Didier Deschamps

[Arn]

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.

That is the way Real Madrid used. They bought popular player after popular player so more and more people would buy Real Madrid stuff with the players name on it. After 20 years or so then suddenly people had get used to see the Real Madrid shirt around. The shirt had been popular because their idols played in it. Now you could start marketing it in another way because people knew what Real Madrid is and don't need to use big names to market it all the time. They can now market it using big names and in other ways.

Man U used Beckham to get mega big in Asia. Then they used Ronaldo. The value of Man U will go down if they don't soon sign up a new superstar. That is just the way it is. Real Madrid keeps their place on the top because they sign some of the most popular players out there.

They signed up Özil. Excellent marketing. He is the new German superstar and will also sell a lot of shirts in Turkey because of him. They signed Ronaldo. Excellent marketing. They signed Owen when he was a very popular player. They signed the Brazilian Ronaldo when he was the big name out there. They signed Laudrup when he was the best and probably most popular Scandinavian player. They signed up Becham....The list could go on and on and on.

That is the way Real do business and the reason to why they are so popular.

They use some of the most popular players out there. Maybe not always the best players but some of the most popular ones. That will ensure that fans will continue to buy the shirt all over the world because their idols plays in it.

Signing a player like Ronaldo made sure that they would sell a few million more shirts. Why? A lot of people don't support a certain club, they support a certain player.

[destinydude]

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.

Dear Arn, please stop BS'ing about LFC's fan base in Asia. I LIVE IN ASIA and I'm much more qualified to give an opinion on it than you are.

And as for us not having a clue, I'd be more than happy to say that the feeling is mutual. You are just throwing statements in the air, baseless ones at that. We don't need to offer sky high wages. Simply put other than City and Real Madrid no one offers 200k a week for a player. Rich clubs like ManU,Chelsea too offer a max of 150k which we can afford a bit now if we offload the fringe players on high wages. You don't always need to get a 30-40m player every year, If you take your head out of your a*se and search properly you can get good value deals like Sneijder for 15m or Van der Vaart for 8m.

The fan base and culture in Asia isn't as rogue as you said. Most of them start off with a club due to names like Torres,Messi,Ronadlo etc but they stay with the club even after the fancy names leave, at least majority of them do.

Good day. Carry on with your bring back my Rafa and satisfy my chauvinism mode

[naught]

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.

Your quote over in bold is debatable. I am from Asia and i don't think fans in Asia support Liverpool because of Torres. Torres is more of a chick-magnet over here in Singapore. Ask those chicks over here about Liverpool and they'll know nuts.

[destinydude]

Your quote over in bold is debatable. I am from Asia and i don't think fans in Asia support Liverpool because of Torres. Torres is more of a chick-magnet over here in Singapore. Ask those chicks over here about Liverpool and they'll know nuts.

Well said but then again you or I don't have a clue, not at all. So may be we should just shut up and let Arn do the talking. You go Arn.

[frank the tank]

Arn you are a stupid focker......

the thing about asians supporting a player only is slightly bollix as well...... basically, a lot of asians support teams that are successful at the current time......it's beacuse of the betting culture there.......

[Fernandinho]

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.

I was just in Bangkok and saw 3 Liverpool jerseys walking the streets. I didn't see one with Torres on the back. Also, our tour guide was a Liverpool fan himself and said his favourite players were God and Berger.

[RedSince1964]

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!

Exactly