Martin Samuels in The Mail

[ChicagoRed]

His article simplifies the difference between us and Man Ure down to the strength of the squad. It's true, but the strength comes from the money Man U have spent, which in turn comes from 70,000 home gates and a phenomenal global marketing program. We won't be able to compete on an equal footing until and unless we tap into a bigger fan base. Club projections show that the new stadium will be sold out. LFC has the support and the "brand" to outmuscle Man U financially, but we are still just looking at spreadsheets!

 

The tragedy is, the bus was missed, not by Hicks and Gillette, but by Moores and Parry.

 

They are to blame for our squad being weaker than Man U's, and I won't be content until both of their influence is history in L4.

[WaltonRed]

They are fucking clueless and Parry and Moores should be ashamed to show there faces.

 

BUT, i do think all this money spent bollocks is just that bollocks.

[Hermes]

 

i do think all this money spent bollocks is just that bollocks.

 

In the modern game no club can expect to sustain a high position in the Premier League for more than a few seasons without spending big money consistently. The problem is we have spent loads and under achieved for the last 20 years or so, wasting tens of millions on mediocre players who were no better than those they were bought to replace.

[sparta7]

Exactly. It isnt just having money, its using it properly in a clear strategic way.

[OmarVizquel]

The tragedy is, the bus was missed, not by Hicks and Gillette, but by Moores and Parry.

 

They are to blame for our squad being weaker than Man U's, and I won't be content until both of their influence is history in L4.

 

Absolutely right. Hicks and Gillette get lots of blame -- a lot fair, some (in my opinion) unfair -- but there is absolutely no reason why Liverpool Football Club, with its history, should play second fiddle to Man United worldwide. This failure is a lack of marketing and an enormous amount of incompetence. Plain and simple. Parry is smalltime. It takes a remarkable doofus to mess up the marketing of LFC.

[philyhamann]

Yeah, Rafa has had no money to spend.

[Roy Hobbs]

The simple fact is unless we get a new stadium or a sugar daddy we will be behind the 8 ball every season until that is rectified. We might win a title or two when everything goes right but it is unlikely, very unlikely.

 

The only chance we have of punching above our weight is to have a manager who has a vision to extract the best of our resources, back him solidly and go for it. Rafa is that manager but the rest is far from being delivered.

[philyhamann]

He has been backed with good money, he has spent shit loads and suffers from the same problems as Houllier who'd rather by two mediocre players than one we actually need.

[stringvest]

The simple fact is unless we get a new stadium or a sugar daddy we will be behind the 8 ball every season until that is rectified. We might win a title or two when everything goes right but it is unlikely, very unlikely.

 

The only chance we have of punching above our weight is to have a manager who has a vision to extract the best of our resources, back him solidly and go for it. Rafa is that manager but the rest is far from being delivered.

 

The question is though Roy - when was the last time he extracted the best out of our resources? Does he do it regularly enough to make you believe he can do it all or most of the time?

[Maldini]

They took in £90m more than us last year. Rafa has spent money, but too often we've had to solve 4 or 5 problems in the same summer and the money has had to be spread too thin. United have been able to add quality time and again, and more importantly, they've been able to take risks on young players like Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson.

 

Rafa has made a few important mistakes in the transfer market (last summer especially) but they have a huge financial advantage over us.

[Roy Hobbs]

The question is though Roy - when was the last time he extracted the best out of our resources? Does he do it regularly enough to make you believe he can do it all or most of the time?

 

Yes he does. He's far from perfect and we have some problems at the moment but if we had Torres and Gerrard as fit as last year we would still be top IMO.

 

Are we too reliant on 2 or 3 players? Yes but we always will be until any of the stadium being built, a gem or two comimg through the system or a sugar daddy.

[shaunstrudwick]

Yes he does. He's far from perfect and we have some problems at the moment but if we had Torres and Gerrard as fit as last year we would still be top IMO.

 

Are we too reliant on 2 or 3 players? Yes but we always will be until any of the stadium being built, a gem or two comimg through the system or a sugar daddy.

 

that is just not good enough for the money that he has spent though IMHO

 

while i can see that we have had several problem positions to rectify - namely the flanks - i would much rather we spent big on 1 player and fixed 1 position at a time

 

not try to fix all positions with a small budget and end up with no improvement on quality

 

4 years and still no proper right winger?!!!??!?! WTF!

[Dave D]

They took in £90m more than us last year. Rafa has spent money, but too often we've had to solve 4 or 5 problems in the same summer and the money has had to be spread too thin. United have been able to add quality time and again, and more importantly, they've been able to take risks on young players like Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson.

 

Rafa has made a few important mistakes in the transfer market (last summer especially) but they have a huge financial advantage over us.

 

How much was Ronaldo? I seem to remeber it being no more than 12million? Not much more than Babel. He was also a rough diamond when he arrived but they've nurtured him properly. I think it shows Rafas man-management up a bit

[Tom R]

They took in £90m more than us last year. Rafa has spent money, but

in the same summer and the money has had to be spread too thin. United have been able to add quality time and again, and more importantly, they've been able to take risks on young players like Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson.

 

Rafa has made a few important mistakes in the transfer market (last summer especially) but they have a huge financial advantage over us.

 

That's mostly bollocks I'm afraid. We;ve splashed £11m on the likes of Babel and £7m on Lucas in the last 2 seasons. So nobody is going to tell me that we don't spend big on potential. Our problem is that rafa hasn't got a fucking clue what to do with that potential and he has no clue on how to manage a young player on a personal level, or any player for that matter. It's his way or the highway. No quarter is ever given. He's like a spoilt bully.

