Sorry, did he just allude to someone from another country as "vermin"? No way he'd write that line about Rooney. I still resent the naked xenophobia of the Suarez media pieces and him moving clubs will not change that as its a principle I hold even if Suarez has none. I have no sympathy for Suarez; he is obviously mentally unstable and I'm now beginning to think guardiola is exploiting that instability to an almost criminal level after watching how he has been encouraged to approach the two papers most vicious in their witch hunt for him. Both ran the interviews and both, with this and with the Guardians DT piece have torn him to shreds afterward in editorial pieces. It shows either an incredible childlike naivety or a truly frightening singled minded drive. As I say little sympathy, you swim with sharks and all that. If Suarez isn't an exploited mentally deficient (and I mean that literally) person then he has the hardest skin and focused self obsession of anyone I've ever witnessed. To play the media that despises you, to go to a club that hated you a year ago and who have full knowledge you'll do the same to them in two years because they just aren't going to win anything and you'll now have the only crowd that loved you spitting their hatred more keenly felt than just plain rivalry. That takes a really empty soul. I'm honestly going with the guy needs help. He really is a time bomb waiting to happen. Maybe he really does just consider this employment that he doesn't have any joy in playing the game and all that drives him is accumulating wealth so his family don't experience what he did as a child. But it's become a psychosis. I just don't think I could live like that for the sake of a few more quid. That's why I'm not rich lol
I agree that domestic titles have become secondary to CL qualification and that backs up what I was trying to say; that success is equated with wealth. It's a falsehood that has permeated the whole of society, not just football. If you make money you must be good, and conversely you must be crap if you don't. The fans have been complicit to a degree, but I think largely their love for the game has been exploited. If football is in your blood you'll go to unreasonable lengths to follow it- including paying ticket prices that are frankly taking the piss in order to sustain the extravagant lifestyles of people who simply don't deserve it. I'm not saying we should go back to the times when footballers earned a pittance, but millions per year is wrong when the people who provide them with it often have to pay a substantial proportion of their income to fund it.
Very well put Dave. I was one of those who argued with you about supporting the team and not individual players, but I stand by what I said because that's been my experience [for those who didn't see it I said I always had individual heroes and couldn't imagine not picking out special players for idols in my youth]. I do think team comes first but think there's room for hero-worship too [if that's what you want to call it] - just not the being put over a barrel type affair that so many of the modern 'heroes' seem to resort to. Rodgers and the club are handling this really well. I don't know where Suarez has left to go in the situation. How much better would it have been for all concerned but especially him and the fans, had he kept his powder dry till January and left with dignity and given the fans something great to remember, instead we're all losers. It isn't nice having feelings of resentment, and I don't like that both Torres and now Suarez have somehow taken something from me as a fan and completely altered how much faith and respect I put into my individual team favourites.
y'see I still remember what 'the club' did to Shankly. [so I don't have blind faith in them either] I'm old enough not to actually have any heroes now but [just talking about very recent times] I admired Torres, hadn't felt that excited about a player for a long time, he did the dirty so I never let myself have any emotion about Suarez so I can look at all this quite coldly, I'm not upset he wants to go or angry the way it's turning out - I just have an opinion on it with no emotional attachment whatsoever.
The crazy thing in all this is, If Suarez doesn't get his 'dream' move and ends up having to stay, I could see him simply shrugging his shoulders and with a smirk saying 'well I tried' and act like nothing has happened and not give it another thought. I wonder if anybody in his close circle has ever pulled him up on all his ****?
As Rafa said to Carra, "Football is a lie." I don't believe what I read in a media whose agenda is that Suarez is the pantomime villain of any piece. This smells like when Darth Ferg said Rooney had asked for a transfer request. And when it comes to media manipulation, my money's on the skills of owners, CEOs, MDs, agents and managers before footballers. That's a lot of people involved for a media muppet to conclude that it's all Suarez's fault because he's a racist vampire. I don't believe Rodgers didn't give Suarez some kind of assurance, otherwise why sign a new contract when he still had three years to run? That happens when a buy-out clause is inserted, as it did with Torres. I don't believe all this ****e about loyalty. Clubs and fans are very loyal to great players. That's easy. Not so easy to be loyal to Lucas Leiva in his early years, though, or Downing in his first season with us, was it? But boohoohoo, Suarez is disrespecting us for following the pattern we see every transfer window. Gerarrd spoke up and said Suarez should stay. That had nothing to do with loyalty. He knows if Suarez goes, that's the final cut that puts us mid-table - he said as much in his statement - unable to hold onto CL-quality players long enough to get us there and unable to attract players, either. Last chance saloon. Not a shred of loyalty involved. Pure self-interest. Thanks for that, FSG. That's where that buck stops. Responsibility for decisions which set us back years, bet on the reputation of a guy who sold them a handful of magic Barca beans. How about Kenny's loyalty to the families of the 96? His loyalty in dropping everything to step in as caretaker, never mind being given a 3-year contract on merit to start rebuilding, to win silverware and get to two finals within a season (with all that supposed ****e he supposedly bought) but then to be made to go to Boston to be sacked by a bloke who said it was realistic to expect top four that season but not in Brendan's first season? How did that yacht-owner figure that out then? Nobody wanted to leave after Kenny's first season. Loyalty, see? But to a bloke who earned it, not owners who hid when the Evra furore exploded and remained unseen during the entire affair. Some loyalty to the club that was. Now the club tries to appropriate Kenny's and the players' loyalty to their teammate to make the club look like it did all of that. Bollocks to the lies. [video]www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaGNAL_u-SU‎[/video]
I listened to the John Barnes interview on TS this morning & he was talking absolute ****e To suggest that supporters are ultimately to blame for the behaviour of prima donna footballers, are the words of a total cock imo. In the PL era these players have become multi millionaires, with the lifestyles & clings ons (advisors, agents, etc) that come with that level of income. You only have to look back to the 80's to an era when footballers were well paid by average man standards, but the average top flight fooballer wasn't a millionaire & therefore they didn't act like millionaires, their behaviour was more akin to the average man. When you add the Bosman ruling into the mix, we've ended up with a situation were not only are these players rich beyond most peoples comprehension, they are now in control of their own destiny & their contract lengths are virtually meaningless, as all it generally denotes these days is the scale of the transfer fee. None of this has been caused by Joe Public who pays his money & watches the game, it's been created by a combination of massive wealth & legislation.
