meredithmathieson

This content is not viewable to guests.,This content is not viewable to guests.

Agree with that.

Had it been the other way round, I'm sure this mornings Press would have been full of 'Liverpool jeopardize England World Cup chances in petty club dispute', or some such.

Not sure this is the right thread for this, but: Sitting in the Upper Centenary for the Stoke game, there was an odd sight in the Main Stand: a band of white for 8-10 rows at the front starting behind the paddock. Initially I thought a lot of people had just happened to wear the away tops/ 35 Summers t-shirts, until you then realised it was fans wearing formal work-shirts. I presume this is all corporate now, therefore? It ran right the way across. Never noticed this before - which I suppose you wouldn't until it is a really warm day. How long has that been corporate?

Anybody know how the BS can get a work permit for Banega, but we couldn't for Leto? Neither have played the requisite amount of international games, so what other criteria then come into play?

So I take it that he has the connect then? For the package? Will he bring his little mate along with his flat cap?

NYR: I'll buy you a pint in the Oakie! Shut down, hasn't it?

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-f...00252-24338468/ The man behind bringing in some of the greatest names ever to play for LFC.

Xabi clearly couldn't handle the rejection of being dumped by Stevie when Nando came along. End of.

Can't help feeling that there is a hidden message in here somewhere..

As did Steve Heighway, when he particularly quoted half-time in Istanbul as an example where Carragher and Gerrard continued to fight because they knew that they had to look their friends and family in the eye upon their return and could not afford to be humiliated, whereas perhaps a lot of foreign players (his words) would have settled merely for a consolation goal in the second half.

What, like Rafa you mean?

Magneto: "I think there's enough of those who are considered "semi in the know" to conclude that Xabi is most likely going to leave. Rafa will play hardball and try get the highest price, but the bottom line is, he doesn't want to play under Rafa and I'd rather have someone 100% committed." And yet, if this all stems from the Barry saga last summer, there was no negative influence on Xabi's form. In fact, quite the opposite.

Like one of those audio books? With different actors doing the voices for each character? So, who would be the most appropriate voice for fyds? Molby? Rimbeux?

7. Ronaldo was actually coming to us until the mancs offered triple the fee we had agreed. FWIW, Phil Thompson says that we were offered Ronaldo for £6m, before he went to the Mancs WEEKS not months later for £12m+. The stumbling block, he says, was that even then ,as Ronaldo was such a brilliant prospect, his agent wanted £60k a week, which at that time was what our top earners were on. Reluctantly, therefore, we had to pass. He also queried where the extra £6m fee came from/ went to.

