Benito7

Just want to say I went today and found everyone to be very welcoming (to locals and the non locals sitting by me also). I was a bit nervous as I was going on my own and have never been involved in anything like this before but I had nothing to worry about. I can't praise the people organizing SOS enough as they are giving their time to fight for our club and for me that deserves all our respect. For all the people criticising go to the next meeting and give them a chance they may change your opinion. Or get involved and help to improve SOS - they were open to all ideas. I have always been taught that you shouldn't complain about something unless you have already tried to do something to improve it yourself.

As people are unlikely to boycott is there any way of doing some kind of anti G and H mosaic on the Kop (obviously the club wouldn't help but surely we could do it independently)? Something like that would get plenty of press coverage IMO and would send a clear message of how universally unpopular they are here.

Gillett should tell Rafa he is backing him and will allow him full control on transfer matters but that Parry stays as Chief Exec so that Hicks doesn't get full voting rights. Or Parry goes but the new Chief Exec doesn't get voting rights meaning Gillett and son plus Moores still control the boardroom (if that is possible).

Generally speaking I don't think Kuyt unsettles defenders as he doesn't have the attributes - unlike Hughes who was a very good finisher and had great strength. Kuyts biggest strength is his workrate and at the highest level that is not enough to worry the best defences. If Kuyt was at another Premiership club and we saw him regularly I firmly believe that hardly anyone on here would advocate signing him as he isn't that impressive a player.

No we are not most of the most damning criticism of Hicks and Gillett comes from there past actions and quotes. Gillett taking a 72million dollar dividend out of the Canadiens for instance whilst Hicks has a catalogue of quotes that make him the antithesis of what a Liverpool owner should be like. If Moores was duty bound to look at their offer he should have kept in contact with DIC and made them aware he was just fulfilling this duty rather than avoiding them after months of saying we would go with them. Instead he hid it from them and they were only informed by the media - rank unprofessionalism from Moores.

It was the fact that Moores was giving this offer serious consideration despite having previously shook hands on the deal that led to them pulling out, this combined with Moores and Parry not keeping DIC abreast of developments led them to pull out rather than face the embarassment of being gazumped by H and G and played by Moores and Parry.

I personally believe the DIC version of events: You must be mad, says DICFeb 2 2007 by Chris Bascombe, Liverpool Echo DUBAI International Capital today launched a scathing attack on Liverpool's conduct, saying chairman David Moores had made a bewildering and shocking decision. The fallout of the collapse of the deal intensified, with Dubai sources contacting the ECHO to put their side of the story in the days leading up to their withdrawal. Anfield chief executive Rick Parry explained how Liverpool felt it was their duty to consider a rival offer from George Gillett jnr, and ultimately felt bullied into making a swift decision. But a DIC spokesman has retaliated by suggesting chairman David Moores panicked at the 11th hour with a deal about to be sealed. The spokesman said: "If the fans want to know what's happened, David Moores suffered what I can only describe as a mental aberration, just when the agreement was about to be reached. "The fans are bemused, and we at DIC are just as bemused by the past few days. "Liverpool Football Club has been looking for years and years for an investor, going through numerous suitors. They came to the conclusion DIC were the best people. We've been working closely with advisors for the last six to eight weeks, and spent a lot of time preparing a deal. "We are genuine supporters who not only wanted to invest in the club, but to do so by keeping Mr Moores and Rick Parry in place. The announcement was going to be made this Monday. "Then, 10 days ago, we heard from the press George Gillett had made another bid. No-one from Liverpool told us this, and when we asked what was happening they said they didn't know why a bid was made other than to muddy the waters. "Then we read a formal statement from Liverpool announcing Gillett's bid last Friday. Again, DIC were informed by a journalist. "This lack of communication made our guys tense. "On Tuesday, we expected the board meeting to accept our proposals. Instead, we found out the board was discussing George Gillett's offer, once again through the press. "Even on Tuesday night we could get no answers from Mr Moores and Mr Parry, even though we had a representative at the West Ham match. "The people back in Dubai thought they weren't being told what's going on. “There was no ultimatum given, but we did make it clear we needed to know quickly if the press conference was going ahead on Monday because DIC officials needed to know if they should book their flights. "Once word got back to Dubai on Tuesday there were no answers from Liverpool, the word from on high was this is bad for our reputation and it all stops right now. "We can't understand what had changed since December 4 when after a long search, Liverpool announced we were the best people." DIC also raised questions about the merits of Gillett's proposals. "We believe there will be more debt at a higher rate of interest. We can't understand why Liverpool would take such a risk."

He is a much better player than any of our striker besides Torres. I also think he would link up well with Torres.

I think his point is he has earned the right to carry on building towards that league title.

How Bascombe is a loser for breaking the story in the first place I don't know.

One of the best posts I have ever read. Good points, well made.

Outstanding post IMO (except for the Mascherano/Gerrard point)

It isn't just resting Torres though he actually compounded that by playing a very unbalanced strike partnership. In fact I would say that that partnership is almost certainly our least balanced - both come deep, not very quick and relatively small. Also the resting avoids injuries thing isn't true - Lampard played a record amount of games and had no problems. Henry and Drogba were also rarely rested and had few injuries.

No and Pennant is better than both of them. However none of the three are yet top class. However Pennant is well on his way to getting their though with the great progress he has made.

Pennant is looking a class player at the moment but he does need to add more goal threat to be a genuinely top attacking player. Rafa will be drumming this into him to I imagine. Kaizer sometimes you make some good points at times but if you rely too much on stats you can end up believing someone like David Platt is a great midfielder because of his International goals record.

If we have the money it would be madness not to sign a player who will be the best defensive midfielder of his generation IMO.

You're right - he would also be a defensively strong option for the wing if we were facing the likes of Messi and needed to double up.

Bascombe always said we would have money - he said that we would be able to buy a striker in the £18 million pound range -and we did Torres. What he did say was that there had been no indication from them since there pronouncements that they would go for any player, that he would have the funds to go for his number one striker target Eto'o who would cost over £30 million. I have seen nothing to suggest he was wrong on this. Irrespective of that we have had a very good summer which Bascombe and Rafa have acknowledged.

From what I have seen and read I would say that for me whilst we have improved a bit we are still behind both United and Chelsea in the wide midfield areas.

We don't seem to be bidding for Alves any more though whereas with Malouda we clearly had been trying to secure him this summer.

Yeah that is what The Count meant - that we would not be getting a significant amount of cash over and above what the club would be raising itself.

The reason nobody seems to want Benayoun as much as Quaresma is because Quaresma has just had a stunning season (15 plus assists) whilst Benayoun has just had an awful season.

True but that wasn't in a season where we had an influx of increased TV money, the proceeds from a Champion's League Final and money coming in from various decent sized player sales. The new owners will only have shown their ambition in the transfer market when they have followed up the Torres deal with a deal for another top player (probably a winger) IMO.

Exactamundo! Also I agree that the real test of the owners transfer backing will come after the Torres purchase (which could have been financed by new TV money and player sales). If they help Rafa secure a top class winger as well then that for me will signify that they are true to their words about their ambitions. That combined with the recent exciting stadium designs would IMO point to a very bright future.

Unfortunately Radio City just report what the papers say so aren't that good a source. On Henry even if he would have came (I have no reason to doubt ES who has been right many times) it would have meant gambling more than our record fee on a player (arguably the best in the world) who is 30 and who has just had an injury troubled season and relies on pace. When factoring in his wages over say a four year contract that would probably be too much of a risk for Rafa and understandably so IMO.