Having a go at the new owners

[RedReet]

There's no doubt that G&H have made some good progress but equally its not all been flowers and roses as you suggest.

Rafa publically slated the new owners after Athens. now some of that may have been the disappointment of losing but in the 30 odd years I've supported LFC its far & away the most savage attack on the owners by an LFC boss. For this to happen something must have seriuosly been wrong. Rafa obviously felt he was being badly let down by G&H. Rafa is as shrewd as they come and he wouldn't have gone public with his concerns without very good reason.

The 2 buys Rafa had lined up failed to materialise. I think its fair to summise that the targets were lost due to a lack of action by H&G.

On top of this we haven't been over active in the t/fer market in terms of net spend. Sure torres came in, a club record. But most of the fee has been offset by the sales of Garcia, Bellamy, & Cisse. We still may spend big but with players like Benyoun being targets the feeling of many fans is that Rafa is again being forced into the bargain basement.

Fans want us to challenge for the title and the general feeling is that the purchases we've made so far will not bring us a serious title challenge next season.

Now H&G appear to be looking long term with the new stadium plans. We all want a bigger stadium than the original plans. financially H&G see that as essential, which is right.

I'm not pro or anti H&G yet. Like a new player they need time to bed in & should be judged over the long term.

Whilst some on here have gone OTT in attacking them, many have gone OTT in defending them. The truth as usual lies somewhere in the middle.

Good post.

As you say, only time will tell, as none of us know exactly what is going on at the club at the minute. Come 11th August, if we've added the extra one or two quality players we still need, then G & H may have played a blinder. Not only are we not letting teams rip us off over transfers Chelsea style, we're led to believe that we're still having to settle for third or fourth choice players consequently encouraging United and Chelsea to dismiss our chances before the season even starts again.

Alternatively, all the doom merchants could be right and they lied to get control of the club for their own personal gain.

Personally I think it might favour the first.

[Jacko]

You've just proven your second point. Well done.

Is that right?n And why is that? Maybe you'd like to explain!

[lfcruleus]

Is that right?n And why is that? Maybe you'd like to explain!

I think he thinks your team quoted isnt good enough to win the league, just a guess like.

[Jacko]

Well thats not exactly proving myself wrong is it cause I do believe It will win us the league. This only based as well on the opinion on most of the whingers on here " oh we only need a world class striker and we'll win the league " Well we've got one so surely that means we're now capable of winning the league!

Thank you for identifyin it btw

[Sir Bob]

You have to understand mate that there are too many people on this forum and lets be honest, most football forums that one- only want to be there to complain, two- don't have a ****ing clue about what they're on about football wise and three- don't undestand the club, the polotics and how money works etc.

It's now fashionable to slate the team you support because for some reason it indicates that you watch the game and ur able to pin-point the negative aspects of the club.

Well thank **** we didn't have these forums when Souness was in charge we'd literally have people throwing themselves off buildings.

Tom and George have just bought in one of the hottest prodigies in europe and instead of a little opptomism alls we get is moan moan moan.

Next year's team:

Reina

Finnan Carra Agger Riise

Gerrard (c) Alonso Mashcerano Kewell

Torres Crouch

That to me is a team that can win the league and thats with only one signing.

So lets have a little more optomism and less moaning!

For me its not about being optmistic or pessimistic about LFC, its about being realistic. Its no use people moaning for the sake of it but equally its no use saying we can win the league next season if you don't believe that to be true.

personally I don't think we'll win the league next season or finish 2nd. That doesn't mean I'm being pesimistic, it just means in my view i'm being realistic.

We can all post our best 11's and argue this and that about next season but lets deal in some facts here. Last season we finished 19 pts off Man U & 15 off Chelsea. We lost 10 games, Man U 5, Chelsea 3. Man U conceded the same no. of goals as us but scored 26 more.

I'd be happy if we finish 3rd but considerably close the gap.

now in my view that makes me realistic not pessimistic.

[Jacko]

Fair play bob- infact I agree. Not about us not winning the league but about being realistic. I've been saying myself that had we had a goal scoring striker in the last two seasons we would have won the league at least once (well probably just the once in 05-06).

I don't think i'm being overly optomisitc that we will win the league. A good start next season and we've got as good a chance as anyone.

The main thing for Benitez next season is purely to challenge. We need to realistically still be in the title race, firstly at Christmas and even more importantly at easter.

That team isn't necessarily my first choice but one I think Benitez would consider his strongest given what he's got at the moment and also what players he's preferred to play in those positions in the last two seasons (hence SG on the right, i'd have him in the middle with Xabi/JM/Momo with Pennant on the right.

