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Financial Crisis Is Great News For Liverpool Fans
Mr Harris has whipped up a bit of a storm with his comments about the financial state of Liverpool. Hopefully, there will be a lot of press off the back of this, forcing the Government into vetoing the loan extension in January. This is a great outcome for Liverpool, I'll explain why.
Players can't be sold against their wishes. There are two clubs who could afford Torres (Chelsea/City), and Kenyon said there will be no players bought in January. Torres won't go to City.
There is a £500million offer on the table from Dubai. If the Americans' loan is not extended, they will have to bail out and take this offer. Dubai may even get it cheaper. It finally may mean that we get rid of Jr and Bobby for good.
Their position is irrecoverable, hence their tentative steps to find potential buyers.
It may be positioned as scare mongering but I can't see any result other than a positive one for Liverpool and its fans.
KB (5 times (paragraphs)) Belfast
...'Equity' in this case of course means players, and given that Torres and Babel were purchased using borrowed cash, they will be the most likely candidates to be sold.
I notice that the above excerpt is an F365 opinion rather than a quote from Keith Harris. The majority of Premier League players would have been purchased using borrowed cash and particularly at the bigger clubs. Nobody has the money to pay out up front except Chelsea or Man City if they choose to do so. Chelsea have massive debts as do Manyoo. I doubt anyone at F365 actually owns their own house outright. Chances are there's a mortgage on it. The same as everyone else. If the American duo cannot remortgage their loan they will simply make a call to Amanda Staveley and the club will be sold to Dubai. The bigger reference attributed to Keith Harris in that story is that he has nobody at all interested in buying Everton but then that wouldn't look as good as a 'Liverpool may have to sell Torres' headline.
Darach, Dublin
Conspiracy, Conspiracy, I Tells Thee
So the guy who brokerred Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea says Liverpool are going to go bankrupt and have to sell Torres, Gerrard and Doris the tea lady at the time when Liverpool are level at the top of the table with Chelsea. Hmm, interesting. Anyone else see the talloned fingers of Kenyon working the strings on this bloke?
Jon M, Durham
Gutted About Hargreaves
Can I just say how gutted I am to hear that Owen Hargreaves will be out for the reast of the season?
I really hope that the surgery works and he'll back to his best and injury free as soon as possible, as I feel we have missed him this season and will do from now on.
He was bought to add the necessary steel to United's midfield, which Fergie felt was lacking - particularly for the Champions League, where he was vital in the latter stages of the tournament, especially in the games against Barcelona and was immense in the Final. As good as Carrick and Scholes are when fit, lack of tackling ability, tracking of players and age catching up with them has meant Hargreaves would have been vital to the the defence of our respective crowns.
Otherwise I feel another Kaka-style thrashing in the latter stages of the CL as we don't have the necessary players to contain or at least try and nullify a similar player's threat. Chelsea and Liverpool both have the right sort of defensive midfielder, or Makelele if you will, in Essien/Obi Mikel and Mascherano and is probably why they will fare better than us or Arsenal this year in the CL.
Get well soon Owen!
Finally, if Fergie could find some time to actually run some shooting practice in training, we might actually start converting the multitude of chances we are missing at the moment! Maybe Carlos Queiroz ran shooting pratice too?!?
Pete (still justifyably eating humble pie from the weekend) Ridding, MUFC
Are Bayern Munich Like John Lewis?
Owen Hargreaves is out for the season due to an ongoing tendonitis problem. Presumably the Manchester United medical team did their job correctly and must not have diagnosed this, otherwise his transfer fee seemed quite big for someone who would only be available to play one or two out of every three games. They also signed him up to a three or four-year contract which means they obviously expected him to be able to play the bulk amount of that period. Which begs the question: under the sale of goods and supply of services consumer laws, were United sold a dud product and are thus entitled to a refund or store credit for, say Philipp Lahm or Bastian Schweinsteiger?
Pádraig Fox, Dublin
The End Of Tevez?
Lot of debate around at the moment about Tevez and the fact that he isn't playing at the moment! I think the guy is a fantastic player and really hope we keep him but I don't think that's going to happen, because the question I ask myself is... Who would you drop???
