Tom Hicks: Quit talking and coach the players

[blacky]

I dread the day that Mourinho walks through the door and becomes our new manager.

I have a very nasty feeling that if Rafa goes Mourinho will be high on the yanks list of potential replacements.

He is a winner though?

[Johnny]

I have this horrible feeling that he will walk after the Newcastle game. I really do.

You are not alone thinking that

With out being melodramatic I have to say that I've thought the same.

I don't think Rafa want to wait that long. If they don't do it in the next few days then I can't see Rafa stay.

C`mon Lads get a grip.
Rafa is a fighter,there`s no way he`d walk from here over this situation.
Wait until December/January.
The London press are getting just what they wanted.
This will blow over.

[AFII]

"The shovel will be in the ground in 30 days."

"If Rafa wants to buy snoogy doogy we will buy him."

"We want quality. If that player costs 100 million we will pay it, but we just wont pay silly money for second rate players."



All quotes from the yanks. All hot air. They think we are stupid and a few ****in lines here and there will please us.

Well were not stupid, and luckily we have a manager with the biggest set of bollocks in football who isnt afraid of reminding them of the **** they have said.


Obviuosly there is gonna be only one winner in this, the yanks. But i`m with Rafa all the way.

So far our new owners hasn't backed up a thing of what they said. You can add that they promised not to put the club in any debt but we will probably soon be in over £500m debt.

So far all they have come up with as you say, a lot of false promises.

[AFII]

Rafa Benitez flew down with his squad last night to Newcastle for their early fixture this afternoon a little bit calmer than the man who was clearly upset in the pre-match press conference.

The current stand off is obviously related to the money Benitez requires to spend in January. Co-owner Tom Hicks has however stated that a significant sum of money was given to Rafa in the Summer.

The Guardian continues with this story...

While it is questionable that Liverpool spent more money this summer than at any period in their history - they spent approximately £44m on new talent but recouped half of that sum through sales - the potential repercussions of the internal divisions are evident, with the club's owners no longer prepared to acquiesce to the manager. Hicks and Gillett want signs of a genuine title challenge from their investment when they attend the game against Manchester United on December 16 and hold a meeting with Benítez that will shape his future.

The current split in the Anfield hierarchy might well be overcome if the Liverpool manager arrives at that meeting having secured a place in the Champions League knock-out phase after the game in Marseille five days previously. In those circumstances his transfer budget for January would improve, albeit belatedly as far as Benítez would be concerned.

Should United arrive at Anfield further ahead in the Premier League than they are now (six points) and with Liverpool out of the Champions League, however, the transfer budget on offer will prove to be far short of the manager's expectations. Hicks and Gillett are committed to repayments on a new £500m loan which has been secured against the club.

In the meantime Hicks and Gillett have told Benítez that a repeat of his public discontent will not be tolerated. There was an uneasy truce between the warring factions following Hicks' blunt appraisal yesterday, with the Liverpool manager said to be more relaxed and convivial than he had been 24 hours earlier.

Benítez flew to Newcastle last night with the Liverpool squad, ahead of this lunchtime's game at St James' Park. Also in the travelling party was Rick Parry, the Anfield chief executive whose relations with the Spaniard have also strained recently over the manager's insistence that deals for a central defender, such as Ezequiel Garay of Racing Santander, the on-loan midfielder Javier Mascherano and a striker - in the event of Peter Crouch's departure - should be in place long before the Americans finalise their January budget.

http://liverpoolfc.co.za/eve/forums/...3/m/7121026954

[AFII]

Looks like G&H and Rafa talked off the media yesterday. I hope they sorted a few things out.

[badpiggy]

I dread the day that Mourinho walks through the door and becomes our new manager.

I have a very nasty feeling that if Rafa goes Mourinho will be high on the yanks list of potential replacements.

in fairness i would say that morinho wouldn't touch us with a 40foot barge pole because if rafa leaves it will be for the exact reasosn mourinho left chelsea - owners who want control of transfer policy

[rage]

Isnt Hicks the Stadium man and Gillett the sport man?

