Calling Dave Usher

[Code]

Is it just fucking oblivious to everyone that Alonso played nowhere near his potential for 2 seasons??? And just maybe thats why he was getting sold.

 

In a sea of wrongness you just managed to stick out.

 

Kudos to you.

[RedKnight]

Seeing how this thread has started to go, I don't blame Dave for not wanting to comment further.

[RedKnight]

I say number 4 at a guess.

[RobbieOR]

I say number 4 at a guess.

 

I agree. Could be over the thing when his missus was preganant last year. Who knows? Things go on behind closed doors.

[RedKnight]

I reckon that Xabi would've been happy to be here for life if Rafa hadn't treated him so poorly.

[Tyler Durden]

I agree to some extent to what you're saying, although you are doing exactly the same in that post that you accuse others of doing with their own "facts".

 

Would you like to show me how or where??? What rumour have i stated to be a fact?

[SpeedyG]

It's a war. The Rafapologists vs. the Rafaphobes. hahaha

[Jose Jones]

I reckon that Xabi would've been happy to be here for life if Rafa hadn't treated him so poorly.

 

What did Rafa do that was so poor? That's a serious question, by the way.

Xabi knows and everyone knows that Rafa tried to sell him last summer and it didn't work out. I think he wouldn't have minded going to Juve but when Rafa was even entertaining bids from Fenerbahce that might have pissed Xabi off as it showed Rafa was just looking for the money rather than also looking after the interests of a player he'd been close to for a few years.

 

Still, when all the moves fell through and Xabi stayed Rafa played him continually this season, he hasn’t bombed him out, sat him on the bench or tried to flog him in January. If there’s one guy in the squad who is professional enough to go, “ok I didn’t like that, but I’m a footballer, I love playing for Liverpool, the manager’s picking me I can get on with it” it would be Xabi. I think he said as much in that chat with Jan Molby. Would that really have been enough to get on Xabi’s tits enough that he wanted to leave?

 

Also, what’s all the “disgraceful behaviour by Rafa” about regarding Xabi’s baby? I know he wanted to miss a game, but haven’t Pepe and recently Agger also missed games to be at the birth of their kids? What was the disgraceful behaviour – is this just a rumour thing?

Anyway, I know this is probably all going over old ground but any filling in would be sweet.

 

I’m willing to believe that Xabi will leave (although still have faint hopes he won’t) mainly because a lot of well informed people seem sure he will. But the way I see it is that it’s because Rafa isn’t 100% against it if he can get a big wedge of cash, and also because Xabi knows this and also knows Madrid will be in for him and he quite fancies it. All the rest is just bollocks and politics.

[JohnBull]

67 responses yet I am still no closer to an answer to my original question. I certainly didn't expect so many responses. And to be honest, since I have been a member here for several years, I was pretty sure that Dave wouldn't reveal his sources. He's obviously better connected than the average fan but usually keeps his cards really close to his chest (which is probably why he is able to maintain such good connections) I can understand his reluctance to say what he knows/has heard, i just wish he wouldn't give us these little teasers when he cannot reveal the whole story.

 

Anyway, I am still mystified as to why Rafa wants Xabi gone or vice versa, whichever the case may be. It seems nore plausible that it is the former however, as he is under contract and cannot leave unless Rafa approves. So again, the question is why??

 

Is Rafa holding a grudge from when Xabi's baby was born and he left the team? Does he need the cash to buy other players? I just cannot understand why he would want to sell a player of Xabi's calibre when a replacement would cost more than the club can afford. It cannot be that he thinks that Gareth Barry can adequately fill Xabi's shoes and keep our football flowing as well as he does ... surely he, Rafa, cannot be that daft?

 

Xabi has just finished his best season for us where it was clearly btwn him and Stevie for best player. He is a brilliant player, with a footballing brain and vision that has very few equals in the world. When he is on the field we play a much more fluid game and we keep the ball much better than when he is not. Even though our team needs improving, we could easily have won the League this year. In fact, had we played like we did in the last third of the season for the first two thirds, we would definitely have won. And Xabi was a big part of that.

 

So it just makes no sense to me that Rafa would want to sell him without bringing in someone of equal or better ability and the names mentioned thus far do not even come close. I know that no one player is bigger than a club ... Keegan left for Hamburg, Rushie went to Italy though he returned, Figo left Barca for Madrid, Zidane was sold by Juventus to Madrid, and the world did not end. And it will be the same if we sell Alonso ... life will definitely go on.

 

I'd just like to know why.

[ToxtethTerror]

Xabi should be untouchable but his treatment is a disgrace on the part of Rafa. You reap what you sow.

[SpeedyG]

Xabi should be untouchable but his treatment is a disgrace on the part of Rafa. You reap what you sow.

 

I agree a manager should not try to sell players who under perform in order to improve the team. What was he thinking? Fucking hell, he'll be trying to unload Babel and Degen next, can't have that.

[fin-bat]

Some people (you included) may well have discussions with people who are closer to the events. But you can't, and shouldn't, take everything you hear through your "grapevine" as gospel.

 

 

Yep. Not necessarily related to this Alonso case, but in every firm I´ve ever worked in, the boss has always been an idiot, unfair or asshole, in my opinion. If some outsider had based his opinion about my boss only to my comments, he would have got a different view of the reality than what was probably true.

 

And they may even talk like this about their bosses in football cirgles !

 

So, sometimes the view of events may be more correct from a distance, than what you see/hear if you´re very close to the source.

[WaltonRed]

ZZZZzzzz

[kop]

Would you like to show me how or where??? What rumour have i stated to be a fact?

