Didier Deschamps

[malg]

If Deschamps isn't available now then he shouldn't even be an option. We need to replace Roy NOW. That is the key point.

After this season it can already be to late. Roy need to go now and we need to get in a manager that can build up the club long term now.

If we have to keep Bodgson, so be it, but he should have no money to spend in January the players he has will keep us up, as for anything else, well thaT can be forgotton about for another season this includes the Mickey mouse cup ( Europa Lge).

[Arn]

And who exactly is available "NOW" other than Rafa who we honestly shouldn't be hiring back "NOW".

This summer, we'll have a chance to get Deschamps or Villa-Boas(my pick). If we just rush into things NOW we are ****ed for even longer.

This summer it can be to late. If Rafa is the best option now then we should sign him up. If someone else is a better option then he should be signed up.

What signals do it send out if we write off a season and probably lose Torres and maybe even Reina doing it?

That would make it almost impossible to sign up top class players. They wouldn't see us a team that want to win. They would see us a team that isn't prepared to do whatever it takes to win IMO.

As long as we have a player like Torres then we will have a chance to sign top class players because they would see that is he is prepared to stay and give us a chance. They want to play with him.

Losing Torres would be a MASSIVE step backwards. He is right now the key to sign up quality players. He is the one that will send out the signal if we are a club that a top class player can believe in.

He is the key to a lot of money off the pitch. He is huge in Asia for example. Losing him could mean losing out on £30m £40m £50m a year.

[RedSince1964]

This summer it can be to late. If Rafa is the best option now then we should sign him up. If someone else is a better option then he should be signed up.

What signals do it send out if we write off a season and probably lose Torres and maybe even Reina doing it?

That would make it almost impossible to sign up top class players. They wouldn't see us a team that want to win. They would see us a team that isn't prepared to do whatever it takes to win IMO.

As long as we have a player like Torres then we will have a chance to sign top class players because they would see that is he is prepared to stay and give us a chance. They want to play with him.

Losing Torres would be a MASSIVE step backwards. He is right now the key to sign up quality players. He is the one that will send out the signal if we are a club that a top class player can believe in.

He is the key to a lot of money off the pitch. He is huge in Asia for example. Losing him could mean losing out on £30m £40m £50m a year.

To be honest with you Arn, i personally think that Rafa is the man to get us out of the **** we are in at the mo.

I also think that the new owners should sit down with Rafa and say summit like "IF we give you a tempory Contract and,x amount of money in the Jan window and you can guarentee us a Champions League place at the end of this season then, we'll be happy to discuss a new Contract with you.

I know its a big if but, would you be happy with that? i personally would but, would everybody else be?

[Craig_H]

I think the days of rafa 'guaranteeing' a top four finish are over.

[destinydude]

Arn is pretty much adamant about the whole "NOW" thing. RAFA IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS. At least not NOW.

As much as I hate to say this, if we do sign Dzeko then Torres is probably off in the summer and tell you what, if we do get 40m for him, it wouldn't be bad money to reinvest in the team and buy two good players.

Reina won't go at least not this season or the next. Not many teams can afford him and the ones who can do have solid keepers already(City,Inter,Barca,Real,Chelsea). ManU is the only team that needs one but since Reina just signed a 5 yr deal mid season last season, we aren't in a hurry to sell him for less money.

Good players come regardless of Torres or Reina. Money talks. Look at City now. They had zero history yet they signed players. Chelsea did the same 6-7yrs ago. At least we have great history and decent money to spend every season from on(To the tune of 30m net) which will be sufficient to buy a world class player every season.

[destinydude]

And NO, Torres isn't the only reason we are massive in Asia. We've always been massive there though he did help raise the number a bit. And losing Torres doesn't lose us 30 or 40 or even 50m as you said. You're joking if you think Torres alone ropes in all that money. Super stars come and go the club as a whole has a brand value regardless of Torres.

