Bleak but true unfortunately for us Reds.

[drewy]

If by some divine intervention we win the PL this season I fear we'll be stuck with the joker's.

 

The Sky fans will probably drown out the likes of us and hail those two pricks and sporting coach Parry as the saviours.

 

Win or lose this season I find it hard to believe Rafa will stay.

[RedKnight]

That's not the issue anymore.

 

G&H and sporting director Parry overuling and subsequently undermining the manager is the issue.

 

Yeah I know that, I was pointing out the one piece from the article that I disagreed with.

[Guest TK-421]

Whilst I personally wouldn't sign Barry as a replacement for Alonso I agree with the sentiments of the article in that the club shouldn't interfere with the manager's tactical approach.

 

The worst part is the timing as Rafa is being forced to rethink his plans for the new season at the 11th hour.

[Unrighteous]

The scariest thing is that they are worried about the players resell value.

 

We must seriously be in dire straights.

[Carra_is_legend]

It would be the simple way of breaking the news, I agree with that, but by doing it the way they do they will ensure that the mass don't get their head around the fact that they are broke. Those reading LFC-news several times a day know they are broke of course, but that's not the mass. Shifting focus to confuse, putting the preassure elsewhere, insinuate that not all issues and problems in the club stands and falls with them; that might be their strategy.

 

Aye. But the fact that Parry was the one who broke the news is what is getting on my nerves. The man who is supposed to be a LFC fan, always "wanting the best for the club" and has been at the post years before G&H came in. G&H may not know the value of players but Parry the cunt should know better. If he really thought Barry's value was too high, why didn't he break the saga after a few days rather than allow it to drag on for fucking weeks. Or if he knew that G&H doesn't have any cash and that statement was just a smokescreen to hide the truth, why did he become part of the drama by peronally putting that statement out on .tv.

 

I hate Parry more than G&H.

[Code]

Why do we need a left footer for our CM?

[Guest TK-421]

The scariest thing is that they are worried about the players resell value.

 

I think that's a legitimate concern, e.g I wouldn't want us to sign Shevchenko for £30m or whatever Chelsea spent. I just think the way it's been handled sucks, as the club have known about Barry's high price tag for a long time.

[drewy]

Why do we need a left footer for our CM?

 

Errr.......don't know, why?

[kop]

Aye. But the fact that Parry was the one who broke the news is what is getting on my nerves. The man who is supposed to be a LFC fan, always "wanting the best for the club" and has been at the post years before G&H came in. G&H may not know the value of players but Parry the cunt should know better. If he really thought Barry's value was too high, why didn't he break the saga after a few days rather than allow it to drag on for fucking weeks. Or if he knew that G&H doesn't have any cash and that statement was just a smokescreen to hide the truth, why did he become part of the drama by peronally putting that statement out on .tv.

 

I hate Parry more than G&H.

 

Because they tried to get the money, but failed? Parry is just their puppet in these matters anyway. He did the negotiations with the belief that he would get the money at the end. He didn't.

 

Hating Parry more than G&H is just another thing they can achieve, and is another way of shifting focus. Parry compared to Gillett and Hicks is like Peanuts compared to Bielsebub, party tricks compared to pure terror, etc.

[Ramjet]

I am in no way pro the americans the sooner they and Parry fuck off the better for all concerned, but this is not as big a deal as is being made out, basically the manager has wanted to sign a player and the board has said no because he is too expensive, that happens all the time at probably every club bar Chelsea.

 

The shitstorm here is the fact that the whole sorry saga has been played out in public from before the end of last season.

 

If Villa were to suddenly realise that they were to have a disruptive unhappy player on their hands then they may re-consider the asking price, or Barry may decide on forgoing his loyalty bonus and ask for a transfer, bottom line is they havent said they dont trust Rafa they havent said that Barry wont sign, what has been said is that 18 million is too high a price, the ball is firmly in Villa and Barry's court.

 

I think they may be standing up to O'Neill more than any undermining of Rafa and I hope I right, for if we were to lose Rafa over something like this then in our current state I would hate to see where we would end up.

[rebel23]

he isnt worth £18m and the payment terms are different to Carrick (£14m rising to 18m an hargreaves) we're getting shafted, one way or another

[aws]

Why do we need a left footer for our CM?

 

Too many Prods?

[Code]

Errr.......don't know, why?

 

Neither do I, but we constantly keep reading about how we need the left footed Barry to come in and balance our CM.

 

Load of reactionary bollocks with no foundation in reality, thats what it is.

[Brownie]

I don't agree with the article myself, although I can understand the sentiment and also some people's views on it.

 

Myself, I think the price isn't the only factor that they have taken into consideration. Obviously that statement suggests that the price is the reason, but there will be other reasons behind their decision, such as the fact that Alonso is staying thus we don't need Barry.

 

Anybody know what the situation is now regarding the Yanks? Do they get on now or not? Does Hicks still hate Parry?

[Jonte]

We can't sign Gareth Barry at age 28 for £18m because he is too expensive and will not give the club any resalevalue when his contract is up?

 

But we can sign Robbie Keane at age 28 for £19m (£20,3m) and he is not too expensive and will give the club a resale value when his contract is up?

