Dokko

Well that would be a first, and very unlikely imo. We could easily offer 40k a week which would be about double what he was on at Bolton, if he wants 65k to sit on the bench at Chelsea then fook him. About the size of it really. Not worth £65k, i've got issues with £40k tbh, so lets look elsewhere, i hear Curtis Davies is mulling over if he should hand in his transfer request.

No ta, still would take Sol though.

Saw him on Soccer AM, said a few more Citeh players needed a good kicking. Good interview, sums up their despair right now.

He should waver it, and in a couple of articles its been reported he will waver it, but its blew up again, don't know the reason or if those articles were right, maybe he feels if he drops that, the club and Dabo should drop the assault charges. He should drop it, or ask for the money be donated to charity, something like the 'shit footballers who are battered by their team mates foundation'

He's already rich, what is 300K regardless of whether he's owed it or not? Mind I'm in no doubt that prick of an agent of his is behind it all, after all wasn't he the one who negotiated a release clause into his contract. Still, they are both pricks and this is typical of players and agents today. And Man City sat there and didn't know what they were doing when the clause went in? They also put the clause in therefore they also are held accountable for the trouble being caused right now. So easy to jump on Barton as of his bad boy image, but the club he is leaving is thick as mince, and deserve to be taken to court over this. Put Joey Barton aside, and the club are the ones to blame for this mess, just because its WM & JB are any toon fans sticking up for citeh, if it were Parker (professional) & another agent we'd all be going nuts.

Totally. Its why i'm liking SA working the current budget. In fact i'd rather him stick to this budget right now and do it sensibly and not over stretch the club. Do you think its just mis communication at Liverpool right now or something bigger?

I wonder whats going on there? Possibly just trying to force down player prices stating they've got no money or have a tight budget, or possibly the Americans have lied to get the club. Maybe the stadium is proving more expensive than 1st thought, maybe Rafa and the fans are jumping the gun and they are just waiting for the TV money to come through, either way, all is not calm at Liverpool right now, especially after Manu just went and blew them out of the water with their summer signings which are already done and dusted. If the report is true though, and Rafa isn't pleased they could possibly be looking for a new manager, he'll walk if he feels he's been treated unfairly. But i think Liverpool fans were expecting a bit too much, the Americans have sunk the money into the stadium, and basically want the TV money, all £40m of it, it be sunk into new players. I cant see anything wrong with that, £40m would move Liverpool forward spent correctly, but i think Rafa wants about 3-4 £15m players to bring Liverpool up to scratch and with Manu already doing that, that would only mean right now they are standing still (theoretically).

http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=471417&CPID=8&clid=14&lid=&title=Gillett+denies+Rafa+rift&channel=& Gillett denies Rafa rift Liverpool co-owner George Gillett insists there has been no fall-out with Rafa Benitez over transfer funds. However, the American tycoon says the club will resist "spending like a drunken sailor" this summer. Rumours abounded of millions being made available to the Reds boss following the takeover by Gillett and Tom Hicks. Samuel Eto'o and David Villa were mooted as possible transfer targets, but with little movement so far this summer it has been suggested that financial restrictions have forced Benitez to lower his sights. As a result, reports have claimed that the former Valencia coach is disillusioned with the new regime at Anfield, but Gillett has angrily denied a rift. "I read that Rafa is throwing hand-grenades at us and making demands, that there's a tension or disagreement between him and the Gillett and Hicks families," Gillett said in The Times. "Nothing could be further from the truth. "As far back as February, Rafa laid out a programme for us. "Each one of our sports businesses has a core concept. It has to be part of an integrated plan. "We have one at Liverpool, one we understand 100 per cent, believe in and support. The plan involves us spending money, but it will be part of a plan, not just spending like a drunken sailor."

