Best Believe It

The Football Ramble is better.

I used to listen to TAW but got bored of it. A few people on there whose names I don't care about are interesting to listen to, but a few just talk without any real point to what they're saying. Since I started listening to the Ramble I found it less easy to have patience to listen to what TAW were saying. I know they're trying to support Liverpool bands but I don't really care. Also, the journalists they have had on, with maybe one or two exceptions have been surprisingly uninsightful.

I think it's also a bit more interesting to listen to a wider debate on football rather than everything so Liverpool-focused. Some of the wailing and cuntery on here over the past two years was putting me off footy.

Change is scary, man.

I think the interview with Digger on the offal was strategically placed and I think the whole thing he was talking about is indicative of what FSG are going to be putting in place. That the most important thing at the club is the philosophy which, let's be honest, is currently ill-defined at our club. We have terms like 'The Liverpool Way' and 'Pass and Move' which don't really say anything. Even on here whenever the former term has attempted to be defined there's been disagreement.

We've managed to get to the early stages of continuity in the academy, youth teams and reserve side due to technical directors and the like. I don't see any reason why this can't be extended to the first team; more than that, I think it should be. We should be a forward-thinking club and not just do things because that's the way everyone else does them.

*Checks poll results*

*Waves to Rashid*

I was hoping Chelsea would win it because I strongly think that is what would gain our club most.

 

It would be great to see Chelsea fail once again, but in the end that would be more for my personal gain than the clubs gain as I now think this will create a lot more trouble for Spurs when it comes to keeping some of their players and recruiting others, Chelsea would splash the cash no matter what and they would get players, will Spurs?

 

I doubt it and so does every Spurs fan I know, they were looking into the abyss last night because of the consequenses this might have on them.

Spot on. As much as I hate Chelsea I always thought this would eventually happen; they've thrown enough money at the issue for it to have done so. I saw last night's game as win-win: Bayern win, then I take the pleasure from seeing Chelsea fail again; Chelsea win and we see the repocussions on Spurs.

As Code says, whatever happened last night Chelsea would still spend big and be up there for top four spaces. Spurs were relying on CL football to keep hold of their best players. Bale, Modric and VdV will all agitate for moves now, and they won't be able to recruit top class players as they can't pay the wages.

That is a bit curious like. Those who are so angry about the rumours (such as the finger rubbing thing) then tend to really dislike Gerrard and Carragher. If they don't believe the rumours, then why?

Think you're generalising for the sake of convenience there. Most people apparently didn't know that Alan had been making stuff up about Rafa, going by this thread.

I fully admit to not liking Gerrard all that much, though that has much more to do with the Chelsea flirtation and my misgivings at his captaincy than anything else. Both he and Carragher, whatever managers they rate or don't rate, deserve respect though. As does Rafa. Not sure about Raga.

At the end of the day, we'll never know will we? One thing i'll say though, is that I can't think of one senior player that we've had over the last 10 years who has done anything other than give his all for the club.

 

The likes of John Terry etc are a totally different breed to our senior players. To me, I choose to believe that our players lost faith in their manager on a professional level because it seems far more plausible than the allegations of them somehow acting like children.

What would you class as a senior player? I think several senior players have been guilty of not giving their all on the pitch under the last three managers.

If all of that is true, does it not make you wonder why a section of the players turned on him so much? In every dressing room there will be players who like the manager and players who don't, that's just the way it is.

 

But so much so that they actively want to get rid of the manager? That just sets alarm bells ringing to me and its the one thing that worries me about AVB (if the same rumours were true).

You're drifting into the thorny issue of player power now though. It could quite easily be read that at both Chelsea and Liverpool there were players who considered themselves to be bigger than the manager and therefore felt quite justified in actively trying to get rid of the boss. In Chelsea's case though, there was probably more about self-interest - ie players not playing, or feeling like they were being edged out - whereas at Liverpool they may well have been actively trying to get rid of the manager because Purslow made it much more possible for them to do so, pallying up to them and slagging off Rafa behind his back.

I thought the media theory was a little far-fetched.

 

But you're of the view that Benitez wasn't sacked for footballing reasons but for political ones?

Aye. I don't think they sacked him because we finished 7th.

i'm not sure what he made up. Can you elucidate?

He told a story on here that Benitez told Carragher (and maybe another player) on the training pitch 'They can't afford to sack me' whilst rubbing his hands together, in response to something Carra or someone else had said.

Which is why you might notice the odd post with the phrase *rubs hands* in it, from different people, from time to time. Alan Kayll made the story up completely.

So who is this backstabbing coward who has written this anonymous letter then?

This might be an obstacle to you finding out, Code.

Even if this were true - which I doubt - would Broughton admit it publicly?

 

I could be wrong of course. Do you have the exact quote anywhere?

Broughton replied to an email Jim Boardman had sent him about Rafa's departure where Broughton said 'I note your opinion is not shared by the media' or something. Rafa wasn't sacked due to media pressure/influence. He was sacked because he gave Broughton an ultimatum - Purslow or Benitez. Broughton chose to sack Rafa.

I've known Alan well since the early days of SOS, He was one of the few people on the board who I genuinely felt had the best interests of the club at heart and still do.

