diego

ATK is a hypocrite. He doesn't know anything. He is an outsider at LFC not an insider and thank God for that. He doesn't care about Alonso's feelings and Alonso sure doesn't care about his. He and his lodge mates on here have cooked up these stupid stories about Alonso being hurt in order to feed the crackpot illusion that they are in the know and to give some sort of flimsy rationale to their hate-filled attacks on the manager of LFC. They are every bit as a bad as the tabloid shysters and worse in that they claim to be "true Reds".

Are you advocating that all Jews be banned from all matches involving Israel?

A club selling its best players always exaggerates the fee they receive to appease their fans. With ATK-like certainty I can tell you the feet being mooted is substantially lower than $18 million.

Seriously I don't know why some of you are so worried about the potential Johnson deal. Rashid tells us that the Board has the final say and he said they made a brilliant decision stopping the Barry deal last year. So, according to Rashid, you can all relax and leave it to brilliant George and Tom to overrule any dumb move Rafa makes.

Did you tell Bascombe that or did he tell you?

He transformed one good right-back into a better centre-back.

Some of the anti-Rafa obsessives who claim that Degen was so obviously a bad buy because he was a crock also complain that Rafa wouldn't buy their darling "hamstrings" Owen.

GazWillo is the best thing that has happened to this board since I've been reading it.

LIVERPOOL FC OFFICIAL STATEMENT Paul Eaton 14 June 2009 Liverpool Football Club has today released the following statement. "Despite repeated media speculation on the futures of Xabi Alonso and Javier Mascherano, Liverpool has received no official approach or offer from any club regarding the players. "Neither are for sale and furthermore Liverpool has no interest in the long list of Spanish based players being linked with a move to Anfield as part of any deal." LIVERPOOL FC OFFICIAL STATEMENT

The following passages were edited out of the CV: "Large head physically and metaphorically, stubby legs, flapping, dwarfish arms, brittle bones and hamstrings ....." "Hard, disinterested stare----" "Eirie ability to talk about himself in the third person PR style during interviews e.g. "We all know Michael Owen will score goals if given the opportunity". "Strong financial connections with the Murdoch Group of Newspapers..." "Commitment to betting in all its forms........" "Has his own calculator......"

It is so like him! How many times I've heard him through the years during interviews refer to himself in the third person in PR terms: "We all know that given the opportunity Michael Owen will score".

Bascombe's opinions are unimportant. He is a junior hack journalist and relatively inexperienced who is out of his depth the moment he goes beyond reporting a match and begins to dabble in corporate finance, organizational politics or the psychological profiling of players and manager. He made many errors of judgement when he was at the Liverpool Echo. From being a slavish sycophant of Houllier with a mission to "expose" Fowler, he changed to become one of Fowler's defenders and Houllier's tormentors when he saw which way the wind was blowing among supporters. As journalists go he is a cheap option for the NoW. However, the NoW has the largest sales on Sunday and is part of the Murdoch Group which is not only dominant in the UK but has hundreds of outlets throughout the world. Articles in the NoW are amplified by this editorial and distribution network. In addition, services like NewsNow ensure that the NoW headlines (which are probably written by sub-editors) are picked up by virtually every English language outlet in the world. Because of the sheer scale of their dissemination, those articles and headlines have an impact irrespective of their truthfulness or integrity. However much clubs advise their players to ignore hacks like Bascombe, it must be unsettling for all concerned when their scribblings are being read by many millions throughout the world. It must be a real pain in the arse for the players and the club to have to deal with the enquiries generated by a false or distorted story because a hack has to justify his wages by providing his editors with enough plausible material on Sunday morning to justify a headline that will feed the Murdoch Group's corporate needs. Every newspaper sold and every online hit contributes to its bottom line.

There are no facts in the Bascombe's Mascher story that have not been stated in other newspapers or on bulletin boards for at least three or four weeks. Bascombe just lifted those reports and presented them as though he was ITK. Mascher has been quoted several times as saying that while he is happy at LFC and committed to the cause he misses his friends and family from Argentina. Bascombe has distorted this to imply that Mascher or his missus misses Spain, where he has never lived and which neither he nor she has ever said.

Its taken more than a week for ATK to squirm his way out of his numerous ridiculous false reports about LFC players, laced with his usual personal hatred for Rafa. There was his oft-repeated claim that Barry was a done deal. Then his claim that Rafa was manipulating the situation in order to force Alonso to leave. Rather than take responsibility for his own stupid prediction about Barry, ATK tries to blame Raffy for being "too slow and too arrogant" to secure the deal (even though ATK said the deal was done a long time ago). He produces no evidence that Rafa wanted Barry, let alone any evidence of Rafa's so-called arrogance. ATK now contradicts himself again saying it was Alonso who is forcing the unwilling Rafa to let him leave. (Actually he is saying that Alonso is going irrespective of Rafa's wishes). The only problem with this 180 turn is that it lets Rafa off the hook. So the hate-filled ATK tries to put Rafa back on the hook by claiming that it is Rafa fault that Alonso has decided to leave (even while telling the press he is looking forward to his sixth season at LFC). The most scurrilous aspect of the latest dollop of ATK bilge is the suggestion that the BB report about Alonso wanting to leave because of his unhappiness at LFC was provided directly by Alonso to BB - another lie. Is it not about time Bascombe owned up to or disowned ATK as his mouthpiece on TLW? Surely we don't want it to become another Kraptalk with fictitious insiders supporting other fictitious insiders - all claiming to be ITK. In my opinion ATK is hungry for recognition. I would be disturbed if anyone at LFC was feeding him gossip. I'm confdent they're not.

