Here we go again

[Dhav]

sorry chaps but i see a different spin to this parry interview. couldn't it just be that liverpool football club ( parry, the owners, whoever ) plain and simple will not be held to ransom over a players fee? i mean why sould they? they've come out and publicly said they wont pay 18 million to stop all the scumbag journo's writing story after story about this saga and maybe also show villa that we wont pay over the odds. it firmly put the ball in villa court to come out themselves publicly and state, for all the fans, once and for all where the barry deal stands.

also, it is not a managers job to say how much a player is worth financially. in all the time rafa has been here does anyone actually beleive that rafa has negotiated a fee with another club for a player? of course he hasn't. the torres deal last year, the babel deal, arbeloa, dossena, mascherano etc... all these deals were done by the board. they decide how much a player is worth to the club and what the fee involved should be. this barry saga is no different. no matter how much rafa might want barry to sign he shouldn't be able to say how much we pay for him. his job, as rafa so publicly states, is to "concentrate on coaching his team and preparing for the next game".

i don't feel rafa has been undermined at all. but i am glad he came out with what he said earlier as the blame should not be placed on him for this mess. it lies plainly on one person and one person alone.....Gareth Barry himself.

Understand what you're saying, but to me the situation is black and white - if the money is available, as seem to be the case here, you let the manager spend it as he sees fit. The manager should be given full autonomy over all footballing matters, including valuations of players - that's how Man Utd and Arsenal do things, you dont see Wenger or Fergiescum being undermined by their respective boards in the way Rafa is do you? I mean, what the **** do the likes of Hicks, Gillett,even Parry know about football in comparison to Rafa? Like Shanks said, the board should sign the cheques and nothing else.

[the rev leeroy brown]

It came out last year during the saga that Rafa did the negotiating with clubs,probably because he,like everyone else,didnt think Parry was capable of getting deals done in a timely and successful manner.Parry felt his toes were being trod on as a result.It was one of the reasons Rafa was told to concentrate on coaching the team.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Rafa did the negotiating on the Keane deal too and I'd imagine he had a fair bit to do with the Torres deal since he's the only one at the top level who can speak spanish

trust me on this. rafa almost definately negotiated directly with the players on matters concerning the players careers. he would convince them to sign ny talking through matters like tactics and such. but he would not have been involved in he negotiations on the financial package put to the club we were buying from. there are translators in place to deal with the language barrier. rafa is not the only spanish speaking member of liverpools payroll. there are many different people involved in this process but the coach of a team is not one....not at such a high level team like we are.

[El Jefecito]

trust me on this. rafa almost definately negotiated directly with the players on matters concerning the players careers. he would convince them to sign ny talking through matters like tactics and such. but he would not have been involved in he negotiations on the financial package put to the club we were buying from. there are translators in place to deal with the language barrier. rafa is not the only spanish speaking member of liverpools payroll. there are many different people involved in this process but the coach of a team is not one....not at such a high level team like we are.

I should imagine Rafa is involved at least long enough to determine what the impact of the transfer is to his budget. Like you say after that it is all terms and conditions and an administrator would take it from there.

[the rev leeroy brown]

Understand what you're saying, but to me the situation is black and white - if the money is available, as seem to be the case here, you let the manager spend it as he sees fit. The manager should be given full autonomy over all footballing matters, including valuations of players - that's how Man Utd and Arsenal do things, you dont see Wenger or Fergiescum being undermined by their respective boards in the way Rafa is do you? I mean, what the **** do the likes of Hicks, Gillett,even Parry know about football in comparison to Rafa? Like Shanks said, the board should sign the cheques and nothing else.

fair point. although wenger is in a worse situation than rafa. he gets undermined by his board as he was basicaly told that the debt from building the stadium has not been reduced as expected and so his transfer kitty was ridiculous this year. rafa has been backed in the transfer market. every player he has gone for in the past he has been given money for it. it is this fact that meks mne beleive the board are having a hard time with the credit crunch raising the funds for any more deals.

[El Jefecito]

fair point. although wenger is in a worse situation than rafa. he gets undermined by his board as he was basicaly told that the debt from building the stadium has not been reduced as expected and so his transfer kitty was ridiculous this year. rafa has been backed in the transfer market. every player he has gone for in the past he has been given money for it. it is this fact that meks mne beleive the board are having a hard time with the credit crunch raising the funds for any more deals.

Wow. That is quite astonishing revisionism. Alves, Simao, ...

The Barry situation is the rule, not the exception that you make it sound like.

[the rev leeroy brown]

Wow. That is quite astonishing revisionism. Alves, Simao, ...

The Barry situation is the rule, not the exception that you make it sound like.

maybe i shouldn't have claimed "every player". almost every player he's gone for. in fact, every player he's publicliy gone for in the past. a lot of the time it's newspaper speculation about who we try to sign.

[Sarb]

More bull**** from Balague

[El Jefecito]

More bull**** from Balague

Mate, I wouldn't be suprised if Rafa dictated that article to him.

[jonymadness]

More bull**** from Balague

More? Care to expand on that point?

[El Jefecito]

I wonder if Rafa is deliberately agitating to create a situation where he is either backed or fired.

[Sarb]

More? Care to expand on that point?

This guy is now worse than the **** rags. He changes his story week in week out. 'Rafa may have a surprise for the fans'. 'There may be some at Liverpool who want to keep Alonso'...'Rafa is on the verge of quitting'. In the early days he was great to listen too, really down to earth and just spoke to the truth

Since he got a bit of fame and got involved with that Marcotti guy he just talks **** like Marcotti

[Rashid]

I would laugh if Rafa left because he couldn't sign whoever he wanted. Name me a club he could go to and then have 100% say on transfers?

[Manofthebog]

I would laugh if Rafa left because he couldn't sign whoever he wanted. Name me a club he could go to and then have 100% say on transfers?

Yeah I'd laugh as well.

In fact it would be ****ing hilarious



And who would you think would come in, as good as Rafa is, and work with our owners?


Sometimes, I really wish rafa would **** off - Fat Sam's still available, isn't he?

[Johnny]

maybe i shouldn't have claimed "every player". almost every player he's gone for.

Ronaldo,Quaresma,Simao,Alves.And probably loads more we don`t know about.
Instead we bought Pennant,Crouch,Bellamy,Morientes etc.............

[Dhav]

I would laugh if Rafa left because he couldn't sign whoever he wanted. Name me a club he could go to and then have 100% say on transfers?

YOu have a skillful way of simplifying things.

It's not about him not being able to sign anyone he wants, it's about a decision being taken above his head preventing him from signing someone the club can afford. It's about non-footballing men making footballing decisions contrary to those of their manager. Why the hell should he put up with footballing decisions being taken out of his hands and being determined by money men who don't have a fraction of the football expertise he has?

Read Martin Samuel's piece earlier in the week in The Times, he sums it up pretty well