Raheem Sterling

[Chris]

The ultimate proof of what a piece of scum his agent is. Horrible cunt, bet he votes Tory too.

[Chris]

Carra needs to offer this Ward fella a straightener.

[john316]

Really representing his client well....

I'm at a stage that I'm so disgusted with Sterling that I couldn't give a **** if he joined Man Utd. Be nice to have a real villain for us to funnel our bile towards....

[Phoenix07]

Aidy Ward is a walking penis.

How can any player look at him, and consider him a worthwhile agent after this?

[EwarWoo]

Wow. Just read that. What the actual ****?

I think he's backed it into a corner now. If Sterling doesn't fire him he's a cunt and can happily **** off. There's no justification left.

[Maxiedge]

Did he really say those things? It's career suicide

[john316]

We could slap him back in the U21s, let his contract run down and let him leave by tribunal for a good amount of cash. Not sure Sterling's agent has even remotely considered this option...

[Bender]

If Sterling wants to leave fine go .....BUT GROW SOME ****IN BALLS BOY and don't hide behind that money grabber agent...think for yourself.

[Maxiedge]

We could slap him back in the U21s, let his contract run down and let him leave by tribunal for a good amount of cash. Not sure Sterling's agent has even remotely considered this option...

Do you know what? I think we will. I actually think Henry's been waiting for a moment like this to flex his muscles and solidify LFC's position as a no-nonsense club that will not bow to player/agent pressure.

I think Henry would be willing to take a £30m hit at the moment especially as we're not in a good position to be spending that sort of money anyway (lack of trust in the committee/manager).

With Suarez, it was different as there were other factors involved (promises were made to the player the season before).

[Doc_Piptorious]

If Sterling wants to leave fine go .....BUT GROW SOME ****IN BALLS BOY and don't hide behind that money grabber agent...think for yourself.

Well if Sterling wants out and it is not about the money like he claimed in his BBC interview, then he needs to hand in an official transfer request.

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

If Sterling wants to leave fine go .....BUT GROW SOME ****IN BALLS BOY and don't hide behind that money grabber agent...think for yourself.

Seems like that would be a major struggle for him.

Ex pro's like Carragher/Neville/Henry/Redknapp/Souness/Hoddle all saying he's getting bad advice, you'd start to wonder wouldn't you?

Can't see the bigger clubs dealing with this agent too often to be honest, they'll get sick of his ****.

[tanner]

All the clubs you called lesser clubs are richer than Liverpool and all have won more than Liverpool over the past 20 years. Very easy to see how they would be a draw to players.


As for losing a Spanish or South American player to Barca or Real, well that is something nearly all the big clubs in England are familiar with.


I don't see FSG as the problem though because like them or not they have helped the club to make great strides forward from the position it was in when they took over.

I think that the problem lies more in our recruitment strategy rather than the amount of money we spend on players. We spend enough on wages and on transfer fees to have better players than what we currently have. Granted we cannot match the richer clubs when it comes to wages, but what we do pay is not exactly chump change either, and we do have owners that make sure that any money garnered from big sales goes back towards recruiting new players.

Look at our two biggest outgoings under FSG in terms of money we received.

Torres £50m
Suarez - £75m


How much of that did our owners do a Mike Ashley with?

Nowt it all went back to bringing in new players along with our transfer kittys

But look at the bigger transfers (by bigger I mean the size of the fee outright or the size of the fee against the age or experience of the player bought) we brought in

Carroll -£35m
Suarez - £22m
Downing - £20m
Henderson - £16m
Allen -£15m
Sturridge - £12m
Sakho - £15m
Lallana - £25m
Lovern - £20m
Markovic - £20m
Moreno -£12m
Can - £10m
Balotelli -£16m






And that is not even including buys that hardly played like

Coates £7m
Borini £10m
Aspas - £7m
Alberto - £7m
Ilori - £7m
Origi -£10m



And I have not even included guys like Lambert or Coutinho (who is an example of taking a punt on a young player and actually playing him to find out if the punt was worth it)



The problem for me is not FSG, but rather the quality of player that we are spending pretty decent amounts of money for, and the non use of players we are spending a decent collective amount for.

I'm not having a pop at FSG, they bought us, took us out of danger and gave us stability, but they do not have the funds to allow us to compete regularly at the top.

I agree about Barca and Real, and yes the other clubs have been more successful, I didn't feel the need to elaborate on that, but the point was made to highlight the fact that we're falling down this apparent tier system.

There is far more to the issue than poor recruitment, which is simply the end product of a combination of the factors I highlighted.

