Liverpool owner John W Henry: Dalglish doing “very well”

[Rowan]

Was that entirely his fault though? He treid and failed for Maluda, Simao, Alves, Silva, Quaresma etc. How many of these failed signings were Rafa's 1st/2nd choices?

But he still bought them. You can argue all day about hypotheticals but in reality you have to look at who he signed and Rafa signed his fair share of dross. Can you honestly say that after the Alvez deal fell apart that Pennant was the best option we could have got? He wasn't but Rafa chose him anyway.

And I know he also bought good players. Agger, Pepe, Torres, Momo, lil Luis, Xabi and Mascherano being my most memorable. It was his contingency plans for when they weren't about that I'd say was the issue (as well as the immediate ****ing off of decent squadies like Bellemy. We had decent depth at one point (2006/07 being the standout). He just managed to **** it all up. Great man, great manager but not one without weaknesses.

[Fredo]

Benayoun and Riera were both excellent players, fantastic value for money buys.

[Fredo]

But he still bought them. You can argue all day about hypotheticals but in reality you have to look at who he signed and Rafa signed his fair share of dross. Can you honestly say that after the Alvez deal fell apart that Pennant was the best option we could have got? He wasn't but Rafa chose him anyway.

And I know he also bought good players. Agger, Pepe, Torres, Momo, lil Luis, Xabi and Mascherano being my most memorable. It was his contingency plans for when they weren't about that I'd say was the issue (as well as the immediate ****ing off of decent squadies like Bellemy. We had decent depth at one point (2006/07 being the standout). He just managed to **** it all up. Great man, great manager but not one without weaknesses.

Bellamy was shipped out for Torres.

[Mattshark]

But he still bought them. You can argue all day about hypotheticals but in reality you have to look at who he signed and Rafa signed his fair share of dross. Can you honestly say that after the Alvez deal fell apart that Pennant was the best option we could have got? He wasn't but Rafa chose him anyway.

And I know he also bought good players. Agger, Pepe, Torres, Momo, lil Luis, Xabi and Mascherano being my most memorable. It was his contingency plans for when they weren't about that I'd say was the issue (as well as the immediate ****ing off of decent squadies like Bellemy. We had decent depth at one point (2006/07 being the standout). He just managed to **** it all up. Great man, great manager but not one without weaknesses.

We sold Bellamy because he attacked a squad mate and we needed the money to buy Torres

[Imy]

Watching Spurs get thumped by Real last night, made me think about how lucky we were in having Rafa. Not so long ago we beat Real home and away (quite easily).

I just can't envisage reaching them heights again (even with Dalglish as manager).

[Fredo]

Watching Spurs get thumped by Real last night, made me think about how lucky we were in having Rafa. Not so long ago we beat Real home and away (quite easily).

I just can't envisage reaching them heights again (even with Dalglish as manager).

Kenny's a rookie as regards to European competitions. Stunning isn't it?

[Glenn Hysen]

He is my groupie. He follows me around on different forums and try and wind me up with his comments about Rafa.

Nope, not a groupie. Seriously, I like Rafa but we need to move on. Can't help winding you up sometimes. Nothing personal, just think it's funny.

It will not happen again.

[Rowan]

Bellamy was shipped out for Torres.

And Babel (and Leto and Itandje for over £3 million for the pair)

Yeah, your all right though. Rafa musn't have wanted any of the filler players he wasted cash on (be it signing on fees or transfer fees) because if he had he wouldn't have bought them.

Oh hang on! He did! And we're still paying wages to some of them! He's not infalliable despite how much people want him to be.

[RedReet]

But he still bought them. You can argue all day about hypotheticals but in reality you have to look at who he signed and Rafa signed his fair share of dross. Can you honestly say that after the Alvez deal fell apart that Pennant was the best option we could have got? He wasn't but Rafa chose him anyway.

And I know he also bought good players. Agger, Pepe, Torres, Momo, lil Luis, Xabi and Mascherano being my most memorable. It was his contingency plans for when they weren't about that I'd say was the issue (as well as the immediate ****ing off of decent squadies like Bellemy. We had decent depth at one point (2006/07 being the standout). He just managed to **** it all up. Great man, great manager but not one without weaknesses.

