Sport Liverpool Football Club

[Daley]

Not sure if any of you guys were watching the football on BBC just now but Lineker asked Martin O'Neill about Barry. Lineker said Villa have released a statement saying that they have rejected a second bid for him as has been reported and O'Neill confirmed that Barry has told him he wants to go to Liverpool. Seems like a matter of time. I think they will settle for £15m if it is true that they have rejected £13m.

[Ryan]

I remember Ellis trying to argue that he wasn't worth 50k when they stole him from Brighton 10 years ago, when it was obvious even then that he was a fantastic prospect.

[PinkMoon]

I remember Ellis trying to argue that he wasn't worth 50k when they stole him from Brighton 10 years ago, when it was obvious even then that he was a fantastic prospect.

Not sure I remember that, or not quite that way at least. Your point does strike a chord though, even if 'stole' is a little harsh.

The whole tribunal thing that came about with Brighton seemed more to relate to Michael Standing. He and Barry came to Villa from Brighton together, and Standing was the one regarded as the major talent of the pair at that age. That said, Barry was the one who quickly proved himself and got into the first time, while Standing drifted down the leagues. I think the argument over the fee stemmed from the fact that Barry's development (arguably coincidentally) increased exponentially when he came to Villa.

Ellis was pretty good at twisting truths and reinventing facts to suit his own nefarious ends, so any claims he may have made as to Barry's worthlessness should have been taken with a major pinch of salt. Thank fuck the doddery old goat bowed out reasonably gracefully when Lerner came along.

I think we just went OT. Sorry.

[FATEone]

Wow, you're right, that must mean everyone who plays well at a smaller club MUST be shit.

A lot of current world class players were merely 'good' at previous clubs, and I can only see Downing getting better.

no donut, it means that not everyone who is good at a smaller club will necessarily be good at a bigger club!

[Takizawa]

no donut, it means that not everyone who is good at a smaller club will necessarily be good at a bigger club!

Exactly, not everyone... But some.

[FATEone]

We don't. We play with one upfront and even after Crouch leaves we'll still have Babel, Kuyt, Nemeth and Voronin that can play there. Three strikers are enough to compete for one place, we're already pretty overkill in that regard, and if our funds are as limited as they seem we can't afford to strengthen our strike force.

yeah but none of them are good enough to play the lone striker role

[redbloodcell]

I hear Benitez is going to offer an N reg Escort (nice little runner), two tickets to Legoland Windsor and a bag of gobstoppers for him.

They rejected a rumoured £8mil from Spurs before, so I wouldn't expect them to cave for any less.

er Darren Bent scored how many goals for a shit Charlton, has he justified his transfer price at Spurs? I think not. Downing is shit!

Bent has scored 10 goals this season from hardly any opportunities, plus he's been injured for a while, next season he'll get more chances.

Still, Downing isn't the type of player Liverpool should be looking at unless Benitez is worried about FIFA's 6+5 rule getting through.

[Chewylegs]

$tevie G's

What this all about then? You pop into a Liverpool thread given it all the bullshit and you constantly stick this in your posts? If he was about the money he would have gone to Chelsea 3 years ago!

Who do you support again?

[dogsout]

yeah but none of them are good enough to play the lone striker role

Babel and Kuyt are good enough to act as cover. Kuyt played alone upfront a few times for us this season and we did all right in those games. Obviously neither of them are on Torres' level up there but I don't think it's worth spending the £10m+ we'd need to in order to improve on those two, just to bring in somebody as cover. We're on a tight budget and just can't afford to spend on anything but the key areas. I mean, it would be nice to have an understudy for Torres should he get injured for a long spell or something but it isn't a necessity. Kuyt and Babel will suffice, with Voronin and Nemeth backing them up.

[PinkMoon]

What this all about then? You pop into a Liverpool thread given it all the bullshit and you constantly stick this in your posts? If he was about the money he would have gone to Chelsea 3 years ago!

Who do you support again?

