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Kenny was sacked for not getting 4th???? I beg to differ. Maybe Kenny was sacked because after inheriting quality players like Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Lucas, Gerrard, Kelly, Johnson - experienced players like Carra, Kuyyt, Maxi and then spending in excess of £100 million on new players to claim 8th place on same points as Fulham, 37 points behind the top 2 with the lowest points total for 56 years may have been nearer the mark. It just depends whether your wearing rose tinted specs when you are looking for an excuse to back a manager who despite his well earned iconic status, was clearly not up to the task in hand!

And your point is ??????? Klopp still came from Mainz to Dortmund on the back of a relegation to Bundesliga 2 with no European experience. Guardiola might have had a distinguished playing career but so did Maradona and John Barnes!! It doesn’t alter the fact that Guardiola had NO managerial experience and no European experience other than as a player. Mourinho had a successful spell at Porto where the Portuguese league is just about a duopoly but was pretty much a one team league when the special one was in charge. AVB followed the same route as Mourinho and failed. Is Rodgers a massive gamble? Of course, but I didn’t get the impression that any of the big guns where interested in putting their reputations on the line by taking over a critically injured club. All I would ask is that he got a fair crack of the whip and that he is judged on his merits rather than cast aspersions on the ability of a manager whose team we haven’t seen yet. If he closes the gap between 8th and 4th in his first year with an attractive style of play, it should be deemed a success. Progression is key. Rome wasn’t built in a day. If it goes pear shaped and we go backwards, the revolving door policy adopted by the Real Madrid’s and Chelsea’s of this world will no doubt be adopted at Anfield and we will move on to the next chapter. That’s modern football! See the glass as half full not half empty!

Cannot believe the abject negativity, primarily from ignorant supporters ill-qualified to make judgement. Despite our storied history, at this moment in time it saddens me to say that we are an irrelevant club. A mid table finish, the worst points total in 56 years and no champions league football since the Rafa era and still the deluded protagonists insist the owners have failed us by not hiring a Guardiola, Mourinho, Hiddink calibre of manager. The truth is, we are not such an attractive proposition as we would like to think we are and the likelihood of a first class coach at the top of his game coming to Anfield in the current climate was very remote, a complete no starter. Realistically, the owner’s top two targets were without question two of the brightest young coaches in the UK. Why the negativity? Why stand in judgement? Media reports suggest Rodgers learnt his trade at Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. I also hear Spain’s management team have invited him to the Euros. The Swansea team he managed played us off the park both home and away last season and their performance at Fulham was breathtakingly sublime. Although a huge gamble, Rodgers could prove to be a monumental appointment for the club. I can understand the disappointment of not being able to attract a ‘high’ profile manager but will never understand the negativity towards the appointing of a potentially great coach. We laboured to 8th position on 49 points under the king but because of his iconic status many were reluctant to criticise. Kenny made many mistakes during his short reign, hence the lowly finish. Yes, admittedly he brought the feel good factor back and stabilised the club but In my humble opinion the step up to manager was too much for a man who had been out of the hot seat for too long. Thankfully he came out unscathed. The remit of 4th place is a tall order, no matter who is in charge. In the modern game, success is dictated by money and the longer we are absent from the riches of the Champions League, the wider the financial gulf becomes. That in itself is enough to compete with but throw in the cash from the Arabs and Oligarchs and it becomes nigh on impossible, irrelevant of who is in the hot seat. People need to get their heads out of the sand and see the modern game for what it is. Kennys LFC team was obviously good enough for the domestic cups but fell way short of the requirements of the Premiership. That needs to be addressed by adding quality to the squad rather than mediocrity. That is where the manager needs the backing of the owners in the transfer market. Quality will improve consistency. I think we are some distance away from Man Utd and Man City. Abramovich will ensure Chelsea will up their game and elevate them on to a par with the two Manchester outfits. That leaves one place up for grabs. Arsenal will surely spend this year so it is imperative Rodgers brings in the right players and gets the best out of Carroll and Henderson whom were surely mismanaged under Kenny. Downing was disappointing and in my opinion lacks heart. If he doesn’t hit the ground running, we need to cut our losses and they will be big! I am genuinely excited by the appointment of a young aspiring coach and look forward to a summer for the first time in many years. Let’s concentrate on progress rather than the pressure of 4th place. Patience is key here. I don’t think the owbers are bothered about cups. Profit is their remit and the best way of ensuring profit is Champs League qualification. Remember, Wenger came from Grampus Eight, Klopp came from Mainz after they were relegated and didn’t achieve promotion, Mourinho was a translator, Guardiola came from nowhere. Every rookie needs a break!!!!!

