Torres to quit if reds don't make top4

[TheDrowningMan]

I wouldn't blame Torres under the circumstances. We think nothing of players plying their trade at clubs beneath our level wanting to better themselves by joining Liverpool, so if we are unable to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, Barcelona etc, etc then it's fair enough that our few remaining world class players would want to make the step up to a level above. Why stay at a shambolic, non-competitive outfit with the worst owners in sports history when clubs with genuine ambition want to sign you?

 

Thanks to Moores, Parry, Gillett and Hicks we're dangling dangerously close to confirming our place amongst quaint has-beens from a bygone era who exist to do nothing but speak of the 'good old days' and if we get there we're there forever unless a massively wealthy buyer comes in. You don't claw your way back to the elite in modern day football.

[rubberduckstyle]

I wouldn't blame Torres under the circumstances. We think nothing of players plying their trade at clubs beneath our level wanting to better themselves by joining Liverpool, so if we are unable to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, Barcelona etc, etc then it's fair enough that our few remaining world class players would want to make the step up to a level above. Why stay at a shambolic, non-competitive outfit with the worst owners in sports history when clubs with genuine ambition want to sign you?

 

Thanks to Moores, Parry, Gillett and Hicks we're dangling dangerously close to confirming our place amongst quaint has-beens from a bygone era who exist to do nothing but speak of the 'good old days' and if we get there we're there forever unless a massively wealthy buyer comes in. You don't claw your way back to the elite in modern day football.

 

I don't know what "negged" means but l have a funny feeling that you should be negged?

[Dirk]

Chris Bascombe is a serious football journalist who is renowned around the football world for his credibility and insight.

[Herp McDerp]

I wouldn't blame Torres under the circumstances. We think nothing of players plying their trade at clubs beneath our level wanting to better themselves by joining Liverpool, so if we are unable to compete with the likes of Chelsea, Man Utd, Barcelona etc, etc then it's fair enough that our few remaining world class players would want to make the step up to a level above. Why stay at a shambolic, non-competitive outfit with the worst owners in sports history when clubs with genuine ambition want to sign you?

 

Thanks to Moores, Parry, Gillett and Hicks we're dangling dangerously close to confirming our place amongst quaint has-beens from a bygone era who exist to do nothing but speak of the 'good old days' and if we get there we're there forever unless a massively wealthy buyer comes in. You don't claw your way back to the elite in modern day football.

Yup, I wouldn't begrudge him leaving, he's 26 and as someone else pointed out he's won fuck all with either of his clubs. He moved here to win trophies, if it was the affection of fans he wanted he could just have stayed at Atletico.

The last sentence in your post is bang on by the way, if we fall further behind we're going to be fucked for a long, long time.

I don't know what "negged" means but l have a funny feeling that you should be negged?

Negged.

[rubberduckstyle]

Yup, I wouldn't begrudge him leaving, he's 26 and as someone else pointed out he's won fuck all with either of his clubs. He moved here to win trophies, if it was the affection of fans he wanted he could just have stayed at Atletico.

The last sentence in your post is bang on by the way, if we fall further behind we're going to be fucked for a long, long time.

 

Negged.

 

Location? Up your Arse? Your words, not mine...

[Herp McDerp]

P..pp...pppussy.

[Little Sammy]

Torres left Atletico Madrid because they weren't competiting for major honours or qualifying for the Champions League. He is 26 in March and will surely want to evidence that Liverpool can be competitive, otherwise I can see him wanting out.

 

The sad thing is that I wouldn't blame him if he turns his back on this shambles.

[Dirk]

Wouldn't blame him for wanting to walk away 4 months into a season after we come close to winning the league, when we still have a chance of winning other trophies? I fucking would. The story is probably bollocks anyway.

[Captain]

Does this mean Bascombe still thinks the owners have been doing ok, like he wrote a while back?

 

£100m for the pair of them takes of a huge chunk of the debt.

 

Thats the way the owners will look at it.

 

I seriously doubt that. Cash flow is a major factor for them. A club failing to get to the CL generates a lot less cash. Selling Gerrard and Torres for £100M next summer will guarantee we won't get back into it either.

 

How they will handle the situation is of course anyone's guess. One thing is for certain, we can't continue on the track we're on now.

 

Net spend is a complex matter judging by this forum so im not surprised most fans seem to think they've been generous.

 

Ain't that the fucking truth.

[rubberduckstyle]

P..pp...pppussy.

 

:smile:

 

[Guest davelfc]

Loyalty. They use the world 'loyalty' in football a lot these days. Despite there being even less of it around than ever. Loyalty is there from the fans, paying crazy cash each week for tickets and travel. Almost unconditional support. Hell if we dropped out of the CL qualification places would any of us decide that the club was not realising our expectations and switch to another team that might bring us what we wanted?

 

But within the club? On the pitch? It just doesn't exist, it's a made up word some fancy word that most footballers couldn't even spell never mind understand. If we continue to deteriorate and not have any cash to bring players in then they will be out of the door without a second glance back.

[rargh]

I saw the link to the Sunday Sun. I saw who the article was penned by. I stopped reading at that point.

