Liverpool FC Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

kida

kida wrote: »

this after spending 18M on am over rated English full back

Over-rated by opposition fans of course

mike65

Was Rafa in for Barry? If he was then why so little talk of it, and if he wasn't why yesterdays moan about Barry chasing money over glory?

jesus_thats_gre

mike65 wrote: »

Was Rafa in for Barry? If he was then why so little talk of it, and if he wasn't why yesterdays moan about Barry chasing money over glory?

Going by what he said yesterday, he was defo in for Barry. I have no doubts about it now.

Kess73

I cringe a bit when Rafa goes on about things like Barry yesterday. I just do not see the point in it to be honest.

No doubt Barry got offered a better deal financially by City, and he took it. But is that really a good enough reason to publically call him a greedy player?

I think most of us if in our working lives were offered the choice of two jobs, that we would pick the one that financially rewarded us the most, it is just human nature. Is Barry a greedy player? Maybe he is. Then again Gerrard just signed a new contract that is meant to be worth 120k a week, so is he greedy for not playing for less too?

I really think that Rafa should not have gone on about Barry and not gone on about high transfer fees either. Something about the whole thing just felt like sour grapes on his behalf, and the willingness to air it in public just seems to be something that is in his character, that maybe it took a bit of time to surface due to taking a few years to settle in a new country. Sometimes saying less is more.


When Alex Ferguson, or Wenger, or Big Sam etc come out and whinge in the press or on tv, us Liverpool fans love to slag them off over it. So methinks that when Rafa does it, it looks and sounds just as bad to other footy fans as the other managers sound to us.

kida

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Going by what he said yesterday, he was defo in for Barry. I have no doubts about it now.

would indicate he was probably aware then of the possibility of losing one of his midfielders or even possibly willing to sel one if he got Barry

mike65

I suspect thats true, so now Rafa has to hold on to both or get a hell of price and move very quickly.

Boggles

Barry was never going to join Liverpool after the shambles of the proposed transfer last year, which turned him into a hate figure at Villa, I think the trust and goodwill broke down to the point of what we heard Rafa say yesterday about him.

Barry going to City, like all transfers is dictated by money. But to be fair to him he is joining a club who are going through exciting times and he will have the opportunity to play with some cracking players.

Mr Alan

Boggles wrote: »

Barry going to City, like all transfers is dictated by money.

Not all transfers are dictated by money-but you already know that.

Boggles

Mr Alan wrote: »

Not all transfers are dictated by money-but you already know that.

99.9999% of them are Al.

If 2 big clubs come in for a player, the club that pays more will nearly always get the player.

Karmafaerie

Kess73 wrote: »

I think most of us if in our working lives were offered the choice of two jobs, that we would pick the one that financially rewarded us the most, it is just human nature.

Sorry, but that gets thrown about way too much nowadays, and it just doesn't cut it.
Most of us don't earn in a year or two, what Barry would get in a week
It's not comparable.

When you're earning £30,000 a year, then more money means a lot more than When you're earning £60,000 a week.

Footballers can choose to be rich and follow their hearts too.
99.9999999% of us don't have that luxury.

slingerz

Headshot wrote: »

So i take you dont bet go back a page or 2 and look at zabbo's post and yes they have reduced the odds,its not closed,only closes for the night time

I have to give credit to skybet,great thinking,amount of PR there getting is pretty good

That was with Paddy Power with regard to their specials.

I take it you dont read much do you

slingerz

Liverpool linked with Cambiasso in case one of the center midfielders leaves..

Kess73

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Sorry, but that gets thrown about way too much nowadays, and it just doesn't cut it.
Most of us don't earn in a year or two, what Barry would get in a week
It's not comparable.

When you're earning £30,000 a year, thenmore money means a lot more than When you're earning £60,000 a week.

Footballers can choose to be rich and follow their hearts too.
99.9999999% of us don't have that luxury.

