Rafa Exclusive in The Times

[Lario]

Hiddink

Mourinho

King Kenny

Jesualdo Ferreira

Pako Aysteran

 

Those suggestions made me laugh.

[The 5th Benitel]

You do enjoy a long post, dont you?

[TommyW]

cracking post real red

[cmuller]

Those suggestions made me laugh.

 

I thought it best to let them speak for themselves...

[hamstrung]

Drop cones on the floor and clap your hands a little to warm the players up.

 

Its funny 'cause its true.

[goatboy59]

Can we at least expect to not lose 8 matches before November?

 

Fuck, that really was a bad transfer window wasn't it?

 

Phil Brown, lordy.........

[Anny Road]

Shut up Rafa and win some games.

[Hermes]

 

We've got to sell players.

 

 

We could sell 10 of the dross that's been bought without having any real affect on results. The squad is huge for a club where money is supposed to be tight, that is the biggest indictment of Rafa's reign. Quantity has taken precedence over quality and we still have a pitifully poor squad six seasons after he arrived.

[Catch22]

I'm crap at searching for info etc, but just wondering if anybody knows or can find out our wage bill.

 

I'd be interested to find out how much we have to trim it by. 10,20,30,40,100k per week?

 

We have to sell a player in Jan to give Pepe a new contract, and that right there is not good.

 

 

 

The latest audited figure is £90m for the '07/08 season.

 

Since then, we have probably traded a reduction (Xabi,Pennant,Hypia,Crouch,Arebloa off vs Aqualini & Johnson on).

However the pay for the superstars has soared due to FX,tax,RM & City so the incumbents who have remained are on a lot more (Torres,Gerrard,Rafa himself).

 

It is probably around £100m now, which is 5th in the country.

 

I have no idea what we have to cut it too.

 

I think more to the point we have to let people go to keep Pepe who hasn't yet got the raise he deserves (thank fuck RM & Barca both have local boys in goal)

[Catch22]

We could sell 10 of the dross that's been bought without having any real affect on results. The squad is huge for a club where money is supposed to be tight, that is the biggest indictment of Rafa's reign. Quantity has taken precedence over quality and we still have a pitifully poor squad six seasons after he arrived.

 

We finished 2nd last year on the 4th highest bill- Something no club has ever done before in the modern era.

 

So whatever we were doing wrong, others were doing even worse.

[rebel23]

If the RBS had not extended the loan,Torres was gone to City for £70m this summer. They could not care less what the repurcussions are mate.

 

Torres wouldnt accept a move to City, he has a contract with LFC so they can't force him to go anywhere he doesn't want to go

[Herp McDerp]

I saw this

I'm crap at searching for info etc, but just wondering if anybody knows or can find out our wage bill.

 

I'd be interested to find out how much we have to trim it by. 10,20,30,40,100k per week?

 

We have to sell a player in Jan to give Pepe a new contract, and that right there is not good.

and was going to post this.

 

I was too slow obviously.

[t1971]

We finished 2nd last year on the 4th highest bill- Something no club has ever done before in the modern era.

 

So whatever we were doing wrong, others were doing even worse.

 

An achievement on its own.

[goatboy59]

ATK; 10.08 am

Catch; 10.15 am

 

The batteries in your beeper need replacing! ;)

[goatboy59]

An achievement on its own.

Massive achievement, I think you'll find.

 

On a par with the 80's, don'tcha know.

[Hermes]

An achievement on its own.

 

No, "a massive achievement".

[T0RRES]

Its a very bizarre situation, exclusive with News International makes me chuckle.

 

Let me adopt Benitez's own management style here, I for one am not interested in excuses or the rationale behind botched signings. When you sign Andrea Dosshsit for 7/8 Million. Then you are culpable if the funds are lacking to sign the Ramsay's of this world.

 

Talking on the pitch its the only way forward, emphasis on the word forward, most of the players need to understand what that word means.

 

Like it or not Rafa hasn't been the same man since Pako left.

[Hermes]

We finished 2nd last year on the 4th highest bill- Something no club has ever done before in the modern era.

 

So whatever we were doing wrong, others were doing even worse.

 

We have a squad full of players who hardly ever get a game and there is very little difference in ability amongst those players. We are paying a load of players to sit in the stands watching the games at huge expense.

 

Rafa is continually bringing them in and shipping them out with signing on fees when they come/"loyalty" fees when they leave, we are constantly having to pay for his mistakes in the transfer market.

[Catch22]

Let me just say at £250k per week wages, he would go.

 

 

Of course he would, but that jump in less in both percentage & absolute terms than Xabi got (80>>190 vs 160>>250).

 

The nonsense in the claim that Xabi left because of any issue with Rafa is that to have a go at the latter is effectively calling the former a childish fool.

 

Anyone offered double their money at a comparable firm in any walk of life & doesn't go, needs their head examining.

[hamstrung]

Its a very bizarre situation, exclusive with News International makes me chuckle.

 

 

Well done.

[Hermes]

 

Anyone offered double their money at a comparable firm & doesn't go, needs their head examining.

 

Gerrard didn't go.

[goatboy59]

Enter Rafael Benitez, and in an instant the Academy staff are bathing in a little Spanish sunshine

 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

 

I instantly thought of Manny in 'Black Books', swallowing the little book of calm.

[WhiskeyJar]

 

Like it or not Rafa hasn't been the same man since Pako left.

 

[Catch22]

We have a squad full of players who hardly ever get a game and there is very little difference in ability amongst those players. We are paying a load of players to sit in the stands watching the games at huge expense.

 

Rafa is continually bringing them in and shipping them out with signing on fees when they come/"loyalty" fees when they leave, we are constantly having to pay for his mistakes in the transfer market.

 

 

You are not wrong about any of that but the fact remains is that Rafa has constantly over-achieved in the market & on the pitch once his outlays are properly measured.

 

Which means that his mistakes are less than his peer group.

 

Torres misses chances, Gerrrad misplaces passes & Carra gets beaten by attackers.

 

What matters is their performance against a relevant peer group.

 

Otherwise we end up with the level of insanity that Code has, where he genuinely & honestly believes that he would be a better manager than any present PL incumbent if only bad luck had not forever dogged him in the interview process.

[hamstrung]

Can someone fill me on Code and this job interview. I must have missed that, but its sounds brilliant.