The Official Raheem Sterling Thread (Part 412)

[thompsonsnose]

Hmmmmm....

 

Not sure this will be what everyone wants to see:

 

Tony BarrettVerifisert konto

‏@TonyBarretTimes

Rodgers: "Raheem will be available for selection. My relationship with him hasn't been affected at all."

How about they both leave?

[redheart]

FFS what do you expect him to say? "Sterling is a cunt. His agent is a bigger cunt so fuck them them and the horse hey rode in on"

 

If he is being sold we have to get the best price and slagging him off and questioning his professionalism does not push the price up. In the astronomically unlikely event that he stays then relations would be impossible.

 

So the job of Rodgers is to say something without saying anything,

[mattyq]

Was thinking this over my brekkie this morning (hmmmm, crispy bread bacon butts  with tomato ketchup!!) and how it used to be.

 

We only heard something when it was done and dusted but, that's not possible today. Now we have instant news, manager's press conferences, twatter, facebook, instagram and forums.

 

Everyone wants the latest news now. And I dont except myself from this.

 

The truth is we want to know what's going on at the club and there's no way the genie can be put back in the bottle (wouldnt mind having a go with Barbara Eden from I dream of genie, though!).

If I could I'd neg you for this

Ketchup!!

What sort of weirdo has ketchup on their bacon butties?

Poor show

Ketchup is for girls, paedos and animal botherers. This is a well known fact. It is acceptable on chips and sausages but that is it

[Paco]

we re trying to regain control of the situation. hopefully ward has done irreparable damage to his relationship with sterling and his own career. best case scenario is sterling stays and sacks ward.

[Dr Nowt]

I can see Sterling parting company with Ward and still leaving...whenever that is in relation to the next 2 years, for FSG to decide.

 

It's all about the PR game, and while Sterling has obviously been up to his eyeballs in what the chump is trying to do to facilitate his exit, he probably can't afford to leave the impression that he's okay with it.

 

In fact, if I was someone trying to buy him, I'd probably want to make it a condition of the purchase.

[Major Tom]

Why not? Sterling's end game is leaving Liverpool and, if Ward achieves that for him, the rest is just PR with Liverpool fans. And I'm not entirely sure Sterling gives that much of a fuck about what we think.

[scudger99]

If I could I'd neg you for this

Ketchup!!

What sort of weirdo has ketchup on their bacon butties?

Poor show

Ketchup is for girls, paedos and animal botherers. This is a well known fact. It is acceptable on chips and sausages but that is it

I'm presuming that you once got your cock stuck in the neck of a ketchup bottle ?

Hence the need to equate sexual references to a food additive ?

[Number8]

I'm sure I read a few months back that Ward's contract with sterling was due to expire in the summer?  Not 100% sure mind. That's why I first thought oh aye here we go one last guaranteed payday from a fee for him

[scudger99]

I read an article somewhere in the last couple of days about where Sterling stands legally at the moment.  He's still under contract to us, for another 26 months or so I believe.  Which means that his agent can kick up as much of a stink as he wants - Sterling will still be tied to his contract, on his original relatively low pay too.  He can't buy himself out yet, and he probably isn't stupid enough to just down tools (?) and refuse to play for us.

FSG showed with Suarez that all the agitating in the press and the posturing that goes on counts for fuck all with them with that contract in place. 

Sterling (and his meff of an agent) has fucked himself into an ever shrinking corner.  If he doesn't sign a new contract, he doesn't get the huge pay hike his agent wants.  And he rots here for another 2 years.

Yeah, he's got the potential to be a very good player, but this club doesn't need a shit attitude like the one Sterling is displaying at the moment. 

His best bet is to ditch his agent immediately, get his head down, rebuild some bridges and accept that for the time being he is FSG's bitch.  Whether he likes it or not.

[Section_31]

I have tomato sauce on bacon butties, ketchup sounds a bit gay.

[Stickman]

It's just tragic the whole situation we really are a joke of a club....

I know people will say times have changed but the great managers of the past would never have put up with this shit.

Who'd of thought that great, proud and respected club of the past has turned into this....a petty squabble played out in public with a 20 year old who most fans don't give a shit if he stays or goes.

[FanchesterCity]

As it happens, time limited contracts are currently under scrutiny legally...

 

Just a couple of months ago, the Mainz goalkeeper took Mainz to court over them imposing a time limit on his contract, and he won. It's heading higher up the courts for ratification but it's actually very significant and could be another Bosman type ruling.

 

FIFA stipulate a 5 year maximum for contracts (3 years if under 18 when signing), but all that will go tits up if the higher courts agree with the ruling.

[Section_31]

 

[FanchesterCity]

It's just tragic the whole situation we really are a joke of a club....

I know people will say times have changed but the great managers of the past would never have put up with this shit.

Who'd of thought that great, proud and respected club of the past has turned into this....a petty squabble played out in public with a 20 year old who most fans don't give a shit if he stays or goes.

 

Not really... Rooney was holding United to ransom, City had Tevez and Toure doing this sort of crap, Odemwingie was at it too. It's happening more and more often.