Excellent post, one of the very few on this thread that is fair and balanced without the need for hurling pointless insults without foundation. In my humble opinion for what it is worth, I think Liverpool FC are still a blue chip club but we are hanging on to that status by the skin of our teeth. Whilst I accept blue chip managers like Guardiola, Mourinho, Hiddink etc our beyond are reach at this moment in our transition, with the utmost respect,I can’t help but feel disappointed that we appear unable to attract a more high profile manager than Roberto Martinez. The cons: No European experience. No Experience of dealing with substantial transfer budgets. No experience of dealing with high profile players and their egos. No experience of top half of the table premiership football. Only had 5 years in management. He has yielded a win ration of only 27% in his 127 games in charge at Wigan but with mitigating circumstances i.e. Constant change of personnel and little or no transfer budget. The pros He is young and ambitious and promotes a good footballing ethos. His teams (Wigan and Swansea) play football in the right manner that is pleasing on the eye. He is media savvy (He will need to be at LFC). In his first full season in charge at Swansea he got them promoted to the championship for first time in 24 yrs and was league one manager of the year. Has successfully, against all odds, kept Wigan in the Premiership even though club is continually punching way above its weight. Nobody on this site can determine whether Roberto will be a success at Liverpool. There is no crystal ball. How are managers like Martinez meant to climb the ladder of success if they are not given a chance? Every manager that went on to climb the ladder of success started their journey on the first rung and that was only made possible because somebody gave them a chance. Most on here, although infinitely unqualified to do so, sit in judgement of a man they really know nothing about other than what they read on wiki. I feel this is quite possibly the most important managerial appointment in Liverpool’s storied history and because of that I am filled with apprehension at the appointment of a rookie manager with no experience. But…….the history books tell us that experience is no guarantee of success. If Roberto does end up in the hot seat, judge him on his merits and not on his achievements to date. Home truths, purely subjective of course: Kenny was a Liverpool legend, indeed still is and always will be. My favourite player by some distance but the truth is, 14 league wins in a season, including only 6 at home is poor by anybody’s standards, never mind a team that has Champions League aspirations. If we all take our rose tinted specs of for just a moment, the truth is that barring a pitiful Carling Cup win, we made zero progress. In fact we went backwards, despite our eagerness for the king to succeed. To give Kenny more time, as much as we hero worship the guy, was little more than blind faith. Let’s not forget, he didn’t inherit a tin pot team from Roy, he inherited quality players like Pepe, Gerrard, Lucas, Agger, Skrtel, Kelly, Johnson and experienced campaigners like Maxi (Underused IMO) and Kuyt. He then spent over £100 million on bringing his own players into the team but still managed to finish a dismal 8th on the same points as Fulham, scoring less than Blackburn and finishing below the shite and Newcastle. New signings Adam and Downing have been shockingly poor. Carroll and Henderson have been largely disappointing but there are mitigating circumstances for their disappointing season IMO i.e. Carroll has not been serviced and Henderson played out of position for most of the campaign. You could argue they have been mismanaged. It will be interesting to see how they perform under the new manager. Given the limited finances available to Spurs, Newcastle and Everton and Arsenals reluctance to spend, I don’t think LFC are a million miles away from that coveted 4th place. With 2 or 3 quality signings (Problem for us as we are at the back of the queue when quality becomes available), a large slice of luck and everyone pulling in the same direction, the future could be brighter than anticipated. If we get it wrong, well, let’s not even go there!!!!