QUOTE(Elisha_Scott @ Jun 20 2009, 23:41) Evening all. Zoob wrote: "I don't want to read too much into this, but "Evening All" is an anagram of "Angel Liven" -obviously we're not signing a dead player, so we must finally be getting MLS player of the month for May, Juan Pablo Angel (Rafa has been after him for years). I'm not too thrilled about this, and it just shows what a dire financial position we're in". Personally I think Zoob is on the wrong lines here. "Evening All " is a well-worn phrase used by the Police. The Police are commonly known as the 'Old Bill'. 'Bill' is short for William. The only senior pro called William I can think of is William Gallas. Cover for Sami, makes perfect sense. Thanks Elisha.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle6543956.ece Times article: hoepfully s****. WARNING: Not for those of a nervous disposition. Rafael Benitez set to lose Javier Mascherano Liverpool manager fears credit crunch will wreck his transfer plans as Real Madrid makes move for combative midfielder transfer tombola threatens to make Liverpool its grand loser as the game's richest clubs tempt away Rafa Benitez’s most important players and outbid the Spanish manager for his own targets. Benitez is close to conceding defeat in his attempts to keep Javier Mascherano after Real Madrid moved for the combative midfielder. He also fears that Fernando Torres could be lost to Chelsea in a £60m heist. Barcelona were already courting Mascherano when Madrid entered the chase last week. Having set two high watermarks for transfer fees with the £56m purchase of Kaka from AC Milan and their £80m offer for Manchester United's Cristiano Ronaldo, new president Florentino Perez is prepared to pay £38m for the joint transfer of Mascherano and right-back Alvaro Arbeloa. With Mascherano, who is keen to move to either of Spain's premier clubs , valued at £30m, the sum would be a record fee for a holding midfielder. Benitez is also concerned at the prospect of losing Torres, established as the Premier League's most impressive striker since joining from Atletico Madrid two summers ago. Chelsea inquired about the 25-year-old earlier this year and Benitez believes the London club are now ready to offer as much as £60m. Fearing that Liverpool's hard-up owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, might struggle to resist, Benitez has made inquiries about Almeira centre-forward Alvaro Negredo as a replacement. Negredo is half-owned by Madrid and available for £15m. Chelsea are in the market for a marquee signing to launch Carlo Ancelotti's reign as manager. Billionaire owner Roman Abramovich promised to top Madrid's offers for Kaka this month, only for the Brazilian to decide that the Spanish club had a greater status. While Torres is loyal to Benitez and will not agitate for a move, he recently signed an improved contract which takes him to 2013 without committing to anything more than the option of an additional year at Anfield. Asked about his future while on international duty last week, he said: 'I'm very happy with my contract and wouldn't leave just to earn a little more somewhere else where I wouldn't be that happy. To want any more would be greedy and that is not me. As long as Liverpool want me, I will stay.' Having fought to take control of transfer policy, at the expense of Rick Parry's position as chief executive, Benitez finds his dealings hampered by the £350m loan Liverpool's American owners have loaded upon the club. Benitez has to make an economic case for every proposed transfer. Restrictions have already seen him lose Gareth Barry to Manchester City. Liverpool spent all last summer failing to close a deal and then City took just days to match Aston Villa's asking price and radically improve the England midfielder’s personal terms. Benitez has bid for Portsmouth defender Glen Johnson, but more than a third of the England right-back's £17.5m fee would be covered by money owed by Pompey on Peter Crouch's move in 2008. Chelsea have also had an offer accepted, leaving Johnson to choose which club to join. Spain midfielder Xabi Alonso has given Benitez a further problem. Alonso has antagonised his manager by discussing personal terms with Madrid without official permission. The player admitted that the pound's fall in value against the euro was a factor in considering his future. 'Of course we think about it,' Alonso said. 'When you see your contract down by 30% you cannot be happy.' The pound is worth Euro 1.18, but when Alonso signed a five-year contract in June 2007 it was worth Euro1.48.

QUOTE(Farmer's tan @ Jun 19 2009, 17:05) for some to say that xabi is locked away in the hills and has little too no knowledge of whats being said about him is a bit ridiculous,he's very aware of whats happening,compare him to torres for example,torres cant come out fast enough to quench rumors about him leaving xabi on the other hand is playing his cards much closer to his chest,why?whats stopping him from saying i want to stay at liverpool?just because he said so 2months ago doesn't hold now,things change perez wasn't president of that s*** house and he wasn't making any attempt to sign xabi at that point.my reckoning is that he would like to leave(he definitely would have said something to the contrary of he didn't)i think last season(trying to pawn him off to anyone who would bid the right amount of cash) was the death knell for xabi with us ive always felt it.i'm sure he will continue here with us if the deal doesn't go through(the more i think about it the more i suspect this is the reason he is remaining tight lipped)and do a good job but whats the point in keeping a player that would rather be somewhere else,probably wont sign a contract extension and will probably leave for less money next season. That's probably the poorest constructed bunch of sentences on here since Spider Neal was roaming these fora. And yet, amidst the mayhem and assault on the senses, the correct use of 'have' in 'would have' instead of the increasingly favoured 'of'. Beautiful.

anny road wrote: "until recently he was also touting for Rafa's head" Rogan Taylor in secret talks with top European coach to replace Rafa? Until recently, and disgracefully in my view, a significant minority of Liverpool fans were calling for Rafa'a head. How long since people on here were touting Mourinho?

