Liverpool FC Forum

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:15 am**

lakes10 wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:From .tv:

Liverpool FC issued the following press statement on Sunday night.
A meeting was held this evening involving Tom Hicks, George Gillett, Foster Gillett, Rick Parry and Rafa Benitez which was wide ranging and positive.

The discussions were amicable and constructive. All those present are united in their desire to bring further success to the club.

wow well that did not go on long.......i find that very strange.

Rafa was still talking to the press at 6:20pm

Hang on, the match finished at 3.20pm. There's no way in a million years that Rafa spoke to the media for three hours straight, particularly after a defeat.

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:32 am**

Did ya see Rafa's face in the post-match interview.. he looked so down

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:07 am**

From anfieldroad.com, info coming out from a private party ...

Reports: Gillett talks of trust for Rafa
Posted on December 16th, 2007 by Jim Boardman

Liverpool co-owner George Gillett visited a Christmas party being held tonight for Liverpool legends, and spoke a little about the current situation at the club. Tore Hansen, from the respected Norwegian fansite liverpool.no, was at the party and told the Norwegian website details of a speech Gillett made at the function.

Gillett’s speech started with an apology for the press reports relating to disagreements between the owners and Rafa: “This wasn’t meant to happen,” said Gillett, “but it has happened. Now we have to concentrate on finding a common platform for future co-operation.”

Regarding Rafa, Gillett was reported to have said: “Rafa is the man we want as manager and we trust him.” The row seems to have been between Rafa and Tom Hicks, and Gillett said he knows how to sort out arguments: “I’ve been married for over forty years and so have first-hand knowledge about how to resolve a row. We concentrated on getting an overview of the situation, and I feel we achieved that.”

After saying he was disappointed with today’s result, which he felt was unfair, Gillett said: “We have a squad now that’s better than it was a year ago, and we want to build it further. This is a big job we’ve started here with Liverpool FC, a job we’ve only just started. We want to get the top results in all competitions, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

Amidst the stories that Rafa’s planned transfer moves for January have been blocked, it was disappointing to hear Gillett was non-committal on that particular subject: “The transfer window opens soon and we might or might not use that opportunity.”

His closing statement related to what he says was his view of where he stood with Liverpool fans: “Liverpool is a big club. We are well aware that we are holding something very valuable. Liverpool isn’t our club, it’s your club: The supporter’s club. That’s how it’s always been and it’s how it always will be.”

These quotes were translated from Norwegian, from quotes which were previously in English, and so some of the spirit of what was said could have been lost. Certainly if Gillett is willing to speak in such a way to the British media it shows signs of encouragement. It’s the closest we’ve had to any backing of Rafa from the owners in the wake of the stories they planned to sack him.

It’s also going to be important to hear what Rafa himself has to say on the matter, to see if he’s as happy with the situation as the owners are.

Let’s hope the owners took on board what the supporters felt about Rafa and changed their minds about sacking him, and let’s also hope that they clarify their reasons for changing their minds about putting debt on the club, and on their reasons for scrapping the stadium plans we were shown in the summer.

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:42 am**

I still think Rafa's long term ie beyond this season position is still a bit dodgy. He was not their appointment, it seems they have doubts about him and he has added to this by going public with the transfer row etc. This speech means nothing really as they are hardly likely to say otherwise unless he's out the door. I think Rafa misjudged the Yanks bigtime - he thought he was arguing from a position of strength when it was in fact the opposite in their eyes. The Capello tap-up at the very least demonstrates this to Rafa

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 7:00 am**

The thing is if rafa is given money in january...he has to buy "the correct players" and then finish strongly. If he doesn't...it will really look bad on him. So its a catch-22 situation with rafa. My take....sign Mash Perm...get another CB and then get rid of sissoko and carson.

Playing devils advocate here.....but...

What happens if rafa buys another Kuyt, Voronin, Sissoko type of players ? We already have quite a few average joes in our squad as it is...

The owners are not daft....they have someone fillling them on how rafa operates (its not me...i promise

). And i can see no wrong in them wanting to trim the squad before buying.

Rafa mentioned that the owners don't know the ABCs of european football transfer details.....He is sort of right....