The location of the Bell Centre - the home of the Canadiens hocky franchise - is prime, modern real estate in the very centre of downtown Montreal. The team's former stadium - a few blocks west - used to be considered a shrine of hockey - a bit like Anfield is for football. The Montreal Canadiens used to be the most successful professional sports team in history including all sports. (I'm not sure if they still are - I think they are, but only by relying on their historical achievements in the 1970's and 1980's - a bit like LFC). They are the pride of the Province of Quebec - the French-speaking province whose economy ranks about 11th in the world. The Canadiens also have a strong following across Canada and in the USA. GG managed to get his hands on it for a low price during a time in its history when the team was doing badly and the Quebec economy was weak. He has not said he will sell it - he has asked for expressions of interest. The Molson brothers who are mentioned in the offer are the owners of Molson Breweries which produces Molson Beer and other beverages - one of the most well-known brands. GG owns 80%. If he sells it does indicate the extent of his money problems. Given that he has already tried to sell his 50% share in LFC it does not mean he values LFC over the Canadiens. But if he sells the Canadiens he will shore up his creditworthiness - protect his other assets and also allow him some possibilities with regard to LFC or other of his investments.

double posting, sorry

You do spout a lot of garbage. You concede you don't know anything and then you repeatedly tell us what is in Rafa's or Xabi's mind. Claiming that "it" - whatever "it " is - is "personal" is your way of reducing Rafa to your own petty level. Its laughable that you will give Rafa a few weeks at the beginning of the season to see if he is following a so-called strategy that you propose. What will you do if he doesn't - stamp your feet?

Ferguson said he wouldn't sell a virus to Real Madrid. Let's hope he was not referring to Ronaldo as a virus because he is certainly considering selling him to Real Madrid. Why must Rafa - and only Rafa - spell out to reporters, when he answers their questions, every possible condition that does exist or may exist in the future that would qualify or change his replies? The nit-pickers should just give up and accept that Rafa is the rock holding LFC together while he plans "something special".

The anti-Rafa gang on here will keep chewing the cud until they've got no gums left. Now they would have us believe that what hurts their delicate consciences are those who say "Rafa never lies". I have not seen anyone write that. But I have seen the anti-Rafa gang repeatedly call him a liar. By the way, Rafa never lies.

As bad as things are the situation would be transformed the moment financing for a new stadium was secured. Obviously, it would be best if the financing was an equity investment in whole or in part. An investor might be persuaded to put up the money in return for one third of the shares and first option to buy-out H&G at a future market rate for their shares. The existence of a new stadium would increase the value of the club over the value of existing debts by about 200,000-350,000 pounds. Somewhere in that range H&G might be persuaded to sell their shares to the new investor (or all three might be persudaded to sell to new owners). Failing an equity investment, a construction loan should be arranged soon. Usually, the interest on a construction loan is taken from the loan, itself. In other words, the loan covers the cost of building and the cost of servicing the finance until the stadium opens and becomes an earning asset. H&G could also plunder the construction loan to pay all their travel and other third-party costs they are now charging to the club. The case for a new stadium is so overwhelmingly in the interest of all parties, and further delay is so overwhelmingly against those interests, that I believe that it is the first priority of both the creditors and the owners and it will happen - probably within twelve months.

Munich involved manager Matt Busby - a former LFC player - who was badly injured but recovered. At the time of the disaster the whole country was devasted including all LFC fans. Some of the Man Utd players - especially Tommy Taylor, Duncan Edwards (both of whom died) and Bobby Charlton (who was injured but recovered) were very popular England internationals. LFC along with other clubs, offered to provide Manchester United with players so they could continue to meet their obligations in the league. Man Utd thanked LFC and the others but continued on with what was left of the squad and some youngsters. The Munich chant does not accurately reflect the historical reality of the relations between LFC and Man Utd at the time or the spirit of LFC or the people of Liverpool. The Munich chant has a Nazi-like quality to it.

By supporting "LFC" as an abstract essence that is not embodied in any person or persons, Rashid gives himself the licence to attack anyone and everyone at the club on the grounds they do not represent his private contradictory vision of LFC at any given moment. Its pure sophistry.

Tevez would not take rotation well at LFC and would be a huge risk to team spirit.

I feel left out. Can't find any hoops to jump through.

Moores used to contribute cash for transfers but always in the form of loans. He got it all back with interest when he sold the club to the two cowboys. They are doing the same. They channel the loans through the Cayman's company which they own jointly. When they sell LFC they will recover all their loans with interest. In the meantime you can be sure they are leeching the club for all their "expenses" such as their visits to the UK in their jets. I am suspicious that some of the 16 million spent on the stadium has found its way directly or indirectly into their pockets. The architects are close associates of Hicks. The fees and costs seem unusually high. However there is a question whether some of the 16 million represents the equity that they were required to invest in order to get development grants. If they ever do get financing for the stadium you can be sure that some of the "soft costs" will represent their expenses, "fees" and then some. Its quite easy to re-direct funds provided for construction. And this even without the possibility of kickbacks to the owners from contractors. The two cowboys have a huge financial incentive for themselves personally and the club to acquire construction financing and build the stadium. .