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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/...ayers-away.html

He should have kept his mouth shut about exchange rates and tax levels then. Hardly surprising that people might think that money was a rather large issue after what he said.

Ha.

You praise McAteer and slag off Finnan. Er, right......

He played there quite a lot in his first season didn't he?

The Guardian is saying he could be out for six months. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ju...-rafael-benitez

"If Cliff Thorburn goes AWOL you're up slack alley"

It's easy. Tell him he's going nowhere.

Crouch

Balague claims to know. Has he ever been right about anything? http://www.guillembalague.com/rumores_desp...tion&id=210

If he's drinking on the job then we definitely should get rid.

Real back down on Alonso transfer By Pete Jenson in Madrid Valdano admits shopping spree means they cannot afford Liverpool midfielder Rafa Benitez, the Liverpool manager, looks to have won his battle to keep Xabi Alonso after Real Madrid's sporting director Jorge Valdano suggested the club were being priced out of signing the Spain international midfielder. With Madrid still gripped by Ronaldomania and sales of the player's No 9 shirt set to break all records, Valdano gave the strongest indication yet that Real will not be prepared to meet Liverpool's valuation for Alonso. He said: "Alonso is our priority, if he fits with our budget, and this does not seem to be the case. We are very far away from Liverpool's figures. "Liverpool have adopted a position that is making it very difficult for us and right now we can see ourselves distancing ourselves from the player. "There are people who are a little bit mistaken when they speak with Real Madrid. When we ask after a player they think it's a great economic opportunity and they go beyond what is reasonable. We are looking at alternatives to Xabi – players who have a lot in common with him." Real are understood to have reached an agreement with Franck Ribéry that they will sign him next summer. Using a tactic that worked last year with Cristiano Ronaldo, it seems the Bayern Munich midfielder is being lined up as a 2010 galactico. Valdano said: "After the three massive players we have signed we can afford to wait. Ribéry is right to commit himself to the club where he has a contract, but let us see how his career develops. Everyone knows that Real Madrid are interested in him. But life is long and if it does not happen this season it can happen next season." The suggestion that the astronomical spending may now have to stop will do little to dampen the euphoria of Real fans who yesterday cleaned the club out of Ronaldo replica shirts. Almost 3,000 were sold in the first two hours of business and stocks had run dry by closing time last night. But not everyone paid the €85 (£69) price, with around 300 stolen within hours of them going on sale at the stadium shop. The demand for Ronaldo shirts has so far out-stripped those for fellow new signing Kaka, who sold around 600 on the first day. David Beckham famously sold a million shirts in his first six months at the club but Ronaldo looks set to top that if the differences in the two players' presentations are any indication. Beckham filled the club's 5,000 capacity basketball arena back in 2003 when he was presented to supporters. Ronaldo managed to fill the 80,000-seat Bernabeu stadium. The Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez, was hailed almost as enthusiastically as Ronaldo by supporters but he may yet face a fan backlash for failing to land any top Spanish talent this summer. Alonso was most supporters' choice to be Real's next big signing because he is one of the heroes from last year's European Championship triumph. Only two of the team that conquered Europe play for Real and, after missing out on David Villa, fans are desperate for Alonso to sign. But Valdano admitted: "It is proving much more difficult to sign the top Spanish players than the top international stars." Despite the club distancing themselves from any more big-money acquisitions, additional signings have not been ruled out. Valdano said: "If we signed two or a maximum of three more then we would be covered." He also admitted his delight at having beaten Manchester United to the signing of Lyons striker Karim Benzema. Valdano said: "We are glad to have got him. He is just 21 years old and he has a great future. He is powerful, two-footed and he has all the desire that a young player should have." It now seems that the only way Alonso will leave Liverpool is if Real can include players in the deal to bring the price down, but Valdano admitted the club were struggling to off-load surplus squad members because of their reluctance to leave. He added: "Despite the fact that the market is slightly depressed we have had a lot of offers for our players but in a lot of cases it is difficult to persuade players that they should leave." http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...er-1736032.html

matty already votes for tories. No chance would Fowler ever have gone to United.

Here's the second bit. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/ju...united-transfer

I sit right near the dug-out at Anfield and Rafa has been like that with Alonso since he arrived. Xabi is well used to it so I doubt it's a factor in anything. The fullback on Rafa's side gets even worse stick.

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He's about as far away as you can get from a northern working man, the price fixing Tory c*nt.

Del Bosque seems happy with what the Spanish lads are learning at Liverpool. http://fourfourtwo.com/news/worldcup2010/32793/default.aspx

I don't think that will ever come in.

Oliver Kay: Sir Alex Ferguson could lose two more of his Manchester United stars in the wake of Cristiano Ronaldo’s £80 million world-record transfer to Real Madrid. Despite Ronaldo’s impending exit from Old Trafford, Carlos Tévez, the Argentina striker, still wants to leave the club and United are bracing themselves for offers from Barcelona, and possibly Real, for Nemanja Vidic. Vidic’s wife, Ana, is growing increasingly unsettled in Manchester and wants to move to a warmer climate. Pep Guardiola, the Barcelona coach, is hoping to exploit the situation by making a £25 million bid for the Serbia defender. Ferguson will fight tooth and nail to keep Vidic, who has three years left on his contract, but despite telephoning Tévez to urge him to stay, the United manager appears to be chasing a lost cause. Manchester City lead the pursuit of the striker’s signature, ahead of Liverpool and Chelsea. United have lined up Luís Antonio Valencia, the Wigan Athletic and Ecuador winger, as a replacement for Ronaldo, but in the event that Tévez leaves, Ferguson will be forced, reluctantly, to go back into the transfer market for another player. Ferguson admires Franck Ribéry, the Bayern Munich winger, and Karim Benzema, the Lyons striker, but the United manager may be reluctant to do business given the prices being quoted by their respective clubs. Bayern want €75 million (£64 million) for Ribéry and Lyons ¤50 million for Benzema, who is only 21 and remains largely unproven outside of his native France. “We have said we will only deal under certain conditions,” Uli Hoeness, the Bayern general manager, said. “Namely, if the others want to do really crazy things.” Remarkably, it took United only two hours to agree to Real’s offer for Ronaldo. David Gill, the United chief executive, was making his way to Geneva for a meeting with Fifa officials when his office received a fax from the Spanish club at about 6pm on Wednesday. Sources close to Gill insist that there was no warning from Real that a bid would be forthcoming. Gill telephoned Ferguson first, then contacted Ronaldo’s camp, before the matter was taken to the Glazer family, the club’s owners, who insisted that the ultimate decision rested with Ferguson, at which point the manager gave the green light to sell the Portugal forward. The news brought to an end a bitter three-year tug-of-war between the clubs, although it was greeted with an angry reaction by Michel Platini, the Uefa president. He described the fee as a “serious challenge to the idea of fair play” and vowed to establish new rules governing transfers in an effort to “clean up the system”. It is understood that United will receive the fee in four annual instalments of £20 million. Sources close to the Glazer family insist that Ferguson will be free to reinvest the money on players, despite the club being faced with an interest bill of £69 million last year on their £699 million of debt. In financial terms, though, the real winner is Ronaldo, who is expected to sign a six-year contract before being formally confirmed as a Real player on July 1. His salary will start at £9.5 million a year, rising 25 per cent annually to a staggering £29 million — or just over £557,500 a week — in the final year. It means that he stands to earn up to £107 million. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/foo...icle6482285.ece