RedRobMol

no, singing a player of great potential for a pretty reasonable fee. Like all clubs do, all the time. How is that buying the league. Look at the net spend. Garcia -?4m, Gonzalez -?4m, Bellamy -?7.5m, Cisse -?6m, (-?21.5m) Torres ?20m, Babel ?11m, Lucas ?5m, Benayoun ?5-6m. Total net spend on first team players ?20-21m. Hardly blowing the budget. now off the top of my head... Veron ?15-20m Carvalho ?20m Drogba ?24m Essien ?32m Ferriera ?14m Robben ?16m Shevchenko ?30m i'm glad we have finally got the money to mean we can get the players we want, instead of having to settle for pennant when we wanted Alves etc, but buying the league is well off the mark. Wealthy owners they may be, but a sugar daddy they aint!

a god was perhaps overstating it, on both counts. I think he is a top manager and i am very happy to have him in charge. He has his weaknesses of course, and he needs to realise that away games dont need a wholly different approach to home games before we will win the title, but as i say, i am more than happy to have him. After all he got us to 2 champions league finals, winning one, a dream before he arrived. He has also remember won two la liga titles with an unfashionable side, playing some incredible football along the way. When they whipped us at anfield under him in the champions league was one of the best performances i have ever seen from a visiting team. I do see him winning the league, i am confident it will happen under him. perhaps that confidence is misplaced, but i hope not.

Just for the record, he?s Brazils U20 captain and last year became the youngest ever winner of the Brazilian player of the year. High hopes for the lad personally.

thought it right to put my 2p worth in. Jose has not shown a lack of respect, but what do you expect from the papers. All clubs have idiot fans, most of them never go to the games and are not something you should let yourself get wound up about. He has shown a lack of respect in the past, "the best team lost" statement being one such time, but who cares. I think he's a knobend, you lot think hes god, i'm sure the reverse is true of benitez. The pressure is on Benitez now more than ever before but not because we have shelled out sh*t loads of money, when you look at Net spend we have spent no more than our usual budget. The pressure is on in my opinion because in the past he has been able to say he couldnt get his main targets and had to settle for quantity over quality because we didnt have the funds and had too many gaps in the squad, now he has bought the players he wanted so there is undoubtedly more pressure. If we dont win the league this year I dont think Benitez will have failed however, but if we dont challenge from the outset I think he will have failed to deliver and although I would not be asking for his head, the pressure to deliver the following season would be huge. We have to start well, simple as that, but then again so do you, as currently we are both playing catch up. We have not splashed the cash in the same way that your lot have since RA's arrival, but still we need to challenge.

welcome, dont say anything too inflamatory and you'll be ok here.

I'm pretty bored at work and was reading through the rime of the ancient mariner and it inspired me to write a poem as the rime of the modern footballer (mainly because i dont know anything about mariners!) the only thing is, i cant think of a good way to end it, any ideas? The rime of the modern footballer It is a modern footballer, And he be one of three, The man of honour local boy, Celeb or mercenary, The one who plays for love of club, For love of sport and he, The two who go where money flows, Bright lights and salary The local boy grew up round here, Stood on terraces cheering his side, Now he wears that famous strip, Plays with commitment, passion and pride He works for his team mates, And runs through brick walls, Gives blood sweat and tears, Always giving his all The Mercenary too stood in the stands, And followed his once loved team, But now he couldn?t give a toss, It?s now cash he follows it seems, There remains no doubt to the talent he has, Clubs line up to sign him to them, He sifts through the contracts to the largest fee, Quickly signs on the line with his pen The celebrity star stood in a similar spot, Supporting the team just the same, Dreaming of one day wearing that strip, Bunking off school to work on his game, But once he had that glimpse of success, His dreams they soon did change, His eyes were caught by the sparkling lights, Now all that he dreams of is fame The local boy who plays with pride Is now loved and adored by the masses The mercenary sings for his latest club Throws his arms up in disgust, wont chase passes The Celebrity now has all that he wished But happiness does not follow He has all the cars, the model girlfriend But the fans don?t truly love him, it is hollow. In a cruel twist of fate they are now reunited, On the same American surgeon?s table, They talk of old times and onto the new, Each one with an interesting fable, The injuries persist and the season is over, And the fate of the three can be seen, The local boy is still adored by the fans, And through hard work he returns to the team, The mercenary is happy to rest on the bench, Picking up his cheque all the same, His contract expires and suddenly clubs, Aren?t so interested in this ones name, While the Celebrity was out the fans and the press, Found themselves a new favourite, The limelight has gone, and so too the desire So he packs up his bags set to quit

wasnt that 2 years ago, and wasnt it against newcastle? If he played for us, united or arsenal you lot would slag him off i have no doubt. If he was a liverpool player and we were offered anything like ?15m, i'd be very disappointed if we didnt bite their hands off and gift wrap him.

because his wife is a laughing stock in this country, but virtual royalty in the states, that is simply it.

i agree, he is a top footballer, one of those you are pleased to watch, like Bargkamp or zola in that respect. I still have you as ?10m out though, as all the ?26m references seem to have gone away.

