Right, can you all take this else where please and keep this thread for discussion on Liverpool FC. Cheersā¦
FFS- why all the thriftyness- the question isnt whether 7million is too much- the question is would he add to the team
No
Iām not sure you understand what pedantic means.
Kev, I know what youāre saying but most of the factors that would influence a burnout in March (which only KIB has referred to) are caused by factors external to the player - i.e. pre-season, training regime, number of games played, being asked to play through injuries (which is something OāNeill has repeatedly done with Petrov). You raise the possibility of ātraining ageā being a factor. I doubt it is, Iām sure itās more to do with how and when he is utilised. My point is that the player has been renowned for his energy levels and stamina and I frankly donāt believe he just hits a wall every March because he has poor stamina.
Anyway he would be a good signing for Liverpool if he did go there, however unlikely that is. Holds the centre of the park while not restricting himself in getting up and down the pitch. Comfortable on the ball too and plenty of European and international experience.
Ya iām not really agreeing with the point on Petrov, i honestly wouldnāt see enough of him to judge, but it was a point that could be made imo, thats all.
Villa have squad problems though, was only setting up my Fantasy team there the other night and i saw how threadbare they are, Bolton for instance ( a smaller less fashionable club with less money afaik) have a far bigger squad, with a number of guys who could ādo a jobā as well. Villa lack there, and it catches them every year.
Anyway, sorry Liverpool chaps, back to the that other club with unrealistic expectations.
what is the point in Villa having a squad. MON used the least amount of players in 08/09 in the EPL and the second least last year as far as I know. If his selection policies are to blame for Petrov failing to see out 90 mins progressively worse as the season goes on I dont know. In any case the Petrov that came to Villa was not the energetic player he was in Glasgow 7 years ago. He is incredibly one paced these days and I think that is a major flaw as a holding midfielder. It is a tad simplistic to say he gets to March and then hits a wall something I never insinuated but rocko has a tendency to try hang his argument on a perceived point so it is to be expected.
my last point on the matter. it will save rocko putting up his standard post too.
The clown that no one laughs at, they all just wish heād die.
Heās got no style, heās got no grace, heās banal and facile, heās a fat waste of space
See his pug nose face.
Eh, maybe if he had a bigger squad he could use them?
Its a particularly idiotic post. Just arguing for the sake of it.
Fabio Aurelio has rejoined liverpool
Rumours going around all week that he would. Good to have some coverā¦
Typical pre season fare today, Liverpool yet again failed to score which is a bit if a worry but it was far from the first team . Good run out for the young lads and 15 year old Raheem Sterling came on for 10mins to make his first team debut.
I see Liverpool are being linked with a 10m swoop for standard Liegeās Steven Defour as replacement for Mascheranoā¦ Is this guy up to much??? Apparently utd are sniffing around him too.
no he follows the formula of playing the same eleven week in week out. bar injuries or a drastic run of bad form - squad players are only bench warmers in his eyes.
a typical bench at villa last season included guzan, reo coker, delph, davies, heskey, sidwell, l young, shorey - all MON signings prob up on 50m worth of talent and he rarely used them. you are suggesting he needs a bigger squad :rolleyes:
i shouldnt be debating football with you.
Liverpoolās ownership battle picked up pace yesterday when it emerged that Kenny Huang was in negotiations with Royal Bank of Scotland to take control over of Anfield.
Huang, who is partnered by one of the biggest sovereign wealth funds in the Far East, is determined to wrest control of the club from Tom Hicks and George Gillett before the transfer window closes. Last month, the Chinese tycoon made approaches to a number of key figures at Anfield to emphasise the seriousness of the bid in an attempt to forestall a summer exodus of players.
Fernando Torres, who reports back to training today, will be asked to delay any decision on his future until the outcome of the takeover is known.
Liverpool have been up for sale since April, when the American owners appointed Martin Broughton, the British Airways chairman, to oversee any deal. However, as late as last week no viable bidder had come to the table and Broughton has not moved the process on.
Hicks and Gillett too over at Anfield three years ago in a leveraged buyout and owe RBS in the region of Ā£237 million. The bank extended the loan after the appointment of Broughton but has become increasingly agitated at the lack of bidders. Hicks has consistently stated an asking price of Ā£800 million but business analysts consider this figure unrealistic, with Ā£325 million a more reasonable pricetag. The Huang approach guarantees RBS, which is under public ownership, the repayment of the vast majority of the loan as the Chinese bid guarantees to clear Liverpoolās debt.
Huang has an impressive track record as head of QSL Sports, a Hong Kong-based investment company. He was instrumental in bringing Yau Ming, the basketball superstar, to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA. Sources close to the Chinese said that Hueng was eager to push the deal through rapidly to make use of the transfer window. Roy Hodgson, the manager, would be given significant funds to add to a squad that dropped out of the top four and the Champions League places last season.
A successful Chinese-backed Liverpool would allow the new owners to make significant inroads in the vast Far Eastern market, which has emerged as the financial Holy Grail to Premier League clubs over the past decade. New senior staff would be brought to Anfield to spearhead the drive into Asia.
As well as generating revenue in overseas markets, Huang plans to build a new stadium as quickly as possible. The Americans made a similar promise in February 2007, pledging that ground would be broken on the Stanley Park site within 60 days but work has still not started on the new Anfield.
There are growing concerns at Anfield that Liverpool co-owner George Gillett is trying to slow down a takeover that falls short of his Ā£600million valuation, by drafting in rival bidders.