Apologies if this has been published elsewhere on this forum but here is a view from a Uruguayan University Literature and Language Proffesor, maybe LFC should think about contacting him: I will quote first the FA document on the key point: “90. Mr Evra's evidence was that, in response to his question "Why did you kick me?", Mr Suarez replied "Porque tu eres negro". Mr Evra said that at the time Mr Suarez made that comment, he (Mr Evra) understood it to mean "Because you are a ******". He now says that he believes the words used by Mr Suarez mean "Because you are black".” End quote. I read the whole FA report. I am a Uruguayan born in Montevideo, currently a university Literature and Language professor in the US. It is clear to me that the Spanish language reported by Evra is inconsistent with Luis Suárez’s way of speaking Spanish. I am surprised nobody (and especially, the Liverpool lawyers) raised this point. The key is that Evra makes Suárez to appear using forms of Spanish Suárez just wouldn't use. Suárez cannot speak as Evra reported him speaking. And that strongly suggests that Evra made the whole thing up. This is, I believe, key for the case and, if acknowledged, it would destroy Evra’s credibility. The fact that the FA has not noted that Suárez would never say “porque tu eres negro” (that is just not a way of speaking in the Rio de la Plata area), much less “porque tu es negro” or “tues negro” (as Comolly apparently stated), which are gramatically incorrect or just do not exist in Spanish. You don’t use the verb “ser” (to be) in the Rio de la Plata area that way. Luis Suarez would have said “porque SOS negro”. There is no possible variation or alternative to this whatsoever in our use of Spanish. And we of course don’t say “por que tu es negro” (as supposedly Commoly reported) because this is no Spanish syntax. In that sentence “es” is being wrongly conjugated in the third person of singular while it should have been conjugated in the second, “sos” (and never, I repeat, “eres”). Hence, I don't know what Comolly heard from Suarez after the match, but I am positive he got it wrong--unless we believe that Suarez cannot even speak Spanish... What follows to these is that Evra’s report on what Suarez said is unreliable, just because Evra depicts Suárez speaking in a form of Spanish Suárez just does not use.- Suárez cannot have said “porque tu eres negro”. He would have said--if at all he said anything-- “porque sos negro”. And the problem is that this is not what Evra declared. Once again: Evra reports Suárez to have told him “porque tu eres negro” which just sound unplausible. People from Montevideo or Buenos Aires just do NOT USE that verb “ser” (to be) that way. In such a case we would say “porque sos negro”. How come Evra reports Suárez speaking as he does not speak, and the FA accepts his word? Looks like Evra is making this up. *** That said, let’s pay some attention to the incredibly sloppy way the FA has managed the Spanish language in their report. “138. Mr Comolli said in his witness statement that Mr Suarez told him nothing happened. He said that there was one incident where he said sorry to Mr Evra and Mr Evra told him "Don't touch me, South American" to which Mr Comolli thought Mr Suarez said he had replied "Por que, tu eres negro?". (...) Mr Comolli confirmed under cross-examination that he believed that what he was told by Mr Suarez in this meeting was that the words he had used to Mr Evra translated as "Why, because you are black"." Endquote. “Por que, tu eres negro?”…. ??!! This makes no sense. It is no Spanish. “Por qué” means “why” (and not “because” in this case). It is incorrectly spelled by the FA in their official report (they don’t seem to give a damn about Spanish, since they treat Spanish in such a careless way all along the report). It cannot be translated in a way that makes sense. Literally, if I had to translate it, it would be something like this: “why, you are black?” I have no idea what that could mean. And Mr Comolli’s version is VERY different from Suarez’s own statement. Let’s see what Suarez himself reported: "141. Mr Suarez's version of this conversation was as follows. He said that Mr Comolli explained to him that Sir Alex Ferguson and Mr Evra had complained to the referee that Mr Suarez had racially insulted Mr Evra five times during the game. Mr Comolli asked Mr Suarez to tell him what happened. Mr Suarez told him that Mr Evra had said to him "Don't touch me, South American". Mr Suarez had said "Por que negro?". Mr Suarez told Mr Comolli that this was the only thing he had said." What Suarez stated makes perfect sense in the Spanish we speak in the Rio de la Plata area –even though, again, it is ill transcripted by the FA. They should have written: “¿Por qué, negro?”