http://www.anfieldroad.com/news/latest/2007106/a20291716b.html Rafa told to work with usual budget Written by Jim Boardman Monday, 11 June 2007 Reports tonight suggest that Liverpool boss Rafael Benítez has been given details of his budget by the club's new owners - and it doesn't make pleasant reading. Rafa lost his cool the morning after the Champions League final when he complained about a lack of urgency from the new owners and the chief executive over both signing new players and getting his core players to commit to new contracts. He's now going to lose his cool again after being told by the new owners that they are refusing to add any extra funds of their own to the transfer kitty. Rafa's budget will be made up of money from selling players, prize money from the Champions League, money from ticket sales and so on. The same budget as every summer. Last week we saw Carragher, Gerrard, Alonso and Reina all sign new four and five year deals, and all four spoke of their excitement that the club was moving forward. But Rafael Benítez has been confiding to some about his unhappiness in relation to the way he's being spoken to. Promises of support are all well and good, but Rafa wanted actions not words. He started to get the impression that the likes of Samuel Eto'o and Carlos Tevez were out of reach, and started to get a list together of players costing between £15m and £18m. Eto'o and Tevez, at their quoted fees, are now definitely out of reach. But even the players in the £15m category seem to be out of reach.I t seems Rafa will have to sell before he can buy. There's no indication of where the extra TV money has gone, nor any explanation as to why the owners are now going against all their hints of supporting the manager in his plans by supplying him with extra money. The new owners are claiming privately that Rafa is happy with the news he has no money to spend after all. That's quite untrue, Rafa is said to be fuming to put it bluntly. Keep in mind that last summer's purchase of Dirk Kuyt was made possible by David Moores lending the club the money to pay the transfer fee. In effect Liverpool will have less money than last summer, unless the new TV money is handed to Rafa. These stories are leaking from various directions, all is not well inside Anfield. What hasn't yet been revealed is the excuse that the new owners will use for going back on all they said. Meanwhile, back across the Atlantic, George Gillett has been speaking to the Montreal Gazette about Liverpool FC. He talks about spending money on the club, but not in the way he was talking about it earlier in the year: "As far back as February, Rafa laid out a program for us," says Gillett. "Each one of our sports businesses has a core concept. You can't just flop around looking at opportunities here and there, go left, go right. It has to be part of an integrated plan. We have one at Liverpool, as we have with the Canadiens, one we understand 100 per cent, believe in and support. The plan involves us spending money, but it will be part of a plan, not just spending like a drunken sailor." Hang on - we didn't expect money to be spent "like a drunken sailor". We expected Rafa to be supported in his plans - the way we were told he would be during all those high-profile interviews with the US pair. Whatever plans Rafa had, they included buying more players to strengthen the weaker areas of the squad. That costs money, but now the tone is changing. Gillett says: "Hockey and soccer are all about teamwork, and Rafa believes in that very strongly. It's the same in almost all of life - it's about partnership, teamwork and communication. It's not all about money." From all the leaked reports, "communication" from the US has been nothing short of pathetic. Rafa's patience has been tried repeatedly due to an unwillingness from those above him to communicate. And the statement, "It's not all about money," is indeed true, but for Liverpool fans success is all-important. We've grown used to it ever since Bill Shankly shook the club up in the sixties. The modern game is unfortunately pretty much ruled by money. If it wasn't George and Tom wouldn't be here - they'd not have the same interest to start with, but there wouldn't have been the same need to go looking for investment. We expected investment to include a plan where Rafa, or whoever was managing the club, would be able to invest in his squad every transfer window to ensure we were always at least on a par with our rivals. To get on a par with our rivals though we needed a boost, some extra money to gets us a few steps closer to those ahead of us. Money, plus Rafa's expertise, could bring us the league title we so desperately want. It now seems that the new owners have lied about the money. And if there's one thing Liverpool fans do not like it's being lied to or lied about. Rafa Benítez is much the same. Liverpool fans were delighted to see the club reach the Champions League final in Athens, but other than the Charity Shield won last August, and the FA Youth Cup won by the youngsters, it's been a trophyless season. Gillett considers it was a successful season: "In all candour, the Gillett and Hicks families have to say we've been pretty lucky to arrive on the scene and enjoy this first-season success," he said. "It's heady and a lot of fun, but it sure would be a mistake for us to try to act like we had anything to do with it. This is the work of David Moores and Rick Parry and Rafa and the players. We were the fortunate beneficiaries of circumstance." If the stories turn out to be true and the new owners have mislead fans over the amounts of funds Rafa would be given, they might find themselves beneficiaries of something they wouldn't class as fortunate. As they saw in the semi-final of the Champions League at Chelsea, you don't want to get on the wrong side of Liverpool fans. Perhaps Tom and George would be so good to have a re-think on their plans, or to at least have the decency to tell their new club's supporters the truth. No carefully-chosen words, just honesty. What they think of it: http://forums.lfconline.com/showthread.php?t=58530

Its making them look incredibly petty, and very naive. Its best for everyone's sake the transfer goes through, they are beyond idiotic to try and hold it up. If it goes to court Barton will win all day long, and it will be more expense for Man City to pay up.

