For once in my life, I am happy even if Liverpool lose. But of course if Chelsea win the league instead of manure.

Ooooh you just dont know the meaning of rivalry do you?
Its ok you are practising profanity here. Using f words and all. Go on and feel proud.
We Liverpool is not even the 2nd best team in England. But do you know the MU-Liverpool rivalry is the biggest in English footbal

I have stayed in England long enought o understand this. *DUH*

Finance expert predicts bleak Liverpool future

Liverpool's asking price for a takeover may be as much as an inflated £800 million, according to analysis from a leading City expert in football finance.
And David Bick, Chairman of Square 1 Consulting, argues that Liverpool are in urgent need of a "rescue" package rather than a takeover, as the club need to move from their crumbling Anfield to a new stadium, and are in danger of losing star players such as Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard.
Bick is an advisor to Keith Harris, who has been behind two abortive takeover bids for the stricken club in the recent past, and says City sources have informed him that even the reduced price the two American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett might accept, £500 million, is far too high, saying: "Rumours abound of a price being asked from £500 million up to an incredible £800 million."

While Harris is a leading light in the 'Red Knights' group heavily linked with trying to buy out the Glazers at Manchester United, Bick has focused on their North-West rivals and warns of an impending £10 million fee to be imposed by the Royal Bank of Scotland to extend bank-loan facilities for a further six months.

And Bick suggests that, while the club is due to publish and publicise a £35 million profit, there are huge similarities with the recent Manchester United bond issue launched after a similar posting of a putative financial gain.

As part of their bond prospectus, United were able to claim a £48.2 million profit, having sold Cristiano Ronaldo for £80 million while Liverpool sold Xabi Alonso for £35 million to Real Madrid last summer - almost the exact amount Bick believes will be trumpeted as this year's profit.

In a damning indictment of financial affairs and long-standing neglect at Liverpool, Bick writes in an open letter: "Liverpool has potentially reached its most important historic point. The club has now gone 20 years without winning the English League title. It has never won the Premier League. It was drummed out earlier than expected from this year's Champions League and now, as one of the world's biggest clubs, faces the ignominy and reality of failing to qualify for next season's premier European competition.

"To my mind, the people running the club over the last two decades must bear the bulk of the responsibility and the brunt of the criticism. On a recent visit to Anfield to watch my team, West Ham, play like a pub team with a Force 10 hangover, one had only to look at the stadium to see the years of dreadful neglect at first hand. Unbelievably, there are still pillars holding up one roof!

"Whether it comes down to incompetence or thoughtless arrogance at Liverpool, we have seen the club left behind by the other great clubs like Arsenal, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea and Spurs. They have rebuilt their stadia to high standards and, largely speaking, to capacities that accommodate their substantial fan bases. Yet all Liverpool fans have heard is talk and a string of broken promises.

"The other clubs have built their revenue streams or attracted owners that have given them the wherewithal to compete effectively at the top of the modern game. It seems to me that the Liverpool fans are being treated to a 'product' that is rooted in the 1970s. Sadly, in very recent times, Liverpool has also been owned by people who have said much and delivered little of the stated vision. Replacing them is a very urgent imperative.

"Liverpool claimed in a recent statement that it has 'overseen a significant improvement in the financial performance of the club since 2007'. Well, that's difficult to assess. The management has not published accounts for Kop Football (Holdings) Limited - the main trading company - since the filing for the year to 31 July 2008 and, in that year, the business showed net losses of over £42 million and net interest payments on debt of £35 million not covered at all (let alone adequately) by operating profit - pre-player amortisation and trading - of £25 million.

"Debt remains stubbornly near a reported £240 million, so what profits are produced do not leave much, if anything, for the manager to work with, even if we believe rumours of a £35 million profit for the year that will end this 31 July. In short, Liverpool's financial structure can't work in my opinion and, since the sale of the club in 2007, it was never going to.

"If the manager cannot operate competitively in the transfer market, he has no chance of competing regularly in the top four. We have now seen the first concrete sign of this with the failure to even stay in the top four. Manchester United, a club manfully trying to cope with a similarly onerous financial structure will also, I believe, start to experience similar problems, although their state of decline is nowhere near as advanced as Liverpool's.

"It seems axiomatic to me that Liverpool needs new, responsible owners and new top-flight, football-experienced executive management. It will not be beyond the wit of man, the new well regarded chairman included, to find such a new owner. But first of all, Liverpool needs to stop spinning silly numbers. Rumours abound of a price being asked from £500 million up to an incredible £800 million, the lower of which is, in my view, way over the top for a club in its current condition and by any sensible comparison with Arsenal or Manchester United.

Bick pinpoints the burning issue of a new stadium, a project that has stalled during over three years of American ownership, and says that this can only make any takeover more complicated.

"Financially at least, Liverpool must have a new stadium if it is to have any hope of restoring past glories," he writes. "But the finance for that, and any subsequent financial benefit to owners, must accrue to those who put up the money. In any case, this will not be a conventional acquisition of a football asset - it is more likely now to be a rescue.

"The new owners will need to be people of high calibre. They will need to have access to very large sums of money to build the new stadium, revitalise the management and allow for a well thought-through strengthening of the playing squad."

On the current and much-debated issue of Rafael Benitez's future as Liverpool manager, Bick expresses the pressing need for stability to be restored or else the club could face a doomsday scenario. "Right now, Liverpool is at risk of losing its manager and some of its best players, demoralised by a recent Europa Cup semi-final defeat and a poor season. While no-one is irreplaceable, such an exodus will leave a new owner with an even more difficult task. Therefore, the new chairman of Liverpool needs to act with some swiftness.

"Once decline becomes precipitous, even money may not prevent the decline spiralling into permanency."

Bick's open letter, headed 'Rescuing Liverpool', seen by Soccernet, may well cause shock waves among the Premier League community and not just at Anfield.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id...england&cc=5739

Rafa is a cancer to Liverpool. I hope he f*** off end of this season. Please f*** the hell off to Juve or somewhere.

He's simply not up to the task at hand. He's been living off a fluke CL win for 5 years now and in mid/late October we lost the chance of winning the league(finishing in the top 4 would be huge achievement at that point) and are for all intends and purposes, barring a miracle, out of the CL.

Rafa's tactically inept and the most predictable manager in the league. Nobody needs to watch match footage of Liverpool, they just know how we play. High tempo from the start, try to grab an early goal. and if we do, sit back and defend and try to use Gerrard and Torres to snatch a second goal on the break. Rafa will never make a change in the first half or at half time unless theres an injury and every one knows that between the 60th and 65th minute he will make a change.

His team selection baffles and his substitutions often border on the ridiculous. Countless times whilst chasing games Rafa has replaced an attacking player with a fullback.

His record in the transfer market is awful. And his performance in the last transfer window was the worst since the days of Souness. He spent 17million on a right back we didn't need whilst we were crying out for a top class centreback. The rightback has shown to be awful defensively and his arrival has coincided with our defense falling apart, hardly a coincidence. He dragged the Alonso deal out all summer, got a terrible deal and at the same time alienated all of Alonso's friends. He left it so we had no time to scout and sign the right player. Then he panicked and signed a player who has never proved he's worth anything of the sort, for 20million. This player was not only carrying an existing injury but was known as one of the most injury prone players in Europe. Rafa assured he'd be back in 6-8 weeks but it didnt happen, Aquilani played the first game after nearly three months joining us. He also managed to fall out with Mascherano during this summer.

Rafa has spent a huge amount of money building this team, and HIS team have won NOTHING.

He does nothing but complain and place the blame on everyone else, never accepting that the buck stops with him. It's his fault. No matter what happens, as manager(and having grabbed every bit of power he could) it's his fault. Players are out of form, his fault. He picks the team. Aquilani not played yet, his fault. He bought him knowing he was hurt. No squad depth, his fault. He makes all transfer decision and he's the one that's wasted the clubs funds.

Last season was Rafa's only chance to win the league and Chelski were in a mess and United stumbled through the season and he failed. When he couldn't win it last season it was time to start looking for a new manager. ELEVEN defeats so far this season. Terrible and simply not good enough.

He's lost the players support, he's losing the fans as was evidenced by the mass boos and jeers after Lyon match.

The pro-Rafa brigade have no response except for "it will cost too much to get rid of him" and "who is there to replace him".

In the world of football there are many managers who are more than good enough to replace him and do a far better job. Perhaps an experienced coach, like Del Bosque after the World Cup. Maybe even Capello. Perhaps a Mourinho. Or give youth a chance and go with someone like Laudrup. Get rid of Rafa now and put Sammy Lee and Kenny Dalglish in charge with a two pronged mission, for Sammy, take charge of the team and get them winning again with Kenny acting as mentor/advisor and for Kenny, start compiling a list of possible new managers and get the scouting network watching them instead of wasting their time looking for the next N'Gog. By July we can have a shortlist in place and whittle that down until we can approach the chosen one and make them an offer. Be it a non-National team coach we can have them in place by June 1st and they can have the whole summer to start getting things sorted, or if it's a Del Bosque/Capello type, then have the agreement in place and make the announcement the day after their country gets knocked out.

Getting rid of Rafa will also help in attracting new owners. It's a lot harder to sell a club with a manager who's known to be difficult and who the new owners would have to pay off than it is to tell the new owners that they can pick their own man but that the hunt is already on and that they don't need to worry about severance for the outgoing manager, its all taken care of. With new owners in place, the clubs finances would hopefully be sorted, thus making the club more attractive for a top manager. So really, getting rid of Rafa will work in both cases.

It's time to say thanks for Istanbul Rafa but you're no longer needed here.

RAFA OUT!!

good one mate!

catch up with supporting Rafa campaign

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=36466537835&ref=ts

and this link show there are many of us will want Rafa to stay

http://twitpic.com/1ls3tq

I understand that as a fan, we should back Rafa. In fact, I agree with that wholeheartedly. However this is a forum for discussion and I can't help but look at the situation from all sides. It's what I do. Call it a lack of loyalty, passion or whatever, I cannot help but ask if things could be better? After all, absolutely no one is bigger than the club.

My 2 cents.

No no, its not an article, but more of the vibe i got from the two articles posted earlier.

I think my line of thought was influenced by his opening statement "While "senior sources" at the club (Christan Purslow) try to facilitate a smear campaign against the manager..." which in turn sparked off what i perceive to be a witchunt on the fan forums.

The 'investigative article', although compelling is to me no more than speculation. Speculation and the type of attention that we do not need. Think about it, what good does driving Rafa out do for Purslow? He is afterall a temporary MD, a Hicks & Gilette appointment. Rafa out could mean a probable exodus of players, driving the appeal of LFC for potential investors down. And when new owners come in, its going to be bye bye Purslow anyways.

Smokescreen and excuses imho.

Edit - Seriously, Purslow's a non issue. He will be gone along with the owners, if indeed what they say about him is true. At the moment there is hardly concrete truth about that.

positive news like this should feature more in this thread..not mumbo jumbo bout our club going bust!

i hope RBS will do something to force the yanks to sell the club at a reasonable price rather than what they are demanding now,,,

Seeing the article below made me cry.
A testament to what a great guy he was.
Walk on Benitez, bless you and all the best at Inter.

I'm surprised to see that so many Kopites actually support this kinda campaign. 
I would definitely not wear this kinda shirt 
why?

1. This Viga brand is clearly trying to make a profit here.
2. Since the club is already in deep shit financially, boycotting official merchandise by the fans is the last thing the club needs.
3. It will be demotivating to see so many different voices from different camps of supporters.
4. The words used are insulting and will eventually fire back on ourselves. (MU ran a campaign of their own, but what's the result?)
If he is to make the right decision, Liverpool will be one of the last choices.

while i'm trying to be open minded about this, somehow i do resonate your views.

its no way to treat our new shirt sponsor, certainly no-no to let some people benefit from something that is happening to our club

and i dont see how the shirt gives any message about kicking out our owners. good design, might appeal more to MU and Everton fans

how u guys think?

1. I went through their sales website but there were nothing written about "profit goes to SOS and Hillsborough" kinda thingy. Care to enlighten me?
2. How sure are you? MU fans did a campaign of their own, how successful are they?
3. Even if there are no different voices, how likely G&H will be moved by this?
4. Firstly, it is insulting and being demotivating to the new sponsor, and the double snakes i think are referring to the owners. 

P/S: For those outside Britain, wearing this shirt is plain stupid. At least from my POV. No offense. 

too bad am not in kl bro

but anyway, the most prominent feature of the design is the altered logo of the new sponsors

one look as if it suggests that Standard Chartered is the target here

i think the design is not telling the true story or any message of the campaign

i would love the shirt for the comedy of it, but it does not do the job for me

my 2 cents anyway