American Reds

[Angry Dan]

I am glad about that, I have not been able to see any of the press conference as I am currently in The Falklands.

My flight home has been brought forward by 5 days so I am now debating wether to tell the wife that despite not seeing her for 6 months and her flying back from Germany to see me in the UK for a week that I will be going to Barcelona for 2 days for the Champions league game.

[PeachSalsa]

[QUOTE=Angry Dan;281966]

So, I think they'll be fine. I am most interested to see the stadium project go well and to see how their ambitions to win trophies are backed up by the transfer budget (and their hands-on approach to bringing players in). QUOTE]

Anyone else concerned by this?

uhhhh. No. Rafa will make the final decision. They don't know enough about football to pick a decent player much less one we need. The hand's on approach is the getting out the check book and signing it.

[BrooklynRed]

another yank here, although born in ireland. i agree with most of what you said except for the paragraph above. the game is actually better after the lockout, ask any hockey fan! with the rule changes and the fiscal control the new bargaining contract gave the teams, it's a much more exciting league. they also didn't lose the ESPN deal, it happened to be up for renewal at the same time the lockout started. ESPN lowballed the NHL thinking they could get a cut-price contract because of the shortened and potentially lost season. the league said no thanks and got a better offer from OLN which became Versus. the long and the short of it is that the lockout set them back, and true they did lose some of the casual fanbase they had before, but those losses have now been regained and the league is doing better than ever. attendances are healthy, their in their second year of the tv deal and they also provide free broadcasts of some games through yahoo.

I agree with this, certainly. The rule changes have been the key for much of it, but the "casual" fanbase was a large percentage of viewership, particularly in the playoffs. Also, as I said, Versus has limited reach and positioning on the cable boxes across the USA, but the game is recovering. My point was that NHL owners are not really admired in the USA because of the lockout, no matter if it was the right or wrong thing to do. I could make the same point about baseball players and owners after the strike in the 90's. But yes, I like our new owners. And, raised in Michigan, am a Red Wings fan for life. I just have a much more difficult time following hockey here than I did before the lockout as exposure for the league seems lower. But enough about that.

[BrooklynRed]

[QUOTE=PeachSalsa;282114]

uhhhh. No. Rafa will make the final decision. They don't know enough about football to pick a decent player much less one we need. The hand's on approach is the getting out the check book and signing it.

Right. By hands on, I meant something like the Alex Rodriguez trade Hicks supported with the Texas Rangers. He paid him $250 million for ten years, which is certainly a check book decision, and when the player didn't produce wins and the club needed new blood, took one of the best and most expensive players in baseball and traded him away. That decision, I think, has Hicks written all over it; If a player is being paid that well, and there was no question he was still producing on the field (he was considered by many to be the best player in the game), but the team is not returning that investment with wins, he is not afraid to get rid and rebuild. Salary structures and "trades" are different in the USA, but all I am saying by "hands on" is that they will spend, but if they don't get a return on the investment, they will act. I don't mean "Oooh, that Villa kid is good! We will sign HIM!" no matter what Rafa and Parry say. Sorry to confuse.

[PeachSalsa]

Was that for me or AngryDan? But I know what you mean about trading players. I guess being an American, I don't see anything wrong with it for here. However, Rafa will do as Rafa sees fit. I do think Rafa will feel better getting rid of a player now, say like Dudek or Riise when he can get one that is better. But if they get rid of Kewell I will definitely be pissed off. I don't want us to be like Chelsea, which I can't see Rafa doing as he likes his pieces of furniture to go with the rest of the set. He is not the kind to see the odd piece and no matter how good it looks and no matter how expensive, go and buy it. He has more sense than Jose.

[Armchairkopite]

Nope

[Angry Dan]

I did not aim the question at anyone in particular, it was meant generally. I was just concerned that he would wish to have a say in buying players. Following Rafa's comments about his previous expierence with lamps and tables.

[Radar]

I'm checking in from West Virginia.....sorry gotta run to my KKK and NRA meetings.

Git-R-Done

[RedJedi]

I'm from Liverpool and I would consider people from Birkenhead to be scousers. It's not about location, it's the accent and way of thinking etc. People from Birkenhead have some of the broadest scouse accents possible - Jason McAteer is a fine example. If he's not a scouser, I'm a chinaman

If it were only people from Liverpool who were scousers, what about Bootle, Crosby, Huyton, Kirkby, Halewood etc? Even Formby 15 miles up the coast - when I was a kid in the 60s they all spoke with the generic S W Lancs accent, but these days it's completely scouse

Gota disagree with you, i dont rekon Berkenheadtheballs are scousers. I also find that there is a slight difference in the way we speak on both sides of the river.

I used to work over in Sealand with a lot of people from Brikenhead and Wallesy etc etc and i thought they talked a little bit different to the way me and my mates talk.

Well know fact that the Birkienhead late night bus is known as The Wooly Bus. I woulndt call them wolly's just plazy's. Nowt wrong bein a plazy, its better than bein a wool.

I would say Formby are wools, as for the rest Kirkby Crosby etc etc i'll let them off but only just. Fact is as soon as the ****e move to Kirkby it is a wooly town. Untill then they are ok

To all you guys in the USA and your storys of how you came to love the Reds.

Was too easy for me, i was born here and my cousin said you support Liverpool, i had no choice. Thank god it was one of my sensible cousins who got in first.

[TartanTerror]

the fact you called your parents to make sure your gran wasn't a woolyback

Well, it was more looking into the fact of why they were such ardent LFC supporters. They just absolutely inundated me with LFC paraphenalia over the years, which is probably why I have such a strong emotional tie to the team (My room was packed with posters and pennants of the team, and I was sent a new kit nearly every Christmas. And I wore those kits constantly. Explaining the liverbird crest to my fellow Americans proved quite a challenge ). It seems that the whole family moved to Birkenhead after my great-grandfather passed, but kept their ties to LFC. Fans in England seem to have stronger ties to their home-town clubs (than we do in the States) , and as such it puzzled me why I wasn't sent Tranmere kits if my fam didn't hail from the other side of the Mersey.

[Maestro]

To all you guys in the USA and your storys of how you came to love the Reds.

Seconded. Neat thread y'all.

[Radar]

Seconded. Neat thread y'all.

[Ron_Mexico]

I'm checking in from West Virginia.....sorry gotta run to my KKK and NRA meetings.

Git-R-Done

west virginia eh im right next door in tennessee

heres a good pickup line for you if you ever go through TN

Hey baby, You must be from Tennesee........cause your the only Ten-I-See.

you have to go "wooooooo" after you say it and shoot your shotgun if you have one. its the rules you see

[Maestro]

west virginia eh im right next door in tennessee

heres a good pickup line for you if you ever go through TN

Hey baby, You must be from Tennesee........cause your the only Ten-I-See.

you have to go "wooooooo" after you say it and shoot your shotgun if you have one. its the rules you see

Where in Tennessee are you?

[Ron_Mexico]

Where in Tennessee are you?

Knoxville, finishing up university at the University of Tennessee. It's a decent place but the lack of culture and widespread ignorance can get annoying