They also generally have a much shorter period in which to earn that money. Yes I know that also gets said a lot, but in Gareth Barry's case this is most likely his last big move of his career, and he has, so it looks, followed the pound sign.

You also have to take into account that footballers live in a very different world to us when it comes to spending money too. They tend to buy the most expensive items and live a lifestyle that reflects as much. So a higher wage maintains that lifestyle.

You say footballers can choose to be rich and also follow their hearts. If that is true why did Gerrard accept his payrise? Surely as a local boy he is living his dream and was already earning enough money? Same for Carra. In fact you could pretty much say the same in terms of not accepting payrises for anyone in the squad that got one this year, surely just an extension of their contracts at their old rates should have been enough?


I don't begrudge Barry for following the money, in fact I am glad he did because I simply do not rate him as being good enough for LFC, but I do think that there was no need for Rafa to comment on him, and his comments about not really being that interested in signing Barry in the first place does make it sound like he has a touch of sour grapes over the whole thing.


As I said earlier, the best thing to do, imho, would be to just write off the whole Barry thing with a generic comment if asked about it, and then let silverware won be the best retort to Barry deciding to go elsewhere.

Handsome Bob

Did Rafa actually refer to Barry? Because when this story first broke it was simply about Rafa talking about "crazy money" in the general sense, i.e. there was no suggestion he went into specifics.

All of a sudden I pick up The Mirror this morning and apparently Rafa was taking a shot at Barry.

Headshot

slingerz wrote: »

That was with Paddy Power with regard to their specials.

I take it you dont read much do you

my head hurts when you reply with such stupid posts

they all close at night time when it comes to specials,they dont have the man power to monitor it

have a look at sky bet now its open and liverpool are 2/1 to get Ribery
now alot of people will bet on that now,its great thinking from skybet,using their own such as ssn to flog a dead horse

Kess73

LZ5by5 wrote: »

Did Rafa actually refer to Barry? Because when this story first broke it was simply about Rafa talking about "crazy money" in the general sense, i.e. there was no suggestion he went into specifics.

All of a sudden I pick up The Mirror this morning and apparently Rafa was taking a shot at Barry.

Yeah he did comment directly on Barry, at first it was simply a "money, money, money" comment when asked why Barry did not become a LFC player, then he expanded a bit more on Barry as it went on, and he also commented in a local radio interview and again said Barry by name.



I may be too idealistic about these things, but I just do not like the press being given extra ammo to use.

Mr Alan

Kess73 wrote: »

They also generally have a much shorter period in which to earn that money.

This excuse is not valid for a modern day premier league footballer anymore and should really not be used.

kida

according to Guillem Balague allis not well between the 2 of them

http://www.guillembalague.com/rumores_desp.php?titulo=Xabi%20Alonso%20situation%20demands%20swift%20resolution&id=210

Rafa Benitez has been publicly sending out the message that he does not want Xabi Alonso to leave – but I cannot help wondering if, in these circumstances, it is entirely fair to do so when Xabi appears determined to move on. Their relationship may have reached breaking point: Rafa decided to sell him last summer and the player accepted the situation. However, when there were no concrete offers that matched Rafa`s valuation, Xabi was told he would be staying. Xabi was previously asked to sign a new deal and he did so. The player now feels it is time to move on and he has asked Rafa to release him so that he can pursue fresh challenges.

Under entirely normal circumstances, when there are healthy relationships between player, manager, agent etc – everything would be fairly straightforward and concluded with the minimum of fuss. However, it appears that nobody is willing to make compromises or make concessions and the situation seems to be in stalemate. The danger is that Real Madrid will run out of patience and focus their attention on other targets (the Spanish newspaper Marca is reporting that De Rossi of Roma is already being lined up as an alternative). If that were to happen, and Xabi ends up staying at Liverpool – I have to ask how healthy that would be for the relationship between manager and player at Anfield, and how motivated will Xabi be next season?


