One day only in my lifetime I wish to lose

[pokerjoke]

To be honest,i believe Chelsea are close to being in a real good place.
Yes they need a manager,sooner rather than later they are going to get a decent one.
They are 4 or 5 players away from being a major force again in Europe.
Abramovich will always back his manager with money.
The trouble stems from him seeming to make decisions on wether certain players play.
Until they get a manager that stands up to him,they may struggle,but im certainly one
that would be worried,more worried than Man city,or Arsenal.

 

[Andy808]

To be honest,i believe Chelsea are close to being in a real good place.
Yes they need a manager,sooner rather than later they are going to get a decent one.
They are 4 or 5 players away from being a major force again in Europe.
Abramovich will always back his manager with money.
The trouble stems from him seeming to make decisions on wether certain players play.
Until they get a manager that stands up to him,they may struggle,but im certainly one
that would be worried,more worried than Man city,or Arsenal.

If he stopped backing the manager with just money and gave him the support of time to build a squad then maybe you will be a force in Europe again.

As soon as a manager shows ANY sign of standing up to him they are out the door. I doubt there is a top class manager that wants to go there other than to top up his retirement fund quickly.

RA has made your club a laughing stock having gone from league winners and CL winners to a circus act.

 

[Blue in Munich]

RA has made your club a laughing stock having gone from league winners and CL winners to a circus act.

No, he has turned my club into league winners and CL winners WHILST at the same time being a circus act; there's a difference. And I think that there are a number of fans of other clubs who would settle for the same circus act for the same ride that we've had since he arrived.

No, I don't agree with all his decisions, yes I wish he would exhibit a little more class in certain respects, as I wish certain players did (but let's be fair, our players don't have a monopoly on that one) and I wish he would sack some of the hangers-on, sorry, advisors that he has but if I'm honest I'd have to say that overall I'm not sorry he turned up.

 

[Andy808]

No, he has turned my club into league winners and CL winners WHILST at the same time being a circus act; there's a difference. And I think that there are a number of fans of other clubs who would settle for the same circus act for the same ride that we've had since he arrived.

No, I don't agree with all his decisions, yes I wish he would exhibit a little more class in certain respects, as I wish certain players did (but let's be fair, our players don't have a monopoly on that one) and I wish he would sack some of the hangers-on, sorry, advisors that he has but if I'm honest I'd have to say that overall I'm not sorry he turned up.

I must apologise profusely for my previous post as on reflection you are of course correct.
We are talking about fans who wave plastic flags and to celebrate their all concouring teams return to Lundern turned out in their drove as 75,000 fans lined the street to throw CELERY at their heros!

While Aberdeen paraded their Scottish cup through the streets in front of 100,000 CHEERING fans and when LFC returned triumphant with their 5th european champions trophy had 650,000 fans climbing lamp posts, buildings and anything else they could find just to get a glimps of the trophy that now resides PERMANENTLY at Anfield!
I now realise that Chavski FC fans and RA are a perfect match and long may the rest of us look on in dismay.

 

[Fish]

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher plan to release a joint autobiography about their time together at Liverpool.

Still no title though....

 

[Liverbirdie]

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher plan to release a joint autobiography about their time together at Liverpool.

Still no title though....

Maybe not, but wouldn't we all want to win a European cup for your boyhood club? Better than being a mercenary.......

 

[Fish]

Maybe not, but wouldn't we all want to win a European cup for your boyhood club? Better than being a mercenary.......

You must be feeling suicidal after tonight's performance and the Baggies doing the double over you

 

[Liverbirdie]

You must be feeling suicidal after tonight's performance and the Baggies doing the double over you

Nar, getting used to it. Now I know what it was like to be a Chelsea fan between 1955-2003.

We wuz robbed, it was very similar to the Villa game, tonnes of chances wasted and the visitors took their 3-4.

Whichever clubs have let that Steve Clarke go, needs shooting - we now have something in common!

 

[Val]

Nar, getting used to it. Now I know what it was like to be a Chelsea fan between 1955-2003.

