Are the Anfield chairmen pulling a fast one?

Tom Hicks - LFC ChairmanOnly days after the reds broke their transfer record for an upfront fee of around £20 million, George Gillett and Tom Hicks will get back around £16 milion after the proposed transfers of both Djibril Cisse to Marseille and Craig Bellamy to West Ham United.

Djibril's deal, which was due to be tied up last weekend now looks almost done - the player having agreed personal terms with the French club. West Ham meanwhile are closing in on Craig Bellamy as they look set to lose Carlos Tevez to Manchester United.

With around £3 million banked from the Luis Garcia sale - it appears that Liverpool's new owners have pulled off the perfect media trick - breaking the record transfer fee without spending any money.

When David Moores sold the club, it was partly on the assumption that there would be significant funds available to spend on player purchases - a figure quoted at the time was £30 million. Rafa may well be happy that he got his man in Torres, but as Malouda looks set for Chelsea, Tevez prepares to head off to United and Liverpool again appear to be slipping amongst the also rans one question remains at the very forefront of our mind?

Where's our transfer budget Tom and George?

81 comments on
Are the Anfield chairmen pulling a fast one?

  1. Was waiting a long time for that. Fair play to ye. Hope the posters who didn’t respect your right to start a debate have the courage now to say you were right

  2. Stecarey you prune!

    “Liverpool city is a kip, who would want to leave the beautiful cities on the continent to live there?”. Well Babel left Amsterdam and Torres left Madrid you muppet.

    Where do you live? Cornwall or Dorset I suppose?

    Every city is a dump to some extent. Dont turn a football discussion into a personal attack on the city you plank.

  3. EGG ON FACE TIME!

    I bet you feel a right pillock after the signings this week AND the possibility of more to come.

    As many pointed out, the transfer window is open for ages yet and an article like this is REALLY UTTERLY POINTLESS. It just shows your personal impatience.

  4. This discussion is a Joke

    Signing the RIGHT players is obviously going to take a lot of time.
    This is the real world , not fantasy football.

    The author makes a point that we havent replaced Zenden Fowler or Bellamy …. ?!?!?
    Eh hello ?!……they were rubbish last season.
    Even if we play with 10 men in a match, it wouldnt make a difference, they were that bad !

    In all fairness Alves is not worth £10m never mind £20m.
    He’s an average defender, good going forward, but awful at the back…so no thanks.

    And to be honest Liverpool city is a kip, who’d really want to leave the beautiful city’s on the continent, to live there ?

  5. Now guys lets think about all this for a minute. We needed investment comitment and money. G&H have provided this. Forget about whose pockets the revenue goes to. We would never have an 80000 seater stanley park without them. Now, all this crap about transfers. Why does everyone get so fixed in Tevez? He played 1 good season at green street. Thats it. Nothing else. If Rafa wanted him, he would have jumped at the chance with Masch in January. Obviously hes not worth the money. Now everyones says no money spent??? What about all the youth that will no doubt lift us in the years to come?? Why is it the big money names that seem to be the best?? Torres is here. Babel and Quareshma will come. Weve already got a great squad with a batallion of youth that will shine. Just cos we havent broke the bank like Manure and bought 4 big names, it isnt enough…THATS WRONG. Remember Chelsea and Ballack and Sheva – What a monumental flop. Goes to prove that the price tag is not all. I beleive that just like Shankly, Rafa has an eye for that something special and he knows what he wants and more importantly, what we need. Without a doubt, In Rafa I Trust. The glory days are back again. Red Forever.

  6. JD have a bit of faith in the board and Benitez.I think it was an astute bit of business that they got the money they did for cisse and bellamy,cisse has not lived up to his price tag and bellamy hardly lit the world alight with his displays for the reds.Then you are saying we have lost out on Malouda who at 27 years of age and not really doing anything in that time is a loss,I dont think so.If tevez goes to united.They are getting a player who has played a couple of decent games for a pretty poor team so i dont think he will do a lot there.If you look at the international side ,Crespo keeps him out of the team and he is a Chelsea cast off.The players they have spent fortunes on are hardly world class,more like expensive gambles.Hargreaves was getting heckled playing for England saying he was a waste of time then united pay 20 million.We got Torres for the same fee another astute bit of business by Benitez.Stay positive and who knows who will come maybe quaresma or mancini or benyoun who is not a bad player but not worth the valuation of Westham so there is no point spending cash willy nilly to keep doom mongers like yourself happy

  7. Just a quick one!

    Anderson and Nani are from the Portugese League, are both youngsters, relativley unknown and un-tested in the Premier League and cost around £20 Million each! Who’s to say their going to be successful?

    The Tevez deal is still not done and is under the scruttiny of the FA! who’s to say it will go through?

    Owen Hargreaves is possibly thier only certainty at the moment and who’s place is he going to take? Carrick? Scholes? Frankly I don’t rate him and think Bayern got the better of the deal (would you swap him for any of the Liverpool central midfielders?).

    We need to get some perspective on it all.

    Yes we do need a few more player but the league starts on the 11th August and the transfer window has been open for 1 week at the time of writing. we still have a lot of time to get them players in. The transfer window like the league itself is a marathon, not a sprint.

    take a chill pill and relax, your too up tight!

    Remember there’s three types of fan, the optimist, pessimist and the realist! I’m a realist, which one are you?

  8. Fair play to you John for answering the posts – not all authors do that.

    I personally think what happens on the pitch is far more important than transfer activity. At this early stage, everything is hypothetical – and could we really expect the new chairmen to fund all of the stadium out of their own pocket?

    I am personally not worried. How do we really know how planned our transfer targets are? Are Utd’s really better thought out than ours? Didn’t they want to sign Torres?

    New players will come in before the window closes. 2 wingers is the word. Beyond that, I cannot see where we are to strengthen. Our defence is generally good, centre midfield is excellent and we have changed things up front (keeping our two top scorers from last year adding two pacey forwards).

    As I said, it’s what happens on the pitch that is important. I am also of the view that just because a good player is available it doesn’t mean we should sign them. It is the team that is the most important thing, and Rafa knows when a player wants to play for Liverpool. Malouda opened his mouth and said he wants to go to Chelski, Tevez was linked with us (largely, I suspect) due to Mascherano being at Anfield. From reports, Malouda is a Riise type player, unflashy but effective on the flank. We need someone more ‘flashy’ to help break down the small teams (like Everton, Portsmouth, Man City) that came/come to Anfield to defend.

