Xabi Alonso interview

[CJ]

Marsh was more fun.

I agree with all of your post. But Aquilani was a bad buy and I very much doubt the assertion that it was Aquilani or nothing.

so who else do you think it could have been? another roma player or perhaps another pompey player? who else owed us money at that point? enough for a down payment that is?

i am not saying your wrong just wondering who else it could have been

[Daniel 7]

Who else would it have been that held up the pretence we were still able to compete in the market as well. Which is half the point really.

[CJ]

Who else would it have been that held up the pretence we were still able to compete in the market as well. Which is half the point really.

well i just thought my first question would have been who else. the next question was would they be useful for us? come to us? and so on .

i just thought it was more useful than its true or its not lets at least have a look at who else we could have got. then maybe we will go back to the usual debate which is presented as black and white.

[RedReet]

Watching the interview now. When asked about the Barry incident, Alonso snarls and I have paused it in a 'Lie To Me' style so I can post this.

Hmmmm, think it was a better idea at the time.

Carry on...

[CJ]

shifty eyes

[Arn]

well we are talking about the possibility that we could only deal with certain teams.

we needed certain positions covering.

from what i can see some of us think this is possible which means we are rafa lovers

some people think this is definitely not true.

i just question why the utmost conviction that this could not possibly be true.

either way Rafa made a mistake in signing him.

We don't even know if Rafa really wanted him. A lot of reports points to that he was a Purslow signing. Only show how little we really know about the whole ****ed up situation.

I described our club as Fawlty Towers at that time and that is probably frightening close to the truth.

If you was a Man U fan then you must have loved the civil war that was going on. We Liverpool fans could just watch in horror and cry about the whole situation.

It took a long time to get the majority of the fans to turn against Gillett and Hicks because of the PR companies that feed the media with a lot of **** about Rafa. PR companies that the club paid the bill for.

The two PR companies that worked for Gillett and Hicks only shows how ****ed up the whole situation was. Two PR companies with one purpose. To make our manager look as bad as possible and G&H as good as possible.

It is really laughable to even think that something like that could happen. It is comedy stuff because that shouldn't happen in the real world but it did happen

PR companies working to throw dirt on the manager of the club they own. Crazy stuff but real stuff.

[CJ]

just as i say we can start to get away from either mindlessly supporting rafa or mindlessly backing him arn turns up

[Arn]

just as i say we can start to get away from either mindlessly supporting rafa or mindlessly backing him arn turns up

I'm just happy that the whole thing is over and that we now have the type of owners we wanted when Moores sold the club.

That we now don't need to fight each other. That we now can concentrate on supporting the team and moan about if paying £16m+ for Henderson is right or wrong.

It feels strange to see people moaning that we pay to much money for our signings.

I don't care myself. I don't think money is any problem. We could probably spend £100m+ if we needed to do it. Strange feeling but a bloody good one.

As long as King Kenny want the player then why moan about it? Just be happy that the manager get the players he want. That he get the chance to build his team.

[WarrenB]

I'm just happy that the whole thing is over and that we now have the type of owners we wanted when Moores sold the club.

That we now don't need to fight each other. That we now can concentrate on supporting the team and moan about if paying £16m+ for Henderson is right or wrong.

It feels strange to see people moaning that we pay to much money for our signings.

I don't care myself. I don't think money is any problem. We could probably spend £100m+ if we needed to do it. Strange feeling but a bloody good one.

As long as King Kenny want the player then why moan about it? Just be happy that the manager get the players he want. That he get the chance to build his team.

If we were told 2 weeks ago that we had £18m to spend on a midfielder, I'd put my house on it that no one here would be calling for us to sign henderson. When the fans wanted the owners to spend big money to compete I think it's safe to say that we had different targets in mind.
I spoke to my old boss (sunderland fanatic of 50 years+) this morning about henderson and he is stunned by the amount being offered for someone so average. We came to the conclusion that in today's market, someone of henderson's ability is probably worth 5 or 6m and that would be the asking price if he was african or polish or asian.... The fact that he's british does not in anyway justify such an over inflated fee. It's the same with carroll - we've probably paid about 3 times more than he's actually worth just because he was born in england!

[JHP]

It was about the British tax laws not about the conversion rate, and he had every right to raise the issue. You don't ask, you don't get.

He didn't particularly carry on about it.

As far as I'm aware top earners in Spain pay similar tax to those in the UK. The headline rate is under 25% but with local taxes ends up nearer 48%.

So very simplistically, ignoring allowances and avoidance schemes, just over 2% difference.

[ronanm]

As far as I'm aware top earners in Spain pay similar tax to those in the UK. The headline rate is under 25% but with local taxes ends up nearer 48%.

So very simplistically, ignoring allowances and avoidance schemes, just over 2% difference.

Thought footballers were classified as "artists" or soemthing over there (Spain)? So, I don't believe there's a 2% difference.

Irrespective, anyone with an o-level in bookeeping could ensure a footballer wouldn't pay 46%-48%.

[EwarWoo]

As far as I'm aware top earners in Spain pay similar tax to those in the UK. The headline rate is under 25% but with local taxes ends up nearer 48%.

So very simplistically, ignoring allowances and avoidance schemes, just over 2% difference.

It's not very detailed but the telegraph is usually reliable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/5517209/Premier-League-clubs-losing-out-to-Spanish-tax-system.html

Reckons a minimum saving of 15%. But without details hard to analyse.

[JHP]

It's not very detailed but the telegraph is usually reliable:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/competitions/premier-league/5517209/Premier-League-clubs-losing-out-to-Spanish-tax-system.html

Reckons a minimum saving of 15%. But without details hard to analyse.

I'm not a Spanish tax expert but I've been involved in some stuff. I also don't know about artist tax rates, but generally people there pay similar tax to the UK. The Telegraph article says "27 per cent (plus a local tax)". The local tax can be up to 24%, with I believe a maximum (state & local) of about 48% for top earners.

[saj]

Is there any links to this interview?

[EwarWoo]

The local tax can be up to 24%, with I believe a maximum (state & local) of about 48% for top earners.

I don;t have a clue how it works in reality however Xabi certainly beleived it worked as epr that article. As to if he's right or not is another matter.