Liverpool FC Forum

[Lets Go Fly A Kuyt]

haha at everton sniffing around babel too.

[GYBS]

Pennant blasts Benitez: Rafa forced me to leave Liverpool because I'm English


by ALEX CROOK

Jermaine Pennant claims Rafael Benitez bombed him out of Liverpool because he is English.

Pennant launched an astonishing blast at Benitez as he prepared to make his debut for new club Portsmouth in the FA Cup clash with Championship Swansea.

The former England under 21 international believes Liverpool's Spanish boss will risk the Merseysiders' title hopes on dodgy foreigners rather than trust home grown talent.

Reunited: Jermaine Pennant with former Liverpool team-mate Peter Crouch

Winger Pennant has joined Pompey on loan until the end of the season after being told by Benitez that his Anfield career was over.

Pennant started only two matches for Liverpool this season before being frozen out of Benitez's plans.

'I have mentioned that before when I was at Arsenal so I guess I have not had much luck with foreign managers.

'Last season I played 34 games and in a Champions' League final the previous year for Rafa but now he has had a change of plans.

'It is not for me to question the manager because he has done so well for Liverpool but it seems very strange to go from playing every week to training on my own on Saturday afternoons.

'But that is Rafa for you and I don't think half the players at Liverpool can work him out.

'I have been speaking to a lot of the other Liverpool players and they could not understand why I was not being selected, especially in the games at home where they have struggled to win.

'It was the same with Peter Crouch and he had to get away too.

'I spoke to Crouchy a lot before I came here and he told me to join Portsmouth. He said it was a good club and that Tony would give me more chances to play.'

Pennant has the option of a permanent move to Fratton Park at the end of his loan but admitted he could yet join AC Milan or Real Madrid.

He added: 'It is weird that I cannot get into Liverpool's team but Real Madrid want me.

'It is very flattering to be linked with a club of their size because they are one of the best teams in the world.


On the attack: Pennant criticised Benitez for not giving him a chance at Anfield

'I did not speak to Madrid directly but my agent may have done. I did not speak to Milan either but again my agent may have.

'I am here for six months because I want to play regular football and we will have to see what happens after that.

'It would be a great experience to play abroad and I am not ruling it out.'

Portsmouth face Swansea without Croatian playmaker Niko Kranjcar who has a groin injury. Richard Hughes returns after a hamstring injury.

[GYBS]

1. You didnt play because your arent good enough and your attitude stinks - got feck all to do with you being english
2. AC Milan and Real will not go for you in the summer as they will go for their number targets as opposed to someone who would just fill a gap for 6 months .
3. If you really wanted to just play football why didnt you join other clubs when you had the chance .

[NANNY RED]

1. You didnt play because your arent good enough and your attitude stinks - got feck all to do with you being english
2. AC Milan and Real will not go for you in the summer as they will go for their number targets as opposed to someone who would just fill a gap for 6 months .
3. If you really wanted to just play football why didnt you join other clubs when you had the chance .

Agreed on every point there .

You know what made me laugh though in that interview was this bit

Pennant has the option of a permanent move to Fratton Park at the end of his loan but admitted he could yet join AC Milan or Real Madrid.

He added: 'It is weird that I cannot get into Liverpool's team but Real Madrid want me.

'It is very flattering to be linked with a club of their size because they are one of the best teams in the world.


On the attack: Pennant criticised Benitez for not giving him a chance at Anfield

'I did not speak to Madrid directly but my agent may have done. I did not speak to Milan either but again my agent may have.

MIGHT HAVE HA load of bo.llox ill bet my house on it his agent never spoke to none of them teams. Maybe a rep from Jack Daniels but never them teams

[Ciggy]

Ooooer if you hadnt have beaten people up in kebab shops p!ssed, and swiggin Jack Daniels in town then maybe you would have been picked, just a thought like.

Just think we are still payin half of his wages waster him and his Ugg boots can p!ss off.

[Owzat]

I was about to post that laughable piece of fiction from the pen of Pennant! He is clutching at straws if he thinks he was discriminated against because he was English. I'm guessing he thinks it's because he is black, but thought better of coming out with that kind of accusation

I guess Voronin is discrimated against because he's Ukrainian, Bellamy was because he was Welsh etc. Or because they, like Pennant, didn't deliver.


Aren't GERRARD and CARRA English? If so then how come they have no problem getting in the side? Oh, that's right, because they do the job they're paid to. Like why Alonso, Torres, Riera and Reina are first team regulars while Nunez, Morientes, Josemi et all are all gone. The latter aren't gone because they're Spanish, the lot are. The pick are here and playing week in, week out. And Barry is English, I gather Rafa was keen to buy him. Funny that, nothing to do with him being English that we didn't sign him...................


P1ss off Jermaine Pennant,
Oh, what will we do,
without a useless w@nker,
who ain't got a clue

[lakes10]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

[Ciggy]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

How do you work that one out? We have to have home grown players its the rules from UEFA.

[lakes10]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

How do you work that one out? We have to have home grown players its the rules from UEFA.

They dont have to be English, they have only have to have come up from the Jnr team, thats why Rafa has been buy loads of young none English players, they fit in with the Home grown rule.






"The Commission has come to the conclusion that the rules on home-grown players promote objectives of general interest such as the training of young players and the rebalancing of sports competitions. Therefore, even though they might lead to indirect discrimination on the basis of nationality, the UEFA rules have been endorsed by the Commission, subject to a review of their practical consequences by 2012.
The Commission's assessment was based i.a. on the results of an independent study carried out in the first half of 2008. UEFA's rules on home-grown players require clubs participating in the Champions League and the UEFA Cup to have a minimum number of home-grown players, i.e. players who, regardless of their nationality, have been trained by their club or by another club in the same national association for at least three years between the age of 15 and 21."

[Effes]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

How do you work that one out? We have to have home grown players its the rules from UEFA.

They dont have to be English, they have only have to have come up from the Jnr team, thats why Rafa has been buy loads of young none English players, they fit in with the Home grown rule.

Why 2 years tho - where's Gerrard gonna go?

[lakes10]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

How do you work that one out? We have to have home grown players its the rules from UEFA.

They dont have to be English, they have only have to have come up from the Jnr team, thats why Rafa has been buy loads of young none English players, they fit in with the Home grown rule.

Why 2 years tho - where's Gerrard gonna go?

God i hope i am wrong on this and he is still playing but i do feel that if we win the prem and he has a good world cup then he might start thinking about moving on (not to another club) he has already looking at what he would like to do (Manager) and i hope he could someday be our manager, Gerrard is very clever and will be looking to go out on a high and if we do win the prem he has the full bag......time to move on, well i hope not but he might.

[tubby]

Nah he will want to try and lead us out into our new stadium. Assming it gets built at some point haha

[lakes10]

Nah he will want to try and lead us out into our new stadium. Assming it gets built at some point haha

yep you are right there, i feel he has a tick box in his mind and when its full its time to call his playing days to a end and then take the next step. I hope its longer than 4 years but i dont see him as a Giggs, holding on to his playing days till he starts to look like a has-been.

[Effes]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

How do you work that one out? We have to have home grown players its the rules from UEFA.

They dont have to be English, they have only have to have come up from the Jnr team, thats why Rafa has been buy loads of young none English players, they fit in with the Home grown rule.

Why 2 years tho - where's Gerrard gonna go?

God i hope i am wrong on this and he is still playing but i do feel that if we win the prem and he has a good world cup then he might start thinking about moving on (not to another club)

Yea, I'll say your a wrong on that one Lakes

[lakes10]

There will be no English players at Liverpool in 4 years time if Rafa stays the manager, it might even be only 2 years.

How do you work that one out? We have to have home grown players its the rules from UEFA.

They dont have to be English, they have only have to have come up from the Jnr team, thats why Rafa has been buy loads of young none English players, they fit in with the Home grown rule.

Why 2 years tho - where's Gerrard gonna go?

God i hope i am wrong on this and he is still playing but i do feel that if we win the prem and he has a good world cup then he might start thinking about moving on (not to another club)

Yea, I'll say your a wrong on that one Lakes

hope so mate.