What do you want? 4th place or survival of our club?

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OK let me make this clear, I still support Rafa and I can not see any manager out there would can work with Tom Hicks and George Gillett as long as they own the club.

If you want a quick short term reaction and a few positive games I say fire Rafa now and maybe we might make it to No 4.

However if you are thinking longer term the solution is to keep Rafa on board. Making No 4 is going to be though this season especially when all the teams above us have out-spent us in the last 2 seasons.

The bottom line is that a manager’s job involves much more than signing players or making squad selections there is a huge financial aspect to the whole thing.

This is why former players have failed as managers and it is the same reason why ex-players such as Collymore, Whelan & Redknapp tend to never mention the financial challenges Rafa has to face. They think that Rafa can go out and buy any player he can and offer any salary he can. Salary-wise on average our players are paid less than the other big teams in the Premier League.

Rafa’s No 1 priority (as set by Hicks & Gillett) is to control the debt and ensure that we have enough money to use to pay off the interest on the debt that H&G incurred. If Rafa fails at this then we will be in a relegation battle next season and trying to figure out how we are going to pay the players or worse still file for administration.

It is not  a joke, this goes beyond football but that is the reality. If you ever had some managerial position in a company that is failing than you would appreciate what Rafa has to go through.

At this point I am happy with any result we can get from now until the end of the season.

Y.N.W.A.

-Antoine

antoine@empireofthekop.com

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27 Comments

  1. Antoine, Rafa’s No.1 priority should not be in financial matters. He IS the Manager but his first priority should be the football, then the general administration of the footballing side of the Club. The financial side should be run by others.
    I don’t want Rafa to go, I just want us to be more audacious because I prefer to loose games after having given ourselves a shot at winning them, then win games by stealing them. I want us to play the same way we did for most of last season. Jesus Christ it’s not that half the team went missing in action. We changed ONE player fundamentally!!! This situation is inexplainable and unacceptable.

  2. Again you make some good points. The biggest problem we have is the ownership of the club. Our foundations are fragil. What rafa deserves is thanx not to be slaggged off. I think deep down rafa will always be as red as us. Like I’ve said before he even missed his own father’s funeral to manage us in the world club championship. So let’s show him some respect

  3. so true Tonio, theres no excuse for this situation atm.
    and + like you said rafa is manager not Accountant and + you could manage debts easier if you win CL/Premier League/FA cup and get money from that.

  4. But these days managers are managers and accountants.

    The clubs has to make money as well as spend it, so Rafa has to sell as well as buy. If managers were just managers, half the clubs in the Football League would be in even more trouble than they are now…

    Owners give £X.XXp to spend and tell the manager that if he wants more, he must make it himself. Henceforth, managers become tied to the financial situation as well. To do anything but would be…bad managing…

  5. Antoine H&G are a nightmare but it’s Rafa that sends the players on the pitch! Then it’s the players that have to perform. Blaming H&G is easy. But I feel the blame is only partly theirs.

  6. TONIO!!!!!!!!!! well said mate, the football is absolutely disgraceful! it shud be the main topic i.e. the football were playing, u cant always blame hicks an gillette!

    its on the pitch that matters isn’t it ?

  7. I am, and have always had the same opinion. The “funny” thing is that it might not really be h&g’s fault all in all. Remember gh?yup, the french guy. It started there. The problem just got worse with them on board. Don’t put blame now, just salvage what we have left. Look at real madrid. Thev’ve been shit for a few years, but are back. It’s time to realise that we need rafa, and to get rid of those wannabe fans that suppprts the club cause we won the champ league 5 times, and prem league 18, and so on……. These are the people that want rafa out. Get them out!!!!!!

  8. I think it’s disappointing that Liverpool fans are accepting mediocre performances at the moment and now accepting finishing 7th and the club surviving!!! I would still support Liverpool if they were in League 2. However I would like to think we’d have sacked Rafa before we got there.

    It’s not ok for us to accept being 7th in the league after finishing 2nd last year. To be out of every major competition we could have won before the end of January, and just accept it.

    Like most fans I’m sure we wear the Liver bird upon our chests with pride, even in these dark moments. However as an avid supporter who just doesn’t sit watching LFC on the box, and as someone who attends games and spends allot of money on pointless merchandise, shirts, tickets, even food and drink @ Anfield, the current performances are not just embarrassing for the club, they are embarrassing for me personally.

    Every Monday morning I have to go into work, take jibes, and defend my club. Until now I have also been defending Rafa, however I have lost plenty of patience now. 6 wins in 21 games is not acceptable.

    WE as supporters should not find it acceptable either. After todays results and god forbid the blue side doing us a favour today, we still somehow have a chance of 4th, as like most weekends for some unknown reason we arn’t having luck in our games but other results tend to go our way which does enough to keep us in the hunt, and I for one have not given up on it. We can still finish 4th.