This could also lead to another potential problem for Benitez: if a price tag has been placed on Alonso, a player who has asked to leave – what happens if a premiership rival puts that money on the table after Madrid have withdrawn their interest? Would it have been better to have sold to Spain, rather than to a Premier League rival?

Perhaps a bid may come in from one of the big Italian clubs, but if not, the situation becomes increasingly more complicated and I fear it may not end to everyone`s satisfaction…

The Recliner

slingerz wrote: »

Liverpool linked with Cambiasso in case one of the center midfielders leaves..

Nice try but no one wants to talk about transfer news or gossip around here at the moment

sweet jebus I just want some actual news we can get excited about or at least some news even if we are underwhelmed by it

~Rebel~

Boggles wrote: »

Barry was never going to join Liverpool after the shambles of the proposed transfer last year, which turned him into a hate figure at Villa, I think the trust and goodwill broke down to the point of what we heard Rafa say yesterday about him.

Barry going to City, like all transfers is dictated by money. But to be fair to him he is joining a club who are going through exciting times and he will have the opportunity to play with some cracking players.

To be fair, Barry made Barry a hate figure with that over the top interview he gave to try and prompt his move, the one that resulted in him getting the captaincy stripped and being suspended from preseason.

jesus_thats_gre

kida wrote: »

would indicate he was probably aware then of the possibility of losing one of his midfielders or even possibly willing to sel one if he got Barry

It certainly would have made one of them leaving a lot easier to cope with. Not many players of Barry's quality out there for 10 million.

invincibleirish

Kess73 wrote: »

I may be too idealistic about these things, but I just do not like the press being given extra ammo to use.

Then why is Rafa feeding them this ammo in the form of direct qoutes about other clubs players? you can hardly blame the press when, yet again, Benitez has decided to take upon himself the task of settling grudges via the football media. Better focus on his own business rather then cribbing about how its all so unfair.

yom 1

invincibleirish wrote: »

Then why is Rafa feeding them this ammo in the form of direct qoutes about other clubs players? you can hardly blame the press when, yet again, Benitez has decided to take upon himself the task of settling grudges via the football media. Better focus on his own business rather then cribbing about how its all so unfair.

He was asked was he in for Barry to which he said yes but the offer from city was higher. How is that settling a grudge via the media?

Actually scrap that.........can we not go down the Barry/Pool/Villa/Rafa/O'Neill who is to blame route again

Headshot

didnt raf quote a famous song ?

NabyLadistheman

yom 1 wrote: »

Actually scrap that.........can we not go down the Barry/Pool/Villa/Rafa/O'Neill who is to blame route again

Oh lets....Barry/Villa/O'Neill/City all to blame

Headshot

Headshot wrote: »

didnt raf quote a famous song ?

Rafa is a big Abba fan

invincibleirish

yom 1 wrote: »

He was asked was he in for Barry to which he said yes but the offer from city was higher. How is that settling a grudge via the media?

Actually scrap that.........can we not go down the Barry/Pool/Villa/Rafa/O'Neill who is to blame route again

Its got nothing to do with Villa or MON! Benitez isn't happy with the attitude and motivations of Man Citys new signing. Nowt to do with us guvna.

~Rebel~

Pretty much every report in the media these days is taken out of context, like the interviewee walks in and starts unloading, throwing things around and freaking out.

In actual fact they usually just answer what they're asked and elaborate as little as possible.

There were quotes yesterday in most of the papers saying Xabi wasn't known outside of Spain. I heard a good few commentators on radio and in papers saying that was not true and Xabi was highly rated (which he was), then i watched Rafa's interview video. He doesn't say it. He just says "Xabi came from Sociedad and did very well so we extended his contract"

Dickerty

Boggles wrote: »

Barry was never going to join Liverpool after the shambles of the proposed transfer last year, which turned him into a hate figure at Villa,

No it didn't. They forgave him very quickly once he showed his performances on the pitch were not affected...

yom 1

invincibleirish wrote: »

Its got nothing to do with Villa or MON! Benitez isn't happy with the attitude and motivations of Man Citys new signing. Nowt to do with us guvna.

