Can i get an answer from the DEADWOOD crew

[Portmore]

Please do not punish me with a toll.

[Mosiah]

heh heh!

we call them fines! or dues!

[Portmore]

Do you also live outside of the moat?

[Portmore]

I hope you are not a Spurs fan. I think pressure is on them from all quarters. From number 6 Liverpool and from Italy. Not to mention their misfortune with the Wolves.

[Portmore]

Thanks for the explanation. Sometimes even a great manager can do poorly in an assignment. Sometimes he can get off to a bad start, other times things out of his control can start things going the wrong way, other times he can make a few genuine mistakes. It often takes a change of scenery to allow one to get back to their winning ways. Rafa was good but it was time for him to leave.

Alex Ferguson was just a lucky guy when he came into Man U. They brought a lot of young guys through their youth system and mixed them neatly with veterans. The opening of Europe came at the right time for them, just after the EPL era started. He built his confidence and top players respect him enough to follow his leaderhip. Redknapp has his own style and does the same thing. So does Wenger.

Many great teams and managers. It is a mistake not to be able to appreciate most of them or to even dislike one because he always seems to beat your team or to give your team fits.

[Paul Marin]

I believe Rafa did finish pretty high up on the table even though Liverpool has not won in the modern EPL format. Dalglish was there before also but had no better table success in a single season than Rafa had in the modern format.

Dalglish won the Prem with Blackburn and he won the double with Liverpool in the old format.

[OJ]

liverpool is like newcastle and leads big in faith of the fans only...

[Portmore]

Brilliant! Yes, Shearer decided to be at Blackburn and shortly after that, they went down. Man United had wanted him but he decided otherwise. Imagine how fortunes could have changed! United did well without him but his teams would never win again. Had he gone to United, he would have been a part of their glory years, which wont come again like that for a long time. But, something about Shearer just tells me that the heavens had decided that his personality was not that of a red devil. What I have known of him suggests he prefers to be the lone top dog of a club. He was also quite a sniper behind the backs of multiple managers at Newcastle. Had he been at Man U and tried to do that, the Scot would have kicke more than a shoe and put more than just the human blow drier into his face.

[Jangle]

Portmore, you seem to be a man of great intelligence. As the official Vice President of the Empire Fan Club (you need to continue reading the forum to find out who is the President), I want to caution you from engaging in any long discussion with our sworn enemies, namely Paul Marin, Xcuse, PeterR and any other Loserfools. Please keep your responses to them short and to the point without using too many "high-folluted" words in your posts. Also, you need to sharpen up on your barbs towards them.





(we generally keep it light and fun around here and readily throw insults, not personal at each other. Trust me, dem skin tuff like old leather.)

[Sir X]

Rafa had to leave because he wanted to leave , nothing else! based on a policy of sell to buy , it was impossible to compete with the BIG 4 , make it 6 with Man City and Spurs.

Rafa implemented a youth system thats winning youth titles, a prem Team worth twice its value , with trophies and respect Liverpool hasnt seen since the late 90s.

Based on the sell to buy policy he is allowed to make errors, his last season when half of the squad were injured the entire season our lack of depth was glowing, calling up kids from the youth teams said it all.

Anyone who refuses to acknowledge these two facts about Rafa last season is disingenious 1)Sell to buy policy,makes it impossible to compete with the top 6, 2) Injuries made it imposible to compete with the top 6 in terms of depth.

If we can admit he was a