We wuz robbed, it was very similar to the Villa game, tonnes of chances wasted and the visitors took their 3-4.

Whichever clubs have let that Steve Clarke go, needs shooting - we now have something in common!

Steve Clarke is arguably one of the best coaches around. I'm unsure if he fancies a big club but surely Chelsea could do alright with him at the helm.

I'm of the belief Rodgers is a decent manager but Liverpool need another striker if they ain't going to bring back and keep Carroll, otherwise they'll have plenty more games like what was witnessed tonight.

 

[G1BB0]

still short of a few players, was actually getting bored watching tonight, felt like a friendly at times and just going through the motions. Need to be more clinical. Oh well, theres always next season

 

[stevie_r]

I must apologise profusely for my previous post as on reflection you are of course correct.
We are talking about fans who wave plastic flags and to celebrate their all concouring teams return to Lundern turned out in their drove as 75,000 fans lined the street to throw CELERY at their heros!

While Aberdeen paraded their Scottish cup through the streets in front of 100,000 CHEERING fans and when LFC returned triumphant with their 5th european champions trophy had 650,000 fans climbing lamp posts, buildings and anything else they could find just to get a glimps of the trophy that now resides PERMANENTLY at Anfield!
I now realise that Chavski FC fans and RA are a perfect match and long may the rest of us look on in dismay.

Incredible memory you have there

 

[Andy808]

Incredible memory you have there

Not really as it was in the papers last summer and I know plenty of Chavski fans that didn't like having that fact rubbed in their faces.

I really hope the FA stand by their fair trading rules and we all get to watch Citah and Chavski suffer. I've also put a tenner on Chavski to be the first team in the prem to have a points deduction through failure to comply with the rules or get caught trying to cheat the rule.

 

[Fish]

Not really as it was in the papers last summer and I know plenty of Chavski fans that didn't like having that fact rubbed in their faces.

I really hope the FA stand by their fair trading rules and we all get to watch Citah and Chavski suffer. I've also put a tenner on Chavski to be the first team in the prem to have a points deduction through failure to comply with the rules or get caught trying to cheat the rule.

Over the last 15 years Liverpool have spent more buying players than Man Utd other than the longest period of 5 years during that period when Man U spent 132m against L'Pool's 86m and Chelsea's 87m.

The middle 5 years saw them equal their rivals with 182m each but over the latest 5 years L'Pool spent 262m against 185m from Manchester, what are they doing differently?

10 years ago Man Uniteds wage bill broke all records and increased by over 40% to over 1.3m a week seeing the first players in British football break all wage records with 80-100k per week salaries, it currently stands at around 160m equal to over 3m per week. So what were they doing differently and how will they cope with 4m rise per year only?

Liverpools wage bill raised again by 13m under Dalglish taking their wage bill to a staggering 2.5m per week, 130m a year! They (Liverpool) have always spent only around 15% less than Man Uniteds spend and wages over the last 10 years but their successes in percentage terms is a far greater divide! Seems money doesn't buy success! And, with a cap of 4m increase, how will you build up your current squad if they cannot compete now with no cap?

So, what have L'Pool & Man United done much differently over the last 10 years, nothing from what I can see, just spent slightly less than Chelsea can now although Chelsea reduced their wage bill by 18m last year and reduced their playing and coaching staff from 89 in 2011 to 69 currently and it will be reduced further. Liverpool's is increasing!

However, a key point is that Chelsea's & Man City's "income" is over 300m which the owners play no part in, that is down to commercial growth and other income factors, Man Uniteds is over 330m and Arsenals is 256m but Liverpool's "income" is lacking well below those figures with only 184m and yet your spending as much as others!

Now if you want a real shocker, the quiet boys in the corner who make out they have a capped wage bill is in some terms correct but its how its spent and over how many as its the final figure that counts, so just have a look at Arsenals full wage bill.

