wacko

Yeah, there were too many £7m players, and there was too much turnover. But the squad always came before the team for Rafa. Agree or not, the result was that we always went into the business end of the league/CL/cup with a rested, fit side. You can't win the league without a strong squad. Rafa's net spend was actually well under £100m, about £85m I think. He inherited a squad with perhaps 4 players, Gerrard, Carragher, Hyypia and Hamann, who were good enough for a title-challenging side. £85m is 3 or 4 players for Chelsea/Man Utd. He had half as much to spend as Fergie/Chelsea's managers, and twice as much to do. In absolute terms, no his signings weren't good enough, but in value-for-money terms, he didn't do badly. I think it is given he did not sign Keane it is like saying KK got Xisco. Not really. Pretty sure he was on a list Benitez gave to the board, he may not have been first choice on that list, but, he wanted him and gave the go ahead to sign him nonetheless. I thought it was a Shay that Keane was Parry signing Wacko can you confirm. Parry negotiated the deal (or just bent over and got bummed by Daniel Levy) but it was still Benitez who put Keane's name forward and later gave it the 'ok'. Rafa wanted Keane, but he was envisaged as an accessory to Barry. When the Barry transfer fell through, he was immediately surplus to requirements. Parry will have negotiated the transfer.

Eh? What is this team he's ruined? He's bought Reina, Mascherano, Torres, Alonso, Agger. Rafa's purchases were not the cause of the problems. He could have bought better, but he didn't do badly. The early signings were good, and obviously not all are bad, and Torres is just Torres, but he always seemed to buy one or two players that were pointless. Vorinin Babel Keane Riera Lucas Penant to name a few. There just seems to be far to high a turnover of players, and over 200 purchases in 6 years. 200??? He bought 57 players. Of those players you mention, most were £7m squad players. Only Keane, at £18m, should have been expected to improve the first team. Which he didn't.

FFS, Degen was a free transfer! What are you on about?

Eh? What is this team he's ruined? He's bought Reina, Mascherano, Torres, Alonso, Agger. Rafa's purchases were not the cause of the problems. He could have bought better, but he didn't do badly. He's made a few really good signings, but how many out of the 76 were good? Almost all of them were good. The problem is, we needed great signings to be able to realistically compete with Chelsea and Man Utd. He hardly made any massive howlers, the Keane and Aquilani transfers being the biggest, recouping his outlay on almost every player that moved on. The only manager with a significantly better record is Wenger.

Eh? What is this team he's ruined? He's bought Reina, Mascherano, Torres, Alonso, Agger. Rafa's purchases were not the cause of the problems. He could have bought better, but he didn't do badly.

Fucksocks

Up until the latest accounts he's spent £2M less per year than Chelsea net. From season 04/05 to 08/09. £6M less per year than Man Utd net spend. £13M more than Arsenal net spend. It's not like he hasn't had money to burn. Arsenal is by the by, because Wenger's in a class of his own in the transfer market. Man Utd and Chelsea had much stronger squads than Liverpool when Benitez arrived. Man Utd had a side that had already won the title, and Ranieri had spent almost £100m on Chelsea's squad the season before Benitez arrived. £110m in his time there. (Net, obviously) Only City and Chelsea have spent more over the same time period. I wasn't sure of the figures but that's a massive amount. A decent manager with any idea of the market would have had them challenging. He's only really had one real tilt at the title in his time there and has finished about 20-odd points behind the eventual winners a few times.... Not a great record really considering the cash he's had to spend. Yeah. We always started the season too slowly due to his rotation, and were out of the race by November. After that, the focus was always on the CL, and Liverpool under Benitez were one of the best sides in Europe up till the season just gone. I dunno, he's lived of the reputation for winning the CL with a squad 90% someone else's, the more he's changed it the further away you've gone from repeating that. We were in the final again two years later. It only went to shit this season just gone.

He's spent £100m, and failed to beat sides that have spent much more. Hardly grounds to condemn his choice of transfers to such an extent.

