very good team. It's just that now the supporters are being squeezed until the pips squeak, even with the new tv deal, just to get the figures to balance.

Have you seen what's happened to their season tickets? The compulsory cup purchase scheme which the club has imposed? The 60m of debt a hitherto debt free club has to service to pay the Glazer's borrowing charges?

You need a ripple effect. Everyone whose logging onto the internet sites knows other fans who never go near them. Then there alternative 'networks' pubs, clubs, workplaces etc. We all know plenty of reds, football fans, etc some of us will know bankers and people in the finance industry. There are reds around the world who are every bit as committed as us in the UK. They in turn know people who know people. There are reds in Dubai, or in the major markets that the projections for this refinancing are based on. Again some of them just folk in the street, others well connected. There are media contacts to exploit, ways of attracting attention whilst maintaining a dignified tone which garners further support. There are lessons to be learned from the Manc opposition to the Glazers and maybe even some advice from that quarter that could be utilised. A simple, concise message. A dignified respectful yet relentless approach. It may be pissing in the wind but executed correctly who knows, perhaps it could make a difference?

That's the only leverage we have and it won't last long. If the support could unite behind some simple, concise principles, linked to some pointed questions and gather as much support / coverage as possible from LFC fans round the world then maybe some of the RBS calculations on pay per view sales/marketing spend may start to look marginal. Once the deal is signed we're stuck with them, we may well be anyway but if there is any window of opportunity, however small, then it's now whilst the deal is still being finalised.

At the risk of over generalising I think we have a huge 'blind spot' as a collective support. Well founded suspicion of the media has led to a culture of reflex denial, anything and everything is suspect and the media are always presumed to have a hidden agenda and ulterior motives. Of course sometimes that's spot on but just like the boy that cries wolf if you make it an article of faith then you'll miss the times when there really is something in what's being reported.

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