FIRST TEAM WAGE (pwk) WAGE (p/yr)
Lukas Podolski £107,000 £5,564,000
Tomas Rosicky £80,000 £4,160,000
Per Mertesacker £80,000 £4,160,000
Andrey Arshavin £78,000 £4,056,000
Santi Carzorla £70,000 £3,640,000
Mikel Arteta £70,000 £3,640,000
Thomas Vermaelen £70,000 £3,640,000
Theo Walcott £60,000 £3,120,000
Olivier Giroud £60,000 £3,120,000
Gervinho £60,000 £3,120,000
Bacary Sagna £60,000 £3,120,000
Marouane Chamakh £60,000 £3,120,000
Andre Santos £60,000 £3,120,000
Jack Wilshere £60,000 £3,120,000
Abou Diaby £60,000 £3,120,000
Denilson £60,000 £3,120,000
Laurent Koscielny £60,000 £3,120,000
Johan Djourou £50,000 £2,600,000
Kieran Gibbs £50,000 £2,600,000
Nicklas Bendtner £50,000 £2,600,000
Sebastien Squillaci £50,000 £2,600,000
Aaron Ramsey £50,000 £2,600,000
Wojciech Szczesny £50,000 £2,600,000
Lukasz Fabianski £50,000 £2,600,000
Ju Young Park £50,000 £2,600,000
Vito Mannone £30,000 £1,560,000
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain £30,000 £1,560,000
Carl Jenkinson £30,000 £1,560,000
Emmanuel Frimpong £30,000 £1,560,000
Francis Coquelin £30,000 £1,560,000
Ryo Miyaichi £18,000 £936,000
Ignasi Miquel £10,000 £520,000
Joel Campbell £10,000 £520,000
£90,636,000
RESERVES
Alex Iwobi £750 £39,000
Alfred Mugabo £750 £39,000
Anthony Jeffrey £750 £39,000
Arinse Uade £750 £39,000
Austin Lipman £750 £39,000
Benik Afobe £750 £39,000
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill £750 £39,000
Chuba Akpom £750 £39,000
Chuks Aneke £750 £39,000
Conor Henderson £750 £39,000
Craig Eastmond £750 £39,000
Damian Martinez £750 £39,000
Daniel Boateng £750 £39,000
Deyan Iliev £750 £39,000
Elton Monteiro £750 £39,000
Glen Kamara £750 £39,000
Hector Bellerin £750 £39,000
Nicholas Yennaris £750 £39,000
Isaac Hayden £750 £39,000
Jack Jebb £750 £39,000
James Shea £750 £39,000
Jernade Meade £750 £39,000
Jon Toral £750 £39,000
Jordan Wynter £750 £39,000
Josh Rees £750 £39,000
Josh Vickers £750 £39,000
Kristoffer Olsson £750 £39,000
Kyle Ebecilio £750 £39,000
Leander Siemann £750 £39,000
Martin Angha £750 £39,000
Nigel Neita £750 £39,000
Philip Roberts £750 £39,000
Reice Charles-Cook £750 £39,000
Samir Bihmoutine £750 £39,000
Samuel Galindo £750 £39,000
Sanchez Watt £750 £39,000
Sead Hajrovic £750 £39,000
Serge Gnabry £750 £39,000
Tarum Dawkins £750 £39,000
Thoma Eisfeld £750 £39,000
Tom Dallison £750 £39,000
Wellington £750 £39,000
Zachari Fagan £750 £39,000
Zak Ansah £750 £39,000
£1,716,000
FIRST TEAM STAFF
Manager
Arsène Wenger £135,000 £7,020,000
Assistant to Manager
Boro Primorac £7,500 £390,000
Steve Bould £5,000 £260,000
Coach
Gerry Peyton £1,300 £67,600
Neil Banfield £1,300 £67,600
Tony Colbert £1,300 £67,600
Tony Roberts £1,300 £67,600
Paul Johnson £1,000 £52,000
Marcus Svensson £1,000 £52,000
James Collins £1,000 £52,000
Ben Knapper £1,000 £52,000
David Wales £1,000 £52,000
Physio/Medical
Colin Lewin £1,000 £52,000
Gary O'Driscoll £1,000 £52,000
Simon Harland £1,000 £52,000
Kieran Hunt £1,000 £52,000
Darren Page £1,000 £52,000
Danny Flitter £1,000 £52,000
Kit
Vic Akers £600 £31,200
Paul Akers £600 £31,200
Scouting
Steve Rowley (Chief) £1,000 £52,000
Gilles Grimandi £600 £31,200
Tony Banfield £600 £31,200
Danny Karbassiyoon £600 £31,200
Sandro Orlandelli £600 £31,200
Pablo Budner £600 £31,200
Everton Gushiken £600 £31,200
Bobby Bennett £600 £31,200
Francis Cagigao £600 £31,200
Jurgen Kost £600 £31,200
Peter Clarke £600 £31,200
£8,938,800
RESERVES STAFF
Liam Brady £3,200 £166,400
David Court £1,000 £52,000
Roy Massey £1,000 £52,000
Terry Burton £1,000 £52,000
Steve Gatting £1,000 £52,000
Lee Smelt £1,000 £52,000
Carl Laraman £1,000 £52,000
Steve Leonard £1,000 £52,000
Craig Gant £1,000 £52,000
Dennis Rockall £1,000 £52,000
Lewis Manning £1,000 £52,000
Richard Goddard £1,000 £52,000
Alastair Thrush £1,000 £52,000
Kwame Ampadu £1,000 £52,000
£842,400
BOARD
Ivan Gazidis £39,423 £2,049,996
Ken Friar OBE £10,980 £570,960
Peter Hill-Wood £1,500 £67,000
Stanley Kroenke £481 £25,000
Sir Chips Keswick £480 £24,960
£2,737,916
OTHER COSTS
Pension/social security £387,500 £20,150,000
Player bonus pool £192,307 £10,000,000
Peripheral staff £160,000 £8,320,000

