Redman

But Gerrard said Cole could do things that Messi can't do and I thought Cole would win player of the season Agree though he has been an awful signing I'd be tempted to melt Joe Cole down. Get more for him that way.

Would love you to get Moyes for obvious reasons. He's got to leave Everton at some point, hasn't he? Nobody could accuse him of disloyalty if he walked out now.

As a Liverpool supporter, I always liked Milan because of this:

I'm afraid we had even less to play for! The game had that end-of-the-season feel about it. But much of your commercial revenues will be predicated on CL qualification. Sponsors won't pay as much if you are not there and shirt sales will drop materially if the Asians aren't seeing Stevie G against Milan etc. on a Wednesday night. That's true. Which is why it's critical to get back there ASAP. Football is a very funny business though. You make more money and you pay you more out in wages. Barca are by far the best team in the world and have the largest revenues but I don't see any profits there. I think your owners are in for a bit of a shock over the next few years. I would love to see their business plan. Just my personal opinion. I'm 100% sure FSG have done their homework. I know FFP was a big factor in the takeover. We were fourth from bottom when they took over so they weren't phased by the prospect of no CL. A bit OT anyway as we are supposed to be talking about DJ. I can't see him moving to Plop this summer unless you are absolutely prepared to pay a stupid price. Apart from the fact that he will not be getting European Football he would also risk getting his house broken in to and his cinema system being half inched! :winkold: I agree it will take a large bid to shift him. I think I'd rather walk away than pay what it will take to do business.

Good man.

Benitez's frivolity with cash/wages would make O'Neil look like a miser Arghhhh. FFS.

I'm sure it will and it certainly needs to be judging by that final day display. Your two best players - Gerard and Carragher - have now seen their best days and the squad requires some serious restructuring. Outside of the CL and based in the NW your revenues will go backwards and it will be even harder to keep up with the current top 4. NESV (I think that's your owners name) are business people and are looking for a return. I'm not sure how they are going to achieve this? Abramovich, Mansour and even, to a lesser extent, Lerner are not looking at the model in this way. It is more of a hobby for those three. The interesting thing for me is how/when these FIFA regulations bite. The ungeared sides with good academies - Arsenal are probably the prime model - should then move into pole position?? I wouldn't read too much into that final day display. Half the squad was injured by that point plus nothing to play for (except outside chance of Europa League). Commercially, Liverpool is second only to Man U. But unlike them, we are debt-free without the crippling interest payments. Matchday and CL revenue are the only areas of weakness. FSG are looking for a return but over the long-term. The plan is to increase revenue through success. That means CL qualification is critical so if they have to spend their way back into it, it looks like they will.

You're doing the guy a massive injustice but I won't go into it again. Hardly his record pretty much shows that. I'm not taking away from him what he has won as a manager in the past. He was managing Liverpool with his hands tied. Madrid, Juventus, Bayern all approached him at one time or another. He could have gone and maintained his record. But he didn't - he stayed to fight for Liverpool. And this is his reward - his record is tarnished and now not even Villa want him (no offence but you're not Madrid, Juventus or Bayern).

Not the same at all. With the unlimited funds City could provide and how much they were spending it was obvious to everybody that City would get CL. After all we had already watched it happen with Chelski recently. As I have said it would be a poor bet to place on Liverpool doing the same in the next few seasons. I wouldn't be so sure. Money will be spent.

You're doing the guy a massive injustice but I won't go into it again.

That isn't a fact though. Have a little trawl around the net and see for yourself. Truth hurts, old son. You're owned by NESV and a basketball player. How very small time! You're telling us all that Liverpool are on an upward curve yet you sold your very best player last season, lost as many games as Villa and were given a good old beating by us at Villa Park on the last day of the season. You've been reading too many delusional, positively spun posts written by Scouse hacks, my friend. (Tony Evans, Tony Barrett and the like do you guys no favours by whipping you up into an unrealistic frenzy.) And remember - our manager left us five days from the start of the season in absolute turmoil. Looking at the form table from the end of last last season I'd be sticking my money on Villa. If "Handball" Suarez (scourge of the Dutch league) and Ten Pints Carroll are the signs that Liverpool mean business then, fantastic. A finish somewhere between 5th and 9th will be what you are getting. Trawl round the net? Are you kidding? Mate, I've been following the daily narrative of the Liverpool ownership saga for the past 4 years. I know exactly who NESV (renamed FSG) are. FSG are a sports management group of 18 partners some of whom are dollar billionaires, the rest are dollar multi-millionnaires. Most are financiers of some description. There's nothing small time about them. Congratulations on your 1-0 win. You were the better team on the day. What else is there to say about it? And if the form table since Kenny took over is an indicator (and I'm not saying it is) that's us comfortable in the top 4 at worst. Aye, and if the form table since Gary Mac took the Villa reins is anything to go by, Villa would have won the league! So we agree it's meaningless then?