And if it's not player contract issues, you've got players turning up for training at Chelsea with air guns...

[gkmacca]

Good old Arsene Wenger, you can always rely on him to be principled and proper, unless he sees the chance to exploit another club's problems:

 

 

 

Arsène Wenger has suggested that he would not be put off signing Raheem Sterling by the contract stand-off that has developed with Liverpool or the behaviour of the forward’s agent.
Arsenal have been linked with a move for Sterling, whose agent, Aidy Ward, was quoted as saying on Thursday that the 20-year-old would not sign a newLiverpool contract for “£900,000 a week”.
“I’m not sure that it is the player who causes the problem,” said Wenger when asked if a situation such as Sterling’s would deter him from pursuing an individual. “Most of the time it’s not the player who causes the problems. They come as a package, that’s true, but the problems do not always come from the player. Sometimes they come from the package.”

[thompsonsnose]

 

Out of rep. I spend my whole life viewing the world like Clint

Thats Clint not cunt.

[gkmacca]

Or Clit.

[Major Tom]

Good old Arsene Wenger, you can always rely on him to be principled and proper, unless he sees the chance to exploit another club's problems:

 

He's hardly said anything untoward there.

[Block109'er]

It's really quite sad what a fucking soap opera we have turned into.  It's every Summer this shit is happening now and next year it will be Coutinho probably.

 

A more important question is why are we dicking around with player contracts and trying to do it all on the cheap?  You could say these recurring contract problems are all our own doing.

 

Whatever you think of him, Sterling should have been given his pay rise at the end of last season, whether or not you or I think he's worth the money is about as irrelevant as his age, the fact is he was and is a first team regular in a top 4 Premier League team (as least he was before this season) £35k a week is a bit of a piss take for somebody playing at that level week in week out.

 

The more this develops I'm just getting more and more frustrated with FSG.  Some on here have called BR nothing but a charlatan and bullshitter but my worry is that it goes much higher than that.

 

FSG still need to show that they have the ambition to turn Liverpool into winners again, so far they have not and I don't really think they have the stomach for it either.  Don't get me wrong they are a safe pair of hands compared to many of the clowns running football clubs these days but is there much more to come?  

 

They have already admitted that they can't compete without FFP and now that looks to be on the way out.

[thompsonsnose]

It's really quite sad what a fucking soap opera we have turned into.  It's every Summer this shit is happening now and next year it will be Coutinho probably.

 

A more important question is why are we dicking around with player contracts and trying to do it all on the cheap?  You could say these recurring contract problems are all our own doing.

 

Whatever you think of him, Sterling should have been given his pay rise at the end of last season, whether or not you or I think he's worth the money is about as irrelevant as his age, the fact is he was and is a first team regular in a top 4 Premier League team (as least he was before this season) £35k a week is a bit of a piss take for somebody playing at that level week in week out.

 

The more this develops I'm just getting more and more frustrated with FSG.  Some on here have called BR nothing but a charlatan and bullshitter but my worry is that it goes much higher than that.

 

FSG still need to show that they have the ambition to turn Liverpool into winners again, so far they have not and I don't really think they have the stomach for it either.  Don't get me wrong they are a safe pair of hands compared to many of the clowns running football clubs these days but is there much more to come?  

 

They have already admitted that they can't compete without FFP and now that looks to be on the way out.

Hopefully lack of ffp will mean that they f o pdq.

[bossy]

Gary Neville in the torygraph

 

Raheem Sterling has been in the eye of a storm this week following the revelation that he wants to leave Liverpool, but while there is a lot to be said about the way the story has developed, the harsh reality for the club is that this situation has been 15 years in the making.

When it comes to representing young players, the onus should be on protecting and supporting them; maintain your dignity and keep out of the headlines.

But has Raheem Sterling really let Liverpool down by suggesting he wants to leave or is he just a kid who wants to play football and win trophies?

 

There is a wider context to this story and it centres on how Liverpool have gone from being from one Europe’s great superpowers to one which is in danger of becoming a provincial club.

The prospect of losing Sterling will be a major concern for everybody connected to the club, but the uncomfortable truth is that this is nothing new for Liverpool.

Just look back over the past 10-15 years and count the number of players who have left Anfield to pursue bigger and better things elsewhere.

Steve McManaman, Michael Owen, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez have all gone.

 

Luis Suarez followed the route of so many other star players by leaving Liverpool

Steven Gerrard is also being allowed to leave and, although his circumstances are different, there is no way in a million years that Liverpool should be allowing him to pack up and sign for LA Galaxy.

If you compare Liverpool to Manchester United over the same period of time, I can think of only one player - Cristiano Ronaldo - who left when he wanted to go, rather than when Sir Alex Ferguson wanted it to happen.

The comparison with United is valid because, regardless of the recent successes of Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City, English football’s biggest, most historic, successful and best supported clubs are Liverpool and Manchester United.

If you travel to Ireland, Scandinavia, Malta, Thailand or wherever, the red shirts of Liverpool and United vastly outnumber those of every other club.