 

You said it was "fucking obvious" that Alonso played bad for 2 season and that's why he was getting sold.

 

That's one theory in the discussion, and I accept it no problems, but it is just as uncertain as all the "facts" you critisize others of presenting.

[ToxtethTerror]

I agree a manager should not try to sell players who under perform in order to improve the team. What was he thinking? Fucking hell, he'll be trying to unload Babel and Degen next, can't have that.

 

You're comparing Alonso to Degen?

[Catch22]

Your number 1, says all I need to know about were you info comes from.

 

Fuckin hate the shit your fed.

 

 

Would you stay in your present job if your pay had been cut by 40-45% & you could restore it by changing employers?

[Paul]

Would you stay in your present job if your pay had been cut by 40-45% & you could restore it by changing employers?

 

How, if you are paid in Sterling and you spend in Sterling, does an exchange rate issue equate to a wage cut?

[Red Phoenix]

Is it net pay?

[Catch22]

Is it net pay?

 

 

Yes & as someone like RiS has pointed out that may not be important to Xabi, but why do we tie ourselves in knots looking for all sorts of other reasons when such a blindingly obvious 1 is in front of us?

 

If someone offered almost all of us a 45-50% net pay rise, we would move & there wouldn't be massive debate about why!

[Catch22]

How, if you are paid in Sterling and you spend in Sterling, does an exchange rate issue equate to a wage cut?

 

 

In terms of him staying with us who pay in sterling or returning to RM, it is a real difference.

 

Either it is a cut in Eur pay which will be restored or his sterling pay has stayed the same, but RM are now offering a lot more.

The effect is the same.

 

A holiday this summer in the UK has stayed the same in GBP but is relatively much more expensive

 

 

Wenger has publically given a very reasonable interview on this point

 

Wenger: Tax laws could halt talent - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

 

Arsene Wenger has warned that changes to the British tax system could stem the flow of foreign talent to the Barclays Premier League.Chancellor Alistair Darling this week revealed plans to raise the top rate of income tax to 50% for earnings over £150,000 a year - a policy the Frenchman thinks could prove prohibitive to well-paid footballers.

 

The falling value of sterling against the euro is another concern, with club's spending power significantly hit by the plummeting pound.

 

Asked whether English football relied too heavily on imported talent, Wenger said: "Don't worry, that time will soon be over because with the new taxation system and with the collapse of sterling... the domination of the Premier League will end.

 

"The pound was at 1.45 or 1.60 (euros) at one stage...from one day to the next it will be a financial problem for all the English clubs."

 

Birmingham co-owner David Sullivan echoed Wenger's sentiments, predicting that England would no longer enjoy pre-eminence in the transfer market.

 

"The pound and the tax are issues because the majority of players still come from the eurozone," Sullivan told The Times.

 

"If players think tax changes mean they're losing out, they will ask for more.

 

"They do their sums, their agents do their sums and if you don't pay what they want maybe they go.

 

"The Premier League clubs have had an extraordinary 10-15 years where they've achieved total domination.

 

"If that reverses it's hardly a correction we can moan about, it's just a levelling of the playing field."

[Red Phoenix]

Yes & as someone like RiS has pointed out that may not be important to Xabi, but why do we tie ourselves in knots looking for all sorts of other reasons when such a blindingly obvious 1 is in front of us?

 

If someone offered almost all of us a 45-50% net pay rise, we would move & there wouldn't be massive debate about why!

 

Ah, was just messing around with the net thing. The whole situation with Xabi is something I'm just trying to wait and see with, because the amount of rumours going around and arguments just makes it too confusing.

[Anubis]

Yes we will big cheese, but dont ever say he want's to leave because he does not, ask yourself why he wants to leave? and maybe take your fucking blinkers off.

With respect ATK, you've just contradicted yourself within the same sentence. He either wants to leave, or he doesn't. And he does want to leave. That may well be because of what happened last summer, but nevertheless, he does want to leave. But if he does it's not going to be for the reduced fee some are angling for.

 

As for taking the blinkers off, a few simple questions suffice :

 

1. Which parties stand to gain from any stratedgy which sees Xabi leave at a reduced price? (Although I rather think that got blown out of the water last Friday).

 

2. Why would those parties release information pertaining to that stratedgy to Chris Bascome, of all journalists?

 

I think Real Red is on the money here. The reality is that nobody on either side is going to come out of this smelling of roses. Rather than try to apportion blame I wish they'd all just bloody get on with it so we can start sorting ourselves out for next season, although I still hold out a flicker of hope that Xabi may still end up here next season.

[Catch22]

Ah, was just messing around with the net thing. The whole situation with Xabi is something I'm just trying to wait and see with, because the amount of rumours going around and arguments just makes it too confusing.

 

 

 

All of our players who are EU-citizens (Masch is OK as he can claim non-domicile) & could command a role at an elite European club will be in demanding more cash to comensate for the tax/FX changes.

 

It is no co-incidence that we have just given Torres a big rise for no extension!

[TheHitman]

Is it really such a big deal if the player doesn't like the manager. I'm sure at every club there are at least several players who dislike the boss. Xabi strikes me as a top professional, I'm surprised as claimed by so many he would let his personal feelings dictate if he leaves Liverpool or not.

[ToxtethTerror]

Is it really such a big deal if the player doesn't like the manager. I'm sure at every club there are at least several players who dislike the boss. Xabi strikes me as a top professional, I'm surprised as claimed by so many he would let his personal feelings dictate if he leaves Liverpool or not.

 

Maybe Xabi like a lot of footballers has some pride and doesn't want to work for a manager who tried to oust him for non footballing reasons only a year ago?