Total £2,756,771 £143,341,116

That's over 2.75m p/week and for what in return!

Money will get you so far in competing for the Premier League but paying over-inflated salaries to beat off the competition is not necessarily a true reflection of a squad’s overall ability or the ultimate route to success. The missing link is a management team’s ability to convert that financial outlay into trophies. Jose was successful but some others since have faltered.

Basically, Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal have much fewer resources than Man City, but still have more than enough to field a world class first team + bench that is capable of outstripping the rest of the Premier League and winning consistently enough to mount a title challenge. Liverpool can't!

This notion can be further assessed by looking at the spend of a team such as Tottenham who competed with Arsenal for a place in the top four despite spending £30m less in wages, while Newcastle finished just 5 points behind Arsenal despite spending £110m less in wages! Newcastle has halved its wage bill from £74m to £34m over the past two seasons yet still managed a top four challenge!

If Newcastle can compete with Arsenal after a £110m wage deficit why can’t Arsenal compete with Man City, Chelsea or Man Utd for the title when the wage gap in relative terms is far smaller?

This evidence re-establishes the fact that Wenger’s inability to challenge for the title has little to do with being unable to compete financially, but everything to do with inefficient wage spend allied to poor player purchases and rank bad management, something I think Liverpool has also suffered with over the last decade also because they've clearly spent the money and continue to do so but the returns are minimal.

 

[Liverbirdie]

Over the last 15 years Liverpool have spent more buying players than Man Utd other than the longest period of 5 years during that period when Man U spent 132m against L'Pool's 86m and Chelsea's 87m.

The middle 5 years saw them equal their rivals with 182m each but over the latest 5 years L'Pool spent 262m against 185m from Manchester, what are they doing differently?

10 years ago Man Uniteds wage bill broke all records and increased by over 40% to over 1.3m a week seeing the first players in British football break all wage records with 80-100k per week salaries, it currently stands at around 160m equal to over 3m per week. So what were they doing differently and how will they cope with 4m rise per year only?

Liverpools wage bill raised again by 13m under Dalglish taking their wage bill to a staggering 2.5m per week, 130m a year! They (Liverpool) have always spent only around 15% less than Man Uniteds spend and wages over the last 10 years but their successes in percentage terms is a far greater divide! Seems money doesn't buy success! And, with a cap of 4m increase, how will you build up your current squad if they cannot compete now with no cap?

