fabfive

Here's why Rafa wont go and won't be fired. Throughout his career he has had lows before. Before coming to Liverpool. He has never doubted himself or his methods. Then he changes clubs and goes on to win the league in Spain and Champions League with us. He's been there, done that. Seen piss poor stretches and he himself has recovered as have his teams. So why should he think it would be different at Liverpool other than long suffering fans who want instant success. He is in the first year of his plan. Now that may seem strange to most as he's been manager a lot longer than that. But this is his first season in control of the youth set up and first season being in charge of transfers. He complained before about having some quality players tied up only to lose out because we were outbid. He won't have that problem in the future. We don't have to outspend teams for talent. And I would suggest this is why the owners have bought off on his plans and given him control. Rafa is set up for the long term by the owners. Recent results will not change their approach to how to set the club up. So Rafa will still have another year maybe two to show progress. Something some supporters won't fathom and especially the media who will hound him about results. Until they figure out he really will be manager next season. So for those who have their "manager must go" hats on, you are in for a long season or two. So do you continue with the negativity or back him and see how he gets on? Dilemma for you it appears.

More likely Red from the hood.

Ask him what is Casey Coffmans role within the club now that she is Director. Will she move office to Anfield to oversee operations on behalf of Hicks?

This. I don't post much but read more. I do notice that some seem to take a lot of posts as some sort of personal attack. Maybe that is because of familiarity of knowing the poster or maybe it is just internet bravado. Less of that, more of replying to opinions and respecting each other. That and World Peace would do.

The board is there to run the club. There are only two people who can sell and that is G&H. The board won't be telling them what to do. Can't imagine Ayers or Nash telling G&H sell now because supporters don't like you. The more pertinant question is just what will this new Board do differently down the road. Instead of a silverspoon making decisions , you now have three well educated and business savy people to make recommendations. This Cauffman woman will be more involved than Hicks Jr. something tells me.

Why does SOS need to ask Purslow anything about this? Time will tell all. If the club do not announce the financing by the end of the first quarter, then hold Purslow to account. If the club do get financing, then what is SOS supposed to do? Plan a protest march against that? Bit daft if you ask me. The closing bit by The Echo resembles what the quote was when England announced the stadiums and the "New" Anfield on the list.

Yes.

I spotted Djimi Traore in the stands still hoping to get a match.

Mascherano Insua N'Gog

Dear Mr. Bican; You would do well at Chelsea FC. All one needs to do is keep changing the manager until you win the League. Then you fire the manager for not wining the Champions League. Or if you manager does win both, then fire him a year later because he didn't do it again. This is also called the Real Madrid syndrome. Yours sincerely, R. Benitez.

we're going to play 4-4-2. Just like we did first half versus Arsenal. For those that notice these things.

Got this link off another forum: Liverpool FC Fans Boast a Sunday Protest Kept Tom Hicks From Attending Arsenal Match By Robert Wilonsky in SportsTue., Dec. 15 2009 @ 9:00AM ​Randy Galloway, Evan Grant and I received an e-mail at 4:20 this morning from Spirit of Shankly organizer Paul Gardner, in which he writes that a fans' protest before Liverpool FC's Sunday-afternoon match against Arsenal kept the owners out of Anfield: "Tom Hicks was turned away a few hundred yards away from the ground and was not allowed to enter the ground." Gardner's among those featured in the protest recap that follows, scored to John Lennon's "Power to the People." I've asked Hicks's publicist, Lisa LeMaster, via e-mail whether he was actually planning on attending the match; I'll update accordingly when she responds. Either way, Hicks and George Gillett weren't in the stands. (Update at 9:47 a.m.: LeMaster responds, "??? All I know is that Tom was here all weekend and in a lot of meetings Saturday and Sunday as well as spending time with his family.") And now comes word that the cash-strapped owner of Liverpool FC, Your Texas Rangers and Your Dallas Stars may be looking to the United Arab Emerates for an assist. Meanwhile, The Daily Mail wonders today what Liverpool's legendary manager Bill Shankly, for whom the supporters' union is named, would think of the mess Hicks has gotten the team into. (Semi-unrelated note: I'm probably the only film critic in America who put The Damned United on a ten-best list.) And speaking of Hicks and his debt, T.R. Sulltivan, now writing for MLB.com, says that Houston freight-train Jim Crane's the newly emerged front-runner in the Rangers sweepstakes after he submitted a new bid that tops his rivals' offers. Baseball Time in Arlington offers the pros and cons on that breaking news, but concludes that anyone's better than Hicks: "That's a pattern of financial irresponsibility across multiple professional sports franchises that should prompt his eternal banishment from the local sports scene." I smell a protest! http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark...oast_a_sund.php

He should have said we'd finish 10th. Anything better than that and the owners would keep him.

Over 300 appearences for the Mighty Red men RIP

Done. 33% is what I saw as well.

Can you Ask around inside Anfield if they were even coming? I've read elsewhere Hicks wasn't even in England as he is sorting out the sale of his baseball team which is due to be done any day now. Not wanting to question SOS and who was in the Range Rover and what the bizzie said but it does seem plausible selling his other club might be a priority.

