Redman

Not Liverpool, Rafa. But fair enough. If you're happy to settle for a lesser manager, I'll let you crack on.

Hi,just wondering why Rafa wasn't even considered at Liverpool when Roy was sacked?? There is a reason and i know it but you won't admit it for some unkown reason! The reason was Kenny Dalglish. Kenny Dalglish was out of Management for over ten years at that stage,but the way your talking up Rafa he should have been given the job that he F**ked up so beautifully only 6 months previously! Surely going by your reasoning with a new board Rafa would have flourished?? Rafa is an utter Buffoon and a clown of the highest order and i'm confident that he will not be the manager of my great club! You don't know what you're talking about. That much is clear. It's like me coming on here and telling you how great O'Neill was, how he made you a top-6 side and how Lerner must be a complete **** idiot for not backing him.

Redman I wouldn't mind Rafa Benitez at all. It's sad to see so many people that still haven't forgot the Rafa-Barry-MON saga. I was also pretty upset and called him prick and so on, but that was just because i tried to buy our player and not paying what he was worth. But then again would love him to the same thing for us. As you say better have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in. Is that what this is all about? The Barry thing? If it is, I can understand it. That's reason enough not to want him, I'd say. But it's not reason enough to invent a skip load of horseshit to dump on top his credentials.

Hi,just wondering why Rafa wasn't even considered at Liverpool when Roy was sacked?? There is a reason and i know it but you won't admit it for some unkown reason! The reason was Kenny Dalglish. He's the reason you have probably blown close to £70 million on Carroll, Henderson and that guy from blackburn Time will tell.

Hi,just wondering why Rafa wasn't even considered at Liverpool when Roy was sacked?? There is a reason and i know it but you won't admit it for some unkown reason! The reason was Kenny Dalglish.

Do you know what? I hope you get **** McClaren. You don't deserve Rafa.

They finished 2nd oin the 08/09 SEASON. He took over in 04. Point being?? What were his other league finishes? Never for one minute did they look like actually winning the league when he was there, even that season they finished second. Give it a moment's thought and ask yourself - why the hell should Liverpool have won the league under Rafa? He was up against free-spending Chelsea and an established Manc side capable of adorning their already strong squad with expensive additions.

This is getting more surreal by the minute. It wasn't Houllier's team at all. It was some of his players, sure. Key players during that campaign: Luis Garcia. Top-scorer. Not a Houllier player. Jamie Carragher. Centre-back. Houllier used him as a full-back. Steven Gerrard. Player of the tournament. Attacking-mid. Houllier played him deeper.

If anybody's interested, on average, over Rafa's six year spell, Liverpool were the UEFA number 1 ranked team in Europe. That's number 1.

Didn't know there were rules governing HOW I should hate anyone. You love him fine.....have him back then In that case Denis, I hate you because you're in cahoots with shoe-bomber Richard Reid. It doesn't matter if the above is true or not, does it?

Oh look. More ill-informed, poorly-researched nonsense. And the last thing I need is a lecture off you! At least four of the above points are either factually incorrect or highly debatable. Hate the guy, by all means. But at least hate him accurately.

Oh look. More ill-informed, poorly-researched nonsense.

I'm a bit anxious about it, I must admit. I don't think Henderson, Wickham and Jones (assuming these deals go through) will necessarily go straight into the team. Maybe they'll just replace the likes of Cole, Poulsen and Jovanovic on the bench to start with. Offset the large transfer fees against the saved wages of that lot and it doesn't look like bad business. Fair point about the wages, Cole's on an absolute fortune isnt he ? Buying one of them is fine but buying 3 " prospects " for the £30 - £40m they would cost is definately a bit risky IMO ( unless you have a HUGE budget ). I don't see how they would come in and improve the team immediately, which is what you need if your to be challenging for champions league places again Agree which is why I wonder if we do have a HUGE budget this summer to bring in experienced first-teamers as well. I'm guessing the plan is to build a strong squad as quickly as possible. If they can do it in one window, they will. Which begs the obvious question - where is the money coming from? My theory is that the new owners factored a large transfer kitty into the take-over. The previous owners had to sell for £440m to break even but the sale was forced through for £300m. So they could pump the £140m saved into the club. What the FFP implications would be, I don't know.

