meredithmathieson

You reckon? Personally, I think it is going to get worse, as the boot is now on the other foot: i.e. all those who were saying that getting rid of Rafa was the path to mediocrity will feel vindicated by the appointment of Roy Hodgson; most of those who wanted Rafa out will try and defend the situation somehow rather than admit that they got it wrong.

Oh I dunno. Might make a few players think hard and long before handing in a transfer request.

"There were practically no positives at all until he took the shackles off a bit at the end of the season." This "shackles" bit is becoming a bit of a mantra: is it not really just about players coming back from injury/finding form/gaining confidence?

'Earl Hafler' : Giving the owners the majority of the blame for on-the-pitch difficulties is " short sighted " Completely disagree. Lack of investment + change in the way we account for transfers (cp Purslow) + mistakes by Rafa = where we are today. As an aside (and not aimed at any individuals on here) I wonder how many people blame Rafa because it is just easier? Because they do not want to contemplate the complete and utter financial black hole that we are in, and it is just easier to vent at Rafa/Lucas/Kuyt? We are on the verge of losing the best coach that we have had probably since Paisley. And yet there are some who will be glad of this?

As will be evidenced perhaps by the quality and calibre of a forthcoming new manager. Or not.

'Flasher: "Despite the hot nature of the topic, I still find the anti England stuff on here a bit distasteful." You'd better avoid a lot of the Liverpool sites after Thatcher dies then.

So, why has Broughton been brought in to oversee the sale of the club? Why is this not Purslow's responsibility - as it was with Parry? Why is the selling of the club not a 'day-to-day' matter? In fact, how can the two be divorced? Or has Purslow been discredited - not least in the eyes of G&H?

Bought that years ago, but have never been able to bring myself to read it.

I was there too. The whole groundsharing yawnfest was steered by Radio 5, I thought. Peter Hooton was quite right when he said that it was a dead issue in Liverpool thesedays. Thought the Everton KEIOC fellah spoke a lot of sense, to be honest, and made their case well. But, if anything, the whole thing just served to demonstrate what completely different planets the two clubs live on. If Liverpool had experienced 'that wonderful,wonderful day at Wembley' against a team of Manc under 18s and gone on to lose the final, it would be declared a complete failure. But for them, it was their pinnacle. Which just goes to show, how do you compare Rafa with Moyes, when the latter cannot be said to have displayed any European credentials? Aside from that, was thwarted in my atttempted answer to 'I love Rafa but' (and Murray wonders why we think the media are against Rafa?), when I wanted to say 'I love Rafa but you've got to stop winning the Derbies, it's just getting boring. We don't even need 11 players now, and Everton haven't been able to produce a DVD for the last 3 years'. Completely overlooked the ownership issue, again because that is a Liverpool issue. Could have done with a Liverpool-only edition really. At least Pougatch got put right on a few points when he trotted out the same old anti-Rafa arguments (which he took well, to be honest).

I struggle to remember last night's today, never mind those from years ago!

"Rothschilds and Merrill Lynch, the advisers retained by Gillett and Hicks, respectively," Such a little thing in the grand scheme, but for some reason the fact that these two have their own individual advisers, both paid for by the club I presume, really pisses me off.

In response to Rimbeux, if we are not asking our manager to be perfect/close to perfect, what we are saying is that we can take less 'hits' because we do not have money for replacements: viz. Aquilani/Hargreaves. Basically, if we shell out good money, they need to hit the ground running.

You weren't around for the latter days of Houllier then? Because we are light years ahead of that, like it or not.

We already have one of the top managers in world football.

Proven liar. Proven cheat. As another poster wrote in a previous thread, I'd feel dirty if he took over - particularly if it did coincide with a cash injection to attract top players, which we have been screaming out for for the last 18 months. The proof of the pudding is, though, that there is not a cat in Hell's chance of him joining us until the ownership/ debt side of things is sorted - he's not stupid, I'll give him that.

And with one fell swoop, the Holy Trinity would be reduced to the Holy Ego. No thanks.

Basically, Bascombe read Retro Red's article, didn't understand it, but still elected to write about it.

aka Dus: "If you assume that the MUST can't succeed then I fail to see the logic of professing "at least SOS are trying". " Wasn't aimed at MUST but rather those Liverpool fans who slag off SOS but offer absolutely nothing constructive.

And yet there are some on here who, if the situation was reversed and the billboards had been done in Mancland against the Glazers, would be creaming themselves and berating SOS for a lack of suitable imagination. SOS: damned if they do; damned if they don't. But in my book, at least they are trying. And don't forget the pro-Manc press - imagine the photos in the papers if they had had marches the size of ours. No, get some beaut to buy a Norwich scarf (funds to the vendor, not to the campaign?), doesn't know what it's about because they're from Norway but it's a fad and they want in on it on their first trip to OT, and it's a savvy move. Won't budge the Glazers one iota, but hey never mind.

Do they still do that 'Fair Play' or 'True Table' so beloved of Evertonians, whereby they amend the percived errors to give a 'true' league table? Definitely more sinned against than sinners this season, Liverpool.

a la Paisley with Grobbelaar?

That man had 30 mins today, in his preferred position, and did nothing, absolutely nothing, to warrant a place in a starting line-up. Absolute bloody waste of space.

Beat me to it, Jarg. That does it for me. Proper, proper footy stadium, as everyone who went in 2001 will recall. Didn't realise that they'd filled the corners in.

What wasn't off the cuff but premeditated and calculating was his affadavit in the Anders Fisk affair. Only when UEFA produced the plans of the Nou Camp and actually asked Mourinho how he had managed to see Fisk allegedly going into the Home Team's dressing room, when the Away Team changing rooms are down a completely different tunnel, well away from the Barcelona changing rooms, did he completely change his story and say that actually he hadn't witnessed it after all, but Steve Clarke had and told him and he believed everything that Steve Clarke told him. The man is a proven liar, with the repercussions in this case being extremely serious.

Rafa definitely told the SOS contingent that he valued Xabi at £20m minimum, and thought that he could get Barry for £10-12m.