. Then, I have no idea why, the FA believes in the incorrect Spanish of a non native speaker (Comolli), instead of crediting Suarez about his own words… The linguistic abilities of the FA are completely under question here, and they seem to have been key in their grounding of the case. Let’s see how lousy their understanding and use of Spanish language is, by looking in detail at just another part of the reasons alleged by the FA: "284 (...) Mr Comolli said to the referee that Mr Evra first said "you are South American" to Mr Suarez who responded with "Tues Negro" which translates as "you are black"." Endquote. It is ridiculous that the FA, after careful consideration of everything, would even consider relevant whatever Mr Comolli might have understood from Suárez, when it is clear Mr Comolli can barely understands what he himself is trying to say in Spanish. I say this because “tues” is no Spanish word. And “tues negro” cannot be translated at all—let alone into what the FA says it means. It’s simply not a Spanish expression, so it cannot be “translated”. Comolli recollection from his chat with Suárez just after the match is unreliable. A pity since it arrived to the FA jury through a Liverpool official, but the language is so ridiculously wrong it makes me laugh. In sum: Suárez could not have even said “tu eres” negro, which would be gramatically correct in Madrid, because in the Rio de la Plata area we would never say “tu eres negro”, but “vos SOS negro”. And that is a fact, not a matter of the opinion of anyone, not even the language experts consulted by the FA, of course. I am a native speaker of Montevideo, a PhD in Spanish by Stanford, and currently a professor of Spanish at Brown University, and if I was called to court on this, I would categorically deny that Suarez, who lived his adult life in Montevideo—despite being born in Salto—could have said other than “vos sos negro”. There is no way in the world he could have said to Evra, spontaneously and as a reaction to Evra’s words and attitudes, “porque tu eres negro”—and much less “tues negro”, that doesn’t exist. Simply “tues” is no Spanish. Despite of that, the FA makes it stand and transcribes it in their report, and substantiate their conviction on these words. *** Reading Evra’s statement, I understand it could happen that Evra misunderstood Suárez at some point. When Suárez said “¿por qué, negro?”, Evra might have assumed that as a racial insult, while Suárez—even in the heat of a discussion—could perfectly have said that as a way of normally expressing himself (not exactly to calm Evra down, but just because he normally would talk like that without thinking about it). This point is where the cultural clash seems more important, and it is working against Suárez because nobody in the jury (let alone the Daily Mail kind of media) seems to even start understanding the common way we use the term “negro” in the Rio de la Plata area. They heard their experts, and their experts explained the different options of our use of the word depending on different contexts and intentions. Then, the jury just decided that the whole thing was an equally aggressive clash by both sides, and because of that, they concluded Suárez could have not use the "negro" word to Evra in a descriptive way. Why? Their interpretation is not clear to me and doesn’t seem to be the only one possible. “¿Por qué, negro?” (after Evra said “Don’t touch me you South American”) is not offensive, but a question, and a very common one indeed, where “negro” is a DESCRIPTIVE noun, not an adjective loaded with a negative connotation. I completely understand why a British or an American might start not understanding the tone or the intention from Suárez. But I myself can clearly understand the account Suárez does and it seems consistent to me. I hear it more as a common (unmarked and uncharged) addressing to Evra. Finally, the whole verdict seems to be grounded on 3 elements: 1) The FA tends to believe Evra is more reliable than Suarez (a purely subjective element) 2) The FA does not seem to have understood the Spanish language allegedly used --even though they grounded they verdict on their own interpretation of that very Spanish language. 3) They believe the word "negro" cannot be used just in a descriptive way in the context of a discussion--which means they don't really understand how we do use it in the Rio de la Plata area. This made them feel Suarez was unreliable and probably aggravated them. A pity. The most important thing here has to do with proportion. Suárez’s name has been destroyed and now the FA has shown there is NO EVIDENCE whatsoever of Suarez saying any of the things Evra attributes to him, exception made of Evra’s own statement. Evra convinced the FA. And I wonder how much of racial prejudice (against the "wild animals" South Americans are supposed to be after Alf Ramsey's famous remark) there is at play on the FA and media heads.