 

No logic in that.

[rebel23]

i dont know any other club in world football that would want this plethera of CMs, if Rafa was the AC Milan coach they would tell him to F off, Ranieri couldnt get Xabi so he got Poulson, etc. it happens all the time, unless he is the chelsea manager and even then Roman would probably want him to sign some attacking player so people should wake up

 

no mention of LUCAS in Bluto's article who I think will be a better CM than Xabi and Barry in time and who we paid £7m for just a year ago, so he's just vanished has he? why bother buying him he could have used that £7m to getting Barry but there isnt any long term planning of transfers at Anfield, that's the big problem, Rafa deciding this year that he wants Barry

[drewy]

I don't agree with the article myself, although I can understand the sentiment and also some people's views on it.

 

Myself, I think the price isn't the only factor that they have taken into consideration. Obviously that statement suggests that the price is the reason, but there will be other reasons behind their decision, such as the fact that Alonso is staying thus we don't need Barry.

Anybody know what the situation is now regarding the Yanks? Do they get on now or not? Does Hicks still hate Parry?

 

Surely that's a decision for the manager and the manager alone?

[Unrighteous]

Surely that's a decision for the manager and the manager alone?

 

Spot on.

[dave u]

Comparing Barry and Carrick's age and using that to justify the £18m tag isn't fair. They may be a similar age now, but when the mancs paid that for him he was 25 or something. Hargreaves was 26/27 when they bought him too, so it's not the same.

 

Then there's the comment about 'if a player could be the difference between winning the championship and falling short, what should the eventual return matter?' Right, so Barry is the difference between us winning the league or coming 4th is he? Does anyone seriously believe that? And if so, on what basis.

 

The rest of the article might be spot on, but I stopped reading after that.

 

If we'd paid £18m for Barry, I bet Samuel would have been amongst the first to rip the piss out of us for doing it and would be accusing Rafa of losing the plot.

 

Fuck Martin Samuel.

 

The decision not to pay that much for Barry is correct in my opinion, especially as Alonso is still here. It's the way they went about it that's so fucking wrong, as two weeks ago they were going to pay it until Villa pulled the plug. It's the indecision and messing about that they should be slagged off for, not for refusing to pay silly money for someone who isn't worth it.

 

Six months ago, if Arsenal or someone were linked with an £18m bid for Barry, how many on here would have said he's worth that? Honestly, ask yourself what you would have said he's worth before you knew Rafa wanted him? £10-12m tops I reckon. Now people are saying we should pay it. What if Villa put the price up to £25m, should we still pay it?

 

Their crime was in allowing Rafa to think he would be allowed to do it, and then pulling the rug from under him just when it looked like the battle was won. If they'd just said weeks ago that they weren't going to do it because the fee was too much and Alonso was only attracting interest from Arsenal, I'd have been ok with that. They didn't though, and that's caused all this shit now.

 

I'll agree they made Rafa look a tit by saying they'd do the deal and then backing out when the chance to finalise it came. I'll agree they are a pair of twats who need to be removed from the club asap. I'll agree that they've handled this whole thing as badly as they've handled everything else.

 

I won't agree that we should be paying £18m for Gareth Barry whilst we already have Alonso, Gerrard, Mascherano and Lucas. And if he's going to be signed to play on the left, then £18m is even more ridiculous.

[Dirk]

Why does Rick Parry keep escaping the flack in the press? It's a convenient excuse to blame all of our problems on Gillett, Hicks and Rafa. CEO Arrogance must smell of roses.

[The Party Boy]

If they had the money i'm sure they'd of paid the 18 million for Barry. They're just flapping their gums to cover the fact they can't afford it.

[Brownie]

Surely that's a decision for the manager and the manager alone?

 

Not when the manager went to them and said, 'I want to sell Xabi Alonso for x amount and then replace him with Gareth Barry for x amount'.

 

Rafa used Xabi as a tool for buying Barry - unfortunately for Rafa (but fortunately for us) nobody bid enough money for Alonso and hence the deal didn't transpire.

 

I think the owners of a club or even the board have the right to give some input when it comes to transfers. What you don't want is a situation where the manager doesn't pick the players he wants to sign - that's not the case though, Rafa is still in control of the signings, it's just that he doesn't have carté blanché.

[SpeedyG]

Surely that's a decision for the manager and the manager alone?

 

And the manager makes the decisions within the constraints of his transfer budget. If he is asking for a new 18m for Barry (as we didn't get the Xabi money), then I think it's fair that the owners consider things like resale value etc.

 

Getting in Barry while keeping Xabi doesn't make sense on so many levels.

[RedinSweden]

It really is about time that Parry fucked off now.

[navbasi]

Nothing in that article mentions that Man U paid over the odds for Carrick and Hargreaves. No way are thouse 2 players worth a combined fee of around £36m, just as Barry isn't worth the £18m he is being quoted.

 

He should have put a transfer request in a long time ago when it all started to go pear shaped, he would have had his "dream" move, Rafa would have had his top target and Villa would have got a decent amount for a player that wanted to leave.