Redwire

This content is not viewable to guests.

It looked the same to me, a sort of bluish green. I think it's the same stuff they put down for the beginning of last season.

They did that last season.

He didn't play the repeat chorus either I think.

I hate them. I hate them on TV but they are even worse at the match. From the Paddock they are in front of you and down both sides, a constant distraction.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

This content is not viewable to guests.

It's a pity Masch didn't retaliate and get sent off himself.

He asked how, if Hicks and Gillett had bought the club with cash, they could get a return. I'm assuming their original plan involved selling us on for a profit some time after the stadium is built so I was just pointing out that a similar stategy can work for a cash rich buyer. Of course, as you say, a more long term stategy would be more desirable.

By building up the club, making sure the playing side is taken care of, getting the new stadium built and selling on the club for a huge profit somewhere down the line?

This content is not viewable to guests.

Rafa said that Alonso had a dead leg which is why he didn't start him.

Where do get them from? My missus loves black-pudding.

Alonso asks to leave as cracks show in the Liverpool hierarchy * Andy Hunter * The Guardian, * Saturday August 16 2008 The fall-out from Liverpool's arduous pursuit of Gareth Barry continued yesterday when Xabi Alonso asked to leave Anfield and Rafael Benítez revealed evidence of his strained relationship with the club's chief executive, Rick Parry. Alonso, a recent transfer target for Juventus and Arsenal, wants to be sold having become disillusioned with the manager's attempts to finance the Barry deal by off-loading the Spain international amid concerns that his first team chances will be reduced this season. The 26-year-old has not submitted a transfer request, but has asked the club to renew its efforts to sell him in the coming weeks - a stance that will alert the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger. Arsenal are the only club to have made an official inquiry about Alonso since his proposed transfer to Juventus collapsed over Liverpool's £18m valuation. They too, however, share the Italians' view that Liverpool's price-tag is excessive and are only prepared to pay around £12m for the playmaker who moved to Anfield from Real Sociedad for £10.5m in 2004. Without a compromise from either party Alonso will be left in limbo this season but Benítez remains intent on signing Barry, who is also valued at £18m by Aston Villa, and is prepared to sell his compatriot and/or Jermaine Pennant and Andriy Voronin to fund the transfer of his own accord. Benítez was refused a short-term loan to complete the Barry transfer last week by the Liverpool owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, with Parry, while denying the Americans had not backed their manager's judgement, issuing a statement that confirmed Villa's asking price was "too high". The Liverpool manager has since had e-mail conversations with the Americans and has been told money is available for other transfers. But yesterday he dismissed suggestions he had driven up Barry's price by publicly revealing Liverpool's interest before the end of last season and that the failure to sell Alonso had changed the club's transfer policy. In doing so, he indicated the Liverpool chief executive was accountable for the Barry saga now entering its fourth month. "I get blamed for everything, for global warming to high petrol prices," said Benítez. "But in this case [barry] I want to be very clear. Since I talked to Martin O'Neill about the situation in April, I have not talked to anyone at Aston Villa. All the talks have been between our chief executive Rick Parry, the owner and the chief executive of Aston Villa. And those talks have all been pretty good. "If anyone wants to talk about Barry in the future they must talk with the owner, Rick Parry or the chief executive of Aston Villa. I was not involved in the talks about Barry, I was not involved in the talks about Alonso and Arsenal. If you want to talk about these players you must talk to the chief executive of our club who was handling the discussions. If you want to talk about football, then you talk with me." The Liverpool manager remains confident of a resolution before the close of the transfer window, however. "We continue working and we have time. I have some players in mind," he added. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/au...p;feed=football

This content is not viewable to guests.

No.

That's just nonsense.

This content is not viewable to guests.

Yeah, those comments tonight about a left sided player who can play in two or three positions made me laugh. I only read the comments but I would have liked to see if Rafa had his trademark smirk on when saying them.

Benitez on a collision course with board over Barry funds By Ian Herbert Saturday, 9 August 2008 Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager, was back on a collision course with the club's American owners last night when, amid growing doubts about their ability to raise the £18m needed to sign Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, they appeared to question his reasons for wanting to buy the England international. Benitez has been waiting for Tom Hicks and George Gillett – who had told him long before the transfer window opened this summer that he would have to finance any new signings by selling players – to deliver an advance of £18m to cover Barry's purchase, repayable to them after Liverpool had made some sales. That money has still not been forthcoming and – in what may be a means of masking their failure to raise it – it is understood that they have now voiced concerns about Barry's limited sell-on value at the end of a proposed four-year contract which would take him to the age of 31. They have also queried the player's worth to a club who have an abundance of central midfield players in Steven Gerrard, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Damien Plessis and Lucas Leiva. Another issue raised is understood to be the £18m transfer fee which Villa have been asking for all along. Why these questions were not raised earlier by the Americans is a mystery, adding strength to the suggestions that two individuals whose total cash investment in the club was the £5m they each put in when it was purchased in February 2007 simply cannot raise the money. After working so hard to get a deal in place for Barry, Benitez will be devastated if it is called off at the eleventh hour and such a development would shatter the uneasy peace which has reigned over Anfield this summer, with the Americans experiencing something of a rapprochement with the Spaniard and maintaining intermittent contact with him. Benitez is known to have been bewildered by the lack of a breakthrough on Thursday. It has emerged that he assured the Barry camp that morning that the money would be forthcoming and contact between Anfield and the Americans appears to have followed later that day or yesterday morning. Barry is desperate to sign for Liverpool but has made it clear that he does not want to be sitting around until transfer deadline day – 1 September – in the hope of a move. He was content at Villa until Liverpool came along and, after a saga which has led to a serious falling out with manager Martin O'Neill, he does not want to end up burning all bridges at the Midlands club for a move which is not to take place. Though Barry's advisers have been careful not to set further deadlines, there is already a feeling that he is being strung along and though they retain some optimism that the Americans' money will be forthcoming, the player appeared last night to be a victim of Liverpool's limited resources. Benitez has endured a difficult week since O'Neill conceded defeat in his attempts to keep Barry and told Liverpool that he was theirs if they could raise the money. He has been attempting to mollify the player, who was left at home when Villa set off for a training camp in Spain. If the money cannot be raised and the Barry deal is dead, Liverpool will be left once again to reflect on the fact that the Americans, who have saddled the club with debts of £350m, have nothing more to invest and are struggling to raise finance – an even more serious issue with the new stadium development due to start this autumn. Benitez only secured Robbie Keane, for an initial £19m, through the sales of Peter Crouch to Portsmouth for £11m, Scott Carson to West Bromwich for £3.25m, John Arne Riise to Roma for £3.9m and Danny Guthrie to Newcastle for around £2.5m. Liverpool have been reluctant to have any further contact with Villa until the finance is totally secure. If the deal does not progress, Barry's future would appear to reside at Villa Park after all. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/footbal...nds-889319.html

He gave away a few daft ones in dangerous positions but he did less of it as he went on. He also got caught a few times in posession and got knocked off the ball a bit easily at times but he improved these weaknesses too. His game is going in the right direction and he had some excellent games later in the season. I'm looking forward to seeing him this year.

I put a tenner on at 25-1 on Bluesquare this lunchtime but I cant see the market anymore. They seem to have pulled it.

Do you know what work is currently being done? I know that fences have gone up but has there been any conformation of what actualy has been achieved to this point?