Pepe Reina

[Fredo]

I came cross of that recently on Twitter too.

Were you lying on your side with the auto-rotation feature on?

[Mostar]

I didn't but Shaggy might

[Fredo]

I didn't but Shaggy might

Haha, didn't realise it was Shaggy who initially posted that.

[BobTheCharmer]

another footballer releases a book whilst still playing, what a load of bollocks.

should have written it in spanish to make it more authentic.

ah well, hopefully it'll sell a load, brighten his spirits and he can get back to actually saving shots again.

[yamiedo]

I wonder what Pepe will do when he retires, probably get into coaching.

[BobTheCharmer]

spanish tv sports presenter

[pondus]

Comedian and entertainer

[Pablo]

Reina: The Liverpool owners stopped me joining Arsenal for £20m

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina nearly quit Anfield three times as the club fell apart under the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. The Spaniard has shed new light on the turmoil at Liverpool and claims the club stopped him from joining Arsenal in 2010 because they feared it would send out the wrong signal to potential buyers as the Hicks and Gillett era collapsed under a sea of debt.

Reina, who wanted permission to speak to Arsene Wenger as Arsenal tabled a £20million bid, claims there were splits in the Liverpool dressing room over the Americans and says he wanted local heroes Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher to do more to support fans' protests. Reina also campaigned against the appointment of Roy Hodgson to replace Rafa Benitez.
After hitting his 'lowest ebb' under the new man, he considered leaving again in January - only to be talked out of it by his wife.

On an earlier occasion, Benitez had talked Reina out of joining Valencia. The goalkeeper's head was turned by Arsenal when he returned from Spain's World Cup victory celebrations last year to find Liverpool in crisis with Benitez sacked, Hicks and Gillett clinging on to power and the running of the club left to managing director Christian Purslow, who was trying to find new owners. 'I went from elation one minute to depression the next as the realisation dawned that Liverpool were going nowhere fast,' says Reina in his new autobiography.

'When I signed my contract in April 2010 I hoped that better times were just around the corner, a feeling that was fuelled by the promises of improvement from people at the club.
'It didn't take me long to feel that their promises were hollow. I felt betrayed. Our owners were at war with each other, the club's debts were spiralling out of control and a change in manager had failed to dispel the feeling that we were on the road to nowhere. 'Arsenal had made their determination to sign me clear by offering £20m, a phenomenal amount for a goalkeeper. Part of me felt that I was well within my rights to consider my future even if I did so with a heavy heart.

'When Liverpool received the bid, they rejected it. This was not because I had been told that I was too good a keeper to leave. The reason I was given was quite different - and it left me feeling down. I was told that my continued presence was crucial to the sale of the club. I was simply a bargaining chip in the sales process.
'I still don't know what to think of Purslow because I understand he was there to look for new owners and to try to sell the club but ultimately he was making big football decisions that he was not qualified to make.'
Reina publicly called for Hicks and Gillett to go long before current owner John W Henry took over last October.
The 29-year-old also admits he would have liked Gerrard and Carragher to have taken a similar stand.
'I was probably one of the loudest objectors because I believed it was important the supporters knew I was with them,' he says.
'All I wanted the owners to do was sell up to people who could take the club forward, so I said so.
'The way I saw it, Stevie and Carra are the two principle members of our squad, the ones who the people love and if they had said something maybe it would have put Hicks and Gillett under real pressure.
'But in their view, it was more important to try to keep things as normal as possible.'


(http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...senal-20m.html)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The important thing to note here is that I was right about his body language being off last season

So glad he's happy again now!

[Chris]

Legend!

And Arn, dont bother.

[Vermilion]

Yep, legend.

[Vermilion]

And... Wow, should be a good read.

Think we all knew this though...

'I still don't know what to think of Purslow because I understand he was there to look for new owners and to try to sell the club but ultimately he was making big football decisions that he was not qualified to make.'

[Galb]

Interesting views on Purslow, Gerrard and Carra too.

Certainly confirms what was suggested about Purslow anyway - despite the spin at the time, he was running the football side of things and was terrible at it. The club's only starting to recover now from his go at playing Football Manager for real.

[Chris]

Indeed, though you dont really need a massive football knowledge to know Roy Hodgson is a useless, old cunt yet he still managed to mess it up.

[Arn]

Interesting views on Purslow, Gerrard and Carra too.

Certainly confirms what was suggested about Purslow anyway - despite the spin at the time, he was running the football side of things and was terrible at it. The club's only starting to recover now from his go at playing Football Manager for real.

More or less confirms what been said about all three of them. Purslow running things, Rafa had no say and what Read wrote in his book about the dressing room.

I don't really blame Purslow that much because he probably only followed orders from Gillett and Hicks. He had to do what they told him or he would get sacked.

Like a soldier following orders in a war and it was a war, a civil war.

The Purslow I got Roy, I got Roy, I got Roy shouting thing was of course a bit over the top.

[Arn]

You also understand much better why Torres left after reading what Reina said.

I was told that my continued presence was crucial to the sale of the club. I was simply a bargaining chip in the sales process.

Torres and a few other players was probably told the same. The board ****ed him over and he left. The board ****ed Reina over and he stayed, because of his wife.