 

I don't agree with Alan's political beliefs, and I never will, but his political belief's are absolutely nothing to do with me, you or any other person at there. The fact his where made public, in a post made 5 years ago, is of course damning, I don't know if his beliefs are the same now, but it's not important.

 

This is nothing more than a set up, someone with an axe to grind, someone who is trying to tarnish someones reputation. This has fuck all to do with football, fuck all to do with the club, fuck all to do with anything other than trying to discredit one fans views, based on a post made 5 years ago.

Considering how Alan would happily invent stuff to slur Benitez I don't think he's exactly an innocent party in this. There's been fairly regular mud-slinging on both sides; this would simply appear to be a logical progression in the ridiculous row that's been going on between two groups of supposed Liverpool fans.

Have Vintage guitars improved much? I bought two about five years ago and they were average. Went out of tune very easily as well.

I bought a black Vintage VS6 and it's ace. Wilkinson used the same specs as the Gibson Vintage Humbuckers to make his own humbuckers. They sound boss. It's about 100-150 quid cheaper than an Epiphone SG and about 4 times as good.

Tedious soundbite that tells us nothing.

 

File away with "XXXXXX shouldn't be anywhere near the first team".

My favourite - and by favourite I mean least favourite - is the phrase 'If we'd have played [insert flavour of the month] then we'd have won 150-2'.

Saying a player is the least of our worries is the least of our worries.

How many on the forum?

I try not to think of some forumites as actual people.

Fuck Off! Off my TV you excessively chinned slag! Seriously, for one week can we not have a Louise Mensch free television schedule?

There are few people on this earth I'd like to punch repeatedly in the face more than Louise Mensch.

Even though I am a Speyside man, it was actually Talisker that got me into whisky a few years back. I'm really looking forward to the Balvenie Doublewood that's en route to casa RedBrian. I opted to pay a few more quid though and plumped for the Signature expression.

 

Haven't had the pleasure of the Highland Park - what's the 12 year old like?

Similar to Talisker - they're both island malts, obviously. It's got a very deep, rich flavour too it, whilst still being relatively smokey. It's not as out there as laphroaig, but it's as complex. It's up there with the best.

I'm definitely an island/islay man in terms of taste, though there are some outstanding Highland and Speyside Malts (Glenmorangie being one, Balvenie Doublewood another). I'd say you can't go wrong with any of the following:

Laphroaig (any expression, though as I say I love the Quarter Cask)

Talisker

Bowmore

Highland Park (the whisky currently in the BBI drinks cabinet - the normal 12 year old and a 1998 special edition that I got given yesterday)

Laphroaig Quarter Cask.

He's quality, is young Jonjo. Never hides, works hard and looks to get in goalscoring positions.

I think it completely depends on what sort of music you're playing, what sort of guitarist you want to be, and what sort of guitarists' 'sounds' you like.

I started off by buying a fairly cheap behringer multi-fx pedal and it was clear early on how shite it was. The trouble is if you want a decent set up you'll have to spend a decent amount of money - whether going for single FX or multi. The decent Multi-FX pedals, like the Pod XT Pro or the Boss GT6 are a decent wedge of cash.

I went down the single pedal route and it's taken me about three years to get all the pedals I wanted - and I've still had to scrimp on a couple cos I couldn't afford the decent stuff.

If you want to go down the single route you'll definitely need an Overdrive, and I'd also recommend a reverb pedal of some sort (EHX Holy Grail is probably the best new pedal out there for Reverb, but if you can afford a second hand Boss RV-3, more's the better). There are tonnes of Overdrive pedals - I went for a Boss SD-1 which is very cheap, but very good. It would probably do you to start with. Other than this - a tuner pedal (such as the Boss TU-2 or Korg Pitchblack) is a must - I'd just spend some time getting familiar with the different effects on you tube, and see what other guitarists you like use. The effects to looks up are (I've put in brackets which pedals I have for each of these):

Phaser (EHX Small Stone)

Tremolo (Danelectro Cool Cat (not the one I really wanted))

Envelope Filter/Auto-Wah (Dod 440)

Pitch Shifter (Digitech Whammy 4)

Overdrive (Boss SD-1 and ProCo Turbo Rat)

Compressor/Sustainer (Boss CS-3)

Reverb (Line 6 Verbzilla)

Delay (Boss RE-20) - if I had to recommend any single pedal, it would be this

Volume Pedal (Boss FV50L)

You might also want to look up a Wah Pedal (the Dunlop Cry Baby is generally seen as the best).

I've also got a EHX POG and an Akai HeadRush E2 - the latter is a loop pedal which is really good for working out guitar parts.

Holt is desperately attempting to redress the balance because he knows he's come across as defending Terry whilst crucifying Suarez. He's also been called out about the fact that he, along with the overwhelming majority of journalists, didn't even bother to question the FA's report. So he's now trying to come across as a crusader against racism.

Just keep quiet, rather than say things which haven't been true.

You honestly think that's the best way to get a player's confidence up?

He replaced the pavement below with jelly. That's why he said to Watson not to take his eyes off him; Watson would normally have been able to tell it was jelly if he was looking closely.