I tried not to view proceedings through rose tinted specs and initially felt Suarez was guilty of misconduct because leaked press reports alleged Suarez had implicated himself by admitting using the term 'Porque Negreto' (Why little black man) at Evra on at least 10 occasions one after the other during an altercation in the penalty area. In light of the fact that these comments were made during an altercation and Suarez was arguing the toss, it would be fair to assume he had lost his temper and therefore was being derogatory. But after reading the report in detail and although there are some anomalies in the LFC statements there is no comparison with some of the shite spouted from Evra, so here we go. Evra admits he is not fluent in Spanish and did not understand the term Negro, he actually admitted that he thought Negro meant nigger when in fact it means black! When his team mates were questioned, who were all in the vicinity, none heard the word nigger, including De Gea who is Spanish. The bottom line is that a panel of English experts in Latin American have found Suarez guilty based on probability. Suarez has been subject to trial by little more than a kangaroo court and I hope LFC and Suarez pursue this case through the highest court in the land and expose the FA for what they are and sue for defamation of character in the process. A corrupt group of fraudulent free loaders lacking in intelligence and foresight. No wonder Kenny is fuming and Liverpool took the stance that they did. Admitted it, it was fair to assume guilty as charged irrespective of cultural misunderstandings. After reading the report it would appear this is not the case. Suarez claims to have used the term 'Porque Negro' ('why blackie') and he used it only once in response to an insult made by Evra. Evra on the other hand freely admits that he said to Suarez, "Concha de tu hermana", which translated means 'your sister is a cunt!' But the FA spin says that concha is not as taboo as the word cunt! Work that one out! Evra alleges Suarez also used the terms 'porque tu eres Negro (coz your black), 'no hablo con Negros (I don't speak with blacks) and 'dale Negro Negro negro (ok blackie blackie blackie). He also alleges Suarez used the term Porque Negro 5 times. Now bear in mind there were no witnesses and Suarez did not incriminate himself as per the press reports, it would appear the panel found him guilty based on the word of a black man who has a history of making false allegations and I fail to see how any legal jury in the world could find Suarez guilty beyond reasonable doubt given that he is of mixed race origin, his father was black and there where no witnesses. Not even his team mates heard any of these alleged remarks and they were stood only yards away. CPS would not have entertained this case! And finally, both the FA and Evra confirm neither think Suarez is a racist nor do any of the charges relating to Suarez look to accuse him of racism. So in that case why does a misconduct charge carry an 8 match ban and the FA feel the need to disgrace Suarez further by saying his comments have damaged the image of English football around the world and that two similar offences in the future could lead to a permanent ban? And just to throw another hand grenade in there, why have the FA gone on record as saying they fully support John Terry in the fight to clear his name against racism? When to be fair they should be taking a neutral stance and concluding their own investigations? Double standard’s. I despair I really do. The reality is, they are cut from the same cloth as the UEFA and FIFA Mafiosi!!!!! I await the full force of Liverpool's response, hopefully in the form of a legal Tsunami!

Anderson is in there.

I am aware that Kenny brought Rush back but don’t feel he should be credited with that signing, it was a no brainer, he was a quality player. (Sir) Bob took the initial risk. Kenny has made some great signings and he has made some very poor signings throughout his managerial career. He will only and should only be judged on his latest signings. The past belongs in the past and should stay in the past. This is a new era and let’s hope it’s a successful one. None of us are soothsayers, only time will be tell us weather the King has waved his magic once again. Onwards and upwards.

(Sir) Bob Paisley signed Ian Rush not Kenny. He was bought by (Sir) Bob to partner Kenny. I really don't understand the need for this thread. You can put whatever spin you like on it, it is just a matter of opinion and depends on what point you wish to make. Some make negative points and rightly so. Some make positive points and again rightly so. Am, I jumping through hoops because we spent £105 million on Suarez (yes), Carroll, Henderson, Adam and Downing? No. But neither am I overly despondent. The jury is out, as is the case with most new signings. Would Adams, Henderson or Downing have got into any of the top 4's midfield last season? 'Probably' not. Squad players, maybe? Are they any worse than Reyes, Silva, Edu - Richardson, Anderson, Park, Carrick - Milner, Barry, Boyata - Mikel, Smertin, Tiago, Geremi? Absolutely not and all won medals with their respective teams. Have these 4 signings strengthened the Liverpool squad? Most definitely. Did Liverpool pay over the odds? Most definitely, but no more than the over-inflated market rate. Does it matter if we don't finish in the top 4. In my humble opinion, No. The owners and the manager have both said we have a game plan to take this club back to the top and neither will deviate from that plan. It is obviously a long term plan that will involve spending lots of money (which they have) and will inevitably suffer a dip at some point because nobody is perfect in the transfer market and very few teams complete the whole of a season without injuries to key players, in some cases en masse! I think all that is expected is that we maintain a healthy challenge and build on it year by year until we get where we need to be. This squad is more than capable of doing that without question. And if lady luck shines on us, who knows, although I don't expect it, we may, just may sneak a top 4 place. Team ethic and patience is key and the pattern developing here points to that. Let's look forward to a new season, with a new manager and new owners and let the players get on with it.