Source? Allah.

Boro close to signing him.

Citeh are total cunts playing games like this. They are simply breaking the law by not allowing him to sign and not giving them his money. So what if he's been naughty and doesn't deserve the pay off, fact is he is entitled to it, and its rightfully his. He did not hand in a transfer request, the clause was activated by a club, not by him, and permission to speak to the club follows, this is not asking for a transfer request, this is what happens when a fee is agreed and with the clause it means its agreed. Utter bulllshit for a spastic club who can't find a manager, cant find an owner and can't keep a hold of their best players. Micky fuking mouse wouldn't touch this outfit.

Problem is, Halford doesn't know where his best position is.

No way. Give someone like Ben Haim £70k, and when we do start going for the top stars, we'll be looking at Owen-style wages. You clearly have no idea where football wages are going. In the next few years for a top player your going to be looking atleast 100k+ no matter what the situation. Predictions are that withing the next 2 years we'll see the first 200k-a-week player. Wages are gonna skyrocket and simple fact is we have to pay up or lose out. We had to pay Barton 70k and even then West Ham offered 10k more. The same people reckoned due to the ITV digital collapse over half of league football clubs would go out of business and cease trading, about 10 did IIRC. Wages are on the up, but their forecasts are just that. IMPO we'll be waiting a lot longer for a £200kpw footballer to hit the shores, no one here is worth it, and i cant see anyone in Europe being worth it either. Messi has the potential, but will Chelsea spend over £100m to capture him, or anyone else worth £200kpw?

If Peter Kenyon said that Shaun Wright-Phillips was going to Newcastle, something similar would be written. The translation is, from my knowledge of French, very definite, and France Football is a reliable site. Updated thread titles are good, they keep people posting in threads. Cetainly now a stronger story thanwhen it was being picked up by Planet Football. Isn't that the same site that said Henry was going to Barcelona after the clubs agreed a £18m fee then in the very same article said the clubs hadn't spoken yet or some bollocks like that? Also find it strange that this article has been up there since yesterday but no other media source seems to have picked it up.

I honestly wouldn't take ANYTHING the French say seriously.

No.

Poor lad.

Last chance to get money for him, plus he's on a very high wage. Sure he had a good season last season, but i'd be surprised if that was repeated, and with the correct signings we shouldn't be relying on Butt. Why sell someone who is going to be a key player for us next season, one of the most mature voices in the dressing room, and one of the most experienced players on the team? Aswell as in general being a really decent player and the only genuine nomination for captain. Last chance to get money for him, plus he's on a very high wage. Sure he had a good season last season, but i'd be surprised if that was repeated, and with the correct signings we shouldn't be relying on Butt. still falls under the type of player SA likes the older very experienced player that with a little TLC can have a prolonged carear. Saying that I agree that we should try and aim for something better but if we rely on him in a back up sort of player I would be more than happy He'd be great back-up, but he's on 1st team wages. I'd rather SA strip the team of big earners like this who are not going to last and put that saved money into youth and development for the future. Got nowt against Butt personally, i think last season he rectified his past with us, but overall i'd be happy to let him go, i'd be even happier if we'd never signed him as we've just about broke about even on him and his worth if we sell him now for about a million. I wonder how much his wages are, certainly a mature head to help "bring on players" as well as someone reliable to bring on for a difficult period or for a period of injury it is probably money well spent certainly as I have said before when it comes a list of players I want to see ship out Butt has to be low down. Out of interest did we buy Butt as a replacement for speed? He's be in the top ten earners at NUFC, so as back-up the maths doesn't work out for me. Butt would be low down on my list too, Babayaro, Carr, Dyer, Owen, Emre & Duff all coming ahead of him, the latter three mainly again due to their wages, nothing else, but if there was a realistic option to get rid, i'd take it.