QUOTE(meredithmathieson @ Jun 13 2009, 22:46) 2. Hightown Phil wrote: "Mainly cos Rogan Taylor is a massive, self important divvy." A commonly held view. OK we should stick with Tom & George then? Any personal dislike towards Rogan Taylor has to be gotten over, in my view. In any case, is he not just one member of the ShareLiverpool committee? ShareLiverpool is not his exclusive baby: maybe more to the point people do not need to fear that if ShareLiverpool was successful, he would be the next CEO! Hightown Phil:" He's the front of it, and he's organising it. He's a self important divvy. He was given a platform to speak at an SOS meeting about a year ago, he said his peace and then picked his stuff up, stood up and walked off stage and straight out of the door while it was still going on. At an SOS organised march against United, he waltzed to the front, the VERY front with a ShareLiverpool banner and tried to get it in front of everything. He's a complete plantpot. Anyone who says the words '£5000 isn't a lot of money' should be laughed off the planet. The patronising g*******. " 1. "He's the front of it" :He's the one who does most of the media work, yes. But ShareLiverpool are run by a committee. 2. "he's organising it": nope. 3. "He's a self important divvy". Many people would agree with that, I'm sure. Better to retain Tom & George then? 4. "He was given a platform to speak at an SOS meeting about a year ago, he said his peace and then picked his stuff up, stood up and walked off stage and straight out of the door while it was still going on." True that. Bad form, agreed. 5. " At an SOS organised march against United, he waltzed to the front, the VERY front with a ShareLiverpool banner and tried to get it in front of everything." As had been pre-arranged with SOS. I've had this particular argument before. More a case of left hand/right hand with SOS there, I believe, as to who had agreed what with whom. If you are saying that Taylor tried to 'hijack' the SOS march for ShareLiverpool, I think you're wrong. 6. "Anyone who says the words '£5000 isn't a lot of money' should be laughed off the planet." All relative. It is to me. Does anybody else find it ironic that those who defend SOS usually run a 'well at least they got off their arses and did something - what have you done?' defence, and yet a lot of the same individuals then go on to criticise ShareLiverpool which is still, to the best of my knowledge, the only vehicle out there with a model for fan ownership of the club. Which is in itself obviously a stated aim of SOS. fao fyds: Is BossMag an official SOS production? Or is it lads there defending their mates. And to be fair, any criticism levelled on here at SOS is at least cogent and reasoned. I don't think you can extend that to other LFC sites - TLW, for example. I don't really think that the 'internet g*******' remark would have been aimed at this site. Not really surprising that it therefore gets that reaction, really, is it?

"Liverpool are preparing a £5m bid for Manchester City's England Under-21 defender Micah Richards. (News of the World)" That would actually make sense. Help with the right hand side if we don't get Johnson or Arbeloa goes. Typical Rafa profile as well - hugely gifted but has lost his way, needs a change perhaps?

1. fyds wrote: "they [sOS] need to drop the 'lads' attitude and aspect of how they go about things". What exactly are you basing that comment upon? The website? The e-mails about meetings with Thomas Cook or Ian Ayre? The meetings at the Olympia? I really just don't see where you get that idea, other than it is your perception. 2. aka Dus wrote: "I would have like to have seen his questions answered though, because they were detailed and seemed quite fundamental. I hadn't gotten the impression he had an agenda, overly. More that he was scrupulously attentive to all details." Wasn't his name 'Tim' or similar? I began to think that he had an agenda against ShareLiverpool because he used to come on here disparaging the ShareLiverpool model figures, chatting with his mate [whose name escapes me] and being hyper-critical, yet he never e-mailed ShareLiverpool with his questions. If he was genuinely looking for answers, I couldn't understand why he spent hours on here moaning about the figures, or claiming that he couldn't understand where ShareLiverpool had got certain figures from without going to the source of the matter. Only eventually, after I effectively said 'put up or shut up': i.e. get in touch with ShareLiverpool to discuss this, did he then claim that he had tried to e-mail, but with no success, again pointing to this as shoddy on the part of ShareLiverpool. Thinking on, you know, I think that he ultimately did make contact with ShareLiverpool, but I don't know any more than that I'm afraid. If he is still a member here, perhaps he can enlighten us? Not disparaging his questions - he was clearly very knowledgeable, more the manner in which he went about it.

1. aka Dus wrote: "But right now I am far more interested in what ShareLiverpool have to say on the matter than SOS." Thought the Supporters Direct article implies close working between SOS & ShareLiverpool, no? 2. Hightown Phil wrote: "Mainly cos Rogan Taylor is a massive, self important divvy." A commonly held view. OK we should stick with Tom & George then? Any personal dislike towards Rogan Taylor has to be gotten over, in my view. In any case, is he not just one member of the ShareLiverpool committee? ShareLiverpool is not his exclusive baby: maybe more to the point people do not need to fear that if ShareLiverpool was successful, he would be the next CEO! 3. aka dus wrote: "One of the posters on here, forget who I'm afraid, had an extensive list of excellent questions that as far as I'm aware went unanswered." This, I'm afraid, I have to challenge. The man had a complete agenda against ShareLiverpool in my opinion. If you remember, he kept coming on saying that they hadn't got back to him, when for a fact ShareLiverpool said that they had recieved no e-mail from him. Nobody else had trouble communicating with ShareLiverpool at this time. In fact, Barry Baxter at ShareLiverpool invited him to discuss his whole diatribe in person, in detail. Draw your own conclusions. Do you remember he kept on disparaging ShareLiverpool with that [possibly other American?] mate of his, but never wrote to ShareLiverpool asking for answers to his questions. I think I'm write in saying that said poster didn't survive the cull on YNWA. Again, draw your own conclusions. Anyway, surely now he has been proven wrong, as the whole tenet of his argument was that ShareLiverpool were being deliberately and perniciously negative about the funding of the club to suit their purpose? [As I've stated in previous postings, I am not a committee member of ShareLiverpool or anything, but have registered with them, support their aims, and know one or two people there. I sincerely hope that they are successful].