    Keep the faith John!

  9. Put the baby to bed an hour ago – then read every thread to relax!! Some tidy points – some utter crap too. Why is it that we have to buy every 10 mill+ mentioned in these papers then storm the league by 20 points this season ! Did G&H say win or bust in the first season ?

  10. The players United have added are:

    1. Two unproven, untested kids, kids with potential, that is all. 2. Hargreaves, who in my opinion is decidedly average, at an approximate total of £50 million.

    Hardly shrewd investments.

    We have signed Torres, a proven top class international footballer who has been the top goalscorer at his club for the past 5 seasons and is only 23! We have also signed Lucas, the Brazilian under 21 captain. One for the future who has come with a big reputation, having won Player of the Year in his first season in the Brazilian top-flight and who played a major part in taking his club side to the final of the Copa Libertadores.

    Of every signing made thus far in the Premiership – tell me, who has signed the one, genuine ‘big name’ the one genuine ‘superstar’ as it were?

    I think the conclusion you will come to is us – Liverpool.

    It is simple really.

    Now put your toys away and get your jammies on and get ready for bed.

    Fool.

    ps – Benayoun is never a good player – he would be classed as ‘good’ for say, Bolton, Everton etc but the guy is never Liverpool class. I cant believe Rafa is persisting in chasing him. Hes average. We dont need average, we need impact players who will go straight into the first 11. We got rid of Zenden, Garcia, Gonzalez etc and were talking of getting in Benayoun? – Strange. I was never a Garcia fan but Benayoun isnt fit to walk Luis’ dog.

  11. As I have said in a follow up – the transfer period does have a way to go yet and I hope more than any one else that we do invest to replace the likes of Garcia, Fowler and Zenden who all had roles to play in the first team to varying degrees.

    I’ll have to disagree with some of you who are trying to back Benayoun as the next world player of the year however. Would the Torres deal have been done if Cisse and Bellamy were not lined up for big money moves away?

    I’m glad this article has generated such debate on both sides and I am happy to be proved wrong at the end of the transfer window. But at the moment, United’s squad has moved further ahead of us by acting quickly and planning their targets long in advance.

  12. JD – i think you would gain far respect from most if you simply admit your original post was not properly thought out, instead of desperately attemping to justify what was total tosh. On the Benayoun front, last year he was being talked of as a £10m player, his value falling simply because he has run his contract down and won’t sign another one. Personally if he can produce the type of form that ran us ragged in the cup final he will be a great addition to the squad. we know what he can do in the premiership, whereas Malouda is untried and lets be honest who has ever seem him play. At 27 he has hardly hit any headlines so i have to doubt how much of a star he really is.

  13. I still think you have psychological issues John!!!

    For one, when did the Spanish league end? Players holidays etc, it seems as though you wanted us to sign players in the hours/minutes after the CL final.

    The ‘big’ target of the summer was Torres, so it made sense to hang in there, secure him and then let further transfer activity take place. If we had have missed out, then transfer plans would have changed.

    I still don’t guess what all the panic/fuss etc is about. The season has NOT started yet. The transfer window is STILL open for some time yet. This summer, speculation has gone crazy and articles like this only help fuel this pointless exercise.

    We now seem to be in a situation where every transfer is scrutinised before players have even kicked a ball. ‘but we haven’t spent this money’ etc (boo hoo!!).

    For heavens sake, why not just relax and see what happens instead of wasting time writing sensationalist stuff like this. Doesn’t your living room need some painting doing or something??

    Let Rafa do his job in peace. The time to see how far we are progressing is in the new year.

  14. People people, lets just get a grip….
    Realistically speaking, the club is in a better position than it was before G+H bought it. Lets look at some facts before we go further down this doom and gloom path.
    FACT – We WILL be getting a new stadium and to my mind a better stadium in that there will be a possibility for expansion later (regardless of what the initial capacity is).
    FACT – The has to be something going on behind the scenes. Do you honestly think that Rafa would be hanging around if there was no chance of him improving the team? Do you think that all our star players would have signed new contracts – i remind you that the likes of Alonso and Momo were being courted by top teams.
    FACT – We will have a lot more quality in our reserves/youth teams. This needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.
    FACT – We have signed one of the most sought after talents in Torres, and he took a pay cut to come over, plus for less than anyone thought – if thats not good business i dont know what is.
    FACT – Rafa is on record as saying that our spending has not been completed.

    Have the likes of John Davies and his cronies stopped to think that maybe these other players haven’t arrived yet because Rafa actually wants his first choices and is not prepared to settle for 2nd or 3rd choice. Maybe Benayoun is his first choice, as he’s the only player that the club have actually admitted they have made an offer to. Try and remember people that Rafa is building a TEAM, not putting together a gaggle of stars.

    I know that JD will come back with we were promised the ‘best of the best’, but as far as i am concerned the ‘best of the best’ is the players that gel together to make the team better. Can anyone actually tell me that the likes of Darren Fletcher and Wes Brown are better than what we have – but they are now hold Championship medals.

    One thing i do agree with JD on is that we need them sooner rather than later to begin to gel with the rest of the team. We cannot afford to wait until the transfer window is closing to buy.

  15. look we are going to be the best team in the prem in the next season or 2, buh at the moment you have to give time to the new owners, see how they settle in and see how the team performs, if the team are not performing then you have to think about the players we are going to bring in. otherwise just forget about the money and concentrate in winning some cups.

  16. I think we should be a little bit more patient John, as we dont wanna jus go splashing money about like nobody’s business which seems to be what the likes of Newcastle and West Ham are doing just because they can..We are moving to a new stadium which costs alot of funds and Torres was the main priority – a goalscorer and with him our squad is getting very strong and yeah i couple more decent signings including a good winger would do me so before we start getting on their backs just wait and see what has evolved by the end of August – there is no rush to buy anyone else as we have our main objective done and we definately will improve and add more to the squad!

  17. 1.) The transfer window officially opened on July 1st, the players agree in principal before that to join in July.

