Redman

Obviously you're entitled to favour whichever managerial appointment you like. But with respect, that isn't a very well-informed assessment at all. What would you suggest then? Maybe ask a few fans on a Liverpool board and bring it back here for us to look over? Not a lot of us are fans of his. Edit: that sounds sarcastic and I want to assure you, it is not written with that intent, I am genuinely interested. It might be worth reading the following excerpts from Brian Reade's recent book. These shed a lot of light on the sort of nonsense Rafa had to deal with during his time at Liverpool: http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Brian-Reade-An-Epic-Swindle-44-Months-With-A-Pair-Of-Cowboys-Read-extract-of-how-Liverpool-was-dragged-to-its-knees-during-the-shambolic-reign-of-US-owners-Tom-Hicks-and-George-Gillett-article725227.html http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Brian-Reade-An-Epic-Swindle-44-Months-With-A-Pair-Of-Cowboys-Read-extract-of-how-Liverpool-co-owner-thought-Steven-Gerrard-was-gay-article725313.html http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Brian-Reade-An-Epic-Swindle-44-Months-With-A-Pair-Of-Cowboys-Day-Three-Read-extract-of-how-Liverpool-owners-Hicks-and-Gillett-betrayed-Rafa-Benitez-and-wooed-Jurgen-Klinsmann-article725482.html

Obviously you're entitled to favour whichever managerial appointment you like. But with respect, that isn't a very well-informed assessment at all.

I love the guy to bits. I've posted my views about Rafa before - not sure if the forum will appreciate my repeating them. All I'll say is he was the one man fighting on behalf of the club and the supporters when Liverpool was a dysfunctional basket-case being torn apart by self-serving sharks in the boardroom. It's to his great credit that he kept us competitive for as long as he did because under Hicks and Gillett, it was only ever a matter of time before it all fell apart.

You might be thinking of Pako Ayersteran. He was the fitness guru though - Rafa is the tactical genius.

They might if Xavi goes to City...

Don't forget buying Robbie Keane for a bloody fortune, not playing him and then selling him back to Spurs for a huge loss. Single handedly fu*king up their youth system by completely ignoring any of the young players and spending a fortune on average players from abroad. And to really top it off he spilt the dish of garlic king prawns that he was serving me, right into my lap on a night out at the local tapas bar last week. The fat twa*!!! Anyway, after the shady way Benitez went about his business throughout the 'never to be' Barry transfer, I have no time for the man and certainly don't trust him. He'd sell Villa down the river quicker than he did his beloved Liverpool. NOT at our club please Randy, nor that clown mclaren with his ridiculous dutch accent, his family must be so embarrassed or do they all speak like him now???. What a load of bollocks. Apart from the Barry thing.

Alonso had been off-form for two years whereas Barry was playing well and establishing himself for England. Aquilani's worth every penny of €20m (euros) if you ask me. Problem was he arrived injured and didn't seem to settle. Jovanovic's £120k includes his signing-on fee spread over the first year. He's probably on £60-70k. Still too much but Purslow was the money man last summer.

Benitez is the man you want. ducks

Gerrard makes the same. He just gets away with less of his. Nah - Gerrard has made a few dodgy tackles in his career but he's never been afraid to challenge for a 50-50. Tackling isn't a difficult skill, is it? It just takes a bit of courage. That's why Scholes never mastered it.

Point being that Gerrard is still playing and has plenty to time to collect further praise from his contemporaries. If there was any point, I'd scour the net for similarly glowing testimonies (and they are out there) but there isn't any point because there's no right or wrong answer here.

Hold your horses - let's wait until Gerrard's retired first!

Cos your opinion would be totally objective on this wouldn't it? Well, my opinion is subjective but I don't think it's biased. There are things Gerrard can do that Scholes could do better. But there are also things Gerrard can do that Scholes couldn't. To me, that makes Stevie the better footballer overall. Stevie Me certainly takes the honours in the diving cheating bastard category Yeah, he does a good starfish impression. But being English, he gets away with it. Just like Scholes always got away with some of the most cowardly and cynical challenges ever witnessed on a football pitch.

