So on Monday night Man City trounced Liverpool 3-0 and it got me thinking, it’s ironically funny how right now these two teams wished they were the other one. Liverpool, a team with an endless history, trophies bursting out the cabinet (even if it hasn’t been opened for a while) and set in football tradition and Man City, with a stupidly rich owner, no debts & some of the most expensive players on the planet. Liverpool wish Shake Mansour had bought them and was sorting out their financial woes whilst Man City wish they had Liverpool’s history and standing in the football world so they could attract some of the truly great players (i.e. Torres) rather than a bunch of very over paid mercenaries (Yaya Toure isn’t worth £200k a week). However right now both teams stand on the brink of massive problems and, sadly typical of this day and age, it all involves money.
Liverpool are in dire straits and anyone can see that, it’s been reported in the press that Kenny Huang pulled out of the deal to buy the club because he felt they were wasting time and being unnecessarily slow with the things they needed to do because, as far as he was aware, he was the only viable bidder. If he really had billions and billions of pounds to his name, and looking at the history of his involvement with sports in China and the U.S it’s hard to think he didn’t have the cash needed then why did Liverpool mess him around? Despite Martin Broughton being bought in to help speeding through the sale of the club ultimately Hicks & Gillette are still the owners and apparently tried everything they could to stop the Chinese buying there club from them. Now not only do Liverpool look on the verge of missing out on a transfer window they sorely need to strengthen with quality player’s but there is a very real chance they will either be stuck with the two Americans for another 6 months, the debts pilling up and interest continuing to accrue on these debts. The other major worry for Liverpool fans must be the figure of RBS in the background, who apparently Huang went to first to try and buy the clubs debt and force his way in through the back door so to speak.
When Hicks & Gillette refinanced the £237m loan in April RBS were in a strong position because no one else wanted to take the debt on given the club had failed to repay £100m of the debt by an agreed date (it was June but it had to be repaid before the date or refinancing the loan). This meant they forced Hicks & Gillette out as chairmen and also told them they had no choice but to sell the club, RBS aren’t exactly in a strong position themselves and would rather get their money back and wash their hands of the situation. The overall point is that Liverpool are in dire financial trouble and if no buyer is found buy 6th October there is a very real chance that RBS will step in to find a buyer and take control of the club, putting it in administration to remove Hicks & Gillette as an obstacle in the sale of the club and Liverpool fans will be crying out for a Man City type sheik owner willing to through the cash around.
Man City on the other hand are the envy of fans worldwide with their bottomless pit of money, although so far they haven’t signed ‘World’ names they’ve really pushed on this summer signing Yaya Toure & David Silva, two leading lights from La Liga but they fall short of tempting people like Torres or Kaka because they are still seen as a smaller club with no history. Before City fans go mad trying to claim they are a big club now, the fact is they aren’t. They are not in the Champions League this season, have not won a title since 1967-68 and aren’t a well known name around world football except for the fact they now have lots of money. The other problem of course is the fact they don’t seem to have any structure at the club, the way they dealt with Mark Hughes was just a total farce and Garry Cook is a total clown who clearly isn’t a football man. The way he dropped the ball with the Kaka deal was just hilarious to fans outside of City and proved that he isn’t capable of dealing at the kind of level City now want to operate.
Whilst on the pitch Liverpool will continue to struggle with average players except for Torres (who won’t stick around forever) & Gerrard as well as a manager who’s been brought in to bring stability and a clear head to the club. I like Hodgson and he seems a very nice level headed guy, but he wasn’t bought in for his tactical nous or his ‘big name’ to keep players at the club and attract others, he was bought in to steady the ship & maybe sneak a good cup run but he is not a top 4 manager and he isn’t a tactician that can see things on the pitch and change them with a sneaky substitution or half time tactical change – this was clearly obvious in the City game.
City on the other hand need to realise you can’t just go out and buy a team and expect success over night, yes they did well beating Liverpool but they aren’t the force they once were and you need to measure yourselves against the clubs you want to be competing with which brings me to the Spurs game. For those with short memories Spurs also went to City playing a 4-4-2 formation and if it hadn’t been for Joe Hart having an excellent game they would have lost, and this season it will be Spurs & City chasing 4th place. Mancini is a man under pressure, with nearly £130m spent this summer on new players he will be expected to deliver and if come Christmas time City aren’t in 4th or close to it he can expect to receive his P45 just like Hughes did, and I personally think this would be a step forward for City because I think Mancini is to set in the ‘Italian style’ to break the top 4. When Spurs went to City last season in the game that basically decided 4th he played a defensive 4-5-1 when an attacking formation was the order of the day, City needed the win and didn’t get it. City need a manager that will take risk’s and get results that are needed not adopt a safety first approach and Mancini isn’t that man I don’t think. However if City do get rid of him a manager they might be interested in would be Martin O’Neill who might well be able to do a job there, but that’s a long way off.