    2.) The new owners explained a few phases will occur, phase 1, the contracts signing. Completing contracts for the spine of the team was the main aim. Alonso, Sissoko(future prospect), Reina, Gerrard and Carragher are the spine of the team. 1 of them goes, we are officially a selling club.

    3.) Why not sign Benayoun? £hel$ea have just signed Steve Sidwell on a bosman for back-up, would you class him as a fantastic player? I think not. He’s inconsistent and will merely tie Drogba’s laces.

    4.) Still a month and a half left for transfers, we’ve just smashed our transfer record aswell as bringing in the youth Rafa wanted, why complain?

    5.) What evidence is there to suggest Hicks and Gillett aren’t backing Rafa? Surely if they realise they can make extra cash on selling players to add or replace the transfer budget given to Rafa, they should?

    Why are so many of you panicking? Alves isn’t on the list, it’s already been confirmed. IMO, Mancini and or Quaresma/Simao will join. We also need another left back and centre back.

    You’re also forgetting the owners have been here for 5-6 months, it takes time to settle and know the structure in place.

    They aren’t the new Abramovich’s, you’re right. Why should they be? Why would they waste money on panic buys just to please the fans and media? To be a successful club they need to support the manager, again I ask, where is the evidence to suggest they havent?

    8 million on Lucas, the kind of player we couldn’t get with Moores at the helm, and you’re all worrying.

  18. Benayoun is a good player but if ou need to compete with likes of man united and chelski, ou need to spend good money – Rafa needs to target better than Benayoun. I would have loved to see Tevez in the mighty reds shirt and im sure Mascherano could have persuaded him to come as long as we wanted him. We should have at least tried to get him on loan.
    I would definately go for Quaresma on 1 wing and mancini on the other. We need World class players.Besided Utd are miles ahead – look at it this way – we are wanting a Man utd player (heinze) to improve us – shouldnt that tell us something?But in Rafa i trust. Please dont buy second best……

  19. We should have been sold to DIC. Tom and George are conmen. Period. I wont buy a kit for me or my kids till the yanks show substance. Dont do to Liverpool what you did to Iraq.

  20. I see it as good business sell fringe players (excluding garcia on his good days) and buy a decent player at no expense. We made 2 million on bellamy in 1 year.

  21. LOL john have a minute bellamy and cisse have gone like what today and immediately your on the case, tryin to create negativity

    blatent bluenose imo

  22. Losing Bellamy and Cisse this summer for 16million roughly is smart business. 2 strikers, 2 out. Cisse would be virtually free next summer and Bellamy after this year predominantly on the bench would only command 4-5 million. Yes we have not splashed out but that doesnt stop us from getting rid of dead weight at good prices. Sorry to see Luis go but his inconsistency made him a squad player rather than a first teamer. We will only truly be behind the likes of Man U if we come to the END of the window and we havent signed at least one creative player, the left wing is the priority.

  23. Your article suggests you are mis-informed and dont really understand whats going on at the club. Quite simply after Tores transfer Hicks and Gillette said there is still money available for signings without sales. Liverpool have another 30m left in the kitty plus a new stadium.

    Stop causing unrest with these pathetic articles filled with inuendo and suspicion give the new owners a break and a chance.

  24. 1. Rafa will ONLY sign players who have 110% desire and commitment to play for liverpool

    2. Rafa will not pay over the odds for a player no matter how good they are. The torres signing proves this perfectly – 27m quoted in press – real price paid 20m!

    3. TH & GG along with Rafa are keeping VERY quiet over who is going to sign, only letting the press know when deals are at an ADVANCED stage. This is to prevent a bidding war auction for the player. Especially the like of Chelski who seem to be after every player we want, and bidding more just to piss us off!

    4. In reality we only need one quality winger and one top class central defender.

    Whats all the fuss about?

    In Rafa we trust!

  25. Christ sake John, the transfer window officially opens on the 1st of July every year, irrespective of what Rafa said after Istanbul, he merely suggested that in no uncertain terms he needed new blood, that didnt mean that he needed them the day after – the world and his wife knows that you cannot officially sign players until July 1 – a great example of this is Voronin who, although AGREED to join us a few months back, literally only signed and joined us the other day. Players like Alves, who you seem so bizarrely persistent on had more pressing engagements on their minds, things like Uefa Cup Finals, title run-ins etc….when these things are going on top players tend to focus on their clubs and the games coming up – how many TOP players did you see or hear of moving prior to July 1st? (dont give me that Nani, Anderson and Hargreaves crap – I said top players)- effectively NONE! The spanish season ended only a week or so ago for christ sake, Alves’ Sevilla had a chance of winning the league right until the last match, then they had the Spanish Cup Final the following week, big games for Sevilla, so to suggest that he would have agreed to sign for anyone prior to the season ending is just plain stupid, given that every top club in europe has been linked with him.

    United have signed 3 players – totalling around the £50 million mark. 2 of them inexperienced kids with potential. That is a big risk. I would rather have signed a genuine class act (Torres) for £20million than 2 kids who have never played outside an average league (Portugal) for £30 million. Chelsea have bought Ben Haim. Enough said. Tevez may go to United and Malouda to Chelsea – so what? You are coming across as though these 2 players are world class superstars when in effect – they arent. They have done nothing of any substance in the game. Tevez had an indifferent season for West Ham and should have went down with them. Malouda has spent his full career in France where Lyon have ran away with the league year in year out.

    I would dearly love to know how you think these clubs have stolen a march on us.

    Your bizarre persistence with these 3 players is both bemusing and amusing. You would think they were the only 3 players on earth.

    Behave.

    In short John Davies I’d go as far as to say you havent a clue what you’re talking about.

    (we await more inane drivel)

  26. some of the stuff in this thread are complete rubbish like the one saying souness and evans should of been joint managers surley he nows that souness started the rot as a manager 4 this club

  27. Great to have a nemesis!

    I am not anti the new owners at all. I sincerely hope they do give Rafa the dosh, not to buy the Yossi Benayoun’s of the world but the kind of players we need to ensure we can become Champions of England once more.

    Maybe Torres it the first player we have gone after this summer? But 6 weeks on from Rafa’s stone-faced warning to the chairmen I find this hard to believe.