Erm, firstly, fuck you. And the reason that 'they couldn't talk to the decision maker' is that these things are agreed by internal committee(s). The guys who are talking to the client will have to make their recommendation to the commitee for approval, and arranging one is even harder when half the world has taken the week off for half term. You can't just talk to the guy who makes the calls, there isn't one such person. That's just not how things work. What has probably happened today is an exec has stepped in and offered some degree of comfort that HBOS will come good on what they have thrashed out, but you can't just circumvent the process. FSA regs. Whatever. Stopped reading at "fuck you".

If you have a top job at a bank & you can close compaines down at least have the balls to meet people & let people know who you are. f***ing COWARD Eh? This person cannot "close companies down". They can extend or refuse to extend credit. The fact that the consequences of this person making the only sound decision (to not continue lending money to a company that cannot pay it back) are that a company might go bankrupt has nothing to to with him/her. Any anger should be directed at the management that got the club into the position it's in. The person making that decision knows they will be closing that company down ffs, you even say it yourself. Liverpool bank with the Bank Of Scotland as well could you imagine what it would of been like if some mystery "X " @ the BOS had decided to not extended Liverpool's loan earlier ont he year. The point is, it's not the bloke at the bank that has f***ed up royally. It's in no way down to him if he correctly decides to stop letting someone else piss his bank's money into the wind. It's not like this is the first time the bank will have got in touch with Palace, is it? The bank will have been telling them for months if not years to get their s*** together, and they didn't. Did you even read what the CPFC 2010 wrote in the hands of a person in a Bank of Scotland whom we have never met and it seems we are not allowed to speak to" you would think that a bank that was bailed out by the Goverment for not being run very well would at least speak to the next fuckers likely to be in charge. Anyway CPFC 2010 have moved on & got a deal done with Lloyds Banking Group the parent company of BOS which seems strange to me. That would be the bloke in charge of winding up f***ed companies. Why should he care if it's Crystal Palace or Bloggs' Hardware? I couldn't give a s*** if it was Apple, Blue Line Taxis or Crystal Palace that person should have the decency to speak/make themselves available to a organisation/people that want to do a takeover that will save people job. Of course they should, but we're not talking about people here, we're talking about bankers. I mean, arguing that this guy's a class-A dick is kinda like arguing that your wife is married. At last Sorry. Didn't realise that was what you were driving at. Agree wholeheartedly that bankers are pretty much cunts to a man.

If you have a top job at a bank & you can close compaines down at least have the balls to meet people & let people know who you are. f***ing COWARD Eh? This person cannot "close companies down". They can extend or refuse to extend credit. The fact that the consequences of this person making the only sound decision (to not continue lending money to a company that cannot pay it back) are that a company might go bankrupt has nothing to to with him/her. Any anger should be directed at the management that got the club into the position it's in. The person making that decision knows they will be closing that company down ffs, you even say it yourself. Liverpool bank with the Bank Of Scotland as well could you imagine what it would of been like if some mystery "X " @ the BOS had decided to not extended Liverpool's loan earlier ont he year. The point is, it's not the bloke at the bank that has f***ed up royally. It's in no way down to him if he correctly decides to stop letting someone else piss his bank's money into the wind. It's not like this is the first time the bank will have got in touch with Palace, is it? The bank will have been telling them for months if not years to get their s*** together, and they didn't. Did you even read what the CPFC 2010 wrote in the hands of a person in a Bank of Scotland whom we have never met and it seems we are not allowed to speak to" you would think that a bank that was bailed out by the Goverment for not being run very well would at least speak to the next fuckers likely to be in charge. Anyway CPFC 2010 have moved on & got a deal done with Lloyds Banking Group the parent company of BOS which seems strange to me. That would be the bloke in charge of winding up f***ed companies. Why should he care if it's Crystal Palace or Bloggs' Hardware? I couldn't give a shit if it was Apple, Blue Line Taxis or Crystal Palace that person should have the decency to speak/make themselves available to a organisation/people that want to do a takeover that will save people job. Of course they should, but we're not talking about people here, we're talking about bankers. I mean, arguing that this guy's a class-A dick is kinda like arguing that your wife is married.