Has anyone on here criticising referees and refereeing standards ever refereed a game? It is probably one of the most difficult, loneliest and thankless jobs out there in the sporting world. Yes referees make mistakes, whoppers in fact, they are only human. They have a split second to make a decision from a single angle. What they don’t have is the benefit of replays and vision from every conceivable angle like our beloved sky pundits. Before aspersions are cast on referees and corruption in the game, supporters should look closer to home. Players are the culprits in 99% of refereeing errors or in lay-mans terms, players are cheating bastards. Referees have a tough enough job as it is without having to cope with the deceit of footballers at all levels of the game. Take away the cheating and referees will get the majority of decisions right. The problem lies with the governing body and they are not prepared to stamp it out. Why? IMO because it is considered gamesmanship in just about every other country bar our own. Remember, a referee can’t give what he can’t see and just because we can see it, it doesn’t mean he can. I think we have reached a stage where third party intervention (use of a magic eye for goal line incidents) is almost inevitable. Going back to the original question, are referees corrupt in our league? IMO I don’t believe they are. I think they are VERY inconsistent but I believe that most of the inconsistency is due to other factors out of their control. I think they are put under immense pressure by gobshite gaffers who themselves are under pressure to get a result. One manager springs to mind whose name I cannot bring myself to type. He is the worlds worst for it but is never taken to task and that responsibility lies with the FA. I think linesman have a bigger part to play in the modern game. At the moment they appear IMO to be nothing more than a refs lacky. They need to take more responsibility for big calls. If the referee applied the letter of the law to every game, most teams would finish with less men than when they started. They are therefore allowed discretion and unfortunately some allow more discretion than others, especially to the top teams, with one in particular getting more decisions than the others and nobody will convince me otherwise. The new off side rule is just one instance. Does this mean that refs get back handers? IMO no, it’s just the way it is. How could we improve refereeing at top level: Stamp out cheating – Whatever it takes. Introduce the magic eye for goal line incidents. Stamp out players questioning refereeing decisions (The RESPECT campaign was introduced after the actions of the Chelsea players and to my knowledge only Mascherano has been punished for back chatting the ref). Stop managers making comments to the media about referees before and after games by introducing touchline bans. This won’t happen, the FA are spineless. So the refs will carry on with their inconsistency, corruption allegations will continue and games will be won and lost on the back of it all.

The truth is, his team mates are beneath him and at this present time the club is beneath him. Fernando Torres carried and captained a mediocre Atletico Madrid team from his teenage years into adulthood. World class players, which he is, deserve to play in world class teams. If Liverpool can’t match his aspirations, he should be allowed a move to a club that will. We are in a mess and players of his ilk deserve better, he needs to be winning titles. On the flip side of that, I agree, as a senior player he should role his sleeves up, play with his heart on his sleeve and whip his team mates up into a frenzy, win, lose or draw. That way, if and when he does leave, he would leave with honour and his icon status in tact.

That quote could apply to any team but in reality it isn’t that simple. Man City’s spending isn’t the normal run of the mill ‘spend a bit of cash and be successful policy is it?’ They have taken spending to a different level, the boundaries have now been moved beyond the reach of everyone. The Arabs completed the take over in September 08 and spent £122 million in their first season. 2009/10 season spent another £117 million 2010/11 season spent another £79 million and counting. Total spend in 3 seasons £ 318 million. Trophy count = 0 Finals = 0 Champs League qualification = 0 It has taken 3 seasons to get the club within a great shout of their first ever Champs League qualification and an outside shot at the title. And lets be honest it hasn’t run smoothly has it. 2 managers and a host of expensive flops, namely Robinho at £32 million. I would argue Liverpool have a bigger rebuilding job than Man City under the guidance of new owners we don’t know a great deal about. We don’t even know how much money they are prepared to invest in new signings. One thing is for certain, it won’t be a fraction of the money City has spent, especially as there is a new stadium project to fund. We also have IMO a very poor manager who was responsible for replacing Mascherano with Poulson and replacing Insua with Konchesky. Media speculation suggests we are interested in David Trezeguet, Robert Huth, Wilfried Zaha and I hear on the grapevine that Shaun Wright Phillips is to be our winter marquis signing. Long hard season doesn’t even come close! It is however, character building for the supporters!!!!!! Before we start issuing targets because of past history, remember the word PERSPECTIVE. It will be very important in the coming months/years/decades! For the record: I agree, Aldo, for the first time ever is definitely sitting on the fence. Ashley Young, IMO, is not a £15 million player. IMO our new owners will not provide cash for 5 or 6 quality signings that would equate to the best part of £70 - £80 million. This team needs rebuilding over a period of time, maybe 3-5 years and in that time, given funds are provided, I only expect us to be competitive. No matter who the manager is, when you are competing against teams with untold wealth, it makes the task of title success a million times harder, that's life. Personally, I wouldn't burden anybody with any expectation at this moment in time. I would just try to concentrate on keeping Reina, Torres and Gerrard in the same team, that would be a result in itself the way things are panning out. What will be, will be.