    The day i sit back and ‘accept’ us finishing 7th in the league over our ‘survival’ is ridiculous. We will always survive, and blaming the ownership of the club for this poor campaign is starting to wear thin. Yes there are finincial constrants but Wenger always seemed to manage when the Emirates was being built!!!

    The squad is more or less the same minus Alonso, however we have Aqualini, who for what ever reason Rafa decides not to play after splashing £20m on him.

    The team is under performing – FACT. We shouldn’t just be accepting of that. This squad is much better than this.

    I Would be interested to see how many of our ‘tourist’ supporters that attend anfield every weekend would still come if we were in league 2. I already notice many have returned their spurs tickets because the 2+ hour journey to Liverpool from where ever else is too much like hard work for a Liverpool supporter outside of Merseyside.

    I hope other people pick up these tickets and get behind the team.

  9. Think back to last season when Chelsea were getting nowhere under Scolari.

    In came Guus Hiddink about this time of the year (mid February) and without buying any new players, turned their whole season around, finishing third in the Premiership, winning the FA Cup and coming to within a few seconds of defeating Barcelona in the Champions League semi final.

    With a touch of luck, Chelsea could have been the current European Champions. Hiddink can easily change things around at Anfield THIS season with the squad that is currently available! Just something to think about.

  10. He turned everything around at Chelsea without spending a penny Antoine and previously won the Dutch league with PSV on a miniscule budget. The man has runs on the board with both club and national teams.

  11. Sorry mate, if Liverpool is to win a spot in the Champions League next year, Hiddink is the one to get it with the current squad. He can wheel and deal, in which he has far more experience than Rafa will ever have, next season.

  12. FACT: Under Rafa’s watch Liverpool have spent $270,000,000 on transfers. 2nd to Tottenham. We won a Champions League on a magical night in which we were thoroughly outplayed and lucky. Be honest. Same for the FA Cup. Outside of that, what has he done? ALMOST won the league, ALMOST won another Champions League, and gotten eliminated in embarrassing ways in British cups on several occasions.

    You say it harms the future of the club if he is out. There are many, many, many managers who are capable at MINIMUM of failing on the level Rafa currently is, who cost less and have a slice of humility, unlike Rafa.

  13. Sorry but as a long term supporter of rafa The tine had come to say goodbye. Have you watched our last 15 matches? Our team that we love so much is totally our of ideas. Good players have become average, average become poor. The bottom line is, yes the owners dont have the best interests of the club to hand but rafa is out of ideas. We will not get 4th this season and that spells the end for us. No money no new players no chance. Rafa had spent a fortune and got very few quality players. The good ones he had signed get injured as he had to play them when they aren’t fit. It’s time to go, but we all know they won’t sack him as they don’t have a clue about football. Sadly in 3 years we will look back on our top 4 days the wAy we now look back on our league winning days. Liverpool glory days RIP. YNWA

  14. Ya fellas really tuf times these for our club..but rafa also has to take the blame..its true that our clubs owners for the time being only seem intersted in making promises(true ones or consolation only time will tell!!)..bt what is Rafa tryin to do..
    1) He keeps playing ngog..when pacheco and eccelston are available and can be tried.. Sorry Ngog has done nothing as worthwile..we can try available alternatives at least..
    2) I for one dont know how is masch worth in gold..and so indispensable..we have a world of gamemakers to buy from if rafa wanted to..Masch has almost never scored..and rarely assisted..
    3) If he wants to keep babel to tweeting ..then why does he say “babel is not for sale”..may be he means babel is only for swap..(and i hope it is not for k.jones)..
    4) Last but not the least..Mr.Antoine..do you think the players of liverpool think the way u do..when you say your happy with whatever the results are..
    All i can say is that if this frustration grows the way it has..by this time time next year with an average bunch of players we may anyway be fighting relegation or be some other Europa league placeseeker..
    If the need of the hour is to wheel and deal..do so RAFA..(I have faith in your acumen..bt not all your decisions)..sell the deadwood of the team atleast..and m sure the world is not bereft of Footballing talent to choose from..bt be wise and be fast..The GREAT CLUB beckons you..and millions are behind you..HAIL LIVERPOOL….YNWA….

  15. What i meant by the point about mascherano is that selling him would give us the money to buy some quality players in midfield…A lot of players in the world can be traded for Masch..and its far better than finishing lower than fourth and then selling him, torres gerrard etc..

  16. Antoine, he may have not got the figure right, but James is right after all. Being objective, that is what we have achieved under his guidance.
    If Rafa is a man of principle, should he fail to clinch 4th spot like he has publicly promised, he should, without being beckoned to, step down and walk away!

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