  28. John, why are you so obsessed with counting every penny that is spent?

    And to reiterate what others have said, the transfer window is open for some time yet.

    Alves – have you seen him play recently? He ain’t all that, so how can you say with any evidence that we are going for second or third choice.

    I don’t recall anyone at LFC saying Torres is the final piece of the jigsaw. What he will do is improve our options in attack. All we need now is to improve the service that he gets (wingers?). After all, we ain’t that bad a team, just our starting away form last year was awful.

    With these factors in mind, why do you need to count every penny? Personally I would prefer to see players to strengthen the team/squad rather than money spent. Remember Benitez has a reputation of being a shrewd operator in the market too, so give the club some credit will you!

    Are you anti-the new owners? What do you not like/trust about them?

    Or are you just one of lifes pessimists?

  29. The facts are, if Liverpool really want to compete with Man U and Chelsea some shrewd purchases are needed. Torres is a start but unless this is followed by a quality centre back that can go straight into the team and two wide players, 3rd or 4th is all they can expect for years to come.

  30. You seem to have conveniently forgotten about the 6-8 million pound signing of lucas levia. And the resigning of the likes of Gerrard, Carra, Xavi and Momo.

  31. JD you are struggling now to justify your point. i must have missed it but exactly when did the transfer window shut? You say that our transfer outlay is basically nil…so far. Torres was 20+garcia so thats 20, leiva is 6, and lets say conservatively 3 on the kids…so 29. less 15 in on cisse and bells so 14. then if rafa is to be believed 2 or 3 more which if the names in press are correct will cost a further 20m. so thats 34…whats your point. the season is 5 weeks away.
    torres is a player every prem team would like, but we got him because of rafa and £24m thanks to g&t so dont be slagging them off just cus they know how to conduct business.
    i firmly believe we are entering a time when we will get what we want because money talks but clever people get want they want without paying over the odds!!

  32. Re John Davies.
    I agree if Rafa had a straight choice between Alves + Benayoun he would obviously go for Alves (in my opinion), but as i said Benayoun plus Quaresma for the same price as Alves that is a totally different proposition.
    You may well say, why not buy Alves AND Quaresma? But by that logic, why not add Kaka into the mix or C.Ronaldo while we are at it.
    As other posters have stated who knows how much Benitez wants Alves now a silly price of 20mil has been mentioned to get him.
    Even though it seems we do have money to spend it isn’t unlimited, otherwise your points would have merit.
    I take your point though I was a little rude in my last post. Sorry, I’m not the best in the morning either, (ask my girlfriend).

  33. Since I am from Texas I feel I need to address a concern for you. I dont know anything of Gillett, but for Hicks I can say he will back his word up. When he bought the Rangers he spent $$$ and still does. Yes they still suck but its not his fault, its the man that has been deciding on who they should buy. He just spends. Remember he Bought A Rod and spent Huge money on a worthless pitchers throughout time. I honestly am Glad he is there because I know he will spend on who Rafa wants.

  34. Hmmm….all very interesting. I agree with John Davies that we need faster backing from the Americans but the the fact is that negotiations are already going on in the background for a number of players….we may not sign them all but we will get some of them. We can only buys player when their teams allow us to speak to them and Benitez has always had a policy of only buying players who actually want to play for Liverpool which rules out Malouda and Tevez (to a lesser extent) as they have been whoring themselves to anyone and everyone!! The board will bring in new players and we just have to judge after the season starts and not now…it is too early. We have already brought in 14 players this summer!! Leiva, Torres, Voronin for the first team and 11 younger player with others still coming on trial.

  35. Excellent! You’re article has stimulated some quality debate (along with the occasional idiot!) John, so well done for that.

    I just hope that the reality won’t be so gloomy come 11th August. If we can bag a couple of world class wingers by then, I’ll be a happy red.

    I doubt that you should worry about the owners too much though. I’m sure Rafa is shrewd enough to squeeze the funds from then when needed, and I don’t imagine that they bought the club without having serious Premiership title-winning ambitions.

    It would be fabulous to win it this year (pray pray) but for me so would 2nd place, as long as we improved on that the time after!

    Trust in Rafa.

  36. How do we know that the top targets that we’ve been trying to capture, havent just turned us down.
    Malouda has and clearly wants to join Chelsea. Seville are inviting a dutch auction for Alves which we know Rafa has no intrest in joining. Quite rightly Rafa wants players who show a genuine desire to play for Britain’s most sucessful football club but maybe these top targets are not displaying that desire. If this is the case then we don’t want the club to be wasting our money. We’ve got to find players with the right skill – obviously, but that must be combined with an eagerness to represent Liverpool FC. With Man U’s sickening success and Chelsea’s money, it’s hard for us to compete.
    As fans we do need to be patient, we don’t know if Rafa’s targets are just mercenary money grabbers when he opens negotiations with them. You might say Rafa should be “selling” Liverpool FC to them, but he shouldnt need to do this to people who work within the football industry. You don’t need to be a footballing Statto to know that our great club has only two others that have won more European Cups. Yes we need more players, but we also need players who genuinely want us. (Kuyt). In relevance to Tom and george – it’s just good business, I don’t want us to be another Leeds.

  37. The Americans don’t have buckets of money, that’s obvious. I’m sure they’re amazed the amount of money they are being asked to spend on the new stadium and the contract extensions of players like Gerrard, Carragher, Alonso and Reina …. which all amounts to millions and millions before any new star players have even been bought. Don’t forget a six year deal for Torres amounts to nearly £40 million.

    I’m sure Hicks in particular is wondering what he got himself into and when exactly he will see profit from his investment. But I am sure this summer we will see another two players sign who cost upward of £10 million each. But if serious cash was really there for Rafa to spend he wouldn’t be waiting this long to get the players in. After all the cash from reaching the Champions League final we should not be too broke this summer at least.

    But I do believe Mr Moores and Parry have made yet another f-ck up and sold Liverpool to a pair of Yanks who didn’t fully realise how much it as all going to cost them before they could hope to see profits. I don’t think Hicks will be around in 3 years and Gillett on his own is not wealthy enough for Bolton.

