mooks

Let's hope Pepe doesn't get homesick anytime soon! How's his English - anyone know?

I've been thinking about the possibility of Torres being the next global superstar and ... I think we all know it is unlikely. Spain are far from a one-man team - in fact they are one of the most balanced teams of recent years. Torres doesn't have the personality, that bad-boy edge that C Ronaldo and Beckham have used to incite rival supporters (no such thing as bad publicity) and attract legions of teenage females Portugal and Spain are also very different from a global perspective as the Portuguese emigrated to North America in waves and still have a strong ethnic identity whereas Spain has never been a country of emigration. At least not since the Conquistadores - and their descendants are thoroughly Argentinian, Mexican, Columbian, etc. But on the other hand you see the front page of the National Post, a conservative Canadian newspaper, with a half page colour photo of El Niño scoring a beautiful, classic goal and you never know ...

Yup, Xabi's offensive stats have been declining precipitously despite playing alongside one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. This is because Rafa decided, for perverse reasons best known to him, to "shackle" Alonso. Has Aragones signed his deal with Fenerbace yet?

Why? Is he worth £27 million?

Hmmm ... my 19 yr old niece is a huge United and Ronaldo fan (blame my brother). It will break her heart if he leaves but she'll stick with Man U.

You beat me to it. It just dawned on me a day later how much that goal could be worth to Liverpool in a commercial sense. Living in Canada, it was absolutely scary to see the number of Ronaldo jerseys at the start of the Euros. I have never seen anything like it. The Mancs have benefited enormously from Ronaldo's worldwide stature. Torres is now a legend in Spanish football ... and Spain have every chance of repeating in South Africa. Other than winning a major trophy, this is the best thing that could have happened in terms of expanding our global consumer base. Unfortunately, the despicable Gillet and Hicks probably realise this as well.

That's right but I still think in order to satisfy the posters on the forum we should spend our entire transfer budget on him

What exactly did Xabi do today to merit this assessment? I think Torres looked sharper today than he has in Spain's previous games. Hopefully Torres will start and score in the final. That will be a perfect end to a great season for him.

Didn't Gillett himself say he wanted to sell the club to owners who had the capacity to finance the stadium?

Oh, no, they're objective and they know better than Aragones, Rafa, or any manager with the exception of Mourinho

Yes but Andrei Arshavin is an Arshavin and Salif Diao is a Salif Diao. If you know what I mean

I think Torres has looked tired since March. He is the last of our players I wanted to play till the end of June. Luis Enrique actually said before the game: "I hope David Villa gets revenge against Italy". I think we will have to rotate Torres a fair bit next season. edit: Apparently Enrique was specifically asked about Villa fyds never lets the facts get in the way of his arguments

Yes, he was given tons of space for the 2nd goal, wasn't he?

I kept hearing of Arshavin but my God - on today's display he is in the same class as Tevez. He will be in the Premiership in August - you have to think Chelsea will be favorites.

Has anyone considered we might be in for Eto'o? Apparently, Rafa wanted him last summer and he could be available for a much lower price after Pep Guardiola's press conference statements.

Yes, I agree. The whole Gillett v. Hicks, Hicks v. Parry, Parry v. Rafa stories were all made up to create an aura of disarray about the club. Our accountants clearly got in the act when they cleverly came up with those black and white figures showing us to be deeply in debt with no work started on the stadium. Hooray!

The more I read threads like this the more I realise the dispute is between those who believe the current owners will destroy the club and those who would simply rather have new owners.

Any evidence to back this up?

I was going to post something very similar. The Internet is a most awkward medium of communication and it makes quite the difference if you make it clear that you respect someone's intentions, creativity, and motivation while at the same time offering "constructive criticism".

Ditto

Now THAT is a great post

You're missing the key figure in the accounts that were published recently Amount spent on stadium construction = £0 The whole point of the takeover was to fund the stadium and continue building the team Gillet & Hicks have not added one penny to the club - far from it. They are bleeding the club dry. Any money Rafa spends he has earned for the club himself. Some on here were criticizing SoS for missing the point in focusing on our transfer budget. I would say the same for you. We have two owners who are not speaking to each other, who haven't a clue about the game, who are only interested in lining their own pockets, who have turned our club into a soap opera with their outrageous public attacks on our manager and CEO. If you can't see the point in "protesting" against the men who are ripping our club apart, I sadly give up.

Yes - this post has fueled a great deal of debate