The only thing that troubles me with Rafa is his transfer record. It went downhill quite rapidly didn't it? Here's an interesting piece. Do the maths and it shows Rafa was a shrewd investor: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/8113372/Sorry-Robbie-Savage-success-in-football-is-all-about-money-and-I-can-prove-it.html#disqus_thread I don't know if you saw in the Ashley Young thread my post breaking down the story of how the Gareth Barry transfer failed. In summary, it broke down because nobody was pulling in the same direction. And it was a similar story every transfer window (except the Torres one to be fair). He never truly built the team he wanted - not because he couldn't afford to but for all sorts of reasons like not moving for targets quickly enough, having funds withdrawn, CEO interference, you name it. Rafa is highly resourceful but in the end, his resources ran dry. He started to lose his best players, the ones that stayed felt deceived and there was no way forward.

Agreed. It's mind-blowing.

You know how one popular opinion is that Martin O'Neil is a good manager who took you into some kind of contention? And that Randy **** up in a big way by not backing him? And then basically admitted that **** up by panic-buying a striker to save you from relegation? Do you find that point-of-view exasperating? If you do, that's what it's like for me reading some of the unadultered, ill-informed bullshit about Rafa Benitez.

McClaren, Hughes, Moyes....most of the names we've been seriously linked with. Absurd

I'm a bit anxious about it, I must admit. I don't think Henderson, Wickham and Jones (assuming these deals go through) will necessarily go straight into the team. Maybe they'll just replace the likes of Cole, Poulsen and Jovanovic on the bench to start with. Offset the large transfer fees against the saved wages of that lot and it doesn't look like bad business.

As for Bébé, I am hoping beyond hope it's Ferguson's Ali Dia moment. Something very fishy about that deal. Kid sold for £8m five weeks after joining club on a free. Third-party ownership involved too. Somebody somewhere did very nicely out of that.

Raphael Honigstein's Twitter timeline is interesting this morning. http://twitter.com/#!/honigstein He's on about how little transparency there is within English clubs; how the media have no idea what managers do and don't do. Perception is based on behaviour in press conferences etc... and therefore often false.

I could be wrong but I see Henderson playing on the right of a midfield three. He might be the long-term replacement for Gerrard but Stevie isn't finished yet so I'm not sure where else Henderson would get a game except out wide.

I can't say I've seen enough of Wickham to form an opinion either. He's only just 18 so I guess the scouts must just think he's good for his age. From what I have seen, he's a bit more mobile than Carroll so although they are both target men, I see him bringing something different to the table. If this little compilation is anything to go by, I thought he held his own quite well against Arsenal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YK8j4uEFgY At £8-10m, I'm not too concerned to be honest. I know it's nuts but it doesn't seem like that much money these days. If Alex Ferguson can spend £8m on a homeless Portuguese winger who he's never seen play, Wickham suddenly doesn't look like such a huge risk. Plus if it doesn't work out, he'll still be young with a decent resale value.

Henderson is so overrated! Remember his England debut one of the worst i have ever seen. Yeah, definitely paying for potential with Henderson. Didn't really kick on as much as expected last season but still productive as proven here: http://basstunedtored.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/top-15-chance-creators.jpg?w=441&h=330 Here's the good stuff he did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBsk69cBhpM The fee is supposedly £16m rising to £20m. An awful lot of money for unproven talent but it's crucial we start getting quality service into Carroll and Henderson is somebody with the ability to deliver it.

Wondering if Hughes sees Villa as a fallback option. Ideally, he'd like the Chelsea job but Villa is still worth quitting Fulham for. I'm not sure he'd quit Fulham for Everton though

Henderson and Wickham both set to sign for Liverpool this week according to reports.