  38. Toon69- The Moores were richer than your new owner. Means nothing there is no new Roman. D+G are worth 2+3b each, but lets face it there business men, so there wealth doesnt mean much to us reds either. They are working out how much they need to spend to make the studium pay for the club and how make Liverpool a bigger brand in US and Asian and make some revenue for them selves. Along the way Liverpool will have a better staduim a bigger brand name and hopefully a better team. In Rafa we trust!. I bet you all your new owners money, his paln is no different to ours

  39. I can’t understand what the problem is. We just signed Torres, a player that seem to have previously been out of our reach. Rafa himself has said he is still trying to get at least one more winger. Let’s wait and see who he brings in shall we? You act like you know who and what Rafa wants, when you don’t know s***! Sure, Tevez is a good player, but perhaps Rafa don’t want him? Same with Malouda. In about every interview I’ve seen with Rafa regarding new players, he stress the importance of the players having the right attitude towards our club. They really have to want to come to our club. Doesn’t seem like Malouda fit that description anymore. And Alaves, who says Rafa still wants him?
    If Rafa doesn’t want a player for whatever reason, I’ll just have to trust him, and until he says otherwise, I trust that he’s getting the backing he’s promised by the owners.
    I’m glad Rafa doesn’t seem to accept paying more for a player then he’s worth!

    The bottom line is, whe don’t know ANYTHING about who and what Rafa wants or how much money he’s got to work with and that’s as it should be!

  40. I think too many people think the real world of football is like Football Manager.

    “Oh he’s worth over £20m he must be good!”

    While we’re out signing Tevez why dont we go and sign Kaka too, and hey, why didn’t we buy Henry these American owners are pulling a fast one because they haven’t done their Pro Evo research!

    Give the guys a break, we cant sign Tevez, there’s no room for him, you cant completely sell a load of your squad and bring in new faces and think its not going to affect the ‘team’. Rafa is trying to make careful well judged signings based on how quickly they can gel into the team through their commitment to Liverpool.

    And just for the record, Alves for £20m is a complete joke, if we paid that, maybe John Davies would be happy but we’d obviously be the biggest mugs in the whole game!

    The league will come down to the crucial big games between the big four..or three now (sorry Arsenal). And it certainly wont be decided on who spent the most, look at Chelski last year!

    A few astute signings will hopefully give us the edge, and i for one am not going to slate and doubt the new owners in their first summer. As far i’m concerned they’ve showed their intent with the Torres deal, all we need is a clever winger and i dont see why we cant challenge until the end.

    So my message is this;

    Get into the real world and off your Football Manager.
    The money side of football is far more complicated than your making out.
    Have faith – In Rafa We Trust

  41. David, I may not be my best at 6.20 in the morning but I am not retarded. Whichever way you look at it – in terms of finance – the transfers begin from this point. My point regarding Torres was this: Is Torres the only player that Rafa felt we needed to win the league? I find it hard to believe all his threats to the board over the years have been about this one player. In answer to a couple of posters the transfer window did not open on July 1st. It opened at the end of the season in May. You may remember – it was about the time that United splashed £50 million about.

    You may remember May. It was the month that after the final Rafa said ‘We can bring in some world class players and we can bring them in right now if we act quick enough.’

    As far as I am concerned, if Bellamy and Cisse do go for a combined fee of around £15 million then our total net transfer spending this summer will be at zero (give or take a couple of million).

    I’ll be counting every penny that the two chairmen spend.

    Some good comments in this thread giving me stick and backing me up – but to suggest that United only spent £18 million last season also completely misses the point. They a) already had a team that were genuine Premiership champions thanks to substantial spending on Rooney, Ronaldo et al, and b) that is still at least £15 million more than LFC have spent this summer.

    Going back to your point David.. Alves is now valued at £20 million. So Rafa would rather have Benayoun? That looks and smells to me like going yet again after a second or third choice?

    Is Yossi Benayoun really the player that Rafa Benitez covets above all others? Who are you trying to kid.

  42. Get a grip idiot. The transfer window closes at the end of August. How do you know Rafa’s targets – he said he wants two wingers firstly (Tevez a winger?), Malouda says he want’s Chelski – so we should sign him right??? Doh, are you Homer simpson?

    Trust the manager! If you knew better you would work in the game wouldn’t you?! The new owners will get us our new stadium – where is the smokescreen there?

    Really, you have to stop writing rubbish like this. Call yourself a fan, ranting like this before the season has even started!!! DOH!!!!

  43. tom and george are good business men. So far they’ve done good business; spent £20mil and recouperated £20mil. why would the club not want their net spend to be at a minimal??. they will invest when and where they need to. so far they have done in signing rafa’s no.1 target, and funding our new stadium.

    the transfer window’s only been open a week for christ sake!

    whilst utd have been spending early doors, we have been just as busy signing our key players to long term deals, again good business sense, and vital for our push on the title. We have been active in what tom and george have called ‘phase 2’ (buying new players) for 1 week now, and we’ve got 1 world class player.

    personally i don’t see reson for concern.

  44. re John Davies –

    I don’t understand your previous post. I am starting to think that you are retarded.
    Quote “Are you trying to tell me that in the 3 years since Rafa arrived the only time he never got a first choice was with ‘Torres’?”
    Huh ?!?
    I am sure you realise that we did get Torres. So what is your point again? The fact that he missed out on Alves when Moores was in control of finances? That is not exactly Gillet and Hicks’ fault.
    Alves is now valued at over 20mil by Sevilla. So I am pretty sure Rafa would rather have Quaresma + Benayoun instead of Alves for the same price. Who Knows. Your point is facile and stupid. Go Away.

  45. John Davies you are deluded. You are over-analysing things for the sake of argument. “where are the bids for Alves?” – what kind of statement is that?? You sound like a 16 year old kid who thinks that players are scouted, deals worked out and players signed overnight. Sorry mate, thats not the way it goes – If you even bothered to listen to Rafa you will have heard him say repeatedly that he is constantly working on things all the time, constantly on the phone, dialogue with clubs, players, agents regularly. This article and your follow-up comments smack of naivety, unfortunately players arent signed overnight, it is a long, drawn-out process. Surely if it was as simple as going out and buying Alves tonight then we would have some team, why stop at Alves? lets go out tonight and buy Eto’o, Kaka and Ronaldhino as well, we should have them all at a press conference tomorrow no problem.