I wouldn't drop Rooney and anyone who says they would quite simply knows f*** all about football. Berbatov is an absolute diamond of a player and although he wasn't particularly great at the weekend will prove a great signing (but a bit expensive). Ronaldo is quite simply undroppable. He was injured over the summer and looked like he was struggling to get back into the swing of things but has still managed to rack up six league goals in eight starts. Tevez, for all his work rate and effort, has managed two goals in ten starts (one of those a penalty last night). Unfortunately that goal ratio isn't good enough and his place on the bench is justified at the moment. He will get more chances throughout the season but barring injuries these may not be in the big games!
As much as it pains me to say it - Jee whizz, didn't the Arse Creche team look s*** hot last night!!!
Tim (nothing to put here this morning) Collins
Arsene Knows
So we haven't won a trophy since 2005 and I'm not convinced that we will win anything this season. Every year we also talk about our kids and when they will become men and make the step-up. Last night showed that it could be getting close. Yes, Wigan had a blatant penalty not given. And the kids at times made some naive mistakes but only a bitter Spurs fan could deny that at times you could have been forgiven for thinking that you had been watching Arsenal's first team last night, such was the quality. The precocious confidence of 16-year-old Jack Wilshere, the power and vision of Aaron Ramsey, the daring trickery of Carlos Vela.
While Liverpool, if reports are to be believed this morning, may have to sell their best bought in talent having spent millions they can't afford and the so-called richest club, Man City, continue to struggle after early promise, the future for Arsenal certainly looks promising. I don't need any response to the fact that we have spent considerable money buying in some of these kids like Vela, Ramsey (and before them Walcott) but, paying in installments as the players develop, it is far from the ridiculous one-off prices that other clubs are forking out for established stars.
We Arsenal fans continually clamour for Wenger to strengthen and bring in some experience and while we continue to be trophyless, this will continue I'm sure but if the kids develop as quickly as they now seem to be doing and if we continue to bring British talent through (six of the starting line up last night), then maybe we can have real confidence - and maybe those outside the club may also start believing - that 'Wenger knows best'. Not just for the future of Arsenal Football Club but for the future of football in general.
Justin Farmer, Islington
...Why didn't we play that team against Stoke, Hull and Fulham? That team has put nine past two 'lesser teams' which the first team would probably have struggled against.
I think we should play the first team against Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool, and the kids against everyone else.
Jay Simpson looks the nuts and if Jack Wilshere aint a first-team player by the end of the season, I will eat my hat.
Danny Painter
Bruce Should Hang His Head In Shame
After watching Arsenal destroy Wigan last night, I found myself asking who should be taking all the credit for these magnificent youngsters coming through? Everyone calls them Wengers kids, yet they appear to be fine-tuned and methodically drilled by the head of youth development there - Chippy Brady. He remains nicely in the background getting on with his work with minimal fuss, more than likely due to the fact he is as articulate as Ian Wright, only Arsenal do a better job than the BBC of gagging their man. Nonetheless, he deserves real credit for the coaching which he gives to the young guns which enables them to transition ever so easily into first-team football (thats as far as my credit-giving towards Arsenal will extend).
Onto the real deal now though. How embarrassed must Steve Bruce be after last night's display? Fielding his full-strength team more or less and only misssing Emily Heskey they got a footballing lesson from a team with an average age of 18.7 or something. It doesnt really say much for his management skills that in effect Arsenal's third team gave them a hiding, now does it? But with Steve being Steve, I'm sure he'll find some decision to moan about that "changed" the game at a crucial stage. Typical..
In certain League Cup games you end up in a no-win situation when playing Arsenal. When Spurs won 7-3 on aggregate last year everyone kept saying it was Arsenal's youth team, even though it had 6-7 capped internationals within it. Last night however, it literally was a kiddy show and Steve Bruce has an awful lot to answer for in the humiliating defeat his team suffered. Fair?
Karl 'isn't it so wrong how Cattermole is probably on more sponds than Vela?', Dublin
Bloody Hell, They Were Good Though...
I'm nothing if not fair and feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon which will roll into this morning's mailbox regarding the Arsenal fringe players who played so adroitly. Even if to so makes me feel like I'm cheating on my wife with her sister.