[tanner]

But in an extraordinary attack on one of the club’s most respected former players, Ward said: “Carragher is a knob. Everybody knows it. Any of the criticism from current pundits or ex-Liverpool players - none of them things matter to me. It is not relevant.”

[marcus50bucks]

Raheem Sterling’s agent Aidy Ward confirms star wants to leave Liverpool: '£900,000-a-week would not keep him at Anfield'

EXCLUSIVE: Top player's agent launches extraordinary attack on Liverpool Football Club

Benedict Moore-Bridger

Thursday 21 May 2015

Football's most controversial transfer saga exploded into acrimony today as England star Raheem Sterling’s agent launched an extraordinary attack on Liverpool and the club’s former players.

The Premier League striker’s representative, Aidy Ward, said Londoner Sterling would refuse to sign a new deal even if he was offered nearly £1 million a week and may well return to the capital to play for Chelsea.

20-year-old Sterling, one of English football’s brightest young prospects, has already turned down a £100,000-a-week deal and is set to have a crunch meeting with manager Brendan Rodgers and Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre tomorrow.

The protracted and bitter negotiations have reignited the debate about the effect of big money deals on young football players and former Liverpool stars and pundits have queued up to attack Sterling and his advisers.

But hitting back today, Ward told the Standard he “didn’t care” about the club or its image, dismissed criticism by former players as “irrelevant” and branded Liverpool legend and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher “a knob”.

He said: “I don’t care about the PR of the club and the club situation. I don’t care.

“He is definitely not signing. He’s not signing for £700, £800, £900 thousand a week. He is not signing.

“My job is to make sure I do the best with them (my clients). If people say I am bad at my job, or they are badly advised it does not matter.”

Sterling’s relationship with the Liverpool has deteriorated since giving an unauthorised interview to the BBC in which he insisted he was not a “money-grabber”.

Many have blamed his agent Aidy Ward for allegedly giving him “terrible advice” over the handling of contract negotiations and for orchestrating the interview as leverage.

Sterling, who was booed as he collected the club’s Young Player of the Year award this week, is rapidly falling out of favour with Liverpool fans, with one apparently kicking his car as he drove away from Liverpool’s training ground yesterday.

Pundits and former players including Graeme Souness and Mark Lawrenson have criticised the striker and Ward, while Jamie Carragher told the England star to “keep your mouth shut” and “get on with playing football”.

The former defender lambasted Sterling for demanding a move away from Liverpool, and said he needed to dump Ward.

But in an extraordinary attack on one of the club’s most respected former players, Ward said: “Carragher is a knob. Everybody knows it. Any of the criticism from current pundits or ex-Liverpool players - none of them things matter to me. It is not relevant.”

He said their criticism would be the same if Sterling stayed and then left in two years’ time when his contract expires, the only difference being the club would receive less money in transfer fees.

And he also appeared to blame the club for making news about the discussions public, saying: “How did this all occur? There is no smoke without fire.”

Ward said Sterling would not move to Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, and suggested Chelsea or Manchester City were the most likely destinations.

He added: “I am not worried. Worried is making a decision not knowing what is going to happen. Every Premier League club will make a bid for him.”

Ward, 34, from Bromley, Kent, was formerly associated with agency Impact Sports Management before setting up his own company.

He is also Saido Berahino’s agent, who himself has been at the centre of public contract negotiations with West Bromwich Albion, while Arsenal star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is also thought to be set to join his roster of clients.

Sterling has been public in crediting his agent for helping him improve as a footballer, for “getting inside my head” to help him to fulfil his potential.

However Lawrenson lamented the fact Sterling was “so badly advised”.

He said: “There were stories three months ago that he could play for Real Madrid, that he could play for Barcelona…. Absolute tosh, he’s a million miles away from that.”

Ward clearly plans to try to force Liverpool into selling the star, who currently earns £35,000-a-week, despite the manager’s insistence that he is not going anywhere.

The club’s handling of the contract situation has however been criticised, especially as Sterling was not offered an improved deal after they challenged for the title last season.

And his relationship with the club appeared to sour significantly after telling the BBC he was not a “money-grabbing 20-year-old” but wanted to “win trophies”.

Nevertheless, Souness said the striker should stay at the club.

He said: “At the end of the day, he’s maybe being advised by people who have the wrong priorities – right now it’s all about him learning how to play the game, understanding the game and improving.

“Nothing is ever set in stone but he’s privately making it known that he wants to leave Liverpool then that news will get out and the fans will be entitled to turn on him.”

http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/raheem-sterlings-agent-aidy-ward-confirms-star-wants-to-leave-liverpool-900000aweek-would-not-keep-him-at-anfield-10266233.html

Astonishing stuff by Ward

[The_weatherman]

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