So, what have L'Pool & Man United done much differently over the last 10 years, nothing from what I can see, just spent slightly less than Chelsea can now although Chelsea reduced their wage bill by 18m last year and reduced their playing and coaching staff from 89 in 2011 to 69 currently and it will be reduced further. Liverpool's is increasing!

However, a key point is that Chelsea's & Man City's "income" is over 300m which the owners play no part in, that is down to commercial growth and other income factors, Man Uniteds is over 330m and Arsenals is 256m but Liverpool's "income" is lacking well below those figures with only 184m and yet your spending as much as others!

Now if you want a real shocker, the quiet boys in the corner who make out they have a capped wage bill is in some terms correct but its how its spent and over how many as its the final figure that counts, so just have a look at Arsenals full wage bill.

FIRST TEAM WAGE (pwk) WAGE (p/yr)
Lukas Podolski £107,000 £5,564,000
Tomas Rosicky £80,000 £4,160,000
Per Mertesacker £80,000 £4,160,000
Andrey Arshavin £78,000 £4,056,000
Santi Carzorla £70,000 £3,640,000
Mikel Arteta £70,000 £3,640,000
Thomas Vermaelen £70,000 £3,640,000
Theo Walcott £60,000 £3,120,000
Olivier Giroud £60,000 £3,120,000
Gervinho £60,000 £3,120,000
Bacary Sagna £60,000 £3,120,000
Marouane Chamakh £60,000 £3,120,000
Andre Santos £60,000 £3,120,000
Jack Wilshere £60,000 £3,120,000
Abou Diaby £60,000 £3,120,000
Denilson £60,000 £3,120,000
Laurent Koscielny £60,000 £3,120,000
Johan Djourou £50,000 £2,600,000
Kieran Gibbs £50,000 £2,600,000
Nicklas Bendtner £50,000 £2,600,000
Sebastien Squillaci £50,000 £2,600,000
Aaron Ramsey £50,000 £2,600,000
Wojciech Szczesny £50,000 £2,600,000
Lukasz Fabianski £50,000 £2,600,000
Ju Young Park £50,000 £2,600,000
Vito Mannone £30,000 £1,560,000
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain £30,000 £1,560,000
Carl Jenkinson £30,000 £1,560,000
Emmanuel Frimpong £30,000 £1,560,000
Francis Coquelin £30,000 £1,560,000
Ryo Miyaichi £18,000 £936,000
Ignasi Miquel £10,000 £520,000
Joel Campbell £10,000 £520,000
£90,636,000
RESERVES
Alex Iwobi £750 £39,000
Alfred Mugabo £750 £39,000
Anthony Jeffrey £750 £39,000
Arinse Uade £750 £39,000
Austin Lipman £750 £39,000
Benik Afobe £750 £39,000
Brandon Ormonde-Ottewill £750 £39,000
Chuba Akpom £750 £39,000
Chuks Aneke £750 £39,000
Conor Henderson £750 £39,000
Craig Eastmond £750 £39,000
Damian Martinez £750 £39,000
Daniel Boateng £750 £39,000
Deyan Iliev £750 £39,000