Preferring a win at all costs mentality to playing attractive football is just something we will have to agree to disagree on. Although I am not naïve enough to think that tactics are required in one off games and those tactics may involve the team taking the foot off the pedal and playing to a game plan, I could live with that. In the main though, in this day and age, every team has a duty to entertain IMO. The game would be more palatable and it would go some way to justifying ticket prices. Funnily enough, despite getting off on the wrong foot, other than the preferring attacking football to winning, we probably sing from the same hymn sheet. The progress of academies are being stifled due to an influx of cheap, over rated foreigners, some of whose transfers are brought about due to a 10% cut of the transfer fee finding it’s way into the wrong bank account, IMO. Bucking the trend is possible as a one off but I would still maintain that the cash rich clubs will dominate in the main. We don’t know what our new owners are like yet and I think we will have to reserve judgement until summer. One thing is for sure, Mr Hodgson’s services will have to be dispensed with at some point in the near future. Not once in the last 4 decades have I ever asked for a Liverpool manager to be removed from office. But with Roy, an appointment I didn’t fancy in the first place, he is so far out of his depth, he needs water wings. His tactics, his signings, his man management, his hypocrisy and his press conferences are a joke, a very bad one. When he goes, he will maintain that he wasn’t given a chance. But I haven’t seen nor do I expect to see any positivity in his tenure. I am torn between releasing him now and releasing him in May. I don’t however think sacking him will save our season, it has gone too far for that. We are IMO consigned to a mid table/top 8 finish. But if he does stay I fear for Torres, Reina and Gerrard. They won’t put up with the negative dross he is churning out for much longer, you can see it in their body language. And when I see us linked with the likes of Shaun Wright Phillips, Carlton Cole and Robert Huth I feel physically sick. I hope its media propaganda or we are bolloxed! Digressing to expectation, I don’t think an up and coming, respected manager like Deschamps is beyond our reach and I hope the new owners can find a budget that will enable a marquis signing together with 2 or 3 proven players, maybe more if the gaffer can generate income from sales of deadwood. We could all do with a lift after having to endure another season of frustration and mediocrity. Progression to competing for a top four finish should be a realistic target. After that it will all depend on whether the new owners make it possible for the manager to compete with Man City and co in the transfer market. I fear not, how do you compete with trillionaire arab owners. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, The scum down the A580, who are for once vulnerable IMO, are being linked to a take over by wealthy trillionaire Arabs. If that happens, the Samaritans will become the busiest charity organisation in the UK! All the best.