Agree with David Hodgson, some people seem to be a bit too keen to put the boot in to SOS, or dismiss it as 'piss ups and cheap coaches for the Scals'. Meanwhile, the huge amount of work done in the background GETTING G&H OUT OF OUR CLUB gets overlooked or dismissed. Like this from Supporters Direct: http://www.supporters-direct.org/index001.asp?cat=engwal Supporters Direct released the following statement on Wednesday 10 June. 'Supporters Direct, the independent supporters’ trust initiative that is backed by MPs from all parties, is working with supporters of Liverpool Football Club to investigate a plan to make Liverpool owned and run by its fans, like European Champions Barcelona. Both of the main Liverpool supporters’ campaign groups, the Spirit of Shankly supporters’ union and fans’ buy-out group ShareLiverpoolFC, together with local businesses and politicians, have been engaged in dialogue to inform the drafting of a business plan and a bid to take control of the football club. Dave Boyle, Chief Executive of Supporters Direct, expressed enthusiasm for the supporters’ aims: “We are working with representatives of ShareLiverpoolFC, Spirit of Shankly and the business community in order to develop a viable fan ownership proposal. We are hopeful that the various parties involved will soon be in a position to present their joint proposal. “It’s pretty clear that whoever owns the club will have massive debts, which will be paid for by Liverpool fans over the coming years, so why shouldn’t Liverpool fans be the ones owning the club since they’ll be paying for it? It’s the difference between paying the mortgage for your landlord or paying for it on your own house.” Liverpool FC’s financial position is precarious, with transfer funds limited and auditors KPMG expressing reservations about the club’s ability to continue as a going concern. '

Napoli Chairman slams Lavezzi: http://www.setanta.com//uk/Articles/Footba...zzi/gnid-56825/ Is the Chairman saying what I think he is saying? Should liven up the team Chrimbo night out if he signs! Full story: Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis has launched a scathing attack on striker Ezequiel Lavezzi. The 24-year-old Argentina international has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool in recent weeks and, despite Rafa Benitez denying any interest in the player, his agent has done little to calm the speculation. He claimed this week that Napoli sporting director Pierpaolo Marino was lying when he denied receiving an offer for the striker, and both player and agent continue to suggest the club have failed to honour an agreement that he would receive a payrise at the end of the season. De Laurentiis has now spoken out strongly against Lavezzi’s actions and, after the club finished 12th in Serie A this season, he has told the former Estudiantes man that his performances and behaviour do not warrant any reward. “Mr Lavezzi cannot say anything. Neither can his agents,” he said in Corriere dello Sport. “Taking into account the fact that he had just arrived from South America, he received a considerable amount when he joined, and that amount was increased after six or seven months. “People can always ask for increases, but I don’t see it like that. “Marino told me that this is the way it is in football, but it is not that way here, not in Naples. “For one thing, we are happy to be generous when we are getting a good return, but those performances weren’t there. “I ask myself: are you an athlete or not? If you’re an athlete, you don’t go drinking at night and you don’t visit prostitutes. “When you play for a team, you defend the colours of the city and, if you get drunk and visit prostitutes, you are betraying the people of that city. “That said, given that we are talking about a young boy, you need the staff to show them how to behave. “Anyway, returning to the issue of his contract, he signed it – it is a contract between two parties and both parties must comply with it. “If he continues to dig his heels in, he won’t play. He could be ruining his career. “Everyone has their sense of dignity and their own mindset. I have mine.” De Laurentiis has played down suggestions Marino misled the player about his chances of earning a pay increase. “I have every trust in Marino,” he said. “Maybe he said something like, ‘We will see’ – people often do. “We probably would have given him what he wanted if we’d done well in the league, but that’s not how it turned out.” De Laurentiis has also reiterated that there has still been no offer and, even if one did come in, he has suggested that he would be happy to force the player to remain in the reserves. He added: “There was never any official offer. “If a crazy bid came in then clearly we would listen because everything has its price but, for the sake of my principles, I would be able to do without the €25 million (£21.3m).”