I know it has nothing to do them. I'm just trying to stop it going down that route on a relatively quiet day, with crap like this already popping up

Boggles wrote:

Barry was never going to join Liverpool after the shambles of the proposed transfer last year, which turned him into a hate figure at Villa,

Karmafaerie

Kess73 wrote: »

They also generally have a much shorter period in which to earn that money. Yes I know that also gets said a lot, but in Gareth Barry's case this is most likely his last big move of his career, and he has, so it looks, followed the pound sign.

You also have to take into account that footballers live in a very different world to us when it comes to spending money too. They tend to buy the most expensive items and live a lifestyle that reflects as much. So a higher wage maintains that lifestyle.


You say footballers can choose to be rich and also follow their hearts. If that is true why did Gerrard accept his payrise? Surely as a local boy he is living his dream and was already earning enough money? Same for Carra. In fact you could pretty much say the same in terms of not accepting payrises for anyone in the squad that got one this year, surely just an extension of their contracts at their old rates should have been enough?


I don't begrudge Barry for following the money, in fact I am glad he did because I simply do not rate him as being good enough for LFC, but I do think that there was no need for Rafa to comment on him, and his comments about not really being that interested in signing Barry in the first place does make it sound like he has a touch of sour grapes over the whole thing.


As I said earlier, the best thing to do, imho, would be to just write off the whole Barry thing with a generic comment if asked about it, and then let silverware won be the best retort to Barry deciding to go elsewhere.

All I'm aying man, is that you can't compare a footballers paycheck with ours.

I can't be bothered to go through it all over Garreth Barry!:P

invincibleirish

Whats wrong with Boggles point? Liverpool sold Barry up the river last year then left him high and dry at the Villa over money issues, tis hardly a secret is it?. Rafa may have sour grapes now but he had the whole of summer 2008 to seal the deal and failed, Time waits for no man and all that.

Boggles

yom 1 wrote: »

I know it has nothing to do them. I'm just trying to stop it going down that route on a relatively quiet day, with crap like this already popping up

Why whats your take on it?

Kess73

Mr Alan wrote: »

This excuse is not valid for a modern day premier league footballer anymore and should really not be used.

Why not?

In terms of how you or I may view money it may be an invalid reason, but we are not living in a world where 50k to 100k is a normal weekly wage, they are. Add to that the fact that footballers, UK ones anyway, are generally not the best educated nor are they generally shown to have a good track record for protecting their future by investing money.

I would argue that for a large number of modern footballers that the size of the wage packet is very very important, and as much so for being a status symbol in terms of getting more than such and such a player as it is for the need/greed factor.

Karmafaerie

invincibleirish wrote: »

Whats wrong with Boggles point? Liverpool sold Barry up the river last year then left him high and dry at the Villa over money issues, tis hardly a secret is it?. Rafa may have sour grapes now but he had the whole of summer 2008 to seal the deal and failed, Time waits for no man and all that.

Ahhhmmmmm....!!!!!
Did you not already answer your own question?!

invincibleirish wrote:

Its got nothing to do with Villa or MON! Benitez isn't happy with the attitude and motivations of Man Citys new signing. Nowt to do with us guvna.

zAbbo

Skybet took £200 at 66/1 so that's why they cut there odds.

invincibleirish

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Ahhhmmmmm....!!!!!
Did you not already answer your own question?!

Not making sense now are we Karmafairy? what you highlighted isn't even a question?. Besides this is the LFC thread, i'd be off topic if i were discussing Villa and not Rafa Benitez's curious personal psychology.

Kess73

Karmafaerie wrote: »

All I'm aying man, is that you can't compare a footballers paycheck with ours.

