Alias75

I still dont understand how they expect to make this work? they're going to be putting debt onto the club which will result in an extra 30-40 million to be paid in interest each year where's that money going to come from? You can only assume it'll come from TV and CL money or player sales which means there'll be less money for the manager to improve the team. If we dont improve the team we won't be getting CL football never mind challenging for the PL because teams like Man City, Newcastle, Tottenham will be spending big and if we stand still they will overtake us. How can they make this work without a winning team? or at least a team thats making the CL every season? Add to that they have a set of fans they're expecting to put money in their pockets that hate them! Their out of their depth financially if they don't support the manager with big money for the team their investment will quickly be worth next to nothing. I just don't see how they can make it work.

Something has to give, if G+H arent prepared to invest in the team to a greater level than we've seen in the last 2 or 3 seasons we're going to be scrapping for 4th place at best. They have to understand that a team that isnt successful on the pitch isnt going to be successful off it. At the rate other teams below us are spending all it takes is 1 season where they dont support the manager and we'd be struggling to make CL football and with 40 million in loan repayments each year they'd be committing financial suicide. I think what could save us here is that they dont have enough money to pull this off, i really hope this is all posturing at the moment trying to get the best price for themselves, but i just dont see how they can make it work if we need to be qualifying for CL at worst each season yet for that to happen they have to invest in the team, also i just don't see how they could stay here knowing their hated by the fans that they are relying on to put money in their pockets. At some point something will have to give, if they stay and dont invest in the team the most likely scenario is we get progressively worse as the teams below us get better and we lose out on CL football and the money that brings, that will put stress on their loan repayments and they'd probably be forced to sell at a much lower price.

I think DIC would fund things the same way the Americans have, but they have much deeper pockets and as has been said if there needed to be an injection of cash for players or if we didnt make the CL then they can handle those possibilities. If the stories of Gillett and Hicks falling out are accurate where does that leave Hicks on the board? the stories are that Moores, and Parry were angry with him, if you add Gillett and Foster Gillett thats 4 v 1 could they force him to sell his share?

Mascherano was one of the few plus points (yet again) i think away from home we do need a holding midfielder, thats the least of our problems. The reason we didnt win today wasnt because Rafa played a holding midfielder its because Torres aside our attacking players simply arent good enough and at the moment Gerrard in the middle isnt helping. Play Gerarrd wide right and hes less restrained then at least we'll have 2 good attacking players instead of 1.

Think loaning him out for a full season would be a great move too, as has been said hes still very young for a center half, at this time you don't want to throw him in have him make a few mistakes that cost us goals and ruin his confidence. If we look at Carragher and Terry it took them a while to cement a place in a PL team. In that position more than most experience is important, as good positioning and reading of the game can make up for a lack of pace. Let him play a full season on loan and im sure he'll come back a much better player.

Hi guys long time lurker but this is my first post.. I think its an obvious change in policy to bring in some of the best young players in the world into the U18 and reserve teams. The overall quality of players U20 we have at the moment is better than its ever been. Theres no way Rafa would be doing this if he didnt intend to play them, but we have to remember that a lot of these players are still U18, id be very disappointed if 4 or 5 didnt play in next seasons Carling Cup. And i think there are 2 or 3 that are ready now to step into the first team squad instead of older players that hardly figure yet pick up very big wages. It looks very promising for the next few seasons, not only should we save millions on transfers and wages if just 2 or 3 of these players make the first team squad, but as we've seen with Guthrie, even those that are maybe not quite good enough can make us 3-4 million in transfer fees, sell 3 or 4 like that and we can sign a proven world class player without weakening the squad at all (something Man Utd have done for a while) I think loaning these players out is important, its fine playing reserve football but being part of another professional team playing week in week out is something they need to get used to, if you get the right player to the right club it can only have positive effects. Maybe with a Spanish boss at Swansea we can send more of our young overseas players there on loan, its certainly been good for Paul Anderson.