David Hodgson

TESTIFIIIIIII !!! yEEEEHahhh.....

Don't know, don't care....only interested in midfielders and forwards.

My take on the range of values of the offload list : Cisse £5-7m Morientes £2-3m Pongolle £2.5-3.5m Garcia £4.5-6.5m Dudek £0.5-1m Kirkland £2-3m Warnock £2-3m Traore £1-2m Mellor, Potter & other makeweights £2-3m So, that's a total range of £19.5m - £29m. At the bottom end of the scale all those players are relative bargains and we would find takers (regardless of wage issues). The upper end is achievable, but it depends on how competitive the market gets this summer. Even if we take Garcia out of the euation that's till a range of £15-22.5m, with the lower figure being easily achievable. Anyway it's looked at we have 'assets' there that can strengthen Rafa's transfer hand. In terms of squad strength it should be remembered that although quite a few of those listed above aren't with us anyway (out on loans), whislt the squad for next season has already been swelled by the confirmed arrivals of Agger, Palletta and Gonzalez. The bulk of 30m could, theoretically be spent on just 3 players, with a couple of additional free transfer gambles. I think Rafa's incoming hit list looks like this : Right wing : 1st choice : SWP 2nd Choice : Simao Quick striker : 1st choice : Owen 2nd Choice : defoe 2nd Striker : 1stv choice : Kuyt 2nd choice Ronaldo

No, but in the treble year we scored over 120 goals in all comps, which was pretty remarkable. Generally our scoring under GH wasn't great, but it's worse under Rafa.

I wouldn't have thought so a few weeks back, bit now I'm far from confident he'll stay. With a high profile right winger coming in, and Gonzalez, that's two more players for Garcia type positions. It depends how much Rafa needs the money, because I think we'd get a good £5m for Luis, whom is a player I don't think Benitez regards as a 'first name on a team-sheet' type, anymore.

Yes I am. I've never been financially prudent, and I've always been vindicated. You actually think you've 'got me' there, don't you ? Stupid boy. .......if you don't get it, I'm not wasting my time explaining it.

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The stats for the last 3 years show a net spend of about 43m (for Benitez in the last 2 years about 31m net, if Heskey and Cisse are included), and that excludes an enourmous outflux of players on loan (versus those coming in). The net spend is then about 14m a season, and even less if you take into account savings achieved by the loan deals. That is not a remarkable amount for a club consistently in the worlds top 10 to be spending, given our recent success, fan base and turnover. I'm not saying it's a ringing indictment either, because these things are obviously complex, but the questioning of levels of investment in the team (and whether or not they have been sufficient) is valid.

You're an idiot, and a child....go away.

True enough. Parry, or Moores, can often be shorthand for 'powers that be' at the club. However, based on what I've seen and heard I have specific gripes with Rick Parry's performance. As for Moores. I am convinced from personal experience that the man is a buffoon.

Yes, because we're all secret agents of Steve Morgan...muHAhaHAha HaHa..a...a. Actually, that was my agenda, because I think Parry and Moores need serious beating, and every stick going should be used. Just as their combined incompetence nearly cost Gerrard, failed to get us a world class striker last summer, won't get us a stadium built, or ever get serious investment into the club, it may well see us lose Rafa Benitez. I think that horrible possibility is something worth fighting against. But hey...that's just my opinion....and if we sign Dirk Diggler, then I'm a dutchman.....

I don't see any 'team bashing' going on in this thread.

When I came out of the ground on Wednesday night there's not many I wouldn't have part-exed for Ronaldo....my beloved HK included (who was pi*s poor on the night, let the objectivity record show ).

Sorry to crash your party, Anny, but what the f8ck are you on about ? I predicted our entire 10 match winning sequence. I backed GH beyond everyone on this site. I've never been a doomsday merchant, but I'll equally never be a stick my head up my ar*e and pretend everythings brilliant (when it isn't) merchant, either. ..and whose expecting us to win every game ? Not me. If you weren't interested in people's opinions then why bloody open a thread on a public forum ? If you want 'group hugs' go to evangelical christian churches.

Ha ! You've changed ya bloody tune Anny. You accused some of us of 'salivating' at the notion of Rafa putting the board under pressure the other day.

Not me boss.

Okely dokely.

YNWA forum lore : When is an opinion not an opinion ? When it's an opinion that contradicts the alternative opinions of a section of posters. For them some of us don't have opinions, just 'agendas'. Here's my secret agenda, that I subtley try and worm into every post I make : I want LFC to win, win, win, win, at all costs, all the f*cking time....and whatever I think might make that happen will form part of my 'agenda'.