But the Owners can hit back at rafa on how he doesn't know sh1t about balancing the book in a business (yes....now football is a business).

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 8:55 am**

heard of some stupid talk about klinsmann replacing rafa soon?

??

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:23 am**

If G&H have half an ounce of common sense and I do credit them with that, having just seen how much the FA have lashed out to secure Capello´s questionable services I dont think they´re gonna sack Rafa on a whim and tie up another X million paying him off and Y million more bringing someone else in. This IS business after all and not fantasy football, not to mention he is simply the best man for the job.

These spats happen and I´m glad it has, G&H are going to be more focused, better aware of the type of commitment necessary and to know that the guy in charge has balls and if they try to hide behind the wood, that they can expect an immediate and aggressive response from the manager. Now then, what was the problem?

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 9:24 am**

Sarge wrote:heard of some stupid talk about klinsmann replacing rafa soon? ??

LOL

I wonder who next. The Hoff as assistant manager?

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:28 am**

ivor_the_injun wrote:
lakes10 wrote:
Bad Bob wrote:From .tv:

Liverpool FC issued the following press statement on Sunday night.
A meeting was held this evening involving Tom Hicks, George Gillett, Foster Gillett, Rick Parry and Rafa Benitez which was wide ranging and positive.

The discussions were amicable and constructive. All those present are united in their desire to bring further success to the club.

wow well that did not go on long.......i find that very strange.

Rafa was still talking to the press at 6:20pm

Hang on, the match finished at 3.20pm. There's no way in a million years that Rafa spoke to the media for three hours straight, particularly after a defeat.

Rafa spoke to radio 5 live about the result of the other game, he said that the gap could still be made up. this was at 6:20pm he was then asked about the meeting, he come back with " i will be meeting them now" the guy on radio 5 said " Thanks Rafa we better let you get of to it".

as there were 2 big games the press stay at the ground to see what the result of the other game is and then to get feed back.

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 11:30 am**

Sarge wrote:heard of some stupid talk about klinsmann replacing rafa soon? ??

WTF??

the art of diving

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:40 pm**

As far as I'm concerned, this statement is good news.

Throughout this whole saga the club have given fans only the minimum amount of information they can get away with. There was nothing to respond to after yesterdays meeting, as opposed to previous instances in the past few weeks when specific allegations have been made. The club didn't have to say anything but they did. If the talks had gone badly - and that scenario doesn't just include Rafa going, but also him staying but not getting either the funds or the control he needs to do his job properly - the club wouldn't have said anything until there was more concrete news (basically Rafa being sacked or making another public announcement).

If Rafa is sacked, or if he walks because he's not happy with the way the club is being run, the club will look like a right bunch of c#nts after putting that statement out. If G&H were determined to get shut of Rafa, or if they were planning to manoeuvre him into a position where he walks, then they'd have been better off keeping their powder dry by staying quiet about this meeting, so that when the end came they could refer back to it and say that Rafa's behaviour and/or demands had been unreasonable. They know that if Rafa goes he'll spill the beans, and that most Liverpool fans will accept his version of events over theirs.

I know it doesn't fit in with the majority view on here, but I get the sense from this that things behind the scenes are moving in the right direction, even if they're still a way from being properly sorted out.

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:03 pm**

I think it would make no sense to change the manager so I would say it will not happen in December or at the end of the season.

Too bad Lakes

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:08 pm**

Sarge wrote:heard of some stupid talk about klinsmann replacing rafa soon? ??

this is probably as true as all the rumours...

I don't want Rafa to go at all...

having said that if Klinsmann were to replace Rafa then he will be one of very few that I will not be unhappy with... his work with the german team was tremendous...

but you know this won't be true because Klinsmann didn't continue with the german job because he wants to stay with his family in california... his wife apparently doesn't even wanna move to her husband's home country... so it is very unlikely she would wanna move to england... the weather will be very different with californian weather among all things...

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:31 pm**

Klinsmann did a very good job with Germany, but he's simply not in Rafa's strata.

Posted: **Mon Dec 17, 2007 2:54 pm**

The owners will be asking how many times can they let Rafa get it wrong like the reading game and the Man u game.

Liverpool FC Forum

The meeting?