Liverpool FC Forum

[Sarge]

stand by your manager to bunch of you f.uckin fickle fans!

whatever remarks made by rafa, you should stand by him

[48-1119859832]

Sarge,

I do stand by Rafa but whilst I stand by Rafa he's asked for this negative attack from David Levy & I presume that moron Martin Jol will have his say on the matter in the near future. I don't like reading that someone associated with Liverpool  Football Club has tried to play clever mind games 'n' unsettle another teams player, that kinda behaviour belongs at Chelsea.

[Ciggy]

Somethings really p.issed Rafa off for him to say these things, it looks to me they wanted to palm Defoe off on us so they could buy Kuyt so therefore we would drop our interest.
They must have said these things to Cisse's agent and Rafa is just repeating it, was Rafa wrong to come out publicly yes I think so, but maybe he is just p.issed off with them unsettleing Djibs.
It will all come to the surface anyway what exactly has happened.

[Flashard]

I for one am pleased to see Raffa showing he will stand up for himself. I always think that when a story comes to light such as this one, it is peoples comments that go along way to identifying who is telling the truth. For the Spurs chairmen to come out all guns blazing straight away and threatening legal action leads me to beleive he has slipped up somewhere and is worried about getting a fans backlash. Raffa has remained calm upto a point and tried to explain the facts of the situation.This does not mean that i think Raffa is not clever in what he is attempting to do just simply letting a quality player know that there is a big club after him. It has not been done like the Chelski with secret metting in seedy places. Also where is Jol in all of this, i might be wrong, but as yet, has he started getting upset? Interesting situation.

[zarababe]

It's not like the boss to speak in such a way, which indicates that not only is he p*ssed off with the rumours, but that way he has spoken indicates he knows a lot more then he has 'still' let on .. as the article says. Others should know not to mess with us.

[RedWolf35]

its very interesting that Jol has so far not uttered a word on this situation

Rafa is a genius and he has never talked about any potential targets before so something has really wound him up about this

Levy is a complete idiot and should concentrate on trying to clinch that 4th champions league spot instead of bad mouthing king Rafa

after this I really hope that Arsenal beat them to it!!!

[dawson99]

jol has said that it is utter nonsense. it is bizarre. if it was someone saynig it about any of our players id be going through the roof. but there is something in this as king rafa isnt the tyope of person to unsettle players id think.

defoe is 5/1 to be a liverpool player first day of next season with ladbrokes by the way

[48-1119859832]

Jol has come out and said the whole Cisse fiasco is utter tripe & that Defoe won't be going anywhere because Spurs see him as their best striker. Levy has also reported Benitez to the FA after Benni refused to apologise to Tottenham for his comments regarding Jermain Defoe.

Benitez then went onto say that Levy was unprofessional & forgot what he was saying to agents, so it seems all of this is down to Levy having a quiet word on the side, Benitez got wind up of this & decided to pay Levy a lil sweet revenge.

So it's all David Levy's doing! I should expect the FA to ignore this stupid fiasco.

Spurs Report Benitez Over Defoe Comments

[woof woof !]

Benitez then went onto say that Levy was unprofessional & forgot what he was saying to agents,

So it's all David Levy's doing!

I think the key word there is agents . If Rafa has based his statement  on something he has heard from an agent and not directly from Spurs then imo he was a tad unwise to repeat it live on television.

[Gareth G]

I think Rafa should be givin the benefit of the doubt here, remember he's Spanish and sometimes foreigners interpret thing's differently!

[Lando_Griffin]

Levy is a pr*ck.

He is at a w*nk club and wants to make a name for himself.

W*nker.

[steffspurs]

Hello chaps,

Tottenham supporter here, I come in peace and with the spirit of discussion. Don;t usually sign up to other boards, but I've always had a healthy respect for Liverpool and had many a good day out at Anfield, so this story really bothered me.

In my opinion, your man Benitez has been done like a kipper via agents. Cisse's rep is obviously a -stirring , he's been harping on about his client since earlier in the season, and it is he who has been quoted as saying Cisse wants to move south, etc, blah blah blah. The ONLY time we've made a public comment to refute this, was when Jol was directly asked about it a couple of weeks ago, and he denied any interest.

Benitiez referred people to an 'interview' Levy gave in the Express on Feb 1st. If anyone wishes to see this report, I will happily post it. There is NO quote from Levy and NO interview.  Rafa's wrong.

