Should he stay or should he go?

[Shaggy]

On a similar note, I noticed a fair amount of Everton fans getting Hodgson's autograph yesterday. Did they do that with Benitez? I don't know but I just can't picture it.

Like ****

It was the same at Old Trafford when we went there and lost...Mancs queuing up for good old Roy's autograph. No wonder everyone loves him so much. He's a walking wicket.

[Will]

On a similar note, I noticed a fair amount of Everton fans getting Hodgson's autograph yesterday. Did they do that with Benitez? I don't know but I just can't picture it.

No wonder he was smiling at the final whistle. Loved by Evertonians

[Craig_H]

I'm pretty sure that there is a more complicated calculation than that, but I would think that every club (City excepted) does a calculation of what the transfer budget is after looking at other outgoings, and thinks about the wages of players coming in as well as the increase in wage bills. They are businesses after all.

All the above goes out the window if Redknapp is manager obviously.

Yeah, that's not what i'm saying though.

If the board sets aside a £40m transfer budget for the year and then a player signs a 2 year extension at (eg) £50k p/w, that two years is worth £5m. I dont think that then means the transfer budget drops to £35m.

Under H&G, that is what was happening.

[Havors]

Yeah, that's not what i'm saying though.

If the board sets aside a £40m transfer budget for the year and then a player signs a 2 year extension at (eg) £50k p/w, that two years is worth £5m. I dont think that then means the transfer budget drops to £35m.

Under H&G, that is what was happening.

No mate it would be calculated yearly like any budget in any business. It would drop to £37.5m

[Craig_H]

No mate it would be calculated yearly like any budget in any business. It would drop to £37.5m

It wouldnt come out of the transfer budget.

Asset acquisition budgets and overhead budgets arent the same.

[Fernandinho]

I thought the clubs worked with a wage bill which had a sperate budget from the transfer kitty. Haven't you ever played Manager mode on FIFA?

[The_weatherman]

I don't care about the wages, we don't factor in the wages from the other teams either, no use doing it for us but no for them. But when talking about wage, the wage bill is the best predictor for a league finish, the correlation is very high and ours was probably around fifth or sixth last season. I'll bet you it's not the 19th this season! Rafa overachieved consistently if we use the wage bill as a measurement, and if we take wages from the transfer budget we have to do it for other teams as well - better not to do it.

[Havors]

It wouldnt come out of the transfer budget.

Asset acquisition budgets and overhead budgets arent the same.

i cant be arsed arguing, think what you like

[Kenneth]

It wouldnt come out of the transfer budget.

Asset acquisition budgets and overhead budgets arent the same.

I don't for one minute think that any club sets a transfer budget once a year and sticks to it irrespective of subsequent incomings and outgoings. That would be no way to run a business.

[Redspin]

You see this is where you and I differ

Did we underperform last year

YES I actually expected us to finish in the top 4 (just)

So clearly we underperformed but to suggest that the squad was so bad that Hodgson inherited a complete mess is ****ing horse**** of monumental proportions

Liverpool FC had one of the highest proportions of international players at the World Cup

You say all this money drained from the club well the accounts show differently our problem wasnt wages and signings making us skint it was ****ing debt

We actually traded at a profit in the transfer market in the year ending July 2009 and I think the year upto July 2010 would probably show the exact same thing

Its lazy and its very Sky Sports to claim Rafa overspent and put us in the position we were in post takeover

You have to remember that danperkins is Hodgson's poodle, so he has a vested interest in blaming everything about the way the team's playing on Rafa's squad from last season.

As you rightly say, we had more players at the World Cup than any other premier league club, with 15 I believe (somewhere else I read it was 13 - can't be bothered to check). Arsenal and Chelsea had 11 each and Man U just 8 (another source said just 5 - can't be bothered to check that either), so for him to say only Torres was a stand-out performer in the squad is a bit daft

The fact that Hodgson is making the same squad look like Tranmere on a bad day is not Rafa Benitez's fault, no matter how often danperkins tries to make that point

[Neil Young]

[Neil Young]

New statue of Hoxhson unveiled at Anfield:

[RedReet]

[Redspin]

The problem is when we talk about net spend we rarely talk about outside the first team squad and Liverpool invested very heavily in the academy which up to now we can say has clearly failed on all fronts.

An Academy is supposed to convert raw talent into 1st team prospects.

The only first team prospects I see that have cemented a first team place in the last few years have been...

Insua perhaps?

Ngog perhaps?

I dont really see any exciting talent breaking though.

From a player acquisition point of view it is clear that Liverpool have had a disastrous period over the last four years.: only four decent signings.

From a point of view of retaining talent Liverpool have been very poor. two of the best midfielders in Europe have left to Barca and Real.

You can blame the previous owners but Rafa is culpable.

Liverpool have blown a fortune in the last few years and the squad is representative of the poor choice in players not the amount of money spent and that is a fact.

Besides Torres and Reina, which other two purchases would be worthy of a great Liverpool team? ( and I wouldnt put either of them infront of Rushie or Clemence)

It's horse **** to single out Liverpool's academy as having failed. There are practically no regular first teamers of any quality that have come through the academies at any top club in recent seasons. A few squad players in the main but very little real top talent

The last one to come through and make the grade at Chelsea was Terry about 11 years ago. Arsenal's was Ashley Cole (Wilshere might make it, but it's early days and foreign youngsters bought from foreign academies don't count). It's normal for academies not to produce many top quality players. If
you get one a decade you've done well

And as for blaming Rafa Benitez personally for failing to retain talent, like he could force them against their will to stay, it's another in a long line of insupportable postures you have adopted. I'd like to hear how he could have stopped Alonso and Mascherano leaving, particularly as Mascherano left under the disastrous Hodgson regime. But never mind, it's all Rafa's fault in danperkins world. He should have flown over from Milan and personally blocked the deal

[RedReet]

It's horse **** to single out Liverpool's academy as having failed. There are practically no regular first teamers of any quality that have come through the academies at any top club in recent seasons. A few squad players in the main but very little real top talent

The last one to come through and make the grade at Chelsea was Terry about 11 years ago. Arsenal's was Ashley Cole (Wilshere will make it, but it's early days and foreign youngsters bought from foreign academies don't count). It's normal for academies not to produce many top quality players. If
you get one a decade you've done well

And as for blaming Rafa Benitez personally for failing to retain talent, like he could force them against their will to stay, it's another in a long line of insupportable postures you have adopted. I'd like to hear how he could have stopped Alonso and Mascherano leaving, particularly as Mascherano left under the disastrous Hodgson regime. But never mind, it's all Rafa's fault in danperkins world. He should have flown over from Milan and personally blocked the deal