Mate I have been watching football for more years than I can remember and I have never felt more detached than I do today. I have been lucky enough to be a part of the glory days, seen 4 European cup finals and lost count of how many titles I saw us lift. But today’s game is all about money, nothing more, nothing less. The players are greedy bastards and the clubs are sucking ordinary people dry. Today’s supporter is different to the one when I stood on the Kop. I went to be a part of the entertainment, the new breed go to be entertained. When in reality there is hardly any entertainment in the modern English game, especially at Anfield right now. Shankly and Paisley must be distraught. Houllier brought success to the club with counter attacking football. Diao, Diouf and Cheyrou the next Zidane, where meant to take us to the next level. But as it transpired they never transferred their World Cup form to the Premiership and for that, Houllier paid the ultimate price. In came Rafa and the start of a successful new era, two Euro cup finals and an FA cup final in 3 seasons raised expectations to a new level. In reality we probably over achieved with a poor man’s net transfer budget in comparison to Chelsea and that lot down the A580. Furthermore, Rafa understood the club, the supporters and the history. Unfortunately, Rafa was unable to bring home the one trophy the supporters craved for. The very same trophy no other Liverpool manager will ever bring home given what he is up against. Trillionaire Arabs and billionaire oligarchs will always win the day because they can buy the best players in the world. A realist would say top 4 is not beyond our reach. But………although not impossible, we have to get beyond Man City, Chelsea and Man utd, all of whom, despite rumours to the contrary, generally buy top top players as and when required. Then you have got the Arsenal situation. A quality team, with the world’s best coach (IMO), who play great football and are without doubt a better team than us over the course of a season. Everyone can see they are desperate for a goalkeeper with the exception of Wenger, or so it seems. That is a nonsense! He is fully aware of the goalkeeper situation IMO, but has probably got the same financial restraints that blighted Rafa’s tenure only he hasn’t gone public about it nor is he willing to change a keeper for another keeper of the same ability, which is what tended to happen at Liverpool with outfield players, hence Rafa’s downfall, again IMO. Then you can throw big spending Spurs into the mix. So is a top 4 finish a realistic expectation, I don’t think so at this stage of the new ownership. I do believe however, that the current playing staff are better than recent results and league position suggest and that is down to the current manager IMO. I realise it is only media speculation, players like Paul Scharner, Mario Gomez, Michael Johnson, Rod Fanni, Robert Huth, Carlton Cole, Ashley Young who we have been linked with in recent weeks are not top 4 players and nobody will convince me otherwise. And given that Roy was responsible for the Konchesky and Poulson signings it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they were indeed LFC transfer targets. The new owners certainly lifted a black cloud but Roy is another black cloud waiting to happen. Nice enough fellow but way out of his depth in every aspect of the job. I read somewhere on this thread that Barcelona have off days and not every game is like the 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid. I wouldn’t argue with that. But…….when Barca do have an off day it isn’t because they are trying to stifle the opposition with a 4-5-1 formation. Barca play every game in an offensive manner and let the opposition worry about them. They are coached to play this way from a very early age. They couldn’t play any other way. When they have an off day it is because it just wasn’t there day, it happens!

I will ignore the Mong x 2, biff and idiot insults, that shows a distinct lack of class. But I will however, give one last retort to the nonsense you spout from way up high on your inarticulate soap box. A football match is a commodity that you pay for in advance but have no guarantee of quality. If you want to pay £40 - £60 to see Liverpool win no matter how bad the dross is that’s churned out, fair play to you, you’re a better man than me. I am a football connoisseur who insists on playing football the way it should be played. I am a great believer in the old adage, ‘cream always rises to the top’! I played that way myself and the kids I coach play exactly the same way and I take great pleasure from that. Times have changed, for the worse in my opinion. Long gone are the level playing fields of the past and cheap tickets. In today’s game cash is king and success is bought. Football is being marketed as an entertainment. Ticket prices and players wages confirm that. And if you’re now paying exorbitant ticket prices to be entertained, then you should be entertained. You are not paying to see your team win, otherwise unless you are Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal you would be demanding a refund more often than not and chaos would ensue. Call me old fashioned or naïve, not biff, mong or idiot, but the way we play football is far more important to me in the current climate. Accepting mediocrity is not about throwing the towel in, it’s quite simply perspective. When you have mega rich clubs like Man City, Chelsea and Man Utd throwing money about like it is going out of fashion, it doesn’t matter who is manager at your club, it makes it nigh on impossible to compete at the highest level on a consistent basis. You asked what has pretty football done for Arsenal. I won’t answer that question because Fernando already has. You point out that Arsenal have’nt won anything for the last 7 years which is correct. Arsenal stopped collecting trophy’s at the same time as Man Utd and Chelsea engaged in a spending war that moved boundaries in the transfer market forever. There is s definite direct correlation here. You may not like mediocrity, I don’t myself, but you have to accept it because you are powerless to change things. Cash is definitely king and Man City will become Premiership champions, it is just a case of when. How do you expect Liverpool to compete in the transfer market with billionaire Arabs? It isn’t going to happen, if you think it is you are deluded. The best you can hope for is to be entertained, at least that way you will get value for your money, win lose or draw. If you are just following Liverpool to see them win at all costs you are going to be hounding out one manager after another because it won’t happen. Hope I am wrong and we go on to win another 18 titles but can’t see it myself.