[Arn]

Arn is pretty much adamant about the whole "NOW" thing. RAFA IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO OUR PROBLEMS. At least not NOW.

As much as I hate to say this, if we do sign Dzeko then Torres is probably off in the summer and tell you what, if we do get 40m for him, it wouldn't be bad money to reinvest in the team and buy two good players.

Reina won't go at least not this season or the next. Not many teams can afford him and the ones who can do have solid keepers already(City,Inter,Barca,Real,Chelsea). ManU is the only team that needs one but since Reina just signed a 5 yr deal mid season last season, we aren't in a hurry to sell him for less money.

Good players come regardless of Torres or Reina. Money talks. Look at City now. They had zero history yet they signed players. Chelsea did the same 6-7yrs ago. At least we have great history and decent money to spend every season from on(To the tune of 30m net) which will be sufficient to buy a world class player every season.

And NO, Torres isn't the only reason we are massive in Asia. We've always been massive there though he did help raise the number a bit. And losing Torres doesn't lose us 30 or 40 or even 50m as you said. You're joking if you think Torres alone ropes in all that money. Super stars come and go the club as a whole has a brand value regardless of Torres.

So you would sell Torres for £40m? I don't have a clue if you're joking or not but to sell him for £40m would be a joke.

I doubt that NESV will pay £200k/week in wages to attract players like City do. Chelsea paid sky high wages when they built their team. We don't have big enough revenue stream to be able to pay out sky high wages with the new UEFA rules soon in place. Maybe something for you to think about.

You simply don't have a clue how big Torres is in Asia, not a clue. The supporter culture is changing. Now people follow a certain player almost as much as a team. If Torres for example moved to Barcelona then we would suddenly lose a lot of fans that would suddenly be Barcelona fans.

If we for example signed Honda then we would get a lot of Japanese fans because a Japanese player plays for us. They would move on as soon as we sold him.

A lot of our fans in Asia supports us only because Torres is playing for us. £30m net won't buy you good enough players. Maybe £60m net every season.

You simply don't have a clue how much a top class player cost do you? Not a clue. Dzeko would cost us something like £34m. Aguero probably even more. Hulk would most probably be even more expensive than Aguero and so on.

Right now we must sell a few older players to get down the wage bill. Something NESV pointed out a few times. NESV won't do the money talks bit, not a chance. They will run us a business and not just splash the cash. They called it the Arsenal way.

[Kenneth]

Do you not think that Torres's profile is largely due to him being our star striker? I don't think he was that big in Asia when playing for Athletico. Ultimately, our support will be more affected by our level of success.

[frank the tank]

what the **** has torres done for us in 2010???? tell me because i am dying to know...... if he did his job properly, then we would be in the champions league this season...... also, LFC pays El Nino a shed-load of cash yet he went to the world cup injured, came back injured and has been about a tenth of the player he can be since.......yet just because he posed for a photo of the world cup in an LFC scarf, you think we'd be ****ed without him??? Are you sure you aren't one of those asian supporters that actually supports a player???

as a previous poster in this thread has said, this is LFC - if he is not completely committed to the cause then he can go **** off.........

i actually think that when the new manager comes in, he should sell Torres, Gerrard and also maybe carragher.... why?? because it is player-power that has ****ed lfc in the ass for the last 15 years..... for the last 10 years, we have been listening to ****e like "lfc must win things to keep gerrard....AND lack of CL football and LFC have left down gerrard and torres".......it was the same with Owen and the now Torres as well....... personally i'd like to hear things like "torres must score 30 goals this year to avoid being bombed out of LFC" - **** these spoilt cunts......

then you get these stupid uneducated thick-cunt fans that say things like "yeah we are **** now but imagine how **** we would be without stevie G and Torres" - bollox - do spurs have these players? No - but they have hungry players that work for the team.... also, they are our 2 best players but they are paid accordingly - just ****in get on with it........

