Raheem Sterling (Liverpool -> Man City)

mickey owen mentality: while you're worth the hype, advance your career by joining bigger organisation. Because you'll never know if another opportunity like Real comes knocking again.

That's when you don't have confidence in yourself that you'll become world class next time. So you join Real and end up rotting on their bench.

Let's see how strong Raheem is mentally.

In any case professional sports is all about utilising your resources better than your rivals are. Thinking otherwise is burying your head in the sand.

Of course it is, but this is where our opinions seem to differ MASSIVELY. I would prefer if our owners invested in quality instead of the 2nd level dice rolling approach that has typified our transfer policy since they came in. By that I mean delivering on the 2/3 players of "genuine quality" that the manager alluded to in the summer when asked what he wanted ahead of next season when it became clear that Luis was moving on.

As for Sterling, it does sound like the deal will get signed in the very near future which is fantastic news for all concerned with the club. But the debate itself in this thread has been an interesting one and has really shown a big divide in terms of where our fans see the future of the club, and how it should go about it's business.

No they probably wouldn't.

I find it quite disappointing though that we're going down the route of giving players whatever they want just so we can flog them five minutes later.

I don't think we are though mate, I think Suarez is being held as a benchmark far too often for these kind of things. Suarez was an absolute gem and a one-off in footballing and business sense and shouldn't be used as a yardstick. We increased Danny and Stevie's wages when we needed to.

Apart from Suarez, don't think we have lost any player against our wishes since Owen (Torres clearly isn't in that category as he became sh*te).

The only sign of anything else wrong was when BR publicly had a dig at the agent, but apart from that, we don't actually know what's going on in the background. I'm actually confident he will sign. All the indications are there that he is happy, motivated and wants to stay for a while.

No they probably wouldn't.

I find it quite disappointing though that we're going down the route of giving players whatever they want just so we can flog them five minutes later.

No better example than merely promising Luis Suarez loadsa dosh and world class team mates the following season.
Obviously the promises weren't worth a carrot/ he looked more favourably on the offer in front of him/ he was unhappy with the regime at LFC/ somebody was telling porkies; any of those propositions sit well on the shoulders of JWH & Co.

No better example than merely promising Luis Suarez loadsa dosh and world class team mates the following season.
Obviously the promises weren't worth a carrot/ he looked more favourably on the offer in front of him/ he was unhappy with the regime at LFC/ somebody was telling porkies; any of those propositions sit well on the shoulders of JWH & Co.

Using Suarez as a stick to beat the owners is a pretty idiotic one. Once Barca were in for him, it was game over for us. It was just how much we could get for him and we probably got the most we could given his bite lost us some wiggle room with negotiations.

Of course it is, but this is where our opinions seem to differ MASSIVELY. I would prefer if our owners invested in quality instead of the 2nd level dice rolling approach that has typified our transfer policy since they came in. By that I mean delivering on the 2/3 players of "genuine quality" that the manager alluded to in the summer when asked what he wanted ahead of next season when it became clear that Luis was moving on.

As for Sterling, it does sound like the deal will get signed in the very near future which is fantastic news for all concerned with the club. But the debate itself in this thread has been an interesting one and has really shown a big divide in terms of where our fans see the future of the club, and how it should go about it's business.

Or maybe it shows a divide as to how people see Sterling's talent?

Using Suarez as a stick to beat the owners is a pretty idiotic one. Once Barca were in for him, it was game over for us. It was just how much we could get for him and we probably got the most we could given his bite lost us some wiggle room with negotiations.

Not beating anyone mate, those are facts.

Not beating anyone mate, those are facts.

Right. Facts...

If you wanted to find a proper example, you could have said Torres. He came out and said promises were broken and he wanted to go to a "big club".

Right. Facts...

If you wanted to find a proper example, you could have said Torres. He came out and said promises were broken and he wanted to go to a "big club".

We were talking about Suarez and FSG.

We were talking about Suarez and FSG.

You were saying Suarez was pissed off, had promises broken, looked more favourably on the offer in front him and yet all that is down to opinions based on hearsay whilst Torres pretty much said all of the above was the reason he left.

Or maybe it shows a divide as to how people see Sterling's talent?

I don't think the variations in how his talent is perceived (I think virtually everyone agrees he is very talented) are anywhere near as vast as the differences in opinion in terms of wages ceilings, tolerance of player demands and how to handle a potential contract wrangle. I've been pretty shocked at some of the views on this aspect.

You were saying Suarez was pissed off, had promises broken, looked more favourably on the offer in front him and yet all that is down to opinions based on hearsay whilst Torres pretty much said all of the above was the reason he left.

Not hearsay mate when our owners carry on like that all the time.
JWH came out with a none specific apology after KD was sacked because their unpalatable means of operating was in danger of being exposed.
Time will tell, JWH knows as much and is why he F***ing waffles about ''long term aspiration'' and anything else that may question his commitment or lack of.

so finally Sterling has come out and said he is close to signing a new deal to me close means by the end of the week only time will tell as we are all just guessing at the moment. i think 100K a week is justified by the goals and importance of him but with imcrements each year depending on if targets are met.
anything more than that is sickening for someone with still so much to prove but that's the going rate these days for top playes i suppose which is a downside of the game.

No better example than merely promising Luis Suarez loadsa dosh and world class team mates the following season.
Obviously the promises weren't worth a carrot/ he looked more favourably on the offer in front of him/ he was unhappy with the regime at LFC/ somebody was telling porkies; any of those propositions sit well on the shoulders of JWH & Co.

