Author Archive
An open letter to Javier Mascherano
 | By Antoine Zammit · Comments |
Dear Javier,
I still remember clearly when the word came out that Liverpool were signing you on loan, it was in February 2007 right before the Champions league clash against Barcelona.
You had arrived at West Ham the previous Summer together with your friend Carlos Tevez, while the press were all focused on Tevez you were left languishing in the West Ham reserves. Rafa Benitez rescued you, bringing you to Liverpool and soon after you become a permanent fixture in the Liverpool lineup, your International exposure quickly grew.
On the 29th of February 2008 you put pen to paper and signed a four year contract with Liverpool, a contract that bound you with Liverpool F.C., a contract that paid you a salary fit for a world class professional football player. You were a regular starter at Liverpool and were playing in the top E.P.L. and Champions League games, you had become an International star.
The Kop started singing your name while many kids saved their pocket money and bought Liverpool shirts with your name on the back. The Monster Masch was in full effect and we were happy to support you all the way. You saw red against Manchester United and you saw red against Everton but we supported even louder.
Diego Maradona even made you captain of Argentina and some like me went as far as supporting Argentina just because of you. We stood by you during the difficult qualifiers and then were gutted for you when Argentina was trashed by Germany in the World Cup quarter finals.
The last summer transfer window was full of ups and downs and many of us Reds had conceded that we would be losing you as it was widely reported that you wanted to leave. Of course we were disappointed to lose you, but after your brilliant performance against Arsenal we all stood up and cheered you on. Javier you would have left Liverpool a hero but for whatever reason you missed the Manchester City game, a game that we lost 3-0. I strongly believe that your behaviour upset your team-mates and the preparations for that game, quite honesty we probably lost that game because of your antics.
And then to rub salt in our wounds you go out and claim that moving to Barcelona has been a dream move and then you go further by attacking the club for what you say are lies said to the press.
Maybe Rafa or Roy upset you, maybe Tom Hicks and George Gillett did too but what have the Liverpool Supporters and your team-mates done to deserve this?
All we did was support you 100% and this is how you pay-us back?
Gracias por nada.
-Antoine
antoine@empireofthekop.com
VIDEO : The Redmen FF Week 3
| By Antoine Zammit · Comments |
VIDEO : The Redmen Red View From Mallorca
| By Antoine Zammit · Comments |
Redest Cities
| By Antoine Zammit · Comments |
Have you ever wondered which cities outside Liverpool have the most L.F.C. supporters in them?
Here is a breakdown, we used the stats of the E.O.T.K site and our Facebook page over the last year.
Of course it is nothing scientific but interesting.
1) London
2) Singapore
3) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
4) Dublin
5) Manchester
6) Birmingham
7) Sydney, Australia
8) Jakarta Indonesia
9) Melbourne, Australia
10) Bangkok, Thailand
Not far behind Belfast, Oslo & New York City.
Today would have been Bill Shankly’s 97th Birthday, YNWA Happy Birthday Bill, you are always in our hearts.
The club has submitted the 21 man squad for the EPL more…
(Why 21, I thought it was 25)
Gyan “I was right to reject Liverpool for Sunderland” more…
(Does this guy know anything about the EPL?)
Konchesky claims that Danny Murphy convinced him to join Liverpool more…
(Danny is a legend)
Paul will make his LFC debut in Carra’s testimonial more…
(Y.N.W.A.)
Speaking of Carra, here is a good write up on how his injury at Blackburn changed his career more…
(True, Carra came back strong that year)
He wants to win silverware more…
(Great attitude)
Christian Poulsen claims that the tough schedule will help us more…
(I hope so)
Phil Thompson claims that the team will need Torres more than ever now more…
(Agree)
Messi hails Masch’s arrival at Barca more…
(Seeing him in the Barca shirt makes me sick)
Masch claims that the club lied more…
(Javier you took your frustration out on the wrong people, the fans did nothing to you. After the performance against Arsenal you had gained a lot of respect but then threw it away when you did not feature against City. You went from Hero to Zero in less than one week.)
The transfer window is barely shut and they are already speculating about January, talk of Hodgson going after Honda more…
(Unless H&G don’t sell we will not get Honda, Toyota or Mazda)
On February 1st, 2010 Tom Hicks claimed that the Summer Transfer Window of 2010 will be a massive one.
Here is the full breakdown, I am showing that 11 players have arrived while 17 players have left.
Roy is facing the same headaches that Rafa had to deal with (lack of funds), for the 4th consecutive transfer season the club has had a negative or zero net spend. Yes, there are some transfer fees that are undisclosed but from what I am seeing so far, the club spent £25 million while selling £38.1 million. This probably means that Roy put £13.1 million in the bank to probably cover the interest on the loan that Hicks & Gillett burdened on our club.
Also good to point out that Roy brought in Joe Cole on a high salary and looks like he was compelled to send out a few players on loan to reduce his salary bill to make up for Joe’s.
In (11):
Jonjo Shelvey - 18 years old - from Charlton Athletic (£1.7 million)
Milan Jovanovic – 29 years old – The Serbian has penned a 3 year contract (Bosman)
Joe Cole - 28 years old - From Chelsea (Bosman)
Danny Wilson - 18 years old – from Rangers (£2 million)
Fabio Aurelio – 30 years old - Returned (Bosman)
Christian Poulsen – 30 years old – From Juventus (£4.5 million)
Brad Jones - 28 years old -From Middlesborough (£2.3 million)
Raul Meireles – 27 years old - From Porto (£11.5 million)
Adam Hajdu - 16 years old – From MTK Budapest (loan)
Paul Konchesky - 29 years old – Joined from Fulham (£3 million)
Suso -16 years old – - Made his loan move permanent (Undisclosed)
Total Spend : £25 million* (+ undisclosed fees)
Average age of players signed : 24.5
Out (17):
Mikel San Jose – 20 years old (at time of release) – To Athletic Bilbao (Undisclosed)
Fabio Aurelio – 30 years old - (released)
Yossi Benayoun – 30 years old - To Chelsea (£7 million)
Francisco Duran -22 years old - (released)
Albert Riera – 28 years old – To Olympiakos (£3.3 million)
Phillip Degen - 27 years old – To Stuttgart (loan)
Alberto Aquilani - 26 years old – To Juventus (loan)
Diego Cavalieri – 27 years old – To Cesena (£1.3 million)
Krisztian Nemeth – 21 years old - To Olympiacos (£1 million)
Javier Mascherano - 26 years old - To Barcelona (£24 million)
Nabil El Zhar -24 years old - To Paok (loan)
Emiliano Insua -21 years old – To Galatasaray (loan)
Damien Plessis - 22 years old – To Panathinaikos (Undisclosed)
Lauri Dalla Valle -18 years old - To Fulham(trade)
Alex Kacaniklic -19 years old – To Fulham (trade)
Vincent Weijl -19 years old – To SD Eibar (Fee undisclosed)
Nikolay Mihaylov -22 years old – To FC Twente (£1.5 million)
Total Sales : £38.1 million* (+ undisclosed fees)
Average age of players sold/released : 23.6
Of course I am not claiming that these fees are accurate but even if they are off by a couple of million it shows you the sad state of affairs at our club. We hope and pray that by next transfer season we will have new owners who will invent some money into our club, we need it badly.
Y.N.W.A.
-Antoine Zammit
Follow on Twitter @empireofthekop
