Gillett - "Blame Rafa,not us"

[Dunny]

Liverpool co-owner George Gillett has defended the investment levels of the current regime and suggested fans should look to manager Rafael Benitez, rather than the club's owners, if the Reds are failing to progress.
Last weekend's 2-0 loss at Chelsea was the Reds' third defeat of the campaign - more than they suffered in the whole of last season - while they also lost against Fiorentina in the Champions League last week.
But Gillett has defended the record of himself and co-owner Tom Hicks in reports in the Times and the Daily Telegraph and believes the pair have done more than their rivals to improve the financial footing of their club.
"We have invested more money than our competitors, in keeping with the history of the club," Gillett is quoted as telling a representative of the fans' group Spirit of Shankly prior to Liverpool's 6-1 win over Hull last week.
"In the last 18 months, we have invested £128m on top of what has come in. That means it should be getting better.
"Now if it's not getting better, it's not Gillett and Hicks, it's the manager, it's the scouting. You have to make sure you balance out your analysis.
"There was plenty of money, so if you have any complaints, take a look at the ins and outs."
Gillett also added that the £30million fee recouped from Xabi Alonso's move to Real Madrid "went straight back" into the club's transfer budget, which was already set at "£22-23m as part of our budgets".
Gillett added: "The club is in extraordinarily good financial condition. Far better than Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal.
"We have invested massively, we have put more money in than anyone other than Manchester City, with the craziness they have got."

[Dunny]

RAFA BENITEZ has been left stunned by Liverpool co-owner George Gillett's latest outburst.

American Gillett told a Reds fan group that any failures on the pitch are down to boss Benitez, rather than himself and partner Tom Hicks. The fans group are one of many who want to try to oust Gillett and Hicks.
But the former insisted that if the team is not getting better, it is entirely down to the manager.
Benitez refused to react publicly but is less than happy at the club airing its dirty linen in full view once again.
An Anfield source said: "He's not saying anything but it's safe to say he wasn't exactly delighted about what's been said."
Anfield top brass are maintaining their silence over Gillett's comments but are fully behind the boss.
They insist Benitez's relationship with managing director Christian Purslow - the man appointed by the Americans - is as strong as ever.
And bizarrely, Gillett has helped strengthen Benitez's position, with fans taking the side of the manager as the club stumbles into more off-field chaos.
Despite some below par displays on the field, there is no suggestion Benitez's position is under threat.
But the latest embarrassment hardly strengthens an already fragile relationship between the Anfield chief and the owners.
And it will do little to help preparations for a crucial eight days after the international break.
Liverpool travel to Sunderland, face Lyon in a must-win Champions League clash and then have an Anfield showdown with Manchester United.

[Jangle]

Remember Mr. President and the Great Xcusist along with Paul Marin arguing about Rafa's waste? Where are they now that Mr. President has been vindicated? Rafa dash whey the man dem money and then complain bout "lack of funds".

[Gamma]

maybe it is all part of a cunning plan to get the fans to support rafa

[Paul Marin]

Remember Mr. President and the Great Xcusist along with Paul Marin arguing about Rafa's waste? Where are they now that Mr. President has been vindicated? Rafa dash whey the man dem money and then complain bout "lack of funds".

Jangle, show me where 128M could have been invested on top of whatever else has come in...Gillette is dealing in "new math" or has taken up smoking crack. Until proven wrong, I submit there is ZERO chance that Liverpool had that kind of money at our disposal for transfers. I mean, at the very least, that would have been 158M for transfers with is the 128M he claims plus the 30M for Xabi....then all Rafa had left was 2M to by the Greek. Something not right.

NOW - I am not going to defend Rafa's choices this season. He made some serious errors in not mitigating Xabi's departure. He has miscalculated Lucas's effectiveness and he has failed to improve the squad. That has to be his fault and his alone whether what the Americans are saying is true or not.