    “Are you trying to tell me that in the 3 years since Rafa arrived the only time he never got a first choice was with ‘Torres’?” – What does that mean? Torres was his first choice, did you hear or read of Rafa making a bid for any other striker?? No, we heard all the media nonsense about Eto’o and the like but that was old news, Eto’o was linked with every big club in europe for goodness sake. Take your blinkers off. People like you make me laugh.

    The transfer window opened on the 1st of July, today is the 7th of July, only an impatient idiot or child would be doubting Rafa and the Americans.

    The rest of us will just relax and wait – we know we are in good hands.

  46. load of negatives,lads have faith on rafa and the board,obviously liverpool fc is a business to,most of the 26mill we have spent on torres we will be getting back and hopefully bring in some more players,but i would love to have seen tevez come to anfield,anyways mascherreno is having a good copa america,scored a nice goal couple of nites ago for his country,IN RAFA WE TRUST

  47. While I am prepared to give the two Americans a fair go I think the article has raised a valid issue. I was concerned at the fact that Rafa had to go public with his call for money to be available for funding transfers. He shouldn’t have needed to do that. That was a big warning to us.

    I am happy with the new youth policy being implemented. However, lets face facts, so far the enemy have left us for dead in the transfer market as far as major signings are concerned.

    I am depressed by the fact that it looks like we have failed to buy Tevez and United will get him. He is a proven world class player who has already shown that he has adapted to the premiereship. Lets hope it doesn’t take Torres a year or two to adapt like it has taken Drogba (and don’t forget Shevchenko and Ballack! When will they adapt?)

    If United get Tevez it will be a disaster!! Please Liverpool Board sanction the money for a late raid and get TEVEZ! Show us the money!

  48. complete rubbish. for a starter what about lucas leiva who cost £6m or doesn’t that count. in addition we are very close (according to rafa) with 2 or 3 more signings. just because we sold unwanted players first all of a sudden g&t are con merchants. united will sell smith, richardson, slivestre, heine and if they sign tevez it will be on loan. i suppose with your logic if we sign a few more and united sell then g&t will be god’s and the glazier’s con artists!!
    i can’t believe the author is a true red, if you are then you are a d*ck as well.

  49. Some interesting points made , but TH & GG are already shelling out for a new stadium and if your realistic last season we were never second best to UTD or Chelsea and in open play outplayed both teams home and away , all we lacked was a finisher of goals and and the Man u games would have been ours…thats 6 points back right there….take into consideration all those games against crap opposition were we dominated ..created numerous chances and never finsihed…how many points is that people , have faith in Benitez

  50. Forgive me if I’m wrong (which I know I’m not!) But didn’t the Glazers only spend £18m (Michael Carrick)in their first season? and they went on to win the league.

    Up to now Liverpool have spent over £30 million pounds on players!

    £20.2 Torres, £6-8m Leiva, £1.8m Leto and a whole heap of young players at various prices.

    With the possible inroduction of 1 or 2 wingers to come and a new central defender also on the horizon, I think the new owners will have nothing to prove in terms of thier commitment to team building!

    Remember 2005-06 season we finished 1 point behind ManU and with the introduction of 1 player following year they finished champions and 21 points ahead of us.

    As long as we add quality to the positions were its needed (winger(s), central defence,) along with the quality we have added upfront the actual amount spent is irrelevant.

    Articles like this one by John Davies should not be ridiculed, because they stimulate debate. And although in the main the majority of the fans do not agree with his comments he should be commended for his efforts. Patience John, have a little patience.

  51. Sure it isn’t really the time to judge yet but a lot of those slagging off the original post seem to be missing the point.

    The best of the best was what was promised. The fact we are getting decent fees for outgoing players is a bonus, so is the youth investment which will hopefully benefit us in the future. Both of these things are side-issues.

    Just as has been the case a couple of times before in the last fifteen years we have a great squad in need of just 2 or 3 truly world class players. Not future stars, not experienced old heads but players around their mid twenties with proven skills and credentials. Benitez kicked off after the champions league final that TWO top names could have been signed if we acted quicker. So far we have Torres and if you read between the lines he wasn’t one of those two names.

    Maybe Rafa wanted Tevez; maybe he didn’t, but now we’ve sold Garcia we are crying out for a creative spark and were being held to ransom over Benayoun. Now be honest this is not the situation that Parry, Gillett and Hicks told us we would be in. That’s why there is a frustration.

    I trust in Rafa. I hope the likes of Voronin and Benayoun prove to be astute buys and we win the title. It’s wrong to right any player off without given them the chance and everyone would prefer we discover a legend for a million than pay thirty million.

    None of that changes that we were lead to believe we were getting funds to make signings for players previously out of our reach (look back to when Benitez wanted Simao or Alvez). Currently our summer has been much like any other, a balance forked out under £20 million (Torres minus incoming fees) plus another 10-15 on youth players.

    One final thing can people stop saying “It’s only July” or “There’s still six weeks left till the season starts”. People aren’t stupid, they can read Calendars. The frustration is the later a player comes in the more he misses out on in terms of pre-season and getting to know his teammates. So we end up with players still settling in around November/December time, Benitez tweaking to find his first XI and another crap start that blows any title hope. Rafa has said more than once he wanted the summer signings to be done early so as to avoid this.

  52. Quite a few pretend reds on here agreeing “the article” makes some good points.

    What a waste of our time – go and take a holiday, John Davies.

  53. I can’t believe how many people are acting negatively to our dealings so far. For a start Malouda and Lyon wanted to start a bidding war with us and chelsea and as people know Rafa wants people to show a desire in coming to Liverpool. Malouda also stated that too many sharks got in the way of speaking to Liverpool, surely that shows that he wasn’t that high on Rafa’s list as he would have contacted him personally.
    We also, at the time of writing (I know Bellamy is West Ham bound) have 5 strikers and surely 4 is plenty, which would rule out making any move for Tevez (As much as I’d love to see him in proper red shirt)!
    As stated by many others, we’re at the beginning of July and there’s plenty of time left so leave your doom and gloom judgements to a time they might be relevant!!!

