Damian_de

Keep him. He's better than he's shown this season and should have enough credit based on previous good work to try and turn it round. But KEEP HIM because he's the only person in senior management who gives a flying f*** about the club and its values.

? Keeping the stars is bigger priority (than Rafa staying, quoting Wayne) Could be you were referring to the Mirror's story.

More important than having someone who gives a f*** about the club involved somewhere in the management structure? I mean, really?? I presume you aren't giving the 'Torres and Gerrard will go if Rafa stays' rubbish any credence?

f***ing hell! Good stuff, Wayne. Save the other debate for later.

Someone had to ask. MarkD, keep on typing and don't worry yourself whether anyone believes it or not. It's an internet message board, you can't live your life believing everything you read on them.

No evidence that he is turning into Bascombe is there? ANd he's put out some pretty forthright defences of the manager this week.

myp2p really have no links for this?

if it's news.

Don't think he is, or ever has been. edit: obligatory edit - I'm not one of those people who bitches about SG, he's a fantastic player, however, sitting and dictating our passing/tempo - no.

Ferguson is not the be all and end all though, is he? He got Quieroz in to show him how to win another European Cup. And tactically they are about a lot more than pace out wide and overwhelm, aren't they? Whenever they play us for example - defend like f*** and hope to score from a set piece Seriously though, he shakes it up a lot, as do ALL the top guys.

Arguably that has not been true since David Moores took over. You could better say "We are Liverpool. We hope to win trophies, however, the management structure and expertise at the club is not set up to facilitate the process." Obviously, it's been going downhill for ages, and accelerated recently. Even if we are sold out to someone willing to put in enough money to allow us to compete in the transfer/wages area, we still face the prospect of redesigning the management hierarchy top to bottom. edit: That, by the way, has been a defining feature of Rafa's time here - trying to bring as much of that up to scratch as he can, encouraging DM to sell, battling Parry, the academy, calling out G&H...

Superficial is where it's generally at though.

We're not though. Jose is on his way! but... how many posts have you made criticising the manager, and how many criticising the owners?

Well f***in said TB. (Slight nitpick - Riera improved us when he came in).

They burned the clubarse in libwal sawted olland!

Except Maureen is shredding his feet right now, honest.

The idea that he's 'playe dthe fans' which some of the media like to trot out is f***ing bizarre. He's taken on all these f*****s solo, starting in Athens, and never looking back.

£18.50 looks more likely.

Does anyone take these Gerrard to leave stories at all seriously? What else can he do?

Don't know about you lot, but I'm thrilled by the idea of a caretaker to see us through the summer. Oh yeah.

Absolutely. I don't. The first match vs Tottenham we all knew we were in trouble when you saw which players the 2 sides had available. The instability is what finally killed us this season, more than the lack of investment I think.

We have the basis of a good team this is true, and I agree that Barca are feared for their talent rather than game plan, but with us... we've consistently proved under Rafa that with 'less strong on paper' teams we can take apart the best sides over 2 legs. Lose Rafa, we lose that, IMO, UNLESS we appoint someone of equal calibre - a capello, a van gaal, a hiddink. Appoint from the realistic list and my feeling is we can forget shagging Madrid 4-0 at home for a while. Nest year we aren't playing any of those teams anyways

Of course it cannot be predicted for certain that an experienced big name manager will do well, or that an inexperienced of potential top manager will fail, however, you can look at what people have achieved recently, the style of football, their ability to shape a squad, evolve a superior playing style, compete against larger resources... these are all the questions I was trying to ask in my post above. Ultimately the solution will depend on the ambition level of the owners and THAT is far from clear.

I still think Rafa doesn't know if he's here next season, but if he isn't the next appointment will probably end up being a massive reality check for some What we have seen during Rafa's tenure is steady improvement up until last season I think, and in particular we have become used to the idea that in a European 2-legged tie we don't have to fear any side in Europe. Tactically he has taken all comers at that level - Barca, Real, Chelsea, Arsenal, Inter, Juve - the best of the best. If we appoint someone from this list: McLeish Hughes Hodgson O'Neill Jol Rijkaard Klinsmann Dalglish Toshack etc... i.e the maybe realistic list we can forget our status as one of the 3 or 4 most feared sides in Europe. In my opinion that's quite a tag to give up so easily... we can forget it because we see no evidence that any of these managers can deliver what Rafa has delivered season after season after season. Maybe McLeish'll become a top manager. Who knows. Regardless, if we appoint from this list you're going to have to make a decision about what that appointment means: * Keeping the seat warm until a 'big name' becomes available * Europe doesn't matter, these guys can deliver the league * Hoping to f*** we get lucky on one of the 'up and coming' managers * A signal that the club's expectations are significantly less than the fans *fingers crossed*, eh?

Obviously nothing like Rafa at all, don't be perverse. There's a detailed explanation of why not O'Neill earlier in this thread (by me), as requested by you originally DH. O'Neill is light years behind.