[Lazie]

Jangle, show me where 128M could have been invested on top of whatever else has come in...Gillette is dealing in "new math" or has taken up smoking crack. Until proven wrong, I submit there is ZERO chance that Liverpool had that kind of money at our disposal for transfers. I mean, at the very least, that would have been 158M for transfers with is the 128M he claims plus the 30M for Xabi....then all Rafa had left was 2M to by the Greek. Something not right.

NOW - I am not going to defend Rafa's choices this season. He made some serious errors in not mitigating Xabi's departure. He has miscalculated Lucas's effectiveness and he has failed to improve the squad. That has to be his fault and his alone whether what the Americans are saying is true or not.

There were various articles that pointed to the amount of money Rafa spend Paul ... but as usual your bias will not allow you to see reality.

[Dunny]

Rafa’s hits and misses






Published: Today







OVERALL



MISSES 23, £70.3m
HITS 22, £127.1m
SPENT £230.9m
RECEIVED £125.08m
NET SPENT £105.82m



HIT ... Xabi Alonso



2004-05


£2m Josemi (from Malaga), MISS, £6m Luis Garcia (Barcelona) HIT, £10.5m Xabi Alonso (Sociedad) HIT, Swap Antonio Nunez (R Madrid) MISS, Free Mauricio Pellegrino (Valencia) MISS, £6.3m Fernando Morientes (R Madrid) MISS, £7.5m Scott Carson (Leeds) MISS.
TOTAL £32.3m

2005-06


£6m Jose Reina (Villarreal) HIT, £4.5m Mark Gonzalez (Albacete) MISS, Free Boudewijn Zenden (Boro) HIT, Free Antonio Barragan (Seville) MISS, £5.6m Mohamed Sissoko (Valencia) HIT, £7m Peter Crouch (Southampton) HIT, Free Godwin Antwi (R Zaragoza) MISS, Free Jack Hobbs (Lincoln) MISS, Free Paul Anderson (Hull) MISS, Swap Jan Kromkamp (Villarreal) MISS, Free David Martin (MK Dons) HIT, £5.8m Daniel Agger (Brondby) HIT, Free Robbie Fowler (Man City) MISS.
TOTAL £28.9m

2006-07


£6m Craig Bellamy (Blackburn) MISS, £2m Gabriel Paletta (Banfield) MISS, Free Fabio Aurelio (Valencia) HIT, £6.7m Jermaine Pennant (Birmingham) MISS, £9m Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord) HIT, Free Nabil El Zhar (St Etienne) HIT, £2.6m Alvaro Arbeloa (Deportivo) HIT, Free Francisco Manuel Duran (Malaga) MISS, £18.6m Javier Mascherano (West Ham) HIT, Free Andrey Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen) MISS, Free Krisztian Nemeth (MTK Hungaria) HIT, Free Charlie Itandje (Lens) MISS.
TOTAL £44.9m

MISS ... Craig Bellamy



2007-08


£22m and Luis Garcia part-exchange Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid) HIT, £5m Yossi Benayoun (West Ham) HIT, £11.5m Ryan Babel (Ajax) MISS, Free Emiliano Insua (Boca Juniors) HIT, Free Damien Plessis (Lyon) HIT, £6m Martin Skrtel (Zenit St Petersburg) HIT.
TOTAL £44.5m

2008-09


Free Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund) MISS, £7m Andrea Dossena (Udinese) MISS, £3.5m Diego Cavalieri (Palmeiras) HIT, £1.5m David Ngog (Paris St Germain) HIT, £20.3m Robbie Keane (Tottenham) MISS, Free Vitor Flora (Botafogo) MISS, £8m Alberto Riera (Espanyol) MISS.
TOTAL £40.3m

2009-10


£18m Glen Johnson (Portsmouth) HIT, £20m Alberto Aquilani (Roma) WHO KNOWS, £2m Sotiros Kyrgiakos (AEK Athens) MISS.
TOTAL £40m

[Peter R]

2009-2010 = £40M; suh whe de ressa a de £158M spen'??

