Xabi Alonso - Why I Left LFC

[coachpotato]

Think it's true that Benitez screwed up over Barry, but he wanted Alonso to stay after the next season.

 

Alonso is a clever player with intelligence, I think he thought that after we finished 2nd, that was as far as we were going with the 2 twats in charge and a lack of quality coming in to push us over the line to 1st.

 

So he fucked off when the opportunity came along.

 

Still have him back though.

[Barnesey]

I thought Brian Reade's latest book suggests Xabi intimated he wanted to bring up his expected child in Spain and would leave and Rafa's interest in Barry was as a replacement

[WaltonRed]

Bring him home!

[zigackly]

Surely Xabi would know at least as much about why he made the decision to go as Brian Reade does?

[Barnesey]

Surely Xabi would know at least as much about why he made the decision to go as Brian Reade does?

 

Doesn't mean he we would share it with us though. Perhaps he wants to create a different impression? Reade may also have an agenda, of course.

[zigackly]

Doesn't mean he we would share it with us though. Perhaps he wants to create a different impression? Reade may also have an agenda, of course.

 

Of course we can't know absolutely, but there is no reason for Xabi to lie unless he wants to come back. Perhaps there was a reason someone told Reade what he wrote though?

[WaltonRed]

Rafa wanted him out to Fenebache at one point so he could get Barry, we couldnt get Barry, he had to stay, season of his life, Real came in and he thought fuck you Rafa, i'm off.

 

Thats how I thought it worked.

[Guest TesticleOReilly]

The Alonsopologists make just as many blinkered excuses as the Rafapologists.

[Major Tom]

Surely Xabi would know at least as much about why he made the decision to go as Brian Reade does?

 

But would Alonso tell us the truth?

 

As you say, managers lie, so I'm fairly certain players will too.

[ML74]

Does anyone seriously believe that had Rafa not tried to get rid the previous summer, Alonso would have told Madrid to get fucked?

[The Dude Abides]

Haha, it's hilarious how far Xabi has pulled the wool over some peoples eyes on this. Gullible would only begin to describe it.

[Major Tom]

Does anyone seriously believe that had Rafa not tried to get rid the previous summer, Alonso would have told Madrid to get fucked?

 

It's hard to say. His head was clearly turned by that shambles but it was a year down the line. Get over it already.

 

The lure of home and a huge pay increase would be difficult to turn down for anyone in any walk of life. Benitez opened the door for sure but Xabi didn't have to walk through it.

 

Saying that - and as I have said already - I bear the guy no ill. Fantastic player for us and seems like a good guy to boot.

[Juniper]

Showing my age here but sums up my views on this subject (without aiming this at Xabi, more so how many times we go through this)

 

"And on....and on......and on.....and on.....and on.....and on........and Ariston".

 

Quality advert, must do my washing actually.

[Xherdan]

Facepalm.

[Code]

Doesn't mean he we would share it with us though. Perhaps he wants to create a different impression? Reade may also have an agenda, of course.

 

You mean the part of the book where Reade wrote about what Rafa had told them.

 

If Alonso was not such a class act he would have hung Rafa and his lies out to dry, but he will not let himself fall down on such a gutter level and that should tell people everything they need to know about him.

 

A 100% class act anytime and anywhere.

[moof]

Code and Xabi sitting in a tree.....

[Guest TesticleOReilly]

You mean the part of the book where Reade wrote about what Rafa had told them.

 

If Alonso was not such a class act he would have hung Rafa and his lies out to dry, but he will not let himself fall down on such a gutter level and that should tell people everything they need to know about him.

 

A 100% class act anytime and anywhere.

 

[VladimirIlyich]

Everybody could see that losing Alonso,for whatever reason,was the beginning of the end for that team.

He was so important to the way that the team played, it was like taking the plug out of the bathtub.

The pursuit of Barry was just comical,he was and still is one of the most average players in the prem and his versatility consists of playing slowly in any one of 3 or 4 positions.

 

The blame could be laid at either of Rafa or the yanks door,Rafa for not rating him and sounding out Juventus or the yank cunts for forcing Rafa to sell to buy and thinking Alonso was the best way of doing this.

 

I blame the yanks but, it was easy to see that if Alonso was sold,the replacement was never going to be as good,because of financial restrictions and/or a decent striker should have been more of a priority.

[clangers]

So after two years and yet another 'Why I left' article, what conclusions have we reached?

 

Did Rafa handle the summer of 2008 badly? Yes in fairness, but so what? Any manager is entitled to sell on any of their players to try and improve the squad. Alonso hadn't been great for the previous 12 months and it was pretty clear Rafa was trying to change the structure of the side.

 

Does Alonso have a right to have his nose put out of joint a bit? Yes. Is he overplaying the driven out routine? Definitely. It's hardly uncommon for players to go in and out of favour, often sometimes to the point of leaving only to find form and re-establish themselves.

 

Personally I've come to the conclusion with Xabi that he clearly has a lot of affection for us, he turns up at matches routinely and often refers to us and because of this feels he needs to provide an excuse to vindicate himself with the supporters.

 

No need, he gave us a great 5 years, he's not a local lad so we can't always have expectations that players from foreign countries aren't going to want to move on or return home after a period of time. The lure of Real Madrid is understandable, he has a young family so will have wanted to return to Spain to raise them, had his nose put of out joint a bit by Rafa and I'm quite sure the massive pay day and lower tax were influences as well. That's fine with me.

 

Ultimately he left in the right way, he waited till the end of the season, gave us plenty of notice and we made a nice profit. He didn't drop a transfer demand on us with only a couple of days of the transfer window left, he didn't try and run his contract down or refuse to play for us.

[Guest ShoePiss]

Has no one got all mad about this and said "I wish that spanish prick would fuck off talking to the press about us" yet?

 

He's just another ex player, a great one but fucking hell this is boring.

[RobbieOR]

[Red Nick]

There is a major difference this time because Xabi has nailed a lot of Rafaites excuses and clearly stated he wouldnt have been happy to stay under Rafa for another season.

 

These posters were giving people of the view that happened to be the truth shit loads of shit but when confronted with the truth just cant bear to be proved wrong and imediately head for the La La La La I am not listening headphones.

 

Hence why this thread is completely different to the ones that went before

[Guest ShoePiss]

There is a major difference this time because Xabi has nailed a lot of Rafaites excuses and clearly stated he wouldnt have been happy to stay under Rafa for another season.

 

These posters were giving people of the view that happened to be the truth shit loads of shit but when confronted with the truth just cant bear to be proved wrong and imediately head for the La La La La I am not listening headphones.

 

Hence why this thread is completely different to the ones that went before

 

I think it's more to do with people being tired of going over the same shite which will never be resolved either way, I'm not arsed who was right and wrong anyway.

 

I'm now going to look for pictures of unicorns, rainbows and blackpuddings to fill up this twat thread.

[Guest ShoePiss]

[Guest ShoePiss]

This one is neither but it came up when I searched for unicorn rainbow blackpudding in google images, pretty good.