Like I said earlier in the thread, you could make similar arguments for why Milner and Barry weren't stepping up by moving to City.

Sounds plausible. Hiddink seems to be getting closer to Chelsea so that isn't an option for Hughes.

That isn't a fact though. Have a little trawl around the net and see for yourself. Truth hurts, old son. You're owned by NESV and a basketball player. How very small time! You're telling us all that Liverpool are on an upward curve yet you sold your very best player last season, lost as many games as Villa and were given a good old beating by us at Villa Park on the last day of the season. You've been reading too many delusional, positively spun posts written by Scouse hacks, my friend. (Tony Evans, Tony Barrett and the like do you guys no favours by whipping you up into an unrealistic frenzy.) And remember - our manager left us five days from the start of the season in absolute turmoil. Looking at the form table from the end of last last season I'd be sticking my money on Villa. If "Handball" Suarez (scourge of the Dutch league) and Ten Pints Carroll are the signs that Liverpool mean business then, fantastic. A finish somewhere between 5th and 9th will be what you are getting. Trawl round the net? Are you kidding? Mate, I've been following the daily narrative of the Liverpool ownership saga for the past 4 years. I know exactly who NESV (renamed FSG) are. FSG are a sports management group of 18 partners some of whom are dollar billionaires, the rest are dollar multi-millionnaires. Most are financiers of some description. There's nothing small time about them. Congratulations on your 1-0 win. You were the better team on the day. What else is there to say about it? And if the form table since Kenny took over is an indicator (and I'm not saying it is) that's us comfortable in the top 4 at worst.

Why are you so concerned about the next villa manager if you support redscum ? and why are you telling us the shit candidates are good enough? Why are you belligerent? I wouldn't be any where a liverpool forum, telling you how great Doug Ellis and David O leary is ..................so why are you here - talking up duff managers ? - seems a reasonable question ? I'm trying to be helpful - genuinely. I wouldn't want McClaren either but if he's the man you end up with, it's not all bad. Like I said, most of the derision he attracts has nothing to do with his club management. I was kidding about the Southgate-McClaren dream ticket though. That would be ridiculous.

How about a Southgate-McClaren dream ticket?

Why are you so concerned about the next villa manager if you support redscum ? and why are you telling us the shit candidates are good enough? Why are you belligerent?

To be fair to McLaren, his record in English club football is alright. He's a laughing stock because of his Dutch interview and England failure. But his accent has no bearing on his managerial ability and international football is a completely different kettle of fish. Every England manager gets tarred and feathered by the press in the end and for what? Just losing a few games, really. He's nobody's first choice but I don't think he'd necessarily be an unmitigated disaster either. He's hungry to re-establish himself, won't be shy to blood your kids and he might convince Downing to hang around.

Cup runs are great but hardly indicate progress as your neighbours will testify. Pako left in the summer of 2007. Our highest league position and best form under Rafa came in 2009.

Benitez is a man who lost his second in command and then went on to lose his brains. That's horseshit as you would find out for yourself if you checked rather than just regurgitating what somebody else said. Nope, my own opinion. Bugger off back to RAWK. I'm doing you a favour here - your opinion is wrong. All you have to do is check.

Benitez is a man who lost his second in command and then went on to lose his brains. That's horseshit as you would find out for yourself if you checked rather than just regurgitating what somebody else said.

Benitez is a tactical genius with encyclopaedic knowledge of the game. Zonal marking, 65th min subs and rotation will drive you nuts until you check the stats and see that they all pay-off over the course of a season.

duplicate

On the plus side (for you lot), The Telegraph were wrong to claim Carlo had been contacted. Which means they might be wrong about Shteeve too.

Og come on, like you didnt want Ancelotti? Cut the crap... As an outsider, it would have been fascinating. And if it worked out, it could have fast-tracked you towards the big-time. But I just don't think the chances of it working out were that great. He was ideal for Chelsea who had a strong, mature squad that just needed finessing. But Villa have a weak, young squad that needs quite a lot of rebuilding, in my opinion. Could have been risky asking Carlo to do that job in this country.