[PaulMcC]

No matter what manager we have, with these in charge i don't think any of our top players will stay about more than the next 3 seasons.

 

We're on a downward spiral and it's 100% them Yank cunts fault.

[goatboy59]

If by July there's no CL, no Rafa and no money - and he's had a good World Cup - it wouldn't be a seismic shock to see him leave.

 

More worrying stuff from one of Hicks' usual nob noshers.

 

 

 

Rafa Benitez is struggling to raise funds for the January transfer window despite claims that Saudi Arabia's Prince Faisal is on the verge of buying George Gillett's half share of the club.

 

It is understood that Prince Faisal remains focused for now on setting up Liverpool-branded academies in the Middle East.

 

Even if he were to pursue taking a stake in the club at a later date, it would be as a minority shareholder, not as co-owner with Tom Hicks.

 

With any change in Liverpool's ownership structure unlikely until the end of the season, Benitez will have to sell before buying next month.

 

But he is finding it hard to generate a kitty because he is pricing misfits in his underachieving squad out of the market.

 

Benitez wants to get back the £12million he paid for Dutch international forward Ryan Babel and is even asking £5m for Ukranian striker Andriy Voronin, who he signed on a free from Hertha Berlin.

 

The result has been deadlock with the only offers for Babel so far being loan spells in Holland with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven.

 

An attempt to swap Babel for Tottenham's out-of-favour Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko failed because Liverpool also wanted £3m as part of the deal.

[JohnnyH]

I'd price Babel and Voronin at that. The goals Voronin scored in Germany last season make him worth asking £5m. Babel is young and hidden away somewhere is a bloody good player so why not ask £12m? Clubs can then come back with their valuation and the bartering will start from there.

[PaulMcC]

The amount of shit Rafa is getting compared to the owners is unbelieable.

 

One of the cunts just sold a club for about 300m but he'snot putting a penny in to our club.

 

And it's been lost in all the shit about the manager.

[PaulMcC]

I'd price Babel and Voronin at that. The goals Voronin scored in Germany last season make him worth asking £5m. Babel is young and hidden away somewhere is a bloody good player so why not ask £12m? Clubs can then come back with their valuation and the bartering will start from there.

 

We'll never get 17m for them 2.

 

Hopefully the clubs going for them don't pull out.

 

If we gotr 10m for both them i'd be very happy with that. As long as Rafa is allowed to spend it all on transfers.

[StevieH]

The amount of shit Rafa is getting compared to the owners is unbelieable.

 

One of the cunts just sold a club for about 300m but he'snot putting a penny in to our club.

 

And it's been lost in all the shit about the manager.

 

Agreed.

 

I'm watching the Sunday Supplement on Sky and they are all talking about how Liverpool are in decline and how Torres, Mascherano and Gerrard WILL leave, and yet no mention of how the American owners are ruining Liverpool FC.

[JohnnyH]

We'll never get 17m for them 2.

 

Hopefully the clubs going for them don't pull out.

 

If we gotr 10m for both them i'd be very happy with that. As long as Rafa is allowed to spend it all on transfers.

 

Correct. We wont get £17m. But no harm starting the bidding at that price though.

[goatboy59]

I will be surprised if we got the amounts quoted.

 

I will be a little surprised if they leave at all.

 

I will not be surprised if they leave but the deals remain confidential.

 

The tone of the 'report' (more like a yank press release) is that Rafa will be to blame if no deals are struck in or out.

 

Much as I criticise Rafa there's no way he expects 5m for Voronin or 12m for Babel, no way at all.

 

Buying clubs will only 'meet us halfway' if they originally offer no money whatsoever.

[StevieH]

I'd price Babel and Voronin at that. The goals Voronin scored in Germany last season make him worth asking £5m. Babel is young and hidden away somewhere is a bloody good player so why not ask £12m? Clubs can then come back with their valuation and the bartering will start from there.

 

The problem is that Voronin only has 18 months left on his contract, and clubs know that Liverpool are desperate to raise cash.

 

Valuing Voronin at £5M is fine as a starting point when negotiating with other clubs, but I think we would be lucky to get more than £1.5-2M and then there is the issue of clubs meeting his personal demands.

[goatboy59]

An attempt to swap Babel for Tottenham's out-of-favour Russian striker Roman Pavlyuchenko failed because Liverpool also wanted £3m as part of the deal.

I think that's especially pernicious.

[Hermes]

I wouldn't expect Torres to stay and I wouldn't blame him if he did go. As for the article, this is the man who said Rafa Benitez will be sacked "probably by the end of the week".

 

Admittedly he didn't say which week, but there have been more than one hundred of them since he said it.

Edited December 27, 2009 by Hermes

[Guest Kenny]

If Torres DOES want to leave the owners will have the perfect excuse then to sell, and after that Hicks will tell us how hard we tried to keep him.

[PaulMcC]

If Torres DOES want to leave the owners will have the perfect excuse then to sell, and after that Hicks will tell us how hard we tried to keep him.

 

And our fans will go ''Fucking Rafa killing this club, he's so shit that even Torres is leaving''