Not after it had been used!!!! Hands up all of those idiots who stood on the Kop with a hole in their shoe?
Or managers. The club doesn't know the meaning of the word anymore and doesn't deserve loyalty. The time to thank Kenny for caretaking was after half a season. Offering a three-year contact for rebuilding then gurning that two finals in a season wasn't rebuilding quickly enough was disloyalty of the highest order. Still, Reina will be reunited with Rafa and Rafa's GK coach so the club is going to look really stupid for letting him go.
Long time reader who just had to register to comment on this thread. This issue is the thing that is draining our beloved club. Kenny was shown the door in an abrupt and undignified way. Yes there were some faults in his acquisitions, but he gave us Suarez, without whom we'd be sorely lacking in any star quality - yes Steve is a world class star, but a team of the stature we want to have, and which we were until very recently, needs more than one. Then came the replacement. Initially I was happy to hear Brendan was coming, but after watching "Being Liverpool" I really understood why Swansea where not crying too much. It was like watching a rebooted version of The Office... and now old stable players like Reina and Dirk feel hard done by, and Suarez pretty much wants to play anywhere but at Anfield. I believe it's directly linked to Brendan, the back office and the whole "The Office" vibe which was so apparent in the documentary. There is of course always reasons to ship out club legends who might be past their prime, for instance if we get new world class talent to replace them. Instead we get "the welsh Xabi", and now we've shipped Shelvey the other way. Did anyone watch Shelvey tear down Reading a few weeks ago? We got a bum deal there, Shelvey is a 21 year old with the future ahead of him. Should have sent Allen back instead. So what could we have done, and what do I wish for? For starters if Kenny had to go, then why not promote his assistant? Steve Clarke knew the club and had done good things for us alongside Kenny, instead he was sacked too, took his business to WBA, and managed to get an 8th in the PL - just one place below us with a much much weaker side. He even got a manager of the month award. In addition to that Rafa was publicly stating he hadn't even been approached by the club. This is a manager who brought the CL trophy to Anfield, and as recently as 2009 was a couple of matchdays - and 4 points - away from winning the Premier League. Winning it, not fighting to achieve parity with the Toffees, dreaming of emulating Spurs, and trying to fend of the likes of WBA and Swansea. Yet we didn't believe we even needed to ask him about the possibility of returning home. In conclusion I fear for our club. I really do. In 4 summers we've gone from being inches away from winning the league, to being on track of emulating Newcastle and Villa - both great teams of yesteryear who now are nowhere near the pinnacle of football. Someone please show me that I'm wrong and that our future is bright in spite of this all...
In 4 summers we've gone from being inches away from winning the league A LOT of reasons for that and not just the pointing to Brendan which is what you seem to be doing. Owners, admnistration looming, losing class players ( ALL MANAGERS LOST THEM), not spending wisely ( Again, every manager). What about the way we ended the season last year? Can we kick on from that? How good does Coutinho look, we haven't conceded in a single pre-season game. I'm not always the most positive but to have just no hope though?
It has been suggested on another thread that the 'star' players from other eras that remain at the club are in fact testaments to the failure of the club since 2005. They stand their as beacons of the clubs failure at all levels. However, as they become fewer, and now only Gerrard truly remains, we are starting to see a younger, healthier group who are hungry for success; who are not afraid to try new things; who want to express themselves and leave their mark on the club. This I believe is a far healthier environment for our club. History is great but when it becomes a millstone it has to be smashed. I truly believe we have now broken free and can start to climb again.
You might be right Dave but it's the unceremonious way the old guard have left [been pushed out] that's very un-Liverpool like. Bring in the next generation of 'hungry' players by all means but we've still no guarantee they'll stay on and see the building completed. They may leave before the foundations have been fully laid. Then what? Zeerover - welcome, some good points raised
It has always been so with the old guard. I can remeber the Kop going mad because the night of the European Cup Semi-Final against Inter, Billy Liddell was spotted in the old Kemlyn Road stand with his wife rather than the directors box. But whilst Liddell had been Mr Liddellpool, that night was the celebration of the new Shankly era
Liddell wasn't loaned out without being told though was he. I'm all for moving onwards and upwards but keep it classy on the way Liverpool ... please.
Surely if they push the club up the league,say into 4 th spot, then the club would be in a better position to attract better players anyway. It's all about progression. As foredeck says we have a younger hungrier set of players than 2 or 3 years ago. Think back to konchesky,Paulson,the money wasted on Carroll and downing and I think we are looking to be in a far better place. Of course we are a long way from challenging for the title but when you see the money Chelsea and city are spending then its little wonder. Only by bringing through our youth like sterling,wisdom,Kelly,ibe and supplementing them with quality will we get near. It's going to be a slow progress unless we sellout to a sugar daddy and not sure i want that. There is quality at low prices out there ( michu, courthino) but its at the expense of instant success. Even city with all the money they spent had to wait a few years for the title and then they couldn't defend it. Man Utd's success has been based on quality supplemented by good young players either coming through or spotting good players at little cost.
KPH103 makes a good point - both Chelsea and Man City had to wait a short while to really mount a decent challenge, even with all of their resources. I'm happy that the club have a vision and we're sticking to it. We've practically broken even but we've seem to have improved our squad depth and quality (on paper, at least).
I'm happy the club have a vision. I'm not happy with the growing list of ex-players being rushed out [in the wrong way, no problem generally in clearing out the older players] - even if you consider the players behaviour not-classy [courting moves etc.] we shouldn't be not-classy back! I wonder if Rodgers can't handle the big personalities, either that or he just doesn't want any.
Neither was Pepe in reality. There is no way Liverpool can complete a loan arrangement without the player agreeing to it. Pepe is being a little disingenuous there. Id a player doing an 'Owen' to the club acceptable? We would all like the separation to be sadly equitable but that is just not life. For LFC the important thing is to start writing a new chapter,
Well he has since said, in his follow up letter, that he agreed because it was Rafa but it was still being arranged behind his back and only that it was Rafa, he wouldn't have gone. Whether the parting with a player is equitable or not, and it might not be for various reasons, the club should always act with integrity, they haven't on a couple of occasions now.
Who talked to Arsenal? It certainly wasn't LFC. Could it have been Suarez's agent? Both sides are looking after their best interests.
We don't know how Arsenal came about making the offer. Maybe they found out about it in the media and chanced their luck, who knows. We can't say 'certainly wasn't .... ' about either, or any side because we just don't know. Unless the club come out with a statement refuting gossip, like they did with the Martinez job offer, [even then some didn't believe the words out of their mouth] - we can only guess about anything. Would you ever imagine the club would arrange a loan deal without the players knowledge? Their overall desire of wanting Reina off the books, whether that was a reaction to his Barcelona talk or just because they feel it's the right time, may be right, that's a different argument though, how they went about business was wrong. 'No player is bigger than the club' is a great philosophy, but don't injure the team by making too big a stand over it. Because no manager/director/owner is bigger than the club either!
