Rafa Discussion Thread

[Rashid]

where can i go to find out the total spending including net spend of liverpool arsenal mancs and chelsea in the last five years?? i have time to look it up and paste it here if i am pushed in the right direction

I have it, there is a website that compares all of the top clubs since we last won the title... you would be surprised to know that we have spent more than the Mancs since David Moores has been in - our problem has been our managers on the whole have not been good at buying players.

I am at work now so will post it tonight.

[bobbyfallon]

i have to say that i agree with some things rashid says..

yes rafa gets it wrong at times but every manager in the world does. it annoys all of us and we say yes hes a tit for picking pennant instead of bla bla bla ... his decisions are based on studying the weaknesses of other teams and if he feels a certain player can bring more on that particular day then so be it. his decisions are far more reasoned and informed than any of ours will ever be.

and im all for a good debate and if facts prove me wrong in any debate il hapilly back down and say i was wrong. what annoys me about rashid is when the facts are presented to him he goes missing ????

he may not like rafa - its his choice and thats fair enuf...

[bobbyfallon]

I have it, there is a website that compares all of the top clubs since we last won the title... you would be surprised to know that we have spent more than the Mancs since David Moores has been in - our problem has been our managers on the whole have not been good at buying players.

I am at work now so will post it tonight.

ok will look forward to reading it later then - as i have just posted if im wrong im happy to admit it..

however its only net spending since rafa took over im interested in for the purposes of this current debate. i dont doubt we have spent more and as you correctly say we have had some bad buys in this time

[Rashid]

I refuse to believe Paul Tomkins if that is where the figures are from, he is the worst type of journalist in the world, a totally biased whopper when it comes to Liverpool (which is fine but wrong as a journo) and he is a friend of mine away from bloody forums. In short, doesn't know the figures anymore than anybody else.

[Rashid]

ok will look forward to reading it later then - as i have just posted if im wrong im happy to admit it..

however its only net spending since rafa took over im interested in for the purposes of this current debate. i dont doubt we have spent more and as you correctly say we have had some bad buys in this time

Don't worry mate, all will be revealed, it was done by a fan of each team together.

[EwarWoo]

Due to sheer bloody idleness I was using the figures from a MCFC website:

http://www.purelymancity.com/index.php/features/transfer-window-special-how-our-spending-compares/

It does put us slightly ahead, but only slightly.


It does also highlight just how insanely good at frugalness Wenger is as well. he's a **** at times, but can't help but admire his skill.

[Rashid]

Is someone told us that Rafa would get more money than Arsenal and United in his tenure nobody would have complained back in 2004 especially as Houllier got only £11.5m NET a year to spend. Now people want an Abramovich.

[bobbyfallon]

if those figures are correct then im wrong

[Flight]

Its absolute bollocks that Wenger has spent nothing to put together a 'young' side.

If people are going to talk about transfer spending they need to include wages. Wenger has spent next to **** all buying players, but his wage bill is nearly £20mill a year more than ours on playing staff, which is why he has managed a lot of his youth talent signings.

And our average age is about the same as theirs.

[Rashid]

if those figures are correct then im wrong

Well in for saying that. I may also be wrong for which I apologise.

The thing is whatever the figures, we can't disagree that Rafa has spent a lot of money.

[Rashid]

Its absolute bollocks that Wenger has spent nothing to put together a 'young' side.

If people are going to talk about transfer spending they need to include wages. Wenger has spent next to **** all buying players, but his wage bill is nearly £20mill a year more than ours on playing staff, which is why he has managed a lot of his youth talent signings.

And our average age is about the same as theirs.

So now we include wages? What next? Length of contracts..? This excuse making is getting ridiculous.

[dww]

So now we include wages? What next? Length of contracts..? This excuse making is getting ridiculous.

To be fair our lack of knowledge makes the whole argument a bit ludicrous. Why not include wages? Surely they influence the players that you can get in a similar way to transfer fees? To discount them as part of the overall financial picture seems a very odd position to hold.

[The_weatherman]

So now we include wages? What next? Length of contracts..? This excuse making is getting ridiculous.

Actually wages have always been an issue, specially with Houllier's leftovers, players like Cisse, Biscan, Diao, Cheyrou, Diouf, Kewell and Dudek were signed on huge wages and were a real millstone on Rafa early on. He couldn't sell them as no-one wanted them and we were paying them a fortune in wages, I mean Diao was loaned to Stoke FFS.

I would like to see comparisons of the wage bill for 2007 versus 2003 or 2004.

[EwarWoo]

Well in for saying that. I may also be wrong for which I apologise.

The thing is whatever the figures, we can't disagree that Rafa has spent a lot of money.

Yes, we can, I've never disputed that.
However an average of 1.6m a year more is not enough to claw back from 30 points behind a well established squad. They've just had to keep adding new icing, we've had to bake an entire cake.
He's pulled back an hell of a lot of that and personally I think relatively speaking it's good value for what he's spent.
And the other thing is, how many times as Rafa missed out on his 1st or 2nd choice of player? You don't think without that he'd be doing even better?
Where as how often as fergie missed out?

[The_weatherman]

Something I found, maybe someone else can shed a further light.

Top wage bills 2006/07

Chelsea - £132.8m (£114m)
Manchester Utd - £92.3m (£85.4m)
Arsenal - £89.7m (£82.9m)
Liverpool - £77.6m (£68.9m)
Newcastle Utd - £62.4m (£52.2m)
(2005/6 wages in brackets)
Source: Deloitte

Wages 2001- 02.

Manchester United - 69.9m.
Arsenal - 61.4m.
Liverpool - 56.1m.
Chelsea - 53.6m.
Leeds - 53.6m.


More financial info http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...1/ai_n12711913