Elton Monteiro £750 £39,000
Glen Kamara £750 £39,000
Hector Bellerin £750 £39,000
Nicholas Yennaris £750 £39,000
Isaac Hayden £750 £39,000
Jack Jebb £750 £39,000
James Shea £750 £39,000
Jernade Meade £750 £39,000
Jon Toral £750 £39,000
Jordan Wynter £750 £39,000
Josh Rees £750 £39,000
Josh Vickers £750 £39,000
Kristoffer Olsson £750 £39,000
Kyle Ebecilio £750 £39,000
Leander Siemann £750 £39,000
Martin Angha £750 £39,000
Nigel Neita £750 £39,000
Philip Roberts £750 £39,000
Reice Charles-Cook £750 £39,000
Samir Bihmoutine £750 £39,000
Samuel Galindo £750 £39,000
Sanchez Watt £750 £39,000
Sead Hajrovic £750 £39,000
Serge Gnabry £750 £39,000
Tarum Dawkins £750 £39,000
Thoma Eisfeld £750 £39,000
Tom Dallison £750 £39,000
Wellington £750 £39,000
Zachari Fagan £750 £39,000
Zak Ansah £750 £39,000
£1,716,000
FIRST TEAM STAFF
Manager
Arsène Wenger £135,000 £7,020,000
Assistant to Manager
Boro Primorac £7,500 £390,000
Steve Bould £5,000 £260,000
Coach
Gerry Peyton £1,300 £67,600
Neil Banfield £1,300 £67,600
Tony Colbert £1,300 £67,600
Tony Roberts £1,300 £67,600
Paul Johnson £1,000 £52,000
Marcus Svensson £1,000 £52,000
James Collins £1,000 £52,000
Ben Knapper £1,000 £52,000
David Wales £1,000 £52,000
Physio/Medical
Colin Lewin £1,000 £52,000
Gary O'Driscoll £1,000 £52,000
Simon Harland £1,000 £52,000
Kieran Hunt £1,000 £52,000
Darren Page £1,000 £52,000
Danny Flitter £1,000 £52,000
Kit
Vic Akers £600 £31,200
Paul Akers £600 £31,200
Scouting
Steve Rowley (Chief) £1,000 £52,000
Gilles Grimandi £600 £31,200
Tony Banfield £600 £31,200
Danny Karbassiyoon £600 £31,200
Sandro Orlandelli £600 £31,200
Pablo Budner £600 £31,200
Everton Gushiken £600 £31,200
Bobby Bennett £600 £31,200
Francis Cagigao £600 £31,200
Jurgen Kost £600 £31,200
Peter Clarke £600 £31,200
£8,938,800
RESERVES STAFF
Liam Brady £3,200 £166,400
David Court £1,000 £52,000
Roy Massey £1,000 £52,000
Terry Burton £1,000 £52,000
Steve Gatting £1,000 £52,000
Lee Smelt £1,000 £52,000
Carl Laraman £1,000 £52,000
Steve Leonard £1,000 £52,000
Craig Gant £1,000 £52,000
Dennis Rockall £1,000 £52,000
Lewis Manning £1,000 £52,000
Richard Goddard £1,000 £52,000
Alastair Thrush £1,000 £52,000
Kwame Ampadu £1,000 £52,000
£842,400
BOARD
Ivan Gazidis £39,423 £2,049,996
Ken Friar OBE £10,980 £570,960
Peter Hill-Wood £1,500 £67,000
Stanley Kroenke £481 £25,000
Sir Chips Keswick £480 £24,960
£2,737,916
OTHER COSTS
Pension/social security £387,500 £20,150,000
Player bonus pool £192,307 £10,000,000
Peripheral staff £160,000 £8,320,000