Would you still consider that to be abnormal, given that Liverpool have spent nearly ?30m on a Striker, who arguably, will not score as many goals as Berbatov this season? Rob? i like berbatov, but there has been a lot of unneccesary w**king over him this season. His stats... Name Dimitar Berbatov Team Tottenham Hotspur Total Appearances 32 Starts 29 Substituted 3 Total Minutes Played 2625 Avg Minutes Played Per Start 90.52 Goals 12 Avg Goal Mins When Starting 16.0 Avg Mins Played/Goal Scored 219 Goals Scored As Sub 0 Number of Bookings 1 Total Booking Minutes 30 Avg Bookings Per Start 0.03 Number of Red Cards 0 Total Red Card Minutes 0 Avg Red Cards Per Start 0 Avg Booking Minutes When Starting 1.0 If Torres scores less than 12 in 32 this season i will be very disappointed. Also "nearly ?30m"? where does that come from. It is universally understood that we spent around ?20m on him, although it was thought to be near ?26m initially the final figures put forward by most sources seem to be ?20m. In fact a reliable source of mine suggests it was ?18.2m

shows up how wrong the brittish transfer system and market is. He is a good player, but for anyone to put his value at anything like ?40 is "abnormal" in the extreme. nice that some players realise this.

that is class.

disagree with you there Loz, we've suffered over the last couple of years by spending ?6-10m per player so we could get 4 or 5 new recruits and they havent been good enough. Think Pennnant vs Alves, we couldnt afford Alves so we had to settle for a cheaper option, Alves's value has gone up so much since that we would have to pay ?8-10m more than we couldnt afford last time while Pennant is still a decent winger who doesnt score enough. We needed a top striker and i hope we have got one, now we are short of quality wingers, hopefully Babel can fill that gap.

i do like benayoun, as a squad player. Lil' Luis was a favourite do gonna be hard to replace but i do definately like yossi. Dont know what he is like off the ball really and how well he works back but we will see i guess. Think its decent value at ?4-5m. As for Babel, i cant really say too much, watched a bit of dutch football a couple of years back and he looked an excellent prospect then at 18, but havent seen his progress since. There have been some rave reviews around, especially in the euro U21's the other week, so promising. I fully agree with your final sentence, failing to challenge this year will be unacceptable. I have a feeling this will be the end of the shopping spree though, cant see anyone else of any value coming in personally.

havent dictated a thing, i asked a question. Gem, i didnt initially use Loz's name in the post, but thought it would make a good addition when i re-read it.

i wasnt trying to criticise JT, he is a gret defender.

I'm interested in the articluate and educated response to my last question? i pm'd you with my response mate, to try and save elliot's sanity. For the good of the board you might say.

that must be why you all think Lampard is incredible if you think john terry's passing ability is excellent. He either plays it short or hoofs it upfield, much like Carragher. Carragher debuted at a midfielder, and played both full back positions well for years before becomming a centre half, so if thats your argument for Terry, does it apply to Carragher too? too simple?

sounds to me like you've just described JT. England is not the be all and end all you know. If Liverpool win the championship in the next 5 years then Carra will have won every club honour except for the world club championships. In that time England will still have won f**k all since 66, so i'm sur he'll be gutted. f**k england and the muppets that go alonf with them.

it doesnt read to me like he is throwing his toys, just saying f**k it, if i'm not gonna get a game, why bother with the whole bollocks of it. Carra has stated before "f**k it, its only england". i dont see the problem, if there are better players no-one should care. Liverpool fans will be happy that he'll stay fit and not have any burn out.

yes you have, we were all to blame for the ban, including chelsea. No, i havent heard of this before.

i'll have to find that one of chelsea fans on a pedestal wearing whiter than white suits shall i?

i know, didnt think about it, just quoted. should be removed though nonetheless.

agree with that. I dont mind it for goal line decisions, but really dont see the need for it anywhere else.

Loz, can this be removed? a manc scumbag was banned for posting this wasnt he? put up the Liverpool Stealers one if you must, but that is f**king disgusting.