The New Manager Thread

[Shaggy]

This is where Catch 22 comes along

To can Rafa is gonna cost £20 million

£20 million we dont have

In fact we need £100 million to pay down our debt for this summer

If no investor arrives (and unless the owners get real they wont) then we will have to sell players to pay down this loan or hope that RBS has a change of heart and renews the financing

It would only cost us £20m if he remained out of work for the duration of his contract, which clearly will never happen. He'll jump straight into another job, so it might cost us a couple of million.

No?

[red g]

Good analogies...depressingly accurate.

I'm not saying ship Gerrard out at all costs, but I'd gladly accept anything above £25m. He'll be thirty in May and at that kinda money it'd be a no-brainer for me.

but 25m is fuuck all compared with a happy Gerrard playing at the top of his ability.

Sack Rafa

[Guest]

RBS aren't going to change their heart are they? They've just announced more losses if I'm not wrong. There's no way they are going to release their tough stance.

[red g]

It would only cost us £20m if he remained out of work for the duration of his contract, which clearly will never happen. He'll jump straight into another job, so it might cost us a couple of million.

No?

is the Juve job still there for him?

[Shaggy]

Personally I still think back to this article / interview with Reina and wonder how much this has affected the squad as a whole

Liverpool Player Questions Owners ‘Efforts’

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina feels winning the Premier League title is “not a realistic objective” for his side this season.
The Reds finished second last term but their hopes of a first league title since 1989/90 have been hit by two defeats in their opening four games.
Reina told The Guardian: “There isn’t frustration, there is resignation.
“Maybe it’s time to get realistic and not think about the title but just about winning the next game.”
Liverpool sold midfielder Xabi Alonso during the summer and, despite them spending around £38m to bring in Glen Johnson from Portsmouth and Alberto Aquilani from Roma, question marks remain over the depth of manager Rafael Benitez’s squad.

Teams like Manchester United have lots of players who can tip the balance; we haven’t got the individuals

Reina feels his side lacks the quality that is needed, adding: “We know what’s in the squad; we can’t do anything about it. All we can do is roll our sleeves up, work hard and try to win matches.
“Teams like Manchester United have lots of players who can tip the balance; we haven’t got the individuals.
“There are games that get congested and we haven’t got the vision other sides boast. Chelsea have Didier Drogba, who can bring down any ball – a useful option we haven’t got.”
The 27-year-old Spanish goalkeeper, whose only silverware with the Reds since making a £6m move from Villarreal in 2005 is the 2006 FA Cup, called upon the club’s American co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks to improve Liverpool’s chances by giving Benitez more money to spend.

“It would be good if the owners made an effort economically, if they pushed.” Reina said.
“It would be lovely if we found ourselves in an economic position where we can bring in players and build a squad that can compete with other sides.
“But it’s up to the owners to try to bring players in, not us.”
Reina feels that Liverpool’s title hopes are not over yet but admits they are struggling to live up to their pre-season billing as one of the main challengers.
“Can we win the league? I think so but there are other teams that are very capable of winning it – Chelsea, United, Arsenal, Manchester City.
“We can’t set ourselves objectives. We all want to win the league

He talked of resignation and I think it can be traced back to pre-season. Rafa has alluded to "something happening" in pre-season. Our performance at Spurs was **** and the wheels pretty much came off there and then. We've had poor pre-seasons before and shrugged them off. This time it was woeful and it's remained woeful. I think some major **** went off in the summer, stuff we're obviously not privy to.

If Rafa ever releases an autobiography it will be captivating reading.

[Lecter]

It would only cost us £20m if he remained out of work for the duration of his contract, which clearly will never happen. He'll jump straight into another job, so it might cost us a couple of million.

No?

I'm not exactly sure how it works but I believe a substantial part of the pay off would be kept by Rafa irrespective of whether he gets further employment or not

Remember when players leave clubs without asking for a transfer they get a loyalty / contractual pay off, irrespective of what contract they agree with another club

[Lecter]

He talked of resignation and I think it can be traced back to pre-season. Rafa has alluded to "something happening" in pre-season. Our performance at Spurs was **** and the wheels pretty much came off there and then. We've had poor pre-seasons before and shrugged them off. This time it was woeful and it's remained woeful. I think some major **** went off in the summer, stuff we're obviously not privy to.