Total £2,756,771 £143,341,116

That's over 2.75m p/week and for what in return!

Money will get you so far in competing for the Premier League but paying over-inflated salaries to beat off the competition is not necessarily a true reflection of a squad’s overall ability or the ultimate route to success. The missing link is a management team’s ability to convert that financial outlay into trophies. Jose was successful but some others since have faltered.

Basically, Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal have much fewer resources than Man City, but still have more than enough to field a world class first team + bench that is capable of outstripping the rest of the Premier League and winning consistently enough to mount a title challenge. Liverpool can't!

This notion can be further assessed by looking at the spend of a team such as Tottenham who competed with Arsenal for a place in the top four despite spending £30m less in wages, while Newcastle finished just 5 points behind Arsenal despite spending £110m less in wages! Newcastle has halved its wage bill from £74m to £34m over the past two seasons yet still managed a top four challenge!

If Newcastle can compete with Arsenal after a £110m wage deficit why can’t Arsenal compete with Man City, Chelsea or Man Utd for the title when the wage gap in relative terms is far smaller?

This evidence re-establishes the fact that Wenger’s inability to challenge for the title has little to do with being unable to compete financially, but everything to do with inefficient wage spend allied to poor player purchases and rank bad management, something I think Liverpool has also suffered with over the last decade also because they've clearly spent the money and continue to do so but the returns are minimal.

I can't wait to get going on this one, see you later.

 

[Fish]

I can't wait to get going on this one, see you later.

:rofl:

:smirk:

 

[Blue in Munich]

Maybe not, but wouldn't we all want to win a European cup for your boyhood club? Better than being a mercenary.......

So when did Everton win it then? And wasn't Gerrard off to join the mercenaries at the Bridge until something changed his mind.......

 

[Dodger]

Talking about money what about this?? Is it any surprise that the great Ryan McGowan headed there recently??



Dario Conca – The unknown footballer who earns more than Lionel Messi & Cristiano Ronaldo! CRAZY!

Dario who? That’s right Dario Conca is on a higher weekly wage than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, undoubtedly the two best players in the world. This outstanding statistic was reported by the Spanish paper Marca.

So how has someone that barely anyone has ever heard of landed himself such a huge contract?

The fact that most people have never heard of Dario Conca instantly lets you know that he is not playing in one of the world’s most famous leagues. Indeed the 29 year old Argentinean plies his trade in China, for Guangzhou Evergrande. Like Messi, he is an attacking midfielder and of a similar height, measuring at around 5ft 5.5 inches. However, the similarities stop there. Unlike his compatriot, Conca hasn’t even been capped for his country, only representing them at youth level.

It would be unfair though to claim that Conca is a man devoid of any talent. Before his move to Guangzhou the attacking midfielder was playing for Fluminense in Brazil, where he was voted player of the year. It was this sort of form which saw the Chinese side part with $10 million to secure his services, in addition to offering him a contract worth €10.6 million. This is higher than the €10.5 million Lionel Messi receives and the €10 million that Cristiano Ronaldo earns (as reported by Marca).

Undoubtedly this is an enormous amount of money for Guangzhou to part with, especially for someone who is by no means a marquee name. However, the purchase has been justified, and so far the diminutive Argentine has netted 18 goals in 33 appearances, helping the club win the Chinese FA Super Cup in February this year.

 

[Blue in Munich]

I must apologise profusely for my previous post as on reflection you are of course correct.
We are talking about fans who wave plastic flags and to celebrate their all concouring teams return to Lundern turned out in their drove as 75,000 fans lined the street to throw CELERY at their heros!

While Aberdeen paraded their Scottish cup through the streets in front of 100,000 CHEERING fans and when LFC returned triumphant with their 5th european champions trophy had 650,000 fans climbing lamp posts, buildings and anything else they could find just to get a glimps of the trophy that now resides PERMANENTLY at Anfield!
I now realise that Chavski FC fans and RA are a perfect match and long may the rest of us look on in dismay.

Not really as it was in the papers last summer and I know plenty of Chavski fans that didn't like having that fact rubbed in their faces.​

Ah, so everything printed in the papers is now fact, is it? There were a few more than that there I can assure you, as one who was, and I suspect that there would have been a few more there had it not been the day after the final so a number of fans would still have been in Munich.

650,000 for Liverpool's last one was there? Shame a few of them couldn't have got down to Anfield and filled that last night... ​

 

[Liverbirdie]

So when did Everton win it then? And wasn't Gerrard off to join the mercenaries at the Bridge until something changed his mind.......

I was only referring to Gerrard. He didn't go when it all came down to it.

As 4 other scousers said, money can't buy you love.

 

[Liverbirdie]

:rofl:

:smirk:

Firstly, there are some interesting points in here, but overall disagree with the main theme. Specifically:-

Your points first, then my numbered ones.

Over the last 15 years Liverpool have spent more buying players than Man Utd other than the longest period of 5 years during that period when Man U spent 132m against L'Pool's 86m and Chelsea's 87m.

The middle 5 years saw them equal their rivals with 182m each but over the latest 5 years L'Pool spent 262m against 185m from Manchester, what are they doing differently?