If you have a top job at a bank & you can close compaines down at least have the balls to meet people & let people know who you are. f***ing COWARD Eh? This person cannot "close companies down". They can extend or refuse to extend credit. The fact that the consequences of this person making the only sound decision (to not continue lending money to a company that cannot pay it back) are that a company might go bankrupt has nothing to to with him/her. Any anger should be directed at the management that got the club into the position it's in. The person making that decision knows they will be closing that company down ffs, you even say it yourself. Liverpool bank with the Bank Of Scotland as well could you imagine what it would of been like if some mystery "X " @ the BOS had decided to not extended Liverpool's loan earlier ont he year. The point is, it's not the bloke at the bank that has f***ed up royally. It's in no way down to him if he correctly decides to stop letting someone else piss his bank's money into the wind. It's not like this is the first time the bank will have got in touch with Palace, is it? The bank will have been telling them for months if not years to get their s*** together, and they didn't. Did you even read what the CPFC 2010 wrote in the hands of a person in a Bank of Scotland whom we have never met and it seems we are not allowed to speak to" you would think that a bank that was bailed out by the Goverment for not being run very well would at least speak to the next fuckers likely to be in charge. Anyway CPFC 2010 have moved on & got a deal done with Lloyds Banking Group the parent company of BOS which seems strange to me. That would be the bloke in charge of winding up fucked companies. Why should he care if it's Crystal Palace or Bloggs' Hardware?

Leaving after a treble, on the contrary, is the absolute best way to leave a club. The club, Moratti in particular, did not spare a thought for the countless number of managers he has axed without warning for failing to deliver success in a short time. If ruthlessness can work for one party, it has to be expected some time or the other from the other side as well. Mourinho is that side. He cares only about himself, and wants to bring success to every club he goes to, but at the end of the day, he knows his career in football is short, and he has to strike while the iron is hot. I agree in principle, but I distinctly remember Jose wistfully bemoaning the fact that he hadn't seen it through with Porto and gone to the World Club Championship the following season. I can understand jumping ship from Porto into the big league, but to do it again... Real would have come calling again: they're constantly tapping up every top manager (and player) on the sly.

If you have a top job at a bank & you can close compaines down at least have the balls to meet people & let people know who you are. f***ing COWARD Eh? This person cannot "close companies down". They can extend or refuse to extend credit. The fact that the consequences of this person making the only sound decision (to not continue lending money to a company that cannot pay it back) are that a company might go bankrupt has nothing to to with him/her. Any anger should be directed at the management that got the club into the position it's in. The person making that decision knows they will be closing that company down ffs, you even say it yourself. Liverpool bank with the Bank Of Scotland as well could you imagine what it would of been like if some mystery "X " @ the BOS had decided to not extended Liverpool's loan earlier ont he year. I'd have been over the moon: it would have meant the Yanks having to sell up immediately. Liverpool isn't in debt the way Palace or Man Utd is. The debt is not on the club's books, but on the books of the company that owns the club. If the banks had cut off the credit, they would have got the club and the holding company would have gone bankrupt. As things stand, the loan was only extended on the condition that the Yanks immediately start looking for a buyer. The point is, it's not the bloke at the bank that has fucked up royally. It's in no way down to him if he correctly decides to stop letting someone else piss his bank's money into the wind. It's not like this is the first time the bank will have got in touch with Palace, is it? The bank will have been telling them for months if not years to get their shit together, and they didn't.

If you have a top job at a bank & you can close compaines down at least have the balls to meet people & let people know who you are. FUCKING COWARD Eh? This person cannot "close companies down". They can extend or refuse to extend credit. The fact that the consequences of this person making the only sound decision (to not continue lending money to a company that cannot pay it back) are that a company might go bankrupt has nothing to to with him/her. Any anger should be directed at the management that got the club into the position it's in.