I think that the new manager must bomb these ****ers out as a first priority......mould the team himself and make it such that there is no player power at all......

[RichC]

Do you not think that Torres's profile is largely due to him being our star striker? I don't think he was that big in Asia when playing for Athletico. Ultimately, our support will be more affected by our level of success.

Bingo! Not sure if Arn has been to Asia or not and for any considerable time or not but after spending quite a bit of time there myself I can certainly say LFC was huge over there before Torres, and will be if he ever moves on.

Don't get me wrong he certainly helps our profile but to say he's the driving force essentially for revenue over there is simplistic at best!

As you said the main danger for support over there is if we continue to serve up the mediocrity we've served up these past 18 months.

[dom9]

So you would sell Torres for £40m? I don't have a clue if you're joking or not but to sell him for £40m would be a joke.

I doubt that NESV will pay £200k/week in wages to attract players like City do. Chelsea paid sky high wages when they built their team. We don't have big enough revenue stream to be able to pay out sky high wages with the new UEFA rules soon in place. Maybe something for you to think about.

You simply don't have a clue how big Torres is in Asia, not a clue. The supporter culture is changing. Now people follow a certain player almost as much as a team. If Torres for example moved to Barcelona then we would suddenly lose a lot of fans that would suddenly be Barcelona fans.

If we for example signed Honda then we would get a lot of Japanese fans because a Japanese player plays for us. They would move on as soon as we sold him.

A lot of our fans in Asia supports us only because Torres is playing for us. £30m net won't buy you good enough players. Maybe £60m net every season.

You simply don't have a clue how much a top class player cost do you? Not a clue. Dzeko would cost us something like £34m. Aguero probably even more. Hulk would most probably be even more expensive than Aguero and so on.

Right now we must sell a few older players to get down the wage bill. Something NESV pointed out a few times. NESV won't do the money talks bit, not a chance. They will run us a business and not just splash the cash. They called it the Arsenal way.

Arn my friend. Stop talking.

[CJ]

i remember when we had little welsh boy he was very popular in Asia and that drove our popularity there a bit like beckham being huge there.

so i imagine thats its possible if Torres went that we could have another player who would be marketable in Asia?

Not that i want Torres gone but it is possible to replace him if he goes though it wont be easy.

[dom9]

Sorry Arn. Probably a bit harsh, but your posts do my head in.

[RichC]

i remember when we had little welsh boy he was very popular in Asia and that drove our popularity there a bit like beckham being huge there.

so i imagine thats its possible if Torres went that we could have another player who would be marketable in Asia?

Not that i want Torres gone but it is possible to replace him if he goes though it wont be easy.

A star fades and leaves another starts to shine - way of football, it seems some forget the club is and always will be bigger than any individual.

[Exiled_red]

To be honest with you Arn, i personally think that Rafa is the man to get us out of the **** we are in at the mo.

I also think that the new owners should sit down with Rafa and say summit like "IF we give you a tempory Contract and,x amount of money in the Jan window and you can guarentee us a Champions League place at the end of this season then, we'll be happy to discuss a new Contract with you.

I know its a big if but, would you be happy with that? i personally would but, would everybody else be?

I think that Rafa on a short term deal would be a good solution that could work for everyone. He mostly knows the players, so wouldn't be like bringing a new man in, but would get rid of Roy and not have someone inexperienced. If Rafa could pick up performances and improve results the owners could offer him the job on a more long term basis, if not we all move on.

If it works out we have a manager that understands the club, has alot of his players already here, can spend money on putting the final touches to the squad rather than overhauling it. Rafa would be back at a club that he loves. We'd be further down the line than a new manager coming in with a 5 year plan, the players could go back to a system them know, and the media would have their hate figure back.

If he doesn't improve results and performances, we let him go at the end of the season, bring in someone else (who is mor elikely to be available in the summer) and we've lost nothing, this season is a write off already!