 

As for having to solve 4 or 5 problems each summer, well that's just tosh as well. I don't know of a single fan who hasn't been saying for at least five years that what we need is world class wide players and a goal scorer. And yet every season we see a succession of squad padding fucking dross brought in.

 

Rafa has signed a shit foreign player at the rate of one every month of his tenure, of which only a handful are adding anything of any value to the team.

[Maldini]

How much was Ronaldo? I seem to remeber it being no more than 12million? Not much more than Babel. He was also a rough diamond when he arrived but they've nurtured him properly. I think it shows Rafas man-management up a bit

 

We were in for Ronaldo but got gazumped by United and couldn't afford him. Ronaldo signed for United 4 years before Babel as well, he would have been a club record signing for us.

 

Don't get me started on Babel though.

[Code]

They took in £90m more than us last year. Rafa has spent money, but too often we've had to solve 4 or 5 problems in the same summer and the money has had to be spread too thin. United have been able to add quality time and again, and more importantly, they've been able to take risks on young players like Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson.

 

Rafa has made a few important mistakes in the transfer market (last summer especially) but they have a huge financial advantage over us.

 

Have we really solved any problems though or just created another one.

 

Alonso- summer of 2004

Reina- summer of 2005

Torres- summer of 2007

 

These are only top quality signings we have made that have really improved our team compared to what we had before they arrived.

 

We could easily have used another method choosing quality over quantity every summer and maybe even bought a few players we did not get rid of after one or two seasons.

 

Who knows where we would be now?

[Tom R]

How much was Ronaldo? I seem to remeber it being no more than 12million? Not much more than Babel. He was also a rough diamond when he arrived but they've nurtured him properly. I think it shows Rafas man-management up a bit

 

We'd never have seen the best of Ronaldo under Rafa anyway. A player with his ego needs to be managed in a way that Rafa just can not and will not ever adhere to.

[Maldini]

That's mostly bollocks I'm afraid. We;ve splashed £11m on the likes of Babel and £7m on Lucas in the last 2 seasons. So nobody is going to tell me that we don't spend big on potential. Our problem is that rafa hasn't got a fucking clue what to do with that potential and he has no clue on how to manage a young player on a personal level, or any player for that matter. It's his way or the highway. No quarter is ever given. He's like a spoilt bully.

 

Babel was bought as a first team player because we didn't get Simao. He has been a fucking disaster of course. We spent £7m on Lucas the same summer as United spent £36m on Anderson and Nani.

[Tom R]

Babel was a 19 year old gamble, nothing more.

[Tom R]

Babel was bought as a first team player because we didn't get Simao. He has been a fucking disaster of course. We spent £7m on Lucas the same summer as United spent £36m on Anderson and Nani.

 

Neither of which are very good either by the way. What's your point; that LFC and Man United both make expensive mistakes?

[Section_31]

The club has been mismanaged going back years, the only reason it wasn't an issue then is because there wasn't that much cash flowing into the game. The mancs have always been a business rather than a football club, and they were in prime position to take advantage when the nature of the game changed.

[Code]

Rafa has destroyed Babel this season, he is a confidence player if I ever saw one and because he went to play in the Olympics after being injured for the Euro`s Rafa has almost frozen him out for some reason.

 

Babel started 10 of our last 14 league games last season after getting only 5 starts in the previous 24 and then for a young player only to come back after the summer break having missed out on the Euro`s through injury and suddenly being out in the cold again for some reason must be strange and confusing.

 

The boy has started only 5 games in the league this season, with us winning 4 of them by the way, what have he done to be treated like that opposed to a few other players?

 

Its no wonder he`s not performing.

[philyhamann]

Rafa has not handled Babel well, and he certainly isn't helping Lucas.

[aladdinsane]

The United excuse doesn't really wash with me. Benitez has still had a fucking fortune to spend by most standards, and largely he hasn't spent it very well, with a revolving door of shite coming in and out during his reign.

 

If he'd have spent his money wisely generally, allowing for the few inevitable mistakes, then I'd think fair enough, he's done his best with the money but United have spent even more, and give him some lee-way. To be honest, if he had had United's money, I wouldn't have trusted him to spend it wisely either. It sounds hyper critical but I'm sick of being told we're paupers, Benitez himself loves to talk about it.

[Maldini]

Babel was a 19 year old gamble, nothing more.

 

He was 20, nearly 21

 

Neither of which are very good either by the way. What's your point; that LFC and Man United both make expensive mistakes?

 

Anderson is better than Lucas and Nani is better than Babel, but that's not my point anyway. We had identified players like these (Ramsey, Denilson, Walcott, Bale, Higuain, Zarate, Renato Augusto etc) who we could have gotten for way cheaper than they eventually went but we hadn't got the cash to buy them. We have to take risks when signing first teamers, they can afford to take a £40m punt on two youngsters because they already have players like Ronaldo and Scholes in their positions.

 

Rafa has destroyed Babel this season, he is a confidence player if I ever saw one and because he went to play in the Olympics after being injured for the Euro`s Rafa has almost frozen him out for some reason.

 

Babel started 10 of our last 14 league games last season after getting only 5 starts in the previous 24 and then for a young player only to come back after the summer break having missed out on the Euro`s through injury and suddenly being out in the cold again for some reason must be strange and confusing.

 

The boy has started only 5 games in the league this season, with us winning 4 of them by the way, what have he done to be treated like that opposed to a few other players?

 

Its no wonder he`s not performing.

 

He's a lazy idiot. If you scored points for running into defenders' backs he'd be the best player in the world.