Showing posts with label Liverpool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Liverpool. Show all posts
Thursday, 26 August 2010
Thursday, 3 June 2010
The ongoing Liverpool saga
I was going to start doing a review of the World Cup groups now all the final squads have been announced however the recent news coming out of Anfield was just to big to ignore
It is widely expected in the next 48 hours for the official announcement of Liverpool parting company with manager Rafa Benitez more than likely by 'mutual consent' marking the end of an era at Anfield. Rafa has clearly been a corner stone for Liverpool and even went as far as ousting Rick Parry and taking control of nearly all aspects of the club, except the one that matters - funds. It appears this split has come about because Rafa Benitez has told the Liverpool owners that he will need much more than the £15m they are offering him this summer to compete with Man City & Tottenham for 4th place, but due to the huge amount of debt on the club (reported to be around £350m) and the lack of champions league football they can't afford to give him any more, and here the problems lie.
Football fans seem to be divided in the Rafa discussion - including Liverpool fans. Think what you want about Rafa there is no denying that he is a clever guy and he knows that £15m won't cover the shortfall of players now let alone once the clubs above them have finished spending, with this sort of money there is a massive risk of the gap between Liverpool and teams above them opening to a much bigger cup and leaving Liverpool in huge difficulties - a lot of the money that has been borrowed is based on future earnings involving champions league games & prize money. If the papers are to be believed then Steven Gerrard has already decided enough is enough and he's getting ready to move to Real Madrid and whilst this will generate much needed funds, if it happens and I'm not as sure as the press it will, however one of Rafa's concerns will be he won't be able to use all of the funds as some will have to go to servicing the interest on the loans. Rafa knows that his reputation in Europe is still intact (2 CL finals including one win and another semi final over 5 years looks impressive)and could very well have decided he'd rather not risk his reputation on the sinking ship that appears to be Liverpool when he could leave now and pick his next job in a better situation - Inter Milan are looking for a new manager and he has been strongly linked to them now Capello is seemingly out the running.
The bigger problem now facing Liverpool and their fans is who will not only be prepared to take the job on but be able to move them forward on this budget? Roy Hodgson has been mentioned several times but i don't know if he'd want to take the job on, at Fulham he has overachieved massively against very basic and realistic targets were as at Liverpool he will certainly be faced with a much tougher chance and may not want to give up his 'comfort zone' for a club with huge debts and much harder targets. Of course Kenny Dalglish is already at the club working with the academy and could be considered an option, cheaper and in house, an Anfield icon both as player and manager so he would probably get more leeway from the fans but would he want to get back in to management? He said not so long ago that he doesn't really have an interest in returning to management but could he resit the call of a club so close to his heart? When sky sports news broke the story some Liverpool fans where mailing in saying it was a shame this didn't happen earlier so they could try and get Jose Mourinho - this would never happen, firstly because Mourinho had one eye on the Real job since last summer and secondly Mourinho wouldn't want to work under that kind of restrictive budget. Other than those 2 there isn't really a name that stands out, Guus Hiddink would be a good choice but he doesn't want to leave Turkey so soon after joining them and seems happier in international football. Maybe Jurgen Klinsmann could be a candidate but he might not be prepared to leave his base in California and his spell at Bayern Munich was nothing short of a disaster, Martin O'Neill seems to be an early favourite but i don't think he would want to leave a club where he has a good relationship with the owner who has funds to a club in serious financial difficulties and who's owners could change soon
Which leads to the main issue with Liverpool at the moment, Tom Hicks & George Gillette. They are basically the Laurel & Hardy of football owners, a laughing stock to everyone looking at them, it was only a few days ago Hicks claimed there would be 'significant funds' made available to Rafa - clearly this isn't the case or he needs a reality check because £15m isn't significant in the premiership for a team pushing for 4th. Every time these guys open their mouths it seems to make them more and more a laughing stock and its a real shame that a club with the history of Liverpool have been allowed to end up in this state, 2 owners wanting an unrealistic amount for the club and not even clearing the debts before selling - only a Liverpool fan with the deepest of pockets could afford to pay £800m for the club, £350m to clear the debts then make money available to spend with out at least having the income of champions league football to cover at least some of it. It's hard to see how this problem can be fixed in the short term, in the long term someone will step in but it will be a while before the Americans swallow their pride and lower the asking price.
Its certainly going to be an interesting few days around Anfield and I'm sure more stories will leak over the next few days revealing more about this split (when i started writing the blog it was just rumours now its confirmed, Rafa has gone for around £6m, much less than the £16m expected) and I'm sure its not just because of the bad season last season and I'm also sure Gerrard doesn't need this on his mind during the world cup and its another distraction in the Spain camp obviously affecting Torres along with the ongoing Cesc/Barca fiasco.
