If you don't make top four I'd say Henry will try and sell the club asap - he's not a liverpool fan, he is a businessman. It's not looking good for LFC at the moment; owners warning - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...glish-Patrice-Evra-row.html?ito=feeds-newsxml standard chartered warning - http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896...nsors-standard-chartered-admit-disappointment adidas analysis - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2088761/Liverpool-branded-failure-Adidas.html Kick it Out verdict - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/16424487 It needs a major PR clean up to attract new sponsors, the value of a shirt deal has plummeted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/18/liverpool-adidas-kit-deal adidas pulled out of negotiations largely because LFC hadn't recognised it yet. I'm not a wum, everything I write is sourced! It's not my fault if the facts upset you!
Then how did we get a much bigger deal with Warrior? Adidas was sour grapes and a lack of dignity. So still waiting for a fact from you....
No mate,LFC got an offer from Warrior Sports and had the good grace to inform Adidas and give them a chance to match the offer. As for your other links. 2 warnings(rightly given) and 2 non stories are the so called proof you have that we need new sponsors.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/19/liverpool-kit-deal-warrior-sports Reportedly a bigger deal! A club that has just been publically snubbed is not going to say anything else! It's also a conditional deal. Interesting to note that the company also sponsor Henry's other club. This is a story that will evolve!
I call bull ****! A senior source... no ones named. Not John Henry, Not Tom Werner... I bet their senior source is the tea lady or the person that waters the plants Quoteless!! not even a "Senior Source" involved with this one... mind you, it is the media giant that is goal.com We dumped them for a world record deal, I'd imagine they'd be pretty bitter about it. Funny how we get a world record deal from a company from the same place where FSG come from... imainge what we could of got if we'd have actually put the effort in to find a shirt sponsor Headline says we're hypocritical, the article quotes Piara Powar, the same Piara Powar who abused an asian fans heritage by calling them a coconut in front of thousands of people on twitter. Try harder mate!
Are you on crack? "Reportedly" "conditional" what the hell are you on about, it is a signed deal with a fixed price, this story will not evolve, it is already extinct! We have the biggest deal in the land, and nothing will change that. Man U as a brand are already past their zenith, and will not be worth any more at any time in the foreseeable future. and with the lack of any history with all the other Prem clubs, I see nothing here but envy and sour grapes.
the kit deal the Reds signed last year with Warrior Sports guarantees the club £25 million (almost $40 million U.S.) per season for the next six years regardless of Champions League qualification. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeoza...-james-scoring-with-his-liverpool-investment/
This is a non story unless there is further PR muck up this season: Touching the wood (often), we can come away with one possibly 2 cups and 4th spot is looking like a complete lottery. Even if we say the 4 teams currently in the running continue to be as inconsistent; they all play each other so 4 points difference means absolutely nothing until last day which it'll probably go down to. Say we get 5th, out by 1-2 points, are carling cup winners and say semi-finalists in FA cups is anyone seriously suggesting the owners will view this as an equivalent failure to Hodgeson last year!!!!
Henderson has been excellent at keeping a cool head after early critiscism. Hendo, Bellers, Gerrard, Enrique, Agger, Skrtel, Reina, Suarez, Lucas and Carroll should be safe in the first team squad for next season. (Carroll due to young age and his efforts of late) Kuyt, Maxi, Adam, Downing, Johnson, and Aurelio should be on serious probation, and allowed to go if the right offer is made for them (10+ for Adam, Kuyt, and 15 for Johnson minimum) Spearing is promising but needs to step up a notch at this point, we can't afford to drop any more points. Carra is slightly too old, he's not impressing in the holding mid role and we have a good partnership in his position already. The youth players aren't in the equation, let them develop further. I think Kenny should finish 5+ in order to be safe. I love the man as a living legend and the things he has done for this club are nothing short of extraordinary, but 4th is the only thing that will guarantee his position. The British experiment failed, there must be top quality players willing to play for us. To imply that ALL the top players in the world are only motivated by CL footy is quite unimaginable to me. Why did we buy Downing? He was slightly above average at Villa, what could have possibly told us that he would play well here? Time for serious cash, serious purchases. No more British core, no more rebuilding from scratch, we have the financial clout to buy, and we certainly should. Comolli works on a hit and miss principle, half his signings are crap, one or two excellent, the rest average. On a last point, I hope Rafa doesn't come back. The man may have been a tactical genius, but he had the worst man management skills I have ever seen in any top class manager. How would he get along with Luis? With Bellers? He'd sell them and buy some average players instead. He was given cash, players, support by the fans, yet in his final season he gave up completely and lost the plot. He alienated Gerrard and Carra and played a super negative style of football. 0-0 draws and 1-1's, that was Benitez's trademark. Almost every time we lose or draw, something pops up in the news saying "Benitez moves back to Liverpool" or "Benitez donates to ______ fund", or "I love LFC, says Benitez". How can a manager do his job in peace when the ex is prowling around? He failed at Inter and hasn't worked since, is he really the one to propel us up the table?