Was just about to post something similar to that. Every club so far has "got away with it" in the long terms, while shitting on it's employees in the process. Football probably needs a few higher profile failed administrations before anything will be done about it. In any bankruptcy, it's usually the employees and creditors who lose, not the management. Yep, but it can't keep happening where clubs go into administration because of financial mismanagement (which isn't always the reason in other business sectors) and then come out of the other side of it where the club is then OK but loads of individuals have suffered. Something drastic needs to happen unfortunately. But that's what happens with plenty of "normal" companies, too. Exactly the same thing. The company borrows to invest in its products or services (in this case football), but finds it can't compete, so it goes bankrupt. I mean, I agree entirely with what you're saying, but there's no reason for football-specific regulations. They should introduce legislation making all directors financially or criminally liable for their own negligent management.

Was just about to post something similar to that. Every club so far has "got away with it" in the long terms, while shitting on it's employees in the process. Football probably needs a few higher profile failed administrations before anything will be done about it. In any bankruptcy, it's usually the employees and creditors who lose, not the management.

You'd have to pay me to get me to go to Gillingham, let alone Priestfield. *shudders*

I remember a case a few years ago in Spain, where a small but well-off club bought a higher-ranked but bankrupt club, and took their place in the higher league.

Fairplay to Jose for this it shows a real touch of class. Reckon he'll still leave him on the bench a lot.

The fans will probably hate it, but if he has got Perez's backing, he might well win the lot for them, which usually absolves all sins as far as fans are concerned. It takes one motherfucking arrogant club to think that an all-conquering manager is irrelevant, but if that club exists, it's Real.

There's a lot of animosity towards him amongst Barca fans after Chelsea beat them, when Mourinho and his Chelsea side behaved with their customary class. They call him the Translator. There's probably nothing that would please the Dr-Evil-like Mourinho more than beating Barca as manager of their most hated rivals. Why not? They'll pay him silly money, 'cos he's this year's galactico, and Perez might just maybe possibly let him do his job for the same reason. Even if he gets booted out after a season like everyone else, it doesn't reflect badly on Mourinho: everyone but Real fans knows Perez is to blame for their woes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I88VYnpJUR0&feature=player_embedded Don't think he particularly cares about us as much as people believe. He uses it to motivate, though. But yeah, most of our fans hate him because of that tie and some things he's said over the years. Although he's also said nice things about us. As said, he just boils the kettle when he needs it. Absolutely. I'm sure he would have no problem managing Barca. But I do believe he thinks that beating Barca as Real manager and really pissing of the Barca fans would be a fucking good laugh. Can't you just imagine him sitting there, stroking a white cat and holding a large brandy glass, watching bawling and weeping Barca fans on TV, and smirking to himself?

There's a lot of animosity towards him amongst Barca fans after Chelsea beat them, when Mourinho and his Chelsea side behaved with their customary class. They call him the Translator. There's probably nothing that would please the Dr-Evil-like Mourinho more than beating Barca as manager of their most hated rivals. Why not? They'll pay him silly money, 'cos he's this year's galactico, and Perez might just maybe possibly let him do his job for the same reason. Even if he gets booted out after a season like everyone else, it doesn't reflect badly on Mourinho: everyone but Real fans knows Perez is to blame for their woes.

Was an absolute idiot for leaving Arsenal. Arsenal is such a great team but everyone wants to leave only to regret it later. Have a strong feeling Cesc will regret it when he does finally go. I've heard Hleb, Anelka, Henry(pretty sure) have said that leaving was the biggest mistakes they've made. Anelka said the same about Liverpool, not that he had any choice. Genius mastermind Houllier decided to buy Diouf instead. Great bit of business that was...

From RAWK: http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/263/2en6m3k.jpg