  54. John Davies

    Lets be clear on a few things….
    Rafa wanted Daniel Alves last season, that is not to say he is still interested in him. He may have seen something that has changed his mind in the meantime. Also last i heard Saville wanted £20million for Alves
    Just because Rafa may have funds, does not mean that he should pay over the odds for players. People castigated the clubs for spending so much on Torres until the true figure was revealed!!
    Besides all this, you are assuming that Rafa has not got his first choice players – you have no idea who his first choice players are, all you have to go on is what is printed in the papers or posted on the net.
    Obviously the club is likely to enquire about the availability of certain players – you have to draw up a list (just in case YOUR first choice does not want to join the club) as a contingency.
    Real world football is not like Football Manager!!!

  55. Its a bit OTT and presumtuas but it is on the back of everyones mind.

    How can we let Tevez go on “LOAN” to Utd? Why isnt Rafa and Parry beating his door down to join us on loan with his mate Javi. I dont know whether its because we dotn have everything in place yet but Utd are as fast as they come when it comes to getting the man they want.

    Malouda is over-rated and Im not too bothered about him.

    We really should be signing Tevez, Quaresma, Alves and Heinze.

  56. Having read these post & being a TOON fan, I thik you’re forgetting one big thing, your new owners are as rich as yer think they are, so they won’t be able to give yer the money you want or they promised in the first instance.
    G&H are worth approx $2b together, and are probably having to get loans from loads of banks to pay for yer new stadium, the sale of mediocry players, as yer call them, are the players taht helped yer get were yer are now.
    I’m gonna go out on a limb here & say that Torres with be another Kezman, top european striker turned useless waste of money.
    As for keeping up with ManUSA & Chelski, yer have no chance, not in the league or the spending dept, and that coming from a TOON fan.
    I’m not gonna big up out new £billionaire owner, cause I’m realiastic but in a few years time, we’re really the only club capably of competing against Chelski in the spending as no other club in the Premier as a BRITISH BILLIONARE OWNER!!!!
    So watch this space boys!!!!

  57. Look you all. I think it is fairly obvious what the writer of the article is saying. Although we should have had progressed with this takeover, we have actually taken a step back.

    Clearly there is no extra money to spend. The money to be spent on the stadium is borrowed. Eventually, there will be a foreclosure, the Yanks will go bankrupt. Torres’ influence in the coming season will be minimal as Chelsea will probably try to injure him in our first meeting.

    We also know that Rafa, whilst a great manager in Europe clearly doesn’t know what he is doing in the premiership. And his continued stay will only see us in a fierce battle for relegation in the future, if not this very season.

    It is all going wrong. And to think that we dispensed with the services of Graeme Souness so cursorily. In fact, with the benefit of hindsight a manager duo of Souness and Evans would have seen us dominating the Premier League. It is a shame that two bootroom stalwarts like that have never been given a decent chance to continue Liverpool’s glorious history. With Souness’ passion and discipline married with Evan’s attacking panache, we would be unstoppable.

    Tough decisions, but someone has go to make them.

  58. Just to clarify – I made a point that Liverpool had started to do well in getting rid of players for more sensible fees (although neither Cisse nor Bellamy have left at the time of writing this). This is to be more than commended.

    My main point to re-iterate is this and nobody has still given me a direct answer:

    Pre-Season started a week ago – our first game is today. When George and Tom took over they said that Rafa would be backed fully in the market to go after his ‘first-choices’ in the transfer market. Are you trying to tell me that in the 3 years since Rafa arrived the only time he never got a first choice was with ‘Torres’?

    If the American’s are planning to give him some decent money where are the bids for Daniel Alves – a player for instance who Rafa was begging the board for the extra couple of million for?

  59. funny how people have selected memory. Malouda came out and said he would sign for anyone, and said he wanted to be play with Drogba again.

    also, its mid july. We have another 8 weeks until the window closes, with players like Quaresma, MAncini linked to us. did it occur to anyone that we don’t actually WANT Tevez?

    In addition, people forget the Lucas transfer, the extensions of top players, and all the youth players brought in, along with the backroom changes.

    If you can’t see that there are changes happening, then you are blind. Do I expect us to win the title this season? No. Do I expect us to challenge? Yes.

    CarrAgger,Reina, Gerrard, Alonso, Sissoko, Kuyt, Torres is a pretty solid spine. Throw in Masc, Finnan, Risse, Crouch,Carson, Pennant who had a good run in, Kewell who looks like he is finally over his injuries we don’t look too bad for next already.

    It could be worse. we could have under-sold our star player, and replaced him win an relative unknown for half the price.

  60. Yeah and at the same time we have to pay at least 16 million £ for Quaresmo and 15-20 million £ for Alves or Manchini besides that we have used around 10 million on youth players this summer and there will no doubt be bought at least one player for the defense and am pretty sure no one will be sold after we have sold Cisse and Bellamy ! If you are a true red you should keep faith !
    United just made themsef look like Real Madrid in 2003 they are ridicoulous !

  61. Sensationalism at it’s worst. By the way Rafa’s has been speaking, a big name winger will soon be coming in. Hopefully that will silence a few doom-mongerers.

    Also, why should the Americans have to splash out if they don’t have to? If we can raise enough money through the sale of players aswell as say a 20 million pound transfer investment, I’ll be happy. People expect with a new owner comes Chelsea like spending. Well wake up you hypocrites – most of us have spent the last three years castigating Chelsea for their quest to buy the Premiership but now you expect the same thing. Short memories.

  62. Dargis,

    No, I’m not from Texas, and the remark that implies only a yank could possibly actually want to wait until the WHOLE transfer window completes before passing judgement on the new owners is quite assinine.

    If Torres gets injured, it’s a part of the game. He’s ours for at least the next 6 years. Manure have bought a youngster for 35 million that won’t even get a work permit. Manure also went thru last season with a lucky run of no major injuries to the bulk of their team. We started ours with massive blows to first team players. Chelsea over the past few years have spent enough on players to get two thirds of the world’s countries out of debt.

    Dargis and John Davies, you’re just another notch in the Doom and Glooom Squads bedpost. We just complete our largest first team and long term signing in the history of the club, and because we unloaded some dead weight at the same time, you are both crying that TH and GG are pulling a fast one. Would you rather we kept Bolo, Cisse, Bellamy, etc and just wasted money on their salaries? Great business.

