YNWA12

Yeah, but even then we only let him go after Madrid offered us the price we wanted. I don't think any clubs, besides City, are still interested in Gerrard and Torres after we quoted them our prices.

I don't think Masch will come back for pre-season. Even if he hasn't been sold yet.

Is Khedira that much better than Gago, Lass and Diarra? Schweinsteiger and Alonso would make a nice midfield, good in attack and defense.

I think Gerrard an Torres will stay now. It doesn't matter if they want to or not.

Is he the man behind 'sky sources understand'? I thought they made them up. Don't be so rude, Mascherano.

I like his name

Bronzetti is one of those Italian 'super agents', otherwise he's got nothing to do with Real Madrid.

I think Yossi comes across as a bit petty in this interview, but this quote did stand out to me. If this is true and he really believed this then that's horrible. That just goes to show how tense and toxic the situation at the club must have become and how even us fans, as innocent bystanders, were being used as some sort of manipulation tool. It really makes last season's dressing room sound like the aftermath of a very bitter divorce of a couple where they still have to raise their children together. So bitter, paranoid and all parties being deliberately hurtful to one another. I know players are pampered, but how can anyone function in a environment like that? If it really was that bad, then it's no surprise that we finished seventh after all. Fuck, it actually makes it seem like quite an achievement.

I knew it was a Fanning article after reading the first 3 lines and stopped reading right away. Always surprises me he is a Liverpool fan, he would feel much more at home amongst the Bitters. Or maybe he, Tony Evans and Paul Tomkins can form a special club for spastic journalists.

He's been really good so far.

I hope that's just Marca spin, because that makes it sound as if he's resigned to the fact of Stevie leaving already :(

The US were my second team in 2006 and I like them this time too. Really hope they will go through tonight.

If he comes I hope he will be able to develop a good relationship with us. He needs to know he has our support. If there is such a negative outlook towards him like it seems there is now, that is going to make job even harder than it already undoubtedly is. I really hope he can be successful here.

Spain were fantastic (as they always are), they just didn't win. Only Torres and Silva were a little disappointing imo. That midfield... fuck it's unbelievably good. Hopefully this will be the only freak result they have in this tournament and they will go a long way.

Malouda, Barry and Heinze or Riera, Aquilani and Dossena - there's not much in it.

We'll see where we are when the transfer window closes, it's too soon to start writing us off.

The lad does (unintentionally?) make a good point, we should all be glad we don't have to support Man Citeh.

Please let them do that. We should really focus all our energy in pointing RBS in this direction.

Is anybody else curious how he will manage the ego's of Eto'o, Sneijder and Pandev? They're not the easiest players to work with. Sneijder really needs an arm around the shoulder and to hear how great he is every day. Guardiola shipped Eto'o out asap. Definitely going to be a challenge for him there I think.

It doesn't look good. The team are flying to SA tonight, but he's staying and will get a scan tomorrow. If it's a small tear (2 weeks out), then Van Marwijk will still take him. I'm a lot less optimistic about our chances now.

Inter have plenty of quality in Stanković, Cambiasso, Motta, and Zanetti (who can play in midfield too), they don't seriously need a new midfielder. The Italian press just always mention Kuyt and Mascherano as players who would follow Rafa. I think Masch has still got his eye on Barcelona.

Balague is suggesting Quique Sanchez Flores, not that bad. Other good (some former) managers from La Liga: Michel, Pellegrini, Gregorio Manzano and my preferred choice Laudrup. If we want to go British, then Hodgson to steady the ship for a couple seasons.

Guess we won't know if this is good news or bad news for a while yet. We'll have to wait and see what happens next and trust the board to make upcoming decisions with the club's best interest at heart. Fuck. Thanks Rafa, for the good times.

TLW wouldn't load, so I started reading there while waiting. Twas a mistake.

God, reading RAWK is making me depressed right now. I usually read them for a laugh, but tonight I just don't find it funny. They're talking about Rafa like he's Oskar Schindler or someone ffs. How do they know him so well? How do they know that he's such a saint and Torres, Gerrard etc. have drank the kool-aid/are devil incarnates for wanting him out? He's a good manager, ocassionally brilliant, and that's it. If Rafa wants to accept this offer, then let him leave. He should be free to. He is NOT the glue holding this club together, he's contributed too much to the in-house fighting for that to be the case. The fans are the ones who are holding this club together right now and always will be. The rest, players, directors are all going to leave eventually. They seem to think that without him we'll finish 11/12th next year and then the year after that it will be regulation? I think seventh will be the lowest we can go and keeping Rafa here might not prevent that (as we saw this season). If we get the owners out and better owners in, I'm sure we can all accept seventh for a couple of seasons. How good/rich do they think the rest of league is? Come on look at the differences in wages/turnovers? Regulation? FFS. Let's just hope they're suffering from temporary insanity. Turnover 1. Arsenal, 317m 2. Manchester United, 279m 3. Chelsea, 208m 4. Liverpool, 185m 5. Tottenham Hotspur, 113m 6. Manchester City, 87m 7. Aston Villa, 84m 8. Everton, 80m 9. West Ham, 76m 10. Fulham, 67m 11. Sunderland, 65m 12. Portsmouth, 60m 13. Bolton, 59m 14. Stoke City, 54m 15. Blackburn, 51m 16. Hull City, 51m 17. Wigan, 46m 18. Birmingham, 28m 19. Wolves, 18m 20. Burnley, 11m Wages 1. Chelsea, 167m 2. Manchester United, 123m 3. Arsenal, 104m 4. Liverpool, 103m 5. Manchester City, 83m 6. Aston Villa, 71m 7. West Ham, 67m 8. Portsmouth, 65m 9. Tottenham Hotspur, 60m 10. Sunderland, 50m 11. Everton, 49m 12. Fulham, 46m 13. Blackburn, 46m 14. Wigan, 42m 15. Bolton, 41m 16. Hull City, 34m 17. Stoke City, 30m 18. Birmingham, 27m 19. Wolvers, 17m 20. Burnley, 13m