We "knew" too that the man who had guided the Reds to two Champions League finals in three years, (as well as victories in the FA Cup and European Super Cup) needed financial support to strengthen the FOOTBALL team - we didn't 'know' or quite frankly, give a F**k about leveraged buy outs or long-term business plans.
We "knew" that a team which already oozed proper quality - Reina, Arbeloa, Hyypia, Agger, Mascherano, Alonso, Gerrard and Torres [there's some CL medals amongst that lot btw] needed to add quality and depth to stay competitive.
That team didn't need investment to beat Hull at home. Or Birmingham at home. Or Stoke at home. Or Wigan at home. Or worse, Barnsley at home. There was more than enough quality there to get the job done, against teams of pub players on a fraction of our budget. But on each occasion above, amongst many others, it didn't happen.
Under Rafa we never went out and spent the most money. Alonso was £10mill, Luis Garcia £6mill as was Reina and Agger. We spend big when we had a top player that was available (Torres at 26million) but aside from that, we brought in the right player at the right fee which I have always valued very, very highly.
No matter who owns us, the last thing I want to see happening at Liverpool is deals like Man City are pulling off. 50 million for 2 above average full backs just because they can. Then another 100 million on unproven talent, just because they can. Any victory after that cannot taste as sweet as it did for us under Rafa where we did it the right way.
Just over 10 years ago, the sheikhs from Dubai were sniffing around to buy us the league. There were no protests outside Anfield at the time telling them to go spin. Zero. No fan is going to turn down the chance of winning league titles, whether it's City or anyone else. And if it means a sheikh on the take to do it, then they'll gladly take it.
As it turned out they never arrived, and we ended up with a bunch of conmen who thought we were as important as Weetabix. But as Singleton boasts in the manc thread, most fans don't care about how much the fee is, as long as it's paid.
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