    With either of you in charge, we’d be bankrupt by the end of the season.

  63. Do not be fooled by these new owners. They have no intention of providing the money Rafa needs. Just look at the drivel Tom Hicks has served up to Texas Rangers fans the last 5 years. He’ll build a new stadium for sure…and put the revenue in his pocket. Liverpool will continue to play second fiddle to Manchester United as long as Tom and George own the team.

  64. Er…it is only the start of July isn’t it? Or have I missed a couple of months.
    So as far as i can make out your point is that just because we have smashed our transfer record on Benitez’s no1 target, the fact that we have sold the dead-wood in our squad to cover that 20 million deal, proves that G&H aren’t really spending big. To back up that point you say we haven’t gone out and bought Malouda and Tevez.
    My question is how do you know Benitez now wants Malouda. The fact that Malouda came out in the French media criticising our club and saying that he wants to go to Chelsea might have dissuaded Benitez that Malouda had the right determination to succeed at Anfield. Besides his alleged interest in the Frenchman could have been a smoke-screen to hide other potential targets.
    Also, concerning Tevez. Has Rafa ever said he wanted him? Or are you just saying that G&H should buy everyone on the market who is worth over 15mil to prove there intent to doubters like you?
    I believe, as Rafa stated, we will buy two more wingers, and there are other wingers on the market besides Malouda.
    It sounds to me as if Rafa’s interest in Benayoun is geniune. That will set us back about 5mil. Then there is either Quaresma, Mancini, Vicente, or Simao. Maybe one of these wingers will sign, which will set us back the best part of 15mil. On top of that there have been overtures for Heinze, Diego Milito, Mexes to compete for the centre-back birth. Lets say 8mil for one of those. I am also pretty sure that with two more months of the transfer window remaining there will be at least another 10mil spent on players to compete for other positions in the squad who haven’t even been mentioned. So by my reckoning that would mean that we could easily spend over 50mil during the summer.
    Of course this is pure speculation, but it shows that Malouda and Tevez aren’t the only targets that are available for purchase and with two months of the transfer window to go, your pessimism, or, if you like my optimism, is slightly premature. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

  65. I do believe we are being taken for a ride, These guys have not spent a dime yet.IF Torres gets injured during the season, There will be need for those red-tinted glasses. They should have come out of the block firing all guns like Man Utd ,showing they mean business and we would have something to shout about.

  66. Well, Benitez is about to spend another £15m on Ricardo Quaresma by Wednesday of next week so there’s a chunk of it spent.

  67. Mate, Cisse and perhaps Bellamy (Cisse for def) were on their way out irrespective of the takeover going through or not – wasnt Cisse already out on loan before any takeover was mentioned?? – Rafa clearly didnt fancy him from the off, he just had to ‘make do’ with what he had when he took over. It was a matter of TIME before Cisse left, nothing to do with money. Bellamy, as is clear for all to see, just isnt Liverpool class – he had to go. Never heard of speculate to accumulate? We have just got rid of a few mediocre players and brought in a class act.

    Wise up.

    Know your facts.

  68. Malouda wants to go to Chelsea because Rafa didn’t personally speak with him, and I guess we’ve got Torres so have no need of Tevez.
    Personally, I would have liked to see him with us, but In Rafa We Trust.

  69. Last season Manure clearly showed that we were 2 players behind them in terms of squad depth and squad quality which is why we were only able to compete in 1 competition compared to United’s 3. Then come this summer and United buy 2 of the best prospects in world football – Nani and Anderson as well as top class players in Hargreaves and Tevez. We’ve signed a top class striker in Torres but that still leaves us at least 3/4 top players behind Manure at this point – I wish Liverpool fans would assess us realistically and not through the biggest rose-tinted specs known to man!

  70. It’s a fair comment. We get slated for having spent £xxx million over the last ten years, yet nobody takes account of the £xxx million we have recovered in sales. Every fleet street rag and every website points out the that Man U, Liverpool and teams X,Y & Z are throwing cash around, yet Man U’s net spend will soon be in excess of £70m and ours will be around £6m.

    We used to get £20m a year (net) from Moores, so I’d be hoping for double that from the new guys.

  71. Seems like there are a couple of George and Tom’s big fans on here (suppose it is about peak Internet time in Texas). My feeling is that this is a good point raised and some of you need to take off your red-tinted glasses. We were all big on Malouda at one point and here come Chelsea with … £12 million. Is that more than the ‘at any cost’ that Tom Hicks promised us on the eve of the Champions League final?

    Man Utd have done all the running this summer and Liverpool have done some good financial dealing in getting decent prices for some excess fodder. If Torres get’s injured, our new strategy will look exceptionally foolish. United however, look like they will be able to walk the league with Rooney in the director’s box.

    I know the dollar’s weak against the pound but start some significant investment in the first team.

    We’re going for the Champions League places again this season – sorry

  72. What a load. Purely sensational wannabe journalism. I’ll agree that the title did get me to come to the site, but editorials like this are about as useful as watching the first half of the marathon and reporting on the outcome.

    Give your head a shake, go take a holiday if there isn’t enough news to report, and stop feeding us transfer window crap.

  73. That’s right we’re moving to a new stadium thanks to Tom and George. Oh and the banks who are actually lending them the money to load them up on debt.

    Boyley, my point is that both new Chairman talked the talk saying we would be in the market for any top player at any price. I’m just pointing out that we haven’t really spent anything yet. I hope we do go out and get the really decent players who are moving this summer like Tevez and Malouda… oh hang on.

  74. Have some faith!! We have just gone out and smashed our previous record breaking fee without having to sell anyone to do this and you’re looking at this negatively??? Articles like this will only add to some fans frustration and you’re creating a problem when there is no problem to be had!! Save this article and look at it once the t/fer windows closed. If you’ve not got anything substantial or factual to write don’t write anything at all. As Rafa said, Torres is the start. Lets wait to see the wingers we buy before criticising Tom & George. Oh and those funds you mentioned…Aren’t we moving to a bigger and better stadium in 2010 thanks to Tom & George?

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