It seems to me that while the yanks arent skint in America, the ****e Dollar is ****ing them up and this is pissing Rafa off. I mean like, to us, Mascherano costs 17 mil. To G&H its probably something like 30-35 mil. The cost of the ground might not have risen to us but it will have to them as their money becomes worth less than it did in February. Maybe this and then Rafa moaning at them forced Hicks to snap like he has done here. I hope they can sort it out and if what I think is wrong is the case then both sides can see where the other is comeing from and sort it out. If they cant then its bye bye Rafa and whoever comes in best be a mircle worker because they arent going to get any money to spend until that ground is up and running for a few years.

sorry amigo. bit late to this debate but the above doesn't wash at all. I do business with Americans with crazy amounts of money. As soon as the $ started to weaken, for some even before, they diversified their assets. Many of the guys i do business with invested it in gold. Last time i looked the price of gold was at record highs.

G&T have not sat there and watched their real life billions become worth less and stood back.

[FatTony]

The Post definitley sees something in this story

Liverpool FC showdown talks set for December

Nov 23 2007

RAFA BENITEZ and club owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett will meet for showdown talks within a month.

The Americans are expected to fly in to Merseyside to watch the home clash with arch-rivals Manchester United on December 16.

By then Liverpool’s Champions League fate will be known - they must win their final two group matches at home to Porto on Wednesday and in Marseille a fortnight later - and that will undoubtedly have an impact on the money available for January signings, although Benitez has already been told he must sell before he can buy.

As the Liverpool Daily Post revealed on Thursday, a rift emerged during Benitez's pre-match press conference during which he would only say he was concentrating on coaching his current squad. It later became clear that the repeated comment was a thinly veiled attack on Hicks and Gillett – who recently told Benitez to forget about transfers for the time being and to focus only on the players he already has at his disposal.

The power struggle is the last thing Liverpool need ahead of a highly-significant five-day spell beginning tomorrow at St James’ Park.

Benitez, however, has urged his players to concentrate on the game.

The likes of captain Steven Gerrard and Peter Crouch go into the fixture on the back of being part of England’s disappointing failure to qualify for Euro 2008 but their club boss will not let them wallow in self-pity.

“We will talk with them and I’m sure they will be mentally ready for Newcastle because they know it is very important for us,” said Benitez.

“I think they were okay (injury-wise).”

[Howard_lfc]

in fairness i would say that morinho wouldn't touch us with a 40foot barge pole because if rafa leaves it will be for the exact reasosn mourinho left chelsea - owners who want control of transfer policy

I believe he'd be here like a shot if it was offered to him.

[FatTony]

I believe he'd be here like a shot if it was offered to him.

Various sources have said that the LFC job is what he is interested in and he's waiting to see what happens with Rafa this season.

I'd not take him ahead of Rafa, but if Rafa walks then I think he'd be my next choice.

[kopdan]

I think they are all as bad as each other.

Hicks should have kept quiet
Rafa should have been more professional.

If thats his idea of making a point, maybe he should go. He started the whole affair imo.

He wants the best players but looks like the Americans for one reason or another are not giving him that option OR are not willing to discuss new players until they are ready. Doesnt mean there is no cash.

Could be the banks playing up, stadium costs going up, even the dollar but its clear there is a problem at Liverpool.

The whole saga the other day leads me to think maybe this isnt saveable. Expect the press to push and push now.

[AFII]

I think they are all as bad as each other.

Hicks should have kept quiet
Rafa should have been more professional.

If thats his idea of making a point, maybe he should go. He started the whole affair imo.

He wants the best players but looks like the Americans for one reason or another are not giving him that option OR are not willing to discuss new players until they are ready. Doesnt mean there is no cash.

Could be the banks playing up, stadium costs going up, even the dollar but its clear there is a problem at Liverpool.

The whole saga the other day leads me to think maybe this isnt saveable. Expect the press to push and push now.

Rafa will be the medias next target now when Jol is gone.

[friedk]

Balague also has something to say:

Hi Guillem, Is it possible you could tell me what English clubs are rumoured to be after Mallorca's Argentinean winger Gutierrez and if he is likely to move to the Premier League? Paddy Daly, Liverpool fan, New Zealand.


GUILLEM REPLIES: He is actually known as Jonas and he has got an offer from Portsmouth. The manager decided not to include him for the last match against Real Madrid before the international break because he didn't seem mentally prepared for the game. He was discussing his future in England and Portsmouth are favourites to take him.