Gillett is worried that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which is owed Ā£300m by the club, are holding talks with potential buyers who would give him a smaller return on his investment.
Middle East businessman Yahya Kirdi re-emerged as a potential investor yesterday for the second time in four months and is said to be the Americanās preferred option.
The former Syria football international, who claims to represent a consortium of wealthy Arab businessmen, is reported to have been introduced to senior figures from Anfield and RBS.
But Kirdi, who is a close friend of Gillettās son Foster, was dismissed as a serious option when he was linked with Liverpool in April and talks broke down.
Former Celtic player Andy Lynch, the man tasked with brokering those talks, claimed afterwards that Gillett had reneged on a deal. Club sources insist that no bid is expected from Kirdi or his backers on this occasion.
Falling short: Gillett is said to want Ā£600m for the club, more than the potential buyers with whom RBS are negotiating have offered
Falling short: Gillett is said to want Ā£600m for the club, more than the potential buyers with whom RBS are negotiating have offered
Liverpool chiefs and RBS, who are obliged to listen to any proposals put forward by Gillett and co-owner Tom Hicks, fear Gillett is simply using the Syrianās interest to buy himself time to find an investor who will meet the valuation set by the American co-owners.
RBS gave the pair a six-month extension on the Ā£100m repayment that was due last month in the hope of avoiding a fire sale of the club that have won five European Cups but are out of this seasonās Champions League.
But a deal may be scuppered by Gillett, who has reopened negotiations with ex-Syrian footballer Yahya Kirdiāthe man believed to be the face of another major consortium interested in buying the Merseyside club.
Should RBS accept the offer from the Chinese consortium it would end Hicks and Gillettās spell in charge of Liverpool, a tenure dominated by power struggles with former manager Rafael Benitez and serious financial turmoil
Itās Yao Ming and he plays with the Houston Rockets. :mad:
Reading that, Liverpool arenāt in good shape at all. Theyāre just drifting along until they can get new owners and all that debt repaid.
Chinese businessman Kenny Huang is one of āseveralā potential buyers to submit a bid to Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton, BBC Sport understands.
Huang, who is the head of Hong Kong-based investment company QSL Sports Ltd, values the club at about Ā£325m.
But it is understood that as many as six bids were submitted last week.
Broughton and investment bank Barclays Capital, who are leading the sale, will elect a preferred bidder by the end of next week.
Huang has been talking for several weeks to representatives of the Royal Bank of Scotland, with the aim of taking full control of the Reds, who have been up for sale since April this year.
Liverpoolās main creditor, RBS is owed about Ā£237m by American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
While RBS has told the BBC it is not negotiating directly with Huang, it is understood he is mounting a credible bid.
Huang is offering to clear Liverpoolās debt to RBS, and give new manager Roy Hodgson funds to do business in the transfer window.
However, he wants the deal to be completed within two weeks to allow Hodgson time to strengthen the squad before the transfer deadline at the end of August. Any later and the deal is off.
The tycoon also plans to allocate funds that will allow the club to build a new stadium as soon as possible.
Huang is a well-known figure in the Chinese sporting industry and particularly influential in basketball and baseball.
His QSL Sports Ltd company is a partner of Americaās Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team and he is also involved with the New York Yankees baseball outfit.
In 1988, he became the first Chinese college graduate from mainland China to work at the New York Stock Exchange.
Huang was reported to have turned down the chance to buy Liverpool in 2008 because he felt a valuation of Ā£650m was too high.
Hicks and Gillett bought the Reds in February 2007 in a deal that valued the club at Ā£218.9m - Ā£44.8m of which was club debts.
But the American duo have endured a difficult time at Anfield, with supporters regularly voicing their dissatisfaction at the level of debt taken on by the club after their buyout.
Last October, several hundred Liverpool fans staged a protest march against the owners ahead of their Premier League match against Manchester United.
The boardās popularity with the fans disintegrated further when Hicksā son, Tom Hicks Jr, became embroiled in a row with a supporter who alleged the American had sent him abusive emails.
As a result, Hicks Jr resigned as a director of the club and parent company Kop Holdings, leading to a restructure of the board.
Gillett and Hicks have also endured a fractious relationship with each other, which early on in their reign threatened to undermine their ownership with the former revealing the partnership had become āunworkableā.
In 2008, Hicks blocked Gillettās moves to sell his 50% share to Dubai International Capital group as the pair feuded over future plans for the club.
An outright Ā£500m takeover bid by the DIC group was also rebuffed, with Hicks hinting he would attempt an outright takeover bid of his own.
They subsequently patched up their differences but took the decision less than four months ago to put the club up for sale, insisting there had been numerous expressions of interest in a buyout.
British Airways boss Broughton was brought in as Liverpool chairman in April to facilitate the sale of the club and along with Hicks and Gillett is part of a five-man board at Liverpool that also includes chief executive Christian Purslow and commercial director Ian Ayre.
I can see this potential takeover being another long dragged out story and at a loose end. The club is in so much debt by the time its paid off another new owner will be strapped and the new stadium and big name signings will once again be shelved.
That would suit those yank bastards down to the ground as they look to strip the club for everything they can. They have made false claims of several bogus offers to try and drag the situation out for as long as possible and to also hopefully start a bidding war. They estimate the club to be worth 600-800m, which is ludicrous, hence the reason Huang is going after the debt, if he gets it he can call it in straight away. Not sure if I can see the bank selling on debt tho ??
Itāll be a non-runner till the yanks make substantial profit Im sure.