[Paul Marin]

There were various articles that pointed to the amount of money Rafa spend Paul ... but as usual your bias will not allow you to see reality.

Bias? I would think that my statement: "Until proven wrong, I submit there is ZERO chance that Liverpool had that kind of money at our disposal for transfers" would lead one to prove me wrong by stating facts, but of course, you resort to hyperbole, not facts. Show me where this is true and I shall stand corrected. The numbers just don't add up, but I guess that must be bias too.

[Paul Marin]

2009-2010 = £40M; suh whe de ressa a de £158M spen'??

Pedro, this is the biggest smoke screen in the history of football. Again, the numbers don't add up. Rafa -- if he had it -- would have spent every penny of that 158M and you would have seen Silva, Villa and others at Liverpool this season.

[Sir X]

This one Lazie ?

So what’s Greedy George on about?so-whats-greedy-george-gillett-on-about/';tweetmeme_source = 'thisisanfield';

George Gillett has again proven himself to be a liar following recent quotes in the press this week.
Written by Gareth Roberts on October 7th, 2009 26 Comments
Email This Article Print This Article addthis_pub = 'thisisanfield';
Gareth Roberts is the blogger of Well Red – a Liverpool FC blog.
There’s a lot of people wrapping themselves up in knots about the stories that have appeared in the media this week about George Gillett having a pop at Rafa Benitez.
Not at the amazing brass neck of the Liverpool co-owner saying Benitez is to blame if the club doesn’t “move forward”.
But at the media for daring to print an article that originated on a Liverpool fans’ forum. (TIA: The Gillett quotes originated from a post on The Liverpool Way from an SOS member who met with Gillett a few weeks ago).
Well what’s the problem? It seems The Times first got hold of the story. And as at least three members of the sport team there are die-hard Liverpool fans, as well as excellent journalists, it’s safe to say the origin of the story is a safe one.
So once they had established the authenticity of the source, what’s wrong with printing it?
I think it’s great – because, yet again, it shows up Gillett for what he is – a money-obsessed spin-doctor who doesn’t appear to give a flying f**k about Liverpool FC.
Gillett, who along with Hicks has led the club during a period when debts have rocketed from £40m upon their purchase in 2007 to £240m now, interestingly claims he and Hicks have put in £128m PLUS the £30m recouped from the sale of Xabi Alonso.
And yet Benitez seemed to miss out on a string of targets from Gareth Barry to David Silva, Ryan Shawcross to Michael Turner. And we ended up with a bargain basement Greek in the twilight of his career. But apparently there was millions sitting there waiting to be spent.
Not adding up is it?

Gillett, who also claims it was Hicks not he that made the infamous “60 days until there’s a spade in the ground” statement regarding a new stadium (the video below suggests otherwise), also said:

“We spent more than the 20m cap in our budget, plus all the money from sales, so there was plenty of money, so any complaints you have you should take a look at the ins and outs. We have put £128 million in to buy players on top of what’s come in in the last 18 months.

Well, I was researching this for the day job today (thanks to those who pointed me in the direction of LFC History for figures) so George, let’s do just that: (Figures since Gilett and Hicks took charge of Liverpool, February 2007)

PLAYERS IN:

Javier Mascherano:£18m

Lucas Leiva £5m

Mikel San José Domínguez £270,000

Sebastian Leto £1.8m

Fernando Torres £20.2m

Andriy Voronin Free

Yossi Benayoun £5m

Ryan Babel £11,500,000

Charles Itandje Undisclosed

Emiliano Insúa £1.3m

Martin Skrtel £6.5m

Philipp Degen Free

Andrea Dossena £7m

Diego Cavalieri £3.5m

David N’gog £1.5m

Robbie Keane £19m

Albert Riera £8m

Glen Johnson £17.5m

Alberto Aquilani £17.1m

Sotirios Kyrgiakos £2m

Daniel Ayala Undisclosed

SPENT: £135.1million

PLAYERS OUT:

Florent S.-Pongolle £2.7m

Danny O’ Donnell £100,000

Jerzy Dudek Free

Boudewijn Zenden Free

Robbie Fowler Free

Luis Garcia £4m

Djibril Cissé £6m

Craig Bellamy £7.5m

Mark Gonzalez £3.5m

Gabriel Paletta £1.2m

James Smith Free

Mohamed Sissoko £8.2m

Lee Peltier Free

John Arne Riise £4m

Harry Kewell Free

Anthony Le Tallec Undisclosed

Peter Crouch £11m

Danny Guthrie £2.25m

Scott Carson £3.25m

Steve Finnan Undisclosed

Robbie Keane £16m

Jack Hobbs Undisclosed

Paul Anderson £250,000

Jermaine Pennant Free

Miki Roque Free

Sebastian Leto £3m

Álvaro Arbeloa £3.5m

Xabi Alonso £30m

SOLD: £106.5m

NET SPEND IN HICKS & GILLETT’S REIGN: £28.6m

I’m no accountant (thankfully) but this doesn’t seem to illustrate a spend of £128m plus the money that has come in does it?
And for those of you who (amazingly) think the suns shines out of Hicks & Gillett’s arse – here’s something else to consider (figures courtesy of Paul Tomkins)
SQUAD WORTH:
1. Chelsea £252.9m
2. Manchester United £215.4m
3. Tottenham £203.8m
4. Manchester City £165.9m
5. Liverpool £154m
6. Arsenal £92m
So for those of you who argue Benitez has had quite enough to spend, maybe a little food for thought?
Consider also, that Champions League participation is worth approximately £20m a year. And since Hicks & Gillett have been around we’ve always been it.
So again, I’m failing to see where this alleged huge investment is. If you can enlighten me, please do.

Finally, I quote George Gillett one final time – then urge you to immediately watch the video below.

“Where have we lied? Where’s the lie, for Christ’s sake? In those 60 days, what happened to the world? I didn’t say that. Hicks was the one who said. 60 days? Bulls**t. That was not me. It’s wrong. I have never talked about that.”

AVOIDING THE BULLSHIT: Today’s recommended read – Paul Tomkins’ rant.
For more from Gareth Roberts, visit his blog, Well Red.

[Paul Marin]

X - why yu boda pos' dis? I mean, we can't let facts get in the way of the matter can we? Now poor Lazie a google himself to death fi try fine some fool fool backwater journal fi tell we different. Him can look till him finga dem drop off, him nah go fine it!! See what I mean 'bout lazie - "various articles" mi granny!!

Lazie - see the difference between facts and conjecture? Up to now you cyan prove shyte about Rafa's spending being anywhere near the numbers quoted.

[Lazie]

X - why yu boda pos' dis? I mean, we can't let facts get in the way of the matter can we? Now poor Lazie a google himself to death fi try fine some fool fool backwater journal fi tell we different. Him can look till him finga dem drop off, him nah go fine it!! See what I mean 'bout lazie - "various articles" mi granny!!

Lazie - see the difference between facts and conjecture? Up to now you cyan prove shyte about Rafa's spending being anywhere near the numbers quoted.

I don't have to google anything. I posted about 2 to 3 articles here about the spending comparison.

I hope you know the difference between squad worth and total spent on transfers. Is pettiness a required characteristic to be a Looserpool fan? Teamtalk, Skysports, BBC, RBSC forums ... its all the same.

[Sir X]

Spin master `/spin don /spin master /spinnister ..I present Lazie .

[Lazie]

Spin master `/spin don /spin master /spinnister ..I present Lazie .

Where mi spin anything? Haven't we had this discussion already? Presenting an article by a Rafa fan doesn't make it fact. I posted a list of all the players Rafa purchased with the value of most of them. Nothing to spin, you can continue with the in Rafa you trust chant.