 

But while United have been happy to shout from the rooftops about how big they are and promote the legend and mythology of the club on a global scale for years Liverpool seem to have been stuck in their own mud.

Liverpool have begun to realise the commercial value of their brand on a worldwide basis, but they are years behind the biggest European clubs and, for me, their problems - which have been given a public face this week by the Sterling situation - are a direct result of that failure to think beyond the confines of their city.

Let me give you an example which highlights the difference between Liverpool and Manchester.

When Gerrard was preparing for his final game at Anfield last week, Jamie Carragher told me that whenever Steven goes out in Liverpool he simply cannot escape the attention or go about his business without being aware of the suffocating pressure that comes with being a Liverpool player in the city.

 

Anfield puts on a show for Steven Gerrard - but the pressures of playing there can be suffocating

I spent almost 20 years playing for United and, like the rest of my team-mates at Old Trafford, could walk through Manchester quite easily without feeling as though I was living in a goldfish bowl.

I can’t think of any United or City players who would socialise or go for a meal in Liverpool, but I know of several Liverpool or Everton players who do exactly that in Manchester.

Liverpool has an incredibly community-minded mentality and in many ways that spirit, pride, passion and togetherness is one of the city's great strengths.

I joked with Jamie last Monday that, if Andy Burnham ends up as Labour leader and then Prime Minister, Jamie would be announced as Defence Minister, Kenny Dalglish Scottish Secretary, Ian Rush in charge of Wales, HS2 going direct to Liverpool, and the Trident nuclear deterrent protecting that city only.

It was a back-handed compliment about the unity of the city and how Liverpudlians will always defend themselves and fight passionately for their beliefs.

 

Steven Gerrard talks with fellow Liverpool legends Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp

It is a very emotional city and, again, in many ways this is a strength, but for Liverpool Football Club, all of those qualities have become weaknesses which have contributed to the position they now find themselves in with Sterling.

Take Anfield for example.

It is a wonderful old stadium, with a fantastic history and atmosphere, but when I drive towards it through the narrow streets which surround it, you just feel that it is in the wrong location and that it is another symbol of Liverpool looking to the past rather than the future.

 

The streets around Anfield are not suited to a modern Premier League stadium

I have lost count of the times Liverpool have unveiled plans for a new stadium at Stanley Park, only to end up staying at Anfield because of the history of the place and the fervour of the Kop. In the early 90s when United made their move, Liverpool should have been on their coat tails.

But Anfield has held them back because every other big club - with the exception of Chelsea, who are owned by a Russian billionaire - has moved forward already, either by vastly increasing their current stadium or building a new one.

The emotional ties are given too much weight - that emotion played its part in the performance that led to Crystal Palace winning at Anfield in Gerrard’s farewell game last Saturday - and they are not helping Liverpool.

 

The emotions got to Liverpool's players on the occasion of Steven Gerrard's last home game

Arsenal left Highbury, another famous, traditional old ground, to move into the 21st century at the Emirates, City left Maine Road for the Etihad and, in Europe, the clubs who jostled for European Cups with Liverpool in the 1980s and beyond have all put the past behind them and moved on.

Bayern Munich have a new stadium, Ajax have a new stadium, Juventus have a new stadium, while United, Real Madrid and Barcelona are playing in huge arenas which have moved with the times. With five European Cups it is these clubs that Liverpool should be neck and neck with.

Only now are Liverpool increasing the size of Anfield, but will it enable them to close the gap enough for them to compete with the top clubs and prevent players like Sterling wanting to leave?

 

Expansion work is underway at Anfield - but is it too late?

Liverpool need a visionary with the ambition to take the club into the 21st century. They even decide transfers by Committee. How can that be an efficient, clean process with clear accountability?

Great football clubs like Liverpool will never go away, but they need to find a way to arrest the slide and make themselves a team that players want to play for rather than one they try to leave in search of bigger things elsewhere.

If Sterling leaves, then that will be another star player who has decided that Liverpool is a club that is unable to match their ambitions.

I might be the last person that Liverpool fans want to hear this from, an outsider who played for their biggest rivals, but these are things that need saying.

Did you know Telegraph Sport has a Liverpool Facebook page?

 

Despite my United past, I have enormous respect and admiration for Liverpool Football Club, but it is time to put the past aside.

If they can get it right and look beyond the confines and restrictions that lie within their own city, Liverpool can remain one of the world's most successful football clubs and Sterling and the others that have wanted to leave would be banging on the door to sign for them.

[Dr Nowt]

Not a bad article, but no mention of Rodgers' marriage so I'm going to hold back from conferring "excellent read" status on it.

[KevieG]

Not a bad article, but no mention of Rodgers' marriage so I'm going to hold back from conferring "excellent read" status on it.

You need to read between the lines.

 

The whole piece was analogous. Rogders is Liverpool shedding the past. A crocked out Anfield is the ex-wife. Pretty deep stuff from Ratboy.

[Section_31]

I wipe my arse with Gary Neville's opinions.

[Paco]

 

Did you know Telegraph Sport has a Liverpool Facebook page

 

 

 

best part of that article