My main point is the absolute comfort with which these players accept and use the football. Whether collecting it from the keeper, surrounded by opposition players, or baring down on goal in front of 60,000, their sheer comfort and the natural way they simply accepted that this was where they belong and this was what they were born to do was really refreshing. Couple this with the fact that they have not yet reached the age where they have the confidence to cheat or remonstrate and this truly did add to the enjoyment of the match.
I know I will not be alone in saying this this morning but in Wilshere they have an absolute diamond there. I would also like to mention Randall who too was so confident and assured it was frightening. With Ramsey completing that extremely impressive and British midfield trio that really is something to look forward to for Arsenal and the respective countries. To consider Wilshere and Bostock at Spurs are both 16 and both left-footed that really is exciting if you care about the England football team. Add those to the 18-year-old Michael Johnson at City and things really do look healthy for the heartbeat of future England midfields.
I don't think this is simply a case of getting these players but what the Arsenal system does to them once they arrive, whether that is from Mexico, Wales or Islington. As an avid watcher of La Liga I think it is noticeable how much more comfortable the players in Spain are to receive the ball in any position and Arsenal have that in all their players. There is no Jenas-esque rabbit-in-the-headlights reaction to the keeper rolling it out on the edge of your own six-yard box whether that player is surrounded by the opposition or not. The nationality of that player is not relevant to this either which again suggests that the training methods must be the key.
I think all this highlights quite how ridiculous the recent Arsenal fans protestations have been and what a difference a week or two can make in football. I just hope Arsenal can't hold onto these players as I can see them having a really golden period in two-three years time.
I wonder if the Harry Houdini-factor will have worn off by then?
Stephen Marshall, THFC
No, Not Buying The Hype
I can't get excited about Arsenal's youngsters.
Basically every year for the last five their team of expensive youngsters have been ripping up the Carling Cup where they eventually come unstuck in the Semi or the Final against a team who has eventually got themselves so far as to say let's play the proper first team and let's show proper commmitment.
At that point the youngsters come unstuck, quite comically last season against the might of Spurs!!!!
But also please be aware this is an expensive team of everyone else's best youth players assembled not using the manager's nous but rather the world's most expensive scouting budget, a big transfer budget, and also a string of feeder clubs. If this money was actually fed back into the first team instead of their ultra-pretty boys brigade then they might have a decent centre-half or central midfielder to stop the likes of Stoke, Hull or Fulham embarassing them every few games.
Mark 'Cheers the thrashing got Super Super Blades Season up and Running' Greaves, Lufbra
We'll Give You A Knock Next Week
Can somebody wake me up when everyone has stopped salivating over how young Arsenal's youngsters are please?
Tom, London
Loving The Man Robbo
Thought I would comment on Paul Robinson's revival and what seems to be Brad Friedel's steady slope to retirement. When Brad Friedel decided to leave after eight years of loyal service, I believe he was starting to lose it a little. I have never seen a keeper more reluctant to come off his line and due to this we conceded many easy goals, don't get me wrong his shot-stopping ability is top notch but there is more to a Premier League keeper.
Many were surprised and a little worried when we signed Paul Robinson this season (me included) and he was a little nervous in his first few games, an example being Hull when we conceded a soft header after going ahead. Throughout the season he has made a steady revival to top form most noticeably against Chelsea and West Brom (although conceding four goals, strange).
The main point I am trying to make is many Blackburn fans still cherish BF and would have him back over Robinson in a flash, behave. We have a young, world-class and might I add international keeper at our club. BF is gone and all the better for it.
Nick (Grammar is overrated) Naylor
Blackburn: Tight
One of the teachers at school's 4-year-old kid was a mascot at Blackburn v Chelsea at weekend. He won this in a competition. Asked her whether he got given the kit and she said he had to give it back at the end of the game!!!!!!!!! THE TIGHT T***S...They're prepared to pay £20,000-a-week wages for each player yet won't pay cost of a kit for a 4-year-old mascot...cost price, what? £5? Do the players know this? What a disgrace. And get this, it normally costs £350!!!!!!!!!
Andrew Smith
And Finally...
If Andy Cole has announced his retirement from professional football, does that mean he's gonna play for Stoke City?
Tony Rogers