Newcastle fan in peace. It's all very laudable to support your player and manager to the hilt. However, even the most died in the wool Liverpool fan must be able to see the huge damage that has been done, to the good name of your club, as a result of the Suarez affair. You can complain about the hypocracy of SAF, and blame the media all you want. However, a gun cannot be fired without bullets, and God knows you lot have been supplying them in their bucketloads over the past few weeks. And when the head of the Kick Racism out of Football campaign has such harsh words to say about LFC's handling of the matter, then you have to take it seriously, especially as the story has made headlines all around the world, including even the New York Times. The media does what the media does, and the powers that be at LFC know that. The US owners of LFC are hard-headed businessmen, and when they see their investment being threatened, they are unlikely to do nothing about it. Dalglish has a special place in the hearts of all Liverpool fans, but not neccessarily in the boardroom of New England Sports. With a shed load of money having been spent, on players who have for the most part not lived up to their price tags, I would not be surprised if the americans were not having second thoughts about the whole KK "second coming" experiment. I think a lot may depend on what happens between now and the end of the season. I certainly will be watching with interest, with one eye drifting across to a certain manager in Madrid. An outsider's view maybe, but an honest one. Not a WUM!
I'm going to reply to this specific point. Lord Ouseley spoke about this issue long before the report was published. On Monday 17th October on the kick it out website: So he clearly says "Beyond reasonable doubt". Yet, when the result of the panel is announced, on the basis of balance of probabilities... So Lord Ouseley can;t decide on the appropriate level of proof for issues of abuse. Presumably no-one told him the FA's level of proof, so every subsequent condemnation should be viewed with qualified criticism that Lord Ouseley persumable does not know its a Kangaroo court... I must assume that Jason Roberts, the Campaign's special ambassador also holds the same views, and therefore, he too is under the misapprehension that Suarez got a fair trial and has been found guilty of racially abusing someone beyond reasonable doubt. I have to say the media have been very devious on the issue and have allowed this misapprehension to spread unchecked, presumably because they don't want detail to cloud a story that sells buckets of papers to Mr & Mrs Middle-Class... I appreciate you're not coming from a WUM angle, but with so many coming on to WUM, sometimes, the more defensive-minded miss the honest comment (IMO)
I don't want to turn this into another Rafa debate but I would like to say this: You question his man management skills yet the likes of Gerrard, Agger, Reina, Arbeloa, Alonso, Torres and Mascherano all excelled under him. With the exception of Gerrard, he turned these players into world class ones and none of them had a problem with him. Thing with Rafa is, is he will give you a chance as long as you are willing to work hard and put the effort in. No, he's not the manager who will put his arm around you because he wants to see your mental character. He wants to see the players who will work harder on their own accord rather than him kissing their arses. And we can all talk about his transfers but to find 5 genuine world class players is astonishing. And I don't particularly care if he alienated Carra or Gerrard. Carragher rarely starts now and is losing his legs, so too is Gerrard - many people will disagree but I've not seen a stand out performance from in over a year (bar his comeback against Newcastle).
At the end of the day, we were never going to beat the media because they are the ones who are driving this. Every neutral I know has said that LFC are at fault. Why? Because the media have not presented both sides of the arguement. How many people know that Evra was the one to initiate the confrontation by insulting Suarez's family? How many people know that Piara Powar, the head of an anti-racism group who condemned our club, had called a Sikh fan a coconut? How many people know that there is no actual evidence that suggests Luis said 'negro' 8 times? How many people have read John Barnes's articles about the whole topic which is brilliantly puts everything into perspective? At the end of the day, we can all keep bitching and moaning about it but we're not going to win so we have to accept it. IMO - it is very unfair on LFC and Suarez but no one else will see it that way. We have apologised which is the first step to rebuilding our rep so hopefully we can move on.
I'll just address your last point. Rafa is not a man-manager, its true. He expects his players to understand his view point and work as hard as he does to win games. He can't comprehend a player who would not give their all in training and in a match. Players who can;t understand what he wants don;t tend to last too long. Regards money, Rafa spend £15mil in 05/06 and £39mil in 06/07. In 07/08 and 08/09 and 09/10 his net spend was £0. I'll repeat that, he and the club managed a second place finish after two years of no investment. The following year showed the result of no investment over three seasons. 7th. Kenny was allowed to spend more money in one close season that Rafa ever had to spend. So please don't come out with the tired media line that he was crap with money. Truth was he was undermined through a lack of money. He had to sell to buy...
Sorry for the late response, it's been a long week at work. You're all referring to a deal that was signed off a long time ago - I'm referring to the club as it stands now. If it came to Liverpool needing a sponsor you would not be able to command anywhere near the same figures - the club has been tarnished with the racist brush, whether justified or not. What sponsor is going to pay mega bucks to associate with that?
Weak, weak attempt at keeping this crap going. Hypotheticals? Fact is, the deals are signed, we don't need the sponsor so it's not really an issue. Only sponsor needed in near future is possible stadium naming rights which won't be for at least another year. Long time in football and the goldfish memory of media is like that of a 2 year old child. Will be on to something else within months. And hopefully with some hard work & a bit of luck, We'll be possible cup/double cup holders and maybe even a champions league team again. There's a hypothetical ill think about. Will not be an issue.