Have you never stopped to consider that part of the end of the Shankly era was due to Shankly himself? Sometimes firms have to quite clinical in cutting ties. United didn't when the kicked Busby upstairs and it took them into 20 years in the wilderness.
There was more to it than that imo, as I remember a quote from him saying he felt more welcome at Goodison & Bellefield than he did at Anfield in his latter days.
You're on the path to enlightenment mate. It takes a while, but the mist is obviously starting to clear
you are dead right i think he is a megolomanic. he would not see he's done anything that could possible cause an issue for him playing when his ban is over. if he'd at least had the balls to talk to the english press or even whatever when he got back from tour but he just ran to the press he accused of villifying him when the team were going off on an away day.... and he prob refuse to go... a foot injury = carroll type fakery from the club. the thing is utd are getting away scot free with their rooney disaster as well.
Yeah he was speaking some sense back there It's also been made worse by clubs refusing to stand up for the contract as the easier option is to take millions in a bid. Perhaps in the near future as prices increase and the difference between a good bid and a slightly lower than average bid becomes tens of millions of pounds clubs will be more willing to make a stand, rather than in the past where being short changed by half a million or so wasn't worth the hassle. The fans are blameless. They support the club and the players. We're not Arsenal, we don't boo our own team, so are the fans supposed to somehow be able to cheer the richer players to a lesser extent just to keep their egos in check?
When I say "the club" I mean a collective entity which has more to do with its fanbase than whoever happens to be the administration at the time.
I have my doubts about the sense of Henry's assertion of not selling at any price. It seems a reactionary sweeping statement. No doubt to ease the minds of the fans, but will come back to bite him in the future. Are we keeping Suarez for ever? Unlikely, given his recent pandering to the English media he supposedly hates with a passion. Once a player states he wants to leave a club, or even hints that he's unhappy there, the club should get rid a.s.a.p. This is something all successful managers know. Fergie was the master of this up until his backing down in the Wayne Rooney instance, but by then he knew he would be retiring soon and needed Rooney to stay until then. Luis clearly can't stay, but Henry has somewhat mopped himself into a corner with his 'not for sale' declaration. I no longer want Suarez at the club I love after his recent childish outburst and lack of respect for the club (the way he's comported himself, not his wanting to leave!), but don't particularly want to see him play against us. We also need to step up our transfer activity. Now more than ever, the fans need some good news, to offset the bitterness of Suarezgate. Great player but childish brat! He needs to go to Real and have a 'Diva off' with CR7!
Phil McNulty has finished his first month of taxpayer-funded holidays, after his second month he will be back to explain to us (for the third time) how Moyes has handled the Rooney saga perfectly, and how losing all those preseason games was a genius use of friendlies to experiment with various systems
The Reds boss is unhappy with the attitude shown by the Uruguay international - who seems intent on forcing a move to Arsenal - in recent weeks and has been told to train on his own. Rodgers rejected Suarez's claim he had reneged on an agreement last summer which would allow the player to leave for a Champions League club, saying interviews given by the 26-year-old suggesting as much showed "total disrespect" to the club. However, Suarez remains determined to find a way out of Anfield and admits even captain Steven Gerrard's pleas for him to stay cannot offset the lure of the Champions League, while also reiterating he would jump at the chance to go to Real Madrid. "I'm still defending the Liverpool shirt and I will do so until the last minute," Suarez, who was left at home for Wednesday night's friendly against Valerenga in Norway because of injury and is unlikely to feature against Celtic in Dublin on Saturday, told Spanish newspaper Marca. "My aim is to reach an agreement with the club in a friendly manner and I hope the clause we agreed a year ago is fulfilled. Up to now, it hasn't been. "It's not that I want to or am desperate to leave, but I like things to be clear and a year ago I made my position to the club clear. "Gerrard has a lot of history with Liverpool and his words are very important but everyone should understand that I need to play the Champions League to keep growing as a footballer. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/football-suarez-seeking-friendly-resolution-113342611.html "Now I have the chance, I want to take it. "A Champions League team (Arsenal) is making a big effort to get me and one always wants to be where they feel comfortable. "There were a lot of rumours (about Real) that were different to reality: Madrid never called me personally or Liverpool to try and negotiate. "Every player aspires to reach the top and Real Madrid is among the most important clubs in the world. It would be very difficult to say no to Real Madrid."