Or in an alternative universe, we lose the ball in the attacking third not in midfield. To often our players run into blind alleys, try intricates passes in and around the box, or try that killer through ball ( Gerrard) that goes out for a throw or goal kick. Then there are the crosses over hit. But all of that is due to attacking play. We also lose the ball with hopefull punts up the field by our defenders. Btw, Not arguing about the ones to clear the danger when we are put under the kosh but the ones where we pass it back and forth at the back looking for an opening, get tired of that and launch a hopefull ball. We lose few balls in midfield. Yeah we do lose the odd one but the majority of lost possession comes in the other teams half when they try to counter attack.

Well when my union picketed, we worked in shifts. No one stayed all day. Coordination and communication with those who are up for it. But if it was broke down to one or two hour shifts, would that be so bad?

Fair do's. You may get the group together when you know they are coming but something tells me that G&H will look into various avenues to counter SOS. As I am sure you should be expecting that.

I didn't mean sneak in yesterday. I fully meant , that they might think they could fly over some future match day, last minute and sneak in.

Have you asked yet? Because many want the owners gone and you may be surprised at how many would be up for this. Yesterday was a semi rush job because you heard the owners would be in. But if it is explained to SOS members what action SOS wants to take full time, you might be surprised at how many volunteer. The more that do the more you can rotate their help so the same ones don't have to be there every match doing it. Same with Board members. Just a matter of coordination and conviction. My 2p worth.

But SOS should do this every home match whether they are there or not. Show of force. Let them think they can't even sneak in. A bit like Union pickets who show up every day picketing.

I thought we were the most intelligent supporters in the land? We've gone from singing 'we've got the best midfield" to whinging all the time about our attack. We have the same players in attack as last season. We lost one midfielder who didn't attack very often. And the stats show we've scored more goals but conceeded way to many as well. If anyone wants to watch the replay of the match versus Arsenal, you will find we played 4-4-2 in the first half for large stretches. In the second half, Arsenal made some adjustments and we were on the back foot. When Johnson let in the goal we were still adjusting and damned if "i'd love to smack his face" scored again. When Aquilani came on we went to one holding midfielder, Lucas, and everyone else attacking. At times it looked like a 4-1-2-3 attack. Degen came on because Johnsons confidence was shot and he gave us a lift. All three subs were attacking. Yet we created little. Reminds me of a comment off of the Lost Shankly tapes by the Great Man himself---to many men in the box makes it harder to score.

So what's the plan for Wednesday when the owners are there for Shankly Day?

No brainer? 1: Owen needs a partner and would not play as effectively as a Torres replacement in our 4-2-3-1. Unless you want him out on the wing. Owen had countless great game sup front on his own for Liverpool When did we ever play 4-2-3-1 when Owen was here? A 4-5-1 counter attacking hoofing style for Michael to chase after is not what we play. 2: Rafa probably didn't need the "Keane" treatment from the media as to why Owen is on the bench and not starting enough. Owen publically said he wanted a move away from newcastle to improve his chances to be in the World Cup squad for England. The media is World Cup frenzy driven. Rafa would have been questioned repeatedly about Owen. After all we can't have England fail can we. I think Rafa could have handled the media on this. You think? He probably could. But did he want to. He had experienced it with Keane. And Keane wasn't Englands great hope. 3: Owens injury record. Regardless of him not being crocked yet, it was a definite concern during the transfer season. Man utd could take that risk. Rafa couldn't. Owen would have cost nothing. The risk was minimal. Transfer cost is immaterial. A squad spot with an often injured high profile England International who the media would harp on about are two different things. if it was all about transfer cost, Owen might be here. But he's not and there are damn good reason why. You know, the ones your ignoring. 4: It's easy to say we could afford him but could we? No one in here knows his salary demands. Or his "thoughts" about playing time. His deal at United is reportedly a 'pay as you play' deal. We could have afforded him. Ditching Voronin would have helped. Nice of you to say. But since when was Owen going to work off of Voronins wages? Or do you know that for a fact? Again, parting out one bit with off loading Voronin to save Owen may not have been 1+1 and as easy as that. In the first place, who's to say Rafa wasn't trying to off load Voronin but found no takers. We'd have had to pay his salary if we just released him. So that doubles Owens cost. There's a lot more to the behind the scenes workings which I am sure you can contemplate but may not with the Owen tinted galsses. 5: What about the developement of N'Gog. With Owen in the side, David slides down the pecking order and we may not disover his talents. Maybe he wants to leave us because he's being overlooked and Rafa takes another rap of not giving the kids a chance. As it is, N'Gog has more goals per minute in the League played than some strikers people want in ( Bellamy, Crouch, even Owen) The development of Ngog was not the priority. Having a top class back up to Torres was. Owen may not have proved that but had the potential to do so, and was available for the big price of 'zilch'. Beg to differ, N'Gog is a longer term player for us. We didn't need to sacrafice his development for the sake of Owen sitting the bench. It is quite possible N'Gog will have more goals in the League ( or priority right?) this season than Owen and that might also suggest he'll improve next season as well. Whereas, often crocked Micheal, would either be sitting the bench behind N'Gog and the media ranting over that, not to mention Owen manouvering another way out because he is unsatisified with his staus. All a drag on team morale because we become Owen FC just like we were Keane FC for awhile. So the brain does indeed need to process a lot of factors. Some seen, some unseen. I'd done all the processing at lightning quick speed. So fast, in fact, that I didn't even notice I'd used it (my brain, that is). Maybe longer term thought processing is needed. Initial quick reactions are not always best.