Cos your opinion would be totally objective on this wouldn't it? Well, my opinion is subjective but I don't think it's biased. There are things Gerrard can do that Scholes could do better. But there are also things Gerrard can do that Scholes couldn't. To me, that makes Stevie the better footballer overall.

Scholes v Gerrard? Scholes was the better ball-player but Gerrard the better ball-carrier and ball-winner. I'd give the edge to Gerrard because he's the more complete footballer.

but it does. If Young/Downing had 3 years left on their deal, then you can just outright reject any deal ....once it goes down to two years, then that's the last time you can get their true value ...and 1 year left, you're getting half of what you should really. If Downing was contract to 2014 then there is no way we'd even contemplate selling IMO unless something stupid like £22-25 million came in. Agree with all that but I think it's the mark of an ambitious club to be prepared to risk big losses. You don't have to let either Young or Downing go this summer if you don't want. Instead, appoint a strong manager, give him £30-40m to spend and have a crack at CL qualification yourselves. See how they both feel in a years time. It probably isn't realistic but I don't see how else you'll break the cycle of bringing good players up to international standard and then losing them.

Liverpool are much much bigger than us, it would be naive to think otherwise. I know they are a bigger club historically and all that but I think the potential in our squad with a top manager is greater than theirs right now. Gerrard and Carragher are old now and their youngsters are not as good as ours. We can match their wages and I'd much rather have Darren Bent than Andy Carroll. Debatable about the youngsters. The Liverpool academy is starting to produce some real quality again under the guidance of Borrell and Segura - two of the guys who helped bring through this current Barcelona side at La Masia. You could make the case that Liverpool are well positioned to emulate Barca with the current set-up and Kenny returning to re-establish the pass-and-move philosophy. With the new owners and an ambitious new project, I'd see Liverpool as quite an attract draw right now - despite the temporary lack of European competition. Admittedly, I am biased though.

Salary, popularity and prestige.

Dont talk bollocks Dalglish! Its all about your club has some money now and how much you gonna offer. Players dont give a shit about your history and tradition. It's not so much the history and tradition as reputation and popularity. Liverpool players get more worldwide TV coverage, better shirt sales and higher status than most clubs can offer. And they get to play in an iconic stadium.

i'd take 15m for him, i don't think he's that good at all, or at least not as good as he should be What did he cost, £12m? I'd add at least £3m on to that for his performances this season. Then another £3m because he's English. At least £18m, I reckon. Maybe more if you play hardball.

What price do you reckon he would go for? Realistically, like.

I think it's an unfortunate side-effect that comes with changing management. Downing might have felt more loyalty to MON - the man who signed him. You look at clubs like Everton and have to admit they've done well to keep hold of their key players. They've lost the odd one like Lescott but I'd say the long-term association with Moyes has gone a long way towards forging a lasting team spirit that has kept their players settled.

Man Citeh might be able to pull those kind of stunts. Or Chelsea, if they want any more of your players. But I'm not sure the Redscouse have that kind of pull, financially or status wise anymore. Two of your best players wanted out for CL football and the chance to win things (with maybe Pepe to follow) and leaving us to join a club who have finished 7th and 6th in the past few years would -at the present time- be a sideways step. Young to Man U has been reported as a done deal in a quite a few quarters. If Liverpool were in the box seat in that one it would have probably come out by now. Obviously such a strategy would only work if both Young and Downing were interested in a move to Liverpool. For arguments sake, I'm assuming they are. The point is Villa could have an incentive to sell Young to Liverpool rather than the Mancs, that's all. I won't get into the whole debate about where Liverpool are at as a club because it's off-topic.

I wondered if Liverpool's Downing interest could be part of a wider strategy to leverage a deal for Young. I think our interest in both is genuine but I reckon we only want one of them. If we got Young, we'd probably bugger off.

Struan Marshall is also Steven Gerrard's agent by the way

There were reports earlier this month that you'd opened talks with him to fend of interest