If Rafa ever releases an autobiography it will be captivating reading.

I personally think it is key to where we are today

I still think back to the budget fiasco in the summer.

Remember Rafa was talking at one point of having the Keane money plus sales, plus an additional £20 million to spend

In reality hes seen none of that as I believe we have made a profit on this seasons transfers

[Kenneth]

It would only cost us £20m if he remained out of work for the duration of his contract, which clearly will never happen. He'll jump straight into another job, so it might cost us a couple of million.

No?

I've seen you make this point a few times. Wondering what info you base this on.

[Craig_H]

So just one question

IF Rafa has been preaching this mentality for 5 years, who or what inspired the players to finish 2nd last season??

A number of things. If you remember, we had a disproportionate number of games where the opposition were reduced to 10 men - something which doesnt usually happen to such an extent.

We had a high number of games where we were on course to drop points, but snatched last minute winners, again something which was beyond what you'd normally expect.

Basically, last season, 90% of things went our way at important times, and along with good performances and confidence, this helped us have a good season.

You cant really on 90% of things going your way though.

If last season was reflective of LFC under Benitez, it wouldnt stand out alone as the only season where we challenged for the league. But it does.

So whatever contributed to it, is the exception, not the rule.

The fundamental question that should be asked is what has changed from last season to the start of this, that has affected the players belief in our manager

Because for me from day one of this season our players have looked lacking in confidence, passion, belief and ability

Now our manager hasnt changed, I'm pretty certain there has been no radical change in tactics

So what has happened??

Alonso was sold without adequate replacement and unlike the previous season, we didnt have an unrealistic level of things going for us.

[Shaggy]

I've seen you make this point a few times. Wondering what info you base this on.

Racking my faltering brain and I can't ****ing remember! It was news to me too, must admit. Pretty sure whoever it was that pointed it out provided a link. I've definitely heard it crop up since I found it and I'm sure it seems to be accepted that this "paying up the contract in full" is a bit of a myth.

Apologies for being so vague.

[Craig_H]

steven gerrard - for whatever faults he may have is still a ****ing world beater though! he hasn't just ogne **** over night - he is cleary ****ed off with the situation - and i personally for the first time in a long time would rather he stayed and rafa went rather than the other way round.

he still has a few good years at the top and i want to see him playing well and enjoying his football in a liverpool shirt. Not somewhere else, and it's obviously not going to happen under rafa benitez

unfortunatley we don't have much money - but somehow, considering how ****e we are we still have 3 world class players in reina, torres and gerrard and a few very good top players capable of playing for a top team, Mascherano, Carragher, Agger, Johnson, with a few decent enough to at least be in the squad as back up - yossi, kuyt,skrtel - for me it's vital too us too keep all of them, to get them playing well and happy, and to add some quality to the squad to fill in the gaps.

If that means rafa along with a dozen or so players has to go so be it. - but i much prefer the prospect of a new manager coming and still having gerrard/reina/torres/carragher/mascherano on board than the prospect of having rafa and losing one/some/all of them

Totally agree. Steven Gerrard has proved he can achieve the level we want from him. Rafa hasnt.

[S-RED]

I think the basics of it are, if we sack rafa & are paying him 100K per week, we are only liable to pay him that amount until he gets a new job; but then if his new job only pays say 75k per week, we will then be liable to pay the excess (25K) for the remainder of his existing Liverpool contract.

[Shaggy]

Totally agree. Steven Gerrard has proved he can achieve the level we want from him. Rafa hasnt.

When was the last time? It's been almost a year. Not just a blip of a few weeks, one whole year of rubbish.

Also, what if he doesn't like the next manager either?

[Guest]

By the same token Rafa hasn't got **** overnight eh? Gerrard's got too much influence and a bad one at it. Performances like last night have not been the only one. Rafa's the one who calls the shot and if there's one he has to call, it is to sack Gerrard.

[Kenneth]

I think the basics of it are, if we sack rafa & are paying him 100K per week, we are only liable to pay him that amount until he gets a new job; but then if his new job only pays say 75k per week, we will then be liable to pay the excess (25K) for the remainder of his existing Liverpool contract.

If he gets a pay rise, maybe he could pay us.