Obviously we'll sign at least one more first team player over the summer and that will strengthen us further and realistically then we'll have a really strong team. I don't think it's then too unrealistic to think that we have a good chance of winning the league if you get me.

[livvy145]

Well thats not exactly proving myself wrong is it cause I do believe It will win us the league. This only based as well on the opinion on most of the whingers on here " oh we only need a world class striker and we'll win the league " Well we've got one so surely that means we're now capable of winning the league!

Thank you for identifyin it btw

He's not World Class though, is he?

You believe that by adding Torres to last seasons team will make us champions. You are wrong. At best we would finish third, slightly closer to Man U and Chelsea. We need better talent on both wings and for Gerrard to play central for us to get even closer to winning the league. IMO of course.

[Revo]

sissy bellamy garcia pongolle = torres, theres money waiting to be spent

[cochyn]

it is not pathetic, neither is roses and flowers. So far G&H have delivered some but not enough to convince most, convincing everybody is impossible.

so far they have landed torres, which could be a good purchase, they have managed to recoup some of the money, but who cares if they have recouped some or none it does not matter that much at the moment. They will announce plans for the new stadium in the next month (architects and engineers are notoriously slow in delivering compared to the public's patience).
they have missed 2 of rafa's targets, who's to say that it's G&H's wrong doing here, we have seen in the past 5-6 years that we have been two slow in getting transfers, this could be a problem with someone else within the LFC business structure, some will say parry, and they could be right but then again it could be the lawyers or anyone within LFC. We also have nearly 7ish weeks left to buy more players, so i think a lot of people are voicing there pessimisms far too early, then again some people live for there pessimisms

Currently the glass is half full for once in the last 20 ish yrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jacko]

Fair enough mate- that your opinion!

My opinion of course is based on the last two years. in 05/06 (FA Cup winning season) had we had a goal scorer at the start of the season, we would have won the league. HAving said that I believe that the squad we had last year was, player for player better, we just had a very average start. Bellamy better than Cisse, Kuyt better than Morientes etc.

I think with Torres in the squad now we've got a really good chance of winning the league as again he is an improvement on what we've got.

IMO of course

[CJ]

i must agree that i dont think we are good enough to win the league at the moment. Not far off but not quite ready.

Of cours one of our reasons for not winning the league is a slow start. So maybe we are closer than we think. However the slow start contribute to a strong finnish (rafas rotation policy are aimed at a strong finish however we knew we couldnt win it last year and took our foot off the gas)

Now in order to adress this slow start we need torres to start banging the goals in straight away. will this happen? it could but i think he will need time to settle so its unlikely that we will be off to a flier.

I think only when we have good enough players who have been bedded in can we start to have really good starts. When we have essential quality new players arring in a summer then our start will be slower than we want.

[Darth Marty]

We can all speculate about this and that but for me the cold hard truth is that we can only judge after 5-10 years. We are undoubtedly in a far stronger position than we have ever been, unfortunately for us though the mancs and the chavs also are. So, in my opinion, if we can compete on all fronts, maybe nick a league or 2 and some other trophies, within that 10 year period then, and only then, will we be either back at the top of the tree or 1 of 3 or 4 teams who can realistically think that way.
It seems at this time that the premiership will soon be run by clubs who are all rich and can compete in the market so then it comes down to class, history and reputation. And remember this - WE ARE LIVERPOOL.

So to conclude, we are in a good position, we will get even better when the stadium is completed and I think within 10 years we will be back at the top of the tree.

[Imy]

So far i would say the only difference between G&H and Moores is the stadium plans.

We've spent £20m which in fact has been offset through other player sales, so wheres the so called financial backing that Rafa was promised? OK its still early but i am certainly not holding my breath. Rafa said we need to buy players early and not waste time so nothing there has changed there,

Atleast with Moores he kept his mouth shut, G&H flap their gums with so far no end result.

The new stadium, the 'leaked' pictures looked awesome and todays rumours state the biggest stadium in British Club football, but this is a stupid way of doing business, surely more people want to watch a successful team in a big stadium not a poor team (or a team who has no real chance of challenging for the league) in a big stadium. The Mancs and Chavs have both had this model before looking at expanding their stadiums.

Man Utd and the Chavs are so far ahead and if the Arsenal kids play with more maturity this season (they will also be more used to their new stadium too) they too will be ahead of us.

Yes we've signed Torres but we need more then one player and this was what Rafa was getting at, at the end of the CL final.

That concludes my Rafa esque rant

[bradsdad]

just read a statement from parry in other thread about rafa staying..seeming to suggest(possibly) that we have made our ONE big signing...is that it then???

[scouse lad]

sack parry