It would be a great move for him and I honestly think Rafa Benitez kept an eye on him. But from what I have heard, Liverpool may not be doing any movement in January or, better said, the decision is to wait few weeks before players get sold (Carson, Crouch) or bought.


Interesting situation at Liverpool by the way, where the owners stop a manager buying or selling when the team clearly needs a couple of reinforcements that were already identified and apparently were not going to cost a penny.

He also says somewhere that Mourinho is already in talks with an English club.

[AFII]

Bosmans, in January?

[tomasjj]

A bit more here in the Guardian.

Benítez rebuked by owners over budget complaints


· Hicks tells manager to quit talking and start coaching
· Frustration at demands after £44m summer spend

Andy Hunter
Saturday November 24, 2007
The Guardian

George Gillett and Tom Hicks
George Gillett and Tom Hicks are unhappy with Rafael Benítez's public challenge to their transfer policy. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA


Rafael Benítez was left in no doubt as to where the power lies at Liverpool yesterday when he was publicly ordered to "quit talking about new players and to coach the players we have" by the club's co-chairman, Tom Hicks.

The divisions that threaten Benítez's future at the club and were exposed by the manager's bizarre performance on Thursday have deepened recently. Liverpool's co-owners - Hicks and George Gillett - were infuriated by the Spaniard's second public challenge to their financial policy in the space of seven months.

Article continues
Although Benítez would not elaborate on his latest frustrations his conduct at the Melwood training complex on Thursday - where he offered himself for the vacant England job and refused to commit his future to Liverpool - represented a deliberate challenge to Hicks and Gillett over what he perceives as their hesitancy in the transfer market.

Benítez's mantra of "I am focused on training and coaching my team" - which he repeated several times on Thursday - was a sarcastic repetition of an instruction that had just previously been received from the Americans. Though Gillett and Hicks later responded with a considered joint statement, the depth of their anger became apparent yesterday when the latter delivered a brutal public rebuke that has backed the club's belligerent manager into a corner.

Hicks said: "After the Champions League Final in Athens [in May] Rafa made certain demands of us and we responded to those demands in the summer. We brought in some good players and spent more money than has ever been spent before at this club. We now have some crucial games coming up in the Premiership and the Champions League and we want to see if we can win these games with the players we have.

"This was the message we gave to Rafa recently and I think during the international break he must have grown a bit frustrated about this. We told him to concentrate on the games coming up and nothing else and I guess he didn't like that. But for the time being we just need to be focused on what happens on the pitch. George and I will be over [from the United States] in mid-December and that is the time to talk about other issues. It is really time for Rafa to quit talking about new players and to coach the players we have."

While it is questionable that Liverpool spent more money this summer than at any period in their history - they spent approximately £44m on new talent but recouped half of that sum through sales - the potential repercussions of the internal divisions are evident, with the club's owners no longer prepared to acquiesce to the manager. Hicks and Gillett want signs of a genuine title challenge from their investment when they attend the game against Manchester United on December 16 and hold a meeting with Benítez that will shape his future.

The current split in the Anfield hierarchy might well be overcome if the Liverpool manager arrives at that meeting having secured a place in the Champions League knock-out phase after the game in Marseille five days previously. In those circumstances his transfer budget for January would improve, albeit belatedly as far as Benítez would be concerned.

Should United arrive at Anfield further ahead in the Premier League than they are now (six points) and with Liverpool out of the Champions League, however, the transfer budget on offer will prove to be far short of the manager's expectations. Hicks and Gillett are committed to repayments on a new £500m loan which has been secured against the club.

In the meantime Hicks and Gillett have told Benítez that a repeat of his public discontent will not be tolerated. There was an uneasy truce between the warring factions following Hicks' blunt appraisal yesterday, with the Liverpool manager said to be more relaxed and convivial than he had been 24 hours earlier.

Benítez flew to Newcastle last night with the Liverpool squad, ahead of this lunchtime's game at St James' Park. Also in the travelling party was Rick Parry, the Anfield chief executive whose relations with the Spaniard have also strained recently over the manager's insistence that deals for a central defender, such as Ezequiel Garay of Racing Santander, the on-loan midfielder Javier Mascherano and a striker - in the event of Peter Crouch's departure - should be in place long before the Americans finalise their January budget.