They didn't yell lies stuey promising  luis  Suarez world class team mates, they just omitted to say it would not be with Liverpool.

Mate he is just 20.Probably the best 20 year old in Europe.Suarez had his prime at 27,Gerrard at 24-27 if im correct.So comparison is invaild on all propotions.

Not really, Suarez's basic was £150,000 rising to £200,000 I think.

Not really, Suarez's basic was £150,000 rising to £200,000 I think.

You are missing the point here again mate.Infact you are comparing a  20 year old to a world class player in his prime is wrong.As for the wages i get your point about him asking more than what he actually deserve.But you have to take into the consideration the stats of Sterling which is way better than any under 21 player in the Europe.As we can see they are only going to get better as his age progresses on.

well lets hope he signs we get another 5yrs and in that time we win a league title and our young players have grown into world class players and we are formidable

That's bull mate, completely O.T.T. like the entire squad will be beating the door down. I'm sorry but for me, your posts epitomise the lfc fans who have all gradually been turned into accountants, it's almost as if you are a plant working for FSG to dumb down the expectations of our fan base.

It's a fair point on Coutinho, i'm surprised he didn't push for a better deal because (relatively speaking, i.e. compared with other players of his ability at some of the other top clubs) he should be on more. But he isn't so there you have it.

As for agents and the players having the power now, that's modern football. Nothing new about it, has been that way for a good while now and to pretend otherwise is burying your head in the sand.

I've never seen ANYTHING to have me believe these Fenway cheerleaders actually ARE fans.
Getting unpaid/low paid interns at pr agencies to spend half the day posting under different user names all over the web is easy. Its probably the most cost effective way to utterly deceive a customer/supporter base.

As Rafa says, say a lie often enough and it becomes treated as truth. The Fenway fans have convinced the gullible that black is white. 56k fans were on the waiting list, and Scamway say 8k ontop of 45k satisfies all demand. What utter lies! Likewise with the wage slashes and perpetual sale of stars.

Many of the real fans I know are actually knocking the internet on the head. Me to, I feel the constant desecration of our (former!) values is extremely distasteful. We became one of Europe's greatest CLUBS (not "brands"). We dont need any greedy hedge fund shyster from Boston or some
rounders fan from Idaho lecturing US about what Liverpool football club should be about.

Instead of one Hicks and one Gilette, we now have 18 Gilettes running LFC. Smarmy, duplicitious, utterly disinterested. And, just as in the last 3 mths pre takeover, likely frontmen for other sleazeballs.

Would anyone else be expecting a striker who considers himself the star of the team and wants us to pay him a hundred thousand pounds a week for the next five years to force himself to the front of the queue when we had an important penalty competition to win?

Or do we pay extra for those luxuries?

Would anyone else be expecting a striker who considers himself the star of the team and wants us to pay him a hundred thousand pounds a week for the next five years to force himself to the front of the queue when we had an important penalty competition to win?

Or do we pay extra for those luxuries?

He missed his pen last time around, who knows maybe that was playing on his mind. Plenty bigger and more experienced players than Raheem have kept their hands down when the requests for first 5 are being made so I don't see the big deal or what it proves? What is he'd taken one and missed? Would that have proved anything? I suspect it wouldn't have anything to alter your views in this thread.

Would anyone else be expecting a striker who considers himself the star of the team and wants us to pay him a hundred thousand pounds a week for the next five years to force himself to the front of the queue when we had an important penalty competition to win?

Or do we pay extra for those luxuries?

Had Raheem scored the winner (again) last night, I think it would have been silly to come on here and say "see, that's what we're getting. Sign him up FFS!". It would have been silly because to voice an opinion on his contract/long term future based on one moment in one match would be daft. Similarly........you know where I'm going with this.

We lacked cutting edge up top last night and at Anfield for a number of reasons. That problem needs addressing (because I'm of the opinion that it's also been the case in the league over the last couple of weeks*), but getting rid of the best youngster in Europe who plays up top wouldn't be high on my list of potential solutions.


* I AM of the opinion that we have slightly dipped from where we were. I know we are still scoring goals by hook or by crook, but we aren't reproducing our chance creation efforts of a few weeks back IMHO. I've often talked about "lag" in football, where in many cases you have to wait a few weeks before the experts and the results catch up with what's going on. That was definately the case with our defence, who were actually getting it together long before the clean sheets started to rack up, if you looked you could see it. Similarly, Mignolet had turned it around before the experts were onto it. Lovren is doing the same as we speak.

Sorry to go off the point I'm answering, but last nights result and the 0 in the goals scored column was something which has been coming for a game or two. To go back to the original point that I quoted, we should DEFINATELY sign Sterling on the big contract immediately. If I were Richard Branson rich I would personally underwrite the deal, on the provisio that I get to keep any transfer funds recouped which are over and above 30 million quid. Absolute no brainer.     

He missed his pen last time around, who knows maybe that was playing on his mind. Plenty bigger and more experienced players than Raheem have kept their hands down when the requests for first 5 are being made so I don't see the big deal or what it proves? What is he'd taken one and missed? Would that have proved anything? I suspect it wouldn't have anything to alter your views in this thread.

Well if we are paying superstar wages we should expect a superstar performance (or better) no?

Well if we are paying superstar wages we should expect a superstar performance (or better) no?

So it's shifted again. You weren't talking about superstar performance a post or two ago, you were talking about him taking responsibility for taking an important penalty kick in a shootout. Suggesting that not doing so was some sort of proof that he isn't worthy of his contract demands whatever they may be.