1. Man U were in a very unusual (good) position of having 1/2 a team that came through the ranks for no money and most gave 10-15 years service. Giggs, Scholes, Butt, G Neville, P neville and D Beckham. Because these players were the mainstay of the team, they could then afford to pay top whack for the other players such as Van Nistelrooy, Rooney, Ferdinand, and yes, Veron.
This kept man U's spending down and just let them buy the best. It's not a criticism, BTW.

10 years ago Man Uniteds wage bill broke all records and increased by over 40% to over 1.3m a week seeing the first players in British football break all wage records with 80-100k per week salaries, it currently stands at around 160m equal to over 3m per week. So what were they doing differently and how will they cope with 4m rise per year only?


2. You mention Man U's wages not being the biggest. When you are the recent top dog, you will often get players going to a club, as trophies are more highly likely, which is why some players have picked Man U over Chelsea or City. Not all players are mercenaries, and some will pick trophies over money, the others will pick City or Chelsea.

So, what have L'Pool & Man United done much differently over the last 10 years, nothing from what I can see, just spent slightly less than Chelsea

3. Surely Liverpool haven't spent "slightly less" than Chelsea over the last 10 years.Are you including everyone at Chelsea, including all the expensive players you have out on loan?

So, what have L'Pool & Man United done much differently over the last 10 years, nothing from what I can see, just spent slightly less than Chelsea can now although Chelsea reduced their wage bill by 18m last year and reduced their playing and coaching staff from 89 in 2011 to 69 currently and it will be reduced further. Liverpool's is increasing!

4. Liverpool's squad is bound to increase as they "let go" and sold about 20 reserves, squad and peripheral players in the last 18 months to balance the books, so we need to strengthen - we only had 2 strikers for 4 months.

However, a key point is that Chelsea's & Man City's "income" is over 300m which the owners play no part in, that is down to commercial growth and other income factors, Man Uniteds is over 330m and Arsenals is 256m but Liverpool's "income" is lacking well below those figures with only 184m and yet your spending as much as others!

5. Is this genuine income - not backdoor sponsorship deals for the stadium etc, as in City's case.

6. Liverpool's sponsorship/kit deals have vastly increased over the last 3-4 years, since Ayre has come in, all without Champions league exposure and trophies. Imagine if we did get to the top again?

7. Chelsea can command/rip-off fans more by charging London prices, but is it sustainable? Lets see how the Europa league gates do, and what the prices are for them. Remember the boycott of the other year by Chelsea's fans (well done BTW). If Roman's roubles disappear, I don't think they are sustainable.

Money will get you so far in competing for the Premier League but paying over-inflated salaries to beat off the competition is not necessarily a true reflection of a squad’s overall ability or the ultimate route to success. The missing link is a management team’s ability to convert that financial outlay into trophies. Jose was successful but some others since have faltered.

8. More or less the biggest 8 spenders are the top 8 (before last night!!!) in the premier league, even including Everton in that.

This notion can be further assessed by looking at the spend of a team such as Tottenham who competed with Arsenal for a place in the top four despite spending £30m less in wages.

I'm guessing that over the last 10 years Arsenal have invested a lot more in Youth than Spurs, whereas Spurs concentrate on the first team squad only, so more people to pay.

While Newcastle finished just 5 points behind Arsenal despite spending £110m less in wages! Newcastle has halved its wage bill from £74m to £34m over the past two seasons yet still managed a top four challenge!

9. Lots of Newcastle's players came up with them from the Championship over that period, so some will only have had championship contracts, but with added bonusses, compared to Arsenal's Premiership/Champs league contracts.

10. Newcastle also got rid of a lot of high earners such as Barton, Alan Smith, Nolan and made their squad "lean" after going into the Championship. Also Cabaye, Ba,Ben Arfa, Cisse etc were gambles that massively paid off, but weren't top money signings.

BTW Ferguson's great asset was his ability to keep changing teams, and assimiliating the new signings. - that hurt to type that.

I can't wait to have a pint with you at West lancs, pity were not in the same 4 ball.