All but one of the consortium are Irish apart from 1. That's John Hays, who is a Sunderland supporter. The only name from the consortium that I actually remember is Charlie Chawke, and tat because of the old cartoon type thing. I don't believe we have many Irish in the backroom staff I just know Keane has brought in a few from Man Utd, interestingly including their ex-chief scout. However they certainly are exploiting the Irish market though. Even though we probably had it cornered alongside Man Utd and Liverpool before that, now they do special charted flights on matchdays from ireland plus another set of pre-season friendlies in Ireland this year. There are also rumours of club shops opening over thire but I don't believe them. I'm worried about this though as Ireland is a very small country and imo we should try and push the club elsewhere. Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven. Sunderland are not going to break any major Country right now though are they? At least your going for one place then none at all. Winning games and winning trophies brings the fans from abroad, that's not going to happen anytime soon for Sunderland without major investment. But in the meantime they serve Irish interest, where possibly a lot of the Irish NT play, keeping Ireland watching out for them, brining in potential supporters. Who said major? Why not Albania, Kahzakstan, Armenia or even Scotland? I know what your saying and I agree but I'm not overly impressed by just the Irish market ( I suppose the one reason I'm never happy about Sunderland is that I'm a pessimist and not even the best will do as in my opinion it isn't good enough. I expect the club to always want to grow and not just consolidate what they have. Why not try and break into the Scandanavian market, I mean again apart from Man Utd and Liverpool there isn't really a Englis club with massive support there. Again though, why would someone from Scandinavia want to support Sunderland, or Newcastle etc? We've won nowt in years, have a long way before winning something again, and there are glamour clubs in our leagues far more known and supported already. Tours, friendlies and other avenues are not going to open many doors in these countries imo, tbh, thinking about the way Sunderland have gone about the Irish connection is quite impressive, the foot is in the door, the 'club brand' (horrible way to talk about football i know) is in and its growing, its better than nothing. Sunderland just have to realise Irish talent can and will only get you so far, and if you want to achieve the greatest success, there are not many Irish players out there that will be able to deliver it, but right now for a promoted team, its a good foundation.

Last chance to get money for him, plus he's on a very high wage. Sure he had a good season last season, but i'd be surprised if that was repeated, and with the correct signings we shouldn't be relying on Butt. Why sell someone who is going to be a key player for us next season, one of the most mature voices in the dressing room, and one of the most experienced players on the team? Aswell as in general being a really decent player and the only genuine nomination for captain. Last chance to get money for him, plus he's on a very high wage. Sure he had a good season last season, but i'd be surprised if that was repeated, and with the correct signings we shouldn't be relying on Butt. still falls under the type of player SA likes the older very experienced player that with a little TLC can have a prolonged carear. Saying that I agree that we should try and aim for something better but if we rely on him in a back up sort of player I would be more than happy He'd be great back-up, but he's on 1st team wages. I'd rather SA strip the team of big earners like this who are not going to last and put that saved money into youth and development for the future. Got nowt against Butt personally, i think last season he rectified his past with us, but overall i'd be happy to let him go, i'd be even happier if we'd never signed him as we've just about broke about even on him and his worth if we sell him now for about a million.

Rather sell him and bring in a potential to sit on the bench, Carr has the potential to cost us goals and games, and does it more often than not. I'd rather have a young player from the lower leagues come in and sit on the bench, and when he does makes mistakes you can blame it on age, experience and the jump in quality rather than no brains & no talent.

Last chance to get money for him, plus he's on a very high wage. Sure he had a good season last season, but i'd be surprised if that was repeated, and with the correct signings we shouldn't be relying on Butt. Why sell someone who is going to be a key player for us next season, one of the most mature voices in the dressing room, and one of the most experienced players on the team? Aswell as in general being a really decent player and the only genuine nomination for captain. Last chance to get money for him, plus he's on a very high wage. Sure he had a good season last season, but i'd be surprised if that was repeated, and with the correct signings we shouldn't be relying on Butt.

All but one of the consortium are Irish apart from 1. That's John Hays, who is a Sunderland supporter. The only name from the consortium that I actually remember is Charlie Chawke, and tat because of the old cartoon type thing. I don't believe we have many Irish in the backroom staff I just know Keane has brought in a few from Man Utd, interestingly including their ex-chief scout. However they certainly are exploiting the Irish market though. Even though we probably had it cornered alongside Man Utd and Liverpool before that, now they do special charted flights on matchdays from ireland plus another set of pre-season friendlies in Ireland this year. There are also rumours of club shops opening over thire but I don't believe them. I'm worried about this though as Ireland is a very small country and imo we should try and push the club elsewhere. Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven. Sunderland are not going to break any major Country right now though are they? At least your going for one place then none at all. Winning games and winning trophies brings the fans from abroad, that's not going to happen anytime soon for Sunderland without major investment. But in the meantime they serve Irish interest, where possibly a lot of the Irish NT play, keeping Ireland watching out for them, brining in potential supporters.