As usual i can be reached at Buster_5265@hotmail.com, twitter as Buster_5265 or comments below, thanks for taking the time to read, over the next few days i plan on reviewing all the world cup teams & groups before the tournament starts in 9 days!!
It is widely expected in the next 48 hours for the official announcement of Liverpool parting company with manager Rafa Benitez more than likely by 'mutual consent' marking the end of an era at Anfield. Rafa has clearly been a corner stone for Liverpool and even went as far as ousting Rick Parry and taking control of nearly all aspects of the club, except the one that matters - funds. It appears this split has come about because Rafa Benitez has told the Liverpool owners that he will need much more than the £15m they are offering him this summer to compete with Man City & Tottenham for 4th place, but due to the huge amount of debt on the club (reported to be around £350m) and the lack of champions league football they can't afford to give him any more, and here the problems lie.
Football fans seem to be divided in the Rafa discussion - including Liverpool fans. Think what you want about Rafa there is no denying that he is a clever guy and he knows that £15m won't cover the shortfall of players now let alone once the clubs above them have finished spending, with this sort of money there is a massive risk of the gap between Liverpool and teams above them opening to a much bigger cup and leaving Liverpool in huge difficulties - a lot of the money that has been borrowed is based on future earnings involving champions league games & prize money. If the papers are to be believed then Steven Gerrard has already decided enough is enough and he's getting ready to move to Real Madrid and whilst this will generate much needed funds, if it happens and I'm not as sure as the press it will, however one of Rafa's concerns will be he won't be able to use all of the funds as some will have to go to servicing the interest on the loans. Rafa knows that his reputation in Europe is still intact (2 CL finals including one win and another semi final over 5 years looks impressive)and could very well have decided he'd rather not risk his reputation on the sinking ship that appears to be Liverpool when he could leave now and pick his next job in a better situation - Inter Milan are looking for a new manager and he has been strongly linked to them now Capello is seemingly out the running.
The bigger problem now facing Liverpool and their fans is who will not only be prepared to take the job on but be able to move them forward on this budget? Roy Hodgson has been mentioned several times but i don't know if he'd want to take the job on, at Fulham he has overachieved massively against very basic and realistic targets were as at Liverpool he will certainly be faced with a much tougher chance and may not want to give up his 'comfort zone' for a club with huge debts and much harder targets. Of course Kenny Dalglish is already at the club working with the academy and could be considered an option, cheaper and in house, an Anfield icon both as player and manager so he would probably get more leeway from the fans but would he want to get back in to management? He said not so long ago that he doesn't really have an interest in returning to management but could he resit the call of a club so close to his heart? When sky sports news broke the story some Liverpool fans where mailing in saying it was a shame this didn't happen earlier so they could try and get Jose Mourinho - this would never happen, firstly because Mourinho had one eye on the Real job since last summer and secondly Mourinho wouldn't want to work under that kind of restrictive budget. Other than those 2 there isn't really a name that stands out, Guus Hiddink would be a good choice but he doesn't want to leave Turkey so soon after joining them and seems happier in international football. Maybe Jurgen Klinsmann could be a candidate but he might not be prepared to leave his base in California and his spell at Bayern Munich was nothing short of a disaster, Martin O'Neill seems to be an early favourite but i don't think he would want to leave a club where he has a good relationship with the owner who has funds to a club in serious financial difficulties and who's owners could change soon
Which leads to the main issue with Liverpool at the moment, Tom Hicks & George Gillette. They are basically the Laurel & Hardy of football owners, a laughing stock to everyone looking at them, it was only a few days ago Hicks claimed there would be 'significant funds' made available to Rafa - clearly this isn't the case or he needs a reality check because £15m isn't significant in the premiership for a team pushing for 4th. Every time these guys open their mouths it seems to make them more and more a laughing stock and its a real shame that a club with the history of Liverpool have been allowed to end up in this state, 2 owners wanting an unrealistic amount for the club and not even clearing the debts before selling - only a Liverpool fan with the deepest of pockets could afford to pay £800m for the club, £350m to clear the debts then make money available to spend with out at least having the income of champions league football to cover at least some of it. It's hard to see how this problem can be fixed in the short term, in the long term someone will step in but it will be a while before the Americans swallow their pride and lower the asking price.
Its certainly going to be an interesting few days around Anfield and I'm sure more stories will leak over the next few days revealing more about this split (when i started writing the blog it was just rumours now its confirmed, Rafa has gone for around £6m, much less than the £16m expected) and I'm sure its not just because of the bad season last season and I'm also sure Gerrard doesn't need this on his mind during the world cup and its another distraction in the Spain camp obviously affecting Torres along with the ongoing Cesc/Barca fiasco.
As usual i can be reached at Buster_5265@hotmail.com, twitter as Buster_5265 or comments below, thanks for taking the time to read, over the next few days i plan on reviewing all the world cup teams & groups before the tournament starts in 9 days!!
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