He admitted himself that he made some mistakes in the transfer market, but considering the circumstances that's fully understandable. Despite buying this 'dross', we still got to No. 1 in the UEFA rankings ansd were perhaps one signing away from winning the league.

It is all hypothetical though as you say and even if we spent the rest of the season discussing it we'll not reveal anything that hasn't been discussed at length before.

[Fredo]

And Babel (and Leto and Itandje for over £3 million for the pair)

Yeah, your all right though. Rafa musn't have wanted any of the filler players he wasted cash on (be it signing on fees or transfer fees) because if he had he wouldn't have bought them.

Oh hang on! He did! And we're still paying wages to some of them! He's not infalliable despite how much people want him to be.

Not saying he's infallible, but on the whole he built a fantastic squad, while still lacking in depth slightly. We pushed Man. Utd for the title in 2008, went within a whisker of winning it. Looking at his whole average yearly outlay during his 6 year tenure, he's done a fantastic job so I don't know why people would be nit picky with him.

[Rowan]

Not saying he's infallible, but on the whole he built a fantastic squad, while still lacking in depth slightly. We pushed Man. Utd for the title in 2008, went within a whisker of winning it. Looking at his whole average yearly outlay during his 6 year tenure, he's done a fantastic job so I don't know why people would be nit picky with him.

Probably because the best bits of his squad have all been moved on and we've been left with bits of toss that he picked up from the footballing world's equivilent to a cat and dog shelter. Rafa didn't build a fantastic squad though. He built a fantastic first team (that between 2006 and 2009 played some absolutely superb stuff). He also had a revolving door of players in his time and when a couple of the vital cogs got taken out of his team it couldn't function as effectively. Mainly because the squad wasn't quality and we severely lacked depth (as we still do).

I know his circumstances weren't great. I know he didn't see eye to eye with Parry or Purslow but that doesn't mean he didn't drop one (massively) when building the squad. The downside with gambling.

[Glenn Hysen]

**** off, it's an entirely different situation now.

So this is how you adress fellow reds?

[Neil Young]

Probably because the best bits of his squad have all been moved on and we've been left with bits of toss that he picked up from the footballing world's equivilent to a cat and dog shelter. Rafa didn't build a fantastic squad though. He built a fantastic first team (that between 2006 and 2009 played some absolutely superb stuff). He also had a revolving door of players in his time and when a couple of the vital cogs got taken out of his team it couldn't function as effectively. Mainly because the squad wasn't quality and we severely lacked depth (as we still do).

I know his circumstances weren't great. I know he didn't see eye to eye with Parry or Purslow but that doesn't mean he didn't drop one (massively) when building the squad. The downside with gambling.

I agree with much of that but I don't think he really "dropped one" in the way you suggest.

It seems to me the main bone (!) of contention is not whether he was wrong to gamble as, I think most of us would agree, he simply didn't have the funds thanks to the two sharks. The issue is how far he's to blame for the gambles that didn't work, set against the buys that did.

On that score I really think his record isn't any worse than many managers, perhaps even most, especially bearing in mind that the level of resources he had towards the end was still supposed to make us compete towards the top, so requiring him to take bigger gambles than if he'd been managing a club with ambitions commensurate to the budget (that of a mid-ranking team I think).

[red g]

Not saying he's infallible, but on the whole he built a fantastic squad, while still lacking in depth slightly. We pushed Man. Utd for the title in 2008, went within a whisker of winning it. Looking at his whole average yearly outlay during his 6 year tenure, he's done a fantastic job so I don't know why people would be nit picky with him.

i think looking at average spend is bollocks really, he came in.....spent a lot of money and was very succesful.

We then had **** all to spend and it went all down hill rapidly, which was understandable.

I think he would do a great job as he is a top manager, I jsut think his treatment of certain players and his over reliance on others who were **** would make John Henry look elsewehere.

The interesting thing with Rafa is there is always a But, on positive and the negatives!!

[RedReet]

So this is how you adress fellow reds?

I don’t think you should be so sensitive kind Sir.