I can't be bothered to go through it all over Garreth Barry!:P

For me, it is not so much over Barry, in fact it could be any other player had Rafa mentioned them in his place. It is over giving the media ammo when it need not have been done. All this is going to do is open another can of worms in the media during the build up to a new season.

Rafa may be correct in saying the player decided to follow the bigger paycheck, in fact I am sure the player did do that. But why bother to comment on the player's passion and greed? He belongs to another club and not to LFC (thankfully)


It is not as though Rafa does not see how the British media works at this point, and if he does not, then he should be told to give generic comments when dealing with them. I am sick of comments getting said and then made into more than they are every season, especially when they could be easy to avoid.


Take the Barry question.


Media: So Rafa, what happened with Gareth Barry?


Rafa: We had some talks with the player, and were interested in him being part of the squad, but in the end he went to another club, so you would have to ask the player as to why.



or

Media: So Rafa, what happened with Gareth Barry?



Rafa: Money, Money , Money, followed by comments about the player lacking passion.



I do think that the media crapstorms that seem to happen every season around something or somethings that Rafa says during the season do have a negative effect on the team, that, however small the effect, is not acceptable if it interferes with the business of winning points.


I know Rafa is not the worst manager out there for making comments that do not need to be said, but he is one of the ones that gets his comments picked up on the most by the media, and as such I think a bit more savvy is needed when dealing with the media.


I think it would be very different if we had won the title last season as I do believe the media would suddenly change their taglines about him, and Rafa's Rants would soon become Rafa's brilliance.

Karmafaerie

Kess73 wrote: »

Why not?

In terms of how you or I may view money it may be an invalid reason, but we are not living in a world where 50k to 100k is a normal weekly wage, they are. Add to that the fact that footballers, UK ones anyway, are generally not the best educated nor are they generally shown to have a good track record for protecting their future by investing money.

I would argue that for a large number of modern footballers that the size of the wage packet is very very important, and as much so for being a status symbol in terms of getting more than such and such a player as it is for the need/greed factor.

Okay if we have to go there....

You can't say that footballers live in a different world so have to spend money.
No they don't.
They can choose to.

Lots of footballers don't live a flash lifestyle.
Just like loads of non footballers do live a flash lifestyle.

A footballer earning a modest £60,000 a week nowadays breaks £3,000,000 a year.
That's before any sponsership deals he may have.
Lets say that's a 4 year deal, we're talking about £12,500,000.
Lets not talk about the fact that a footballer plays for 15 years.
And there's a lot of oppertunities for the player to become a pundit/coach/scout/manager etc.
Or that a lot of them start busnisses, like opening resteraunts, bars etc.


We are talking about millionaires here.
So lets put it in perspective.

If Barry really wanted to go to Liverpool, money wouldn't have been an issue.
Just like it wasn't for Nando, Riera, Gerrard (when he turned down higher wages at Chelsea) etc.

PiE

Am I missing a currently raging crapstorm? I see some comments about Barry from Rafa - a coupla articles mentioning it. Hardly a crapstorm. I'd rather be seeing those articles than another "MESSI WANTS MASCH / ALONSO WANTS OUT" headline.

opr

zAbbo wrote: »

Skybet took £200 at 66/1 so that's why they cut there odds.

The £200 was the initial cut from 66/1 to 33/1. The price was continually taken on after each subsequent cut until it got to under even money. It also takes much more money generally to move a price from lets say 3/1 to even money than to move it from 66/1 obviously due to liabilities.

Its also reported that it was the same small group of people who continued to take the price on each time it was slashed.

Opr

Karmafaerie

invincibleirish wrote: »

Not making sense now are we Karmafairy? what you highlighted isn't even a question?. Besides this is the LFC thread, i'd be off topic if i were discussing Villa and not Rafa Benitez's curious personal psychology.

I highlighted the answer.


See the quote of yours before the one I highlighted?
The one with the question mark?
That was the question.

I don't know about you, but usualy, the question comes before the answer.


I'll put it simply for you however.
You asked what was wrong with Boggles point.

invincibleirish wrote:

Whats wrong with Boggles point?

What was wrong was that Villa/MON had nothing to do with this.
Which is exactly what you had already said.

invincibleirish wrote:

Its got nothing to do with Villa or MON!

See.
Simple.

And incase you're wondering why, you answered that one yourself too!

invincibleirish wrote:

Besides this is the LFC thread, i'd be off topic if i were discussing Villa

Well done.

Kess73

Karmafaerie wrote: »

Okay if we have to go there....

You can't say that footballers live in a different world so have to spend money.
No they don't.
They can choose to.

Lots of footballers don't live a flash lifestyle.
Just like loads of non footballers do live a flash lifestyle.

A footballer earning a modest £60,000 a week nowadays breaks £3,000,000 a year.
That's before any sponsership deals he may have.
Lets say that's a 4 year deal, we're talking about £12,500,000.
Lets not talk about the fact that a footballer plays for 15 years.
And there's a lot of oppertunities for the player to become a pundit/coach/scout/manager etc.
Or that a lot of them start busnisses, like opening resteraunts, bars etc.


We are talking about millionaires here.
So lets put it in perspective.

If Barry really wanted to go to Liverpool, money wouldn't have been an issue.
Just like it wasn't for Nando, Riera, Gerrard (when he turned down higher wages at Chelsea) etc.

He got a well publicised pay rise which brought his wages to pretty much the same as he was being offered by Chelsea, so he is a poor example.



It has been turned into a wages discussion, one which my opinion differs slightly, or a lot, from the opinion you and some others have, which is fair enough as it does not makes any of us right or wrong, just means we disagree somewhat.


The thrust of my original point is the now what is becoming the regular Rafa media shyte that seems to be a common roadshow each season. Why comment on a player that does not play for the club and allow himself to be drawn on it, especially when it only ends up sounding like sour grapes.

He is long enough in the UK to know what the gutter press are like, and he should know pretty well as to how they like to use the slightest thing he says to make a so called story out of. I know Rafa is not above washing dirty laundery in public himself, but someone in the public eye, and who is used to being in front of the media, does not need to be giving them any extra ammo, and certainly when it is about a player that went elsewhere.


If people want to continue the wage conversation, by all means do so, and I will give my take which will either agree or disagree with the take of others, but I am not going to be like the sheep of some of the other LFC websites that are bleating about how "Rafa is telling it like it is" when I do not think he is correct to do so at the press conference that is for a player that has just joined the club.


It is getting to the point where the media know they will get soundbytes from Rafa that they can muddy the water with, and he keeps feeding them.

spockety

Isn't there a specific Gareth Barry thread? Might be a good idea to resurrect it.

invincibleirish

spockety wrote: »

Isn't there a specific Gareth Barry thread? Might be a good idea to resurrect it.

Isn't this about Rafa Benitez though? he's the only one saying anything.

jesus_thats_gre

Oh great, some tard says something stupid again on the thread and now we all have to read 10 pages of ****e again. ****ing super!

PiE

invincibleirish wrote: »

Isn't this about Rafa Benitez though? he's the only one saying anything.

Oh sorry I thought it was about you trying to stir sh*t.

DeadSkin

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Oh great, some tard says something stupid again on the thread and now we all have to read 10 pages of ****e again. ****ing super!

I blame the people that respond to it :pac:

invincibleirish

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

Oh great, some tard says something stupid again on the thread and now we all have to read 10 pages of ****e again. ****ing super!

Bit harsh on Rafa to call him that to be fair. These comments of his are unneccessary thats true but i'm sure he has his reasons.

jesus_thats_gre

DeadSkin wrote: »

I blame the people that respond to it :pac:

It's your fault! How does that make you feel, eh?