He's contributed plenty when we were playing well, but then so did everyone. However we are clearly not the finished article as a team and have weak links. IMHO he is one of them. I don't see what he offers that Heskey didn't. In fact Heskey had plenty more attributes like power, pace, neck muscles, and in relative terms, he was f*cking Gerd Muller as a goalscorer.

No Rafa, I think you'll find you've got it wrong. We don't want these expensive so-called 'quality' players, because everything is just great, and we spend more money than anyone, if you pretend enough, and we've got Rick Parry and Davey Moores to thank for that.

I'm sad to say this but the Crouchie joke is up now. He's awful in the air, slow, got poor movement, great feet for a giant....but rubbish feet for a normal sized man. And he couldn't score in a brothel. I'd love to think we had so much money to spend that we could keep Crouchy at the club as a talismanic late Plan C substitute....but we haven't....and he has to go.

In times of dire trouble (when we need at least 2 goals) I always make a point of leaving early....it's a fate tempting thing. I do the same watching on telly. If we're two down with 5 minutes left, I turn the box off. I long for the day when I get back to the car only to find out that I've missed 2 late Liverpool wonder goals, and a result turned round. I also just can't bear the physical pain of defeat. It just hurts too much, and I can't be there at the point of our 'death' (as symbolised by the final whistle).

I can't help but sit back in awe, Anny, at your relentlessly positivity. Personally, I'm sick as a chocolate frog. It does put Istanbul in perspective, but that only increases the pain for me. I wanted us to prove to Europe, by going to at least the semis this year, that our win was no fluke. I'm not seeing the glass as half empty, but I think the result is a wake up call (if one was needed). We have much work to do, as a club, and whilst that FACT remains it's worth questioning every aspect of LFC's work in progress.

OK, Let's leave it here. You're all right. Everything's great at the club. We're off into the sunset and nothing can derail us. It's just one of those bizarre co-incidences that virtually every paper this morning has the same ' Benitez wants more money for players or he's off' story. It'll all just be the work of the Manc/London press trying to derail us. Just like when they all printed those stories about Stevie wanting to leave last summer. There's no way Rafa will ever leave (or at least not in our lifetimes), and he can pick up players for 1.5m and turn them into Ronaldinho, so there's no need to mortgage our club. Especially when it's being so marvellously run on every level. Hey, but I'm just another doom monger who only pipes up when we have a bad result. Aren't I ? Or am I one of the most bullish posters here who firmly believes in Benitez and this team ? You decide. What like the Gerrard stuff last season ? Someone is campaigning for Rafa to get more transfer funds. I don't think it's hard to work out who.

I don't think it's rocket science. I think any ambitious manager worth their salt wants maximum resources to do the job. You'll get 'mercurial' managers like Harry redknapp or Curbishley taking pride in doing a job on a budget. However their periodic press statements, about the 'joys' of working with no money, are all self-justifying. They would both jump ship to a club with a multi-million pound budget, at the drop of a hat. Rafa pays lip service to being happy working within certain constraints, but he's only human. What manager wouldn't want the funds to work with the best players. There's no doubt that there is a correlation between transfer resources and success. There are no guarantees, but over a period of time the biggest spending clubs are the most successful. Benitez, as a highly motivated and ambitious individual, will know that history will judge him in terms of trophies. He will not be remembered for keeping LFC 'thereabouts, but on a shoestring'. He wants success, and he's rightly impatient for it. He's also a reasonable man and won't just jump ship to the highest bidder, but when tempation is there (in the shape of Real) he's entitled to think, whilst being loyal to Liverpool, that loyalty is a two way street. LFC are asking Rafa to do a tough thing turning down Madrid, and he's withinhis rights to ask the club to take a risk, stretch itself a bit, and back his ambition. I really hope, and strongly suspect, that today's leaks are from the Rafa camp. If so he's gone up in my estimation. Our net spend last summer was about 6m. That after winning the European Cup, but finishing 5th in the league, and it being clear to all that we needed to strengthen significantly. Of course, Will, this argument can always be turned on it's head, and you'll tell me that we signed great players, and that we're having a great season....all true... so we can agree to differ. However, let's get back to the source of this debate. Does Rafa believe we need to spend more ? There is evidence that he does. Today, none of them are saying he's going. They are ALL saying, though, that he wants 30m plus, this sumnmer, or else he'll consider going. Interestingly all the stories stress Rafa's ongoing commitment to Liverpool.