I understand his frustration at agents and the increasing media which permeates every layer of the game. Remember how many weeks around Xmas we had to put up with hearing you were trying to buy Ledley King? Constant rumor, constant buzz. And then there was the dickhead who claimed Defoe had been seen at J L Airport in January! Did Levy or Jol jump all over Liverpool about those matters? No. Why? Because it's all about agents and media stirring the .

Nah, it's obvious to me that Rafa's been done like a kipper. He admits in his latest quotes that 'I speak to agents and they telll me, he does not remember what he has said but I remember'...I hope yoour chairman can make your boy see some sense, he needs to back down and cop to the fact he's been done by outside sources here.

Saddest thing is that many, many Yids really respected Benitez before this, and I personally would be happy to give him the benefit if he comes clean and cops to it. Let's face it, this sort of fire should've been directed towards that kenyon for the Gerrard fiasco!!!!

Anyhow, hope to have a mature discussion with some of you scousers about this,

Best wishes,

ThfcSteff

[Effes]

Maybe we don't know all the facts.

I doubt whether Rafa would be as naive as you imply, or maybe that's bias on my part.
I do think it out of character for Rafa which, to me, suggest something may have gone on.
But then again, don't most clubs try and sell a player this way?

I'm sure there's more to come out on this.

[stmichael]

Hello chaps,

Tottenham supporter here, I come in peace and with the spirit of discussion. Don;t usually sign up to other boards, but I've always had a healthy respect for Liverpool and had many a good day out at Anfield, so this story really bothered me.

In my opinion, your man Benitez has been done like a kipper via agents. Cisse's rep is obviously a -stirring , he's been harping on about his client since earlier in the season, and it is he who has been quoted as saying Cisse wants to move south, etc, blah blah blah. The ONLY time we've made a public comment to refute this, was when Jol was directly asked about it a couple of weeks ago, and he denied any interest.

Benitiez referred people to an 'interview' Levy gave in the Express on Feb 1st. If anyone wishes to see this report, I will happily post it. There is NO quote from Levy and NO interview.  Rafa's wrong.

I understand his frustration at agents and the increasing media which permeates every layer of the game. Remember how many weeks around Xmas we had to put up with hearing you were trying to buy Ledley King? Constant rumor, constant buzz. And then there was the dickhead who claimed Defoe had been seen at J L Airport in January! Did Levy or Jol jump all over Liverpool about those matters? No. Why? Because it's all about agents and media stirring the .

Nah, it's obvious to me that Rafa's been done like a kipper. He admits in his latest quotes that 'I speak to agents and they telll me, he does not remember what he has said but I remember'...I hope yoour chairman can make your boy see some sense, he needs to back down and cop to the fact he's been done by outside sources here.

Saddest thing is that many, many Yids really respected Benitez before this, and I personally would be happy to give him the benefit if he comes clean and cops to it. Let's face it, this sort of fire should've been directed towards that kenyon for the Gerrard fiasco!!!!

Anyhow, hope to have a mature discussion with some of you scousers about this,

Best wishes,

ThfcSteff

First things first, welcome to the forum.

On this issue, reading the broad sheets this morning I get the distinct impression that Rafa has made a consciuous decision to open the whole transfer can of worms open with his comments, which is out of character for him since he came to Liverpool. He normally prefers not to comment on such issues.

However as you rightly say, there are so many people involved in this story; the players, their agents, other players and their agents, non-agent agents, managers, managers son's agents, chairmen, friendly reporters and not so friendly reporters all producing smoke, mirrors, spin & reverse spin. Commissions are then made and price levels decided & maintained.

If you ask me, more transparency would be refreshing, would reduce the power of agents, reduce mischief making, lower prices and salaries and reduce some of the more frustrating player speculation threads on here and every other football forum.

[Cool Hand Luke]

I must say that I was very surprised at Rafa’s comments, as it is very unlike him. He likes to conduct transfers and any speculation as quietly as possible.

I will stick my neck out and say he was wrong when he said that Spurs are desperate to sell Defoe. This is unprofessional behaviour and even if other chairman or agents are acting in this way there is no reason to do the same.

Unless something has happened that we don’t know about I think Rafa should apologise to Spurs and finish this whole business, but my suspicion is that there is something else to it, Rafa has been a true pro since arriving and this is out of character, if I were a neutral I would trust Rafa more than the crafty Levy and dodgy agents.