Calling him $tevie G is just banter. I fully accept that money is what makes football tick and he'd have been a fool not to exploit his position but he's done some fairly impressive tossing of toys out the pram during the summer break in recent years, to the point of publically declaring that he was looking to leave back in 2005 or 2006 (I forget which)... £100k a week seemed to change his mind, presumably since it must have come with the promise of the pay review that bumped him to £120k a week soon after.

Anyway, I'm just a bitter and twisted old Villa fan so be gentle.

[Commander Jameson]

Anyway, I'm just a bitter and twisted old Villa fan so be gentle.

You know there is a Villa thread? You may find more like-minded people there.

[Meat]

Torres + Villa = Death to opposition

[PinkMoon]

You know there is a Villa thread? You may find more like-minded people there.

Yeah, I know. It's kinda dead though.

Besides, the Barry stuff - which is why I came in here in the first place - concerns both clubs, and I was interested in hearing what Liverpool fans thought about it.

[Hewson]

Yeah, I know. It's kinda dead though.

Besides, the Barry stuff - which is why I came in here in the first place - concerns both clubs, and I was interested in hearing what Liverpool fans thought about it.

Is that why one of your opening posts was:

1. The way your club has conducted itself re: Gareth Barry has been absolutely disgusting, $tevie G in particular. What the fuck has the transfer or Barry's career got to do with Gerrard? Nothing that needs to be spoken about to the press, that's for sure. Cunt.

2. Liverpool could spend £100m outright this summer and still not come close to winning the title.

[PinkMoon]

Is that why one of your opening posts was:

Yeah. Someone even went to fetch popcorn or pulled up a chair or something. I got a response. Debate raged. Harsh words rang out loud and true. It was a conversational masterstroke.

All that was lacking was someone in a curly wig and stick-on moustache to tell you all to 'calm down'.

[Twyford]

Yeah. Someone even went to fetch popcorn or pulled up a chair or something. I got a response. Debate raged. Harsh words rang out loud and true. It was a conversational masterstroke.

All that was lacking was someone in a curly wig and stick-on moustache to tell you all to 'calm down'.

You come into the Liverpool thread and start posting hilarious things like $tevie Gerrard, and calling our captain a cunt what do you expect? Blatant trolling, take it to the Villa thread and keep it in there. If we started posting things like Mart£n O'N£ill, A$hley Young, or Gareth BarryLOL in the Villa thread you'd be rightly steaming like some demented dour voiced Brummie kicking off around the Bullring.

This is the Liverpool FC thread, if you've just come in here to troll then do one please.

And yes I do have a curly hairdo and a manly moustache, and am often told to calm down.

[Twyford]

Looks like there may be a problem with Alonso's proposed move to Juventus.

[Guest]

Calling him $tevie G is just banter. I fully accept that money is what makes football tick and he'd have been a fool not to exploit his position but he's done some fairly impressive tossing of toys out the pram during the summer break in recent years, to the point of publically declaring that he was looking to leave back in 2005 or 2006 (I forget which)... £100k a week seemed to change his mind, presumably since it must have come with the promise of the pay review that bumped him to £120k a week soon after.

Anyway, I'm just a bitter and twisted old Villa fan so be gentle.

How much does your club want for a 27 year old midfielder without real pace? £20m?

Cool.

[rjpageuk]

Looks like there may be a problem with Alonso's proposed move to Juventus.

I cant say I am that disappointed with this news, if I had to pick I would probably rather have Alonso than Barry.

[Nate Dogg III]

How much does your club want for a 27 year old midfielder without real pace? £20m?

Cool.

Alonso's only 26 mate.

[larrydavidsanger]

I cant say I am that disappointed with this news, if I had to pick I would probably rather have Alonso than Barry.

I'm with you there

[PinkMoon]

Alonso's only 26 mate.

He was talking to me re: Gareth Barry, as far as I can tell. Barry is 27 and has no real pace.

That slant (for want of a better word) on that Liverpool Echo story is quite interesting. It's kind of presented as bad news, but the status quo (Alonso stays, Barry stays) seems more or less what the supporters of both clubs want.

[Nate Dogg III]

He was talking to me re: Gareth Barry, as far as I can tell. Barry is 27 and has no real pace.

I....I know. I was....never mind.

As someone's already said, in a world where the Carricks and Bents of this world go for close to £20m, where Shaun Jaysus Wright Phillips costs £21m, where Benitez himself hangs a sign saying '£15m' around Crouch's neck... £20m for Barry's hardly unreasonable especially as he looks to become something of an England fixture under Capello. If he has another season like the one just gone that'll be edging towards £25m.

I also agree that Benitez's tactics have been unpleasant - though far from 'disgusting' - though understandable, as this cycle of leak to the press -> publicly avoid saying anything controversial -> leak to the press -> lather, rinse and repeat is as effective as it is Spanish. I can also totally understand why O'Neill is fuming about it and wouldn't be surprised if the rumours about him being prepared to let him go anywhere but Anfield are true.

[PinkMoon]

How much does your club want for a 27 year old midfielder without real pace? £20m?

Cool.

Well... like I said before, if Rafa thinks Barry is the right part of the jigsaw, then things aren't necessarily quite so black and white. I agree that he's no longer a young prospect, nor is he particularly fleet of foot... but you *could* view him as an England regular (and captain briefly, although that's stretching a point a bit) with the best four years of his career ahead of him, who plays better with Gerrard than Lampard/Carrick/Hargreaves etc - all are roughly comparable to Barry and would command fees happily in excess of £15m in the open market.

I dunno... I'd have taken £15m a couple of weeks ago, but given that we don't need to sell I can see why O'Neill is pissed off and being awkward.

[PinkMoon]

I....I know. I was....never mind.

No, I'm with you now. Beer at lunch etc.

[Guest]

Well... like I said before, if Rafa thinks Barry is the right part of the jigsaw, then things aren't necessarily quite so black and white. I agree that he's no longer a young prospect, nor is he particularly fleet of foot... but you *could* view him as an England regular (and captain briefly, although that's stretching a point a bit) with the best four years of his career ahead of him, who plays better with Gerrard than Lampard/Carrick/Hargreaves etc - all are roughly comparable to Barry and would command fees happily in excess of £15m in the open market.

I dunno... I'd have taken £15m a couple of weeks ago, but given that we don't need to sell I can see why O'Neill is pissed off and being awkward.

So you're saying if Liverpool want him and he's the "right part" you're happy at inflating the price?

Yea I guess Gerrard was wrong to want his own price inflated considering his importance to the team/status as the best midfielder in the country. How DARE he.

[DeNeo]

An Italian newspaper is reporting we've agreed a fee of £14m for Alonso

There's no way we should be going above £15m for Barry. I can see why Benitez is wanting him - he's a different player to Alonso, so it's hard to compare the 2 - but I still think Alonso is worth more, especially an on-form Alonso. It's the English over-inflation again. Barry was captain for half an international - let's increase the price by another couple of million! I'd rather we kept Alonso and spent money on other areas of the first team.

Well no, I'd rather if we wanted Barry, we could actually afford to not have to sell our players to pay for him - but that doesn't look like it's going to change for a while...

We're going to be a bit screwed come the Olympics if Alonso goes - we're going to lose 2 central midfielders to that.

[Guest]

The new french kid can step up, right?

[FATEone]

At the end of the day, English inflation or not, Barry is a good buy at 15 mill and still a good buy at 18 mill. You are buying a quality player about to hit his prime, who doesn't rely on pace and therefore will have a longer prime like Scholes for instance. You are also buying a player that can more than adequately cover a left back, left/right wing, left/right wing forward, central midfield and even central defence positions, he has played in each one before.

So, as much as I absolutely love Alonso, he doesn't have that same versatility. Obviously money aside, if I was a liverpool fan, and even as just an admirer, I would love to see both at the pool, but that doesn't seem likely.

[dogsout]

Great post, I completely agree. And I'm a massive fan of Alonso.

The new french kid can step up, right?

Plessis will hopefully be able to fill the gap adequately, yes.