Billy Talbot

Burn some flags. It's good fun.

I'm so disgusted with the way the the club as conducted itself I'm finding it hard to be flippant about what a loss to us Rafa is and will be. I'm gutted. YNWA Rafa.

Well, if I didn't I'd be tempted to pack it all in. They way things have gone with him he'll be lucky to finish his career with both legs.

he needs to go on loan to a championship side to toughen up.

Quite telling if he was offered a decent pay as you play deal. No confidence in himself to stay fit enough for selection as surely he'd be our first pick LB if fit. That said, we might have offered him bugger all per game.

From the way I see it, he's in no particular rush. The banks are the ones in a bad position - if they call in the debt and Hicks can't pay - that's when the price of the Club will stop being a figment of Hicks' LBO addled brain and will come crashing down to it's true market value. That's bad news for the banks as the debt G&H have managed to secure against the club is more than any sane investor would want to pay for it already. Alright, they're making shed loads in interest, but they would be making shedloads lending anyone that sort of money, and this situation is high risk for the banks - thus the high rates. I reckon they pretty much know it's gonna pop. In the mean time G&H will string it out as long as they can waiting for someone who'll they consider a mug to come along and pay over the odds. They've got no incentive to do otherwise.

Didn't Gerrard state "I've got three years on my contract so I will be" when asked if he'll be at Liverpool next season?

I don't think we're anywhere near winning the league and we're not going to sIgN pLayErz this summer that make it likely we will. IF we can keep hold of the ones we all want to keep, whilst only shedding ones we all want rid off and get one or two new bodies in that turn out decent we'll have done incredibly well considering the circumstances. That is unless we get bought out by a right old moneybags.

I'm pretty sure both Gerrard & Torres are staying too. And yes, it's left back and both wings that need looking at. As you say, Riera is deffo off and I think if we can get a decent enough fees and Rafa's allowed to reinvest it - which I also think is looking more likely since Rafa seems more committed to next season now... I think Yossi & Babel will be the ones to bring in the wedge which will then be spent on one wide player. It wouldn't surprise me if Shelvey's been bought for the 1st team squad.

That's the problem isn't it. G&H are pretty much gone in terms of "owning" the club. They can glean no more benefit from any input they have. It "costs" them nothing to own so they're happy to sit on their arses waiting for someone to come along and pay over the odds for it. The banks seem quite happy with this arrangement as they continue to carry wheelbarrows of cash out of Anfield each day through interest payments. The banks aren't that interested in protecting the value of their asset in terms of playing staff compared with keeping the status quo regarding interest. Either we get bought by an entity who ends up being a net contributor OR we end up selling more playing assets to pay the banks. That much is obvious as it's been happening for the last 2 years. It's the banks that are the leeches at the moment. Not the Yanks.

I think Aquilani will be boss this coming season.

Yep. I'd hope that both of them realise that agreeing to leave no matter what their concerns or incentives would be a massive, massive kick in the b******s to the fans. I'n thinking I might be more pissed off with senior players leaving this summer than those who've engineered bosmans for themselves. I know that might seem a bit reactionary but really. The players must realise that any "transfer fee" the club might receive for them is absolutely irrelevant. We're gonna see some true colours this summer.

So has he signed a new contract then? That article hints at a 10m Euro buyout clause... £8m?

Aye. I usually support whoever knocks us out of a cup, unless it's a team I inherently hate. I didn't get on with Atletico though. Too sly they were. Slimy and sly. Shame for Fulham. Nothing against them except the 0-0 last season when they played basketball in their box all game. Though that's not their fault - they looked sheepish enough. f***ing right...

Nothing about Lawro surprises me anymore.

3 out of the top 4 are London clubs.

No Benitez at our football club would leave me very, very depressed.

Kallstrom?

True. World Class players don't sign for clubs with less than World Class managers either. Keeping Rafa at the club is imperative.

Borell's just saying that the quality of player required for the academy to function correctly weren't there - and in that way he's correct - otherwise they would have made it into the 1st team. It's not about them being given a chance is it? It's about them being good enough to compete with potential transfers for places in the 1st team squad. As it stands, the manager sees transfers as less risky than promoting the kids, which says something considering he's having to balance the books. I agree with hindsight Degen has been a total waste of everyones time and money - especially when Darby was already at the club as would have been as useful. Although, if you take the position that Darby was never going make it here anyway - Degen was worth a punt - he might have worked out. Although surely anyone could see he's a tart with just a cursory glance. And it's not like Darby has made Degens signing look like bad business - Degen's done that all by himself.

That's true but their job is produce individual players - not winning teams.

Surely the thread title should be "f***ing El Zhar" - not El f***ing Zhar. Shouting "f***ing 'ell Zhar" is great. I'm glad Rafa brought him on just for that.

Shoulda kept Riise but him and his mum wanted all the money. Shudda told him to shut and sign. Sit on the bench. Never gonna happen. all else is right. Tonight. f***.

I'm hoping it's just politics. I'm hoping there are funds and Rafa is able to acquire one of his main targets reasonably early over the summer - that's the only way these rumours will end. Press statements mean f*** all. I'm hoping that Rafa sees that any uncertainty will either encourage a takeover or encourage the board to release funds to him to quash the rumours.His contract does put him in a great position to play that game.

Rafa can play the game with the best of them... though whether that's a responsible use of his time as resource by the club / owners surely isn't up for debate. He left Valencia because the board were dicking him around. I've seen very little from the current board that couldn't be described in similar terms. The "freedom to get away with things" is the only difference. Although he's only just assumed a lot of that freedom. And I'd hardly say he gets away with anything. In fact I'd say he get's f***ed either way by the press and some of our "supporters", which doesn't do his reputation any good at all. So I can hardly blame him for wanting these extra responsibilities, seeing as it's his career which is judged either way. Nor could I blame him for leaving if things around him don't look likely to improve. Inferior managers is a fair point, less expensive squads is a bit rich considering the constraints over the last couple of seasons, likely to leave us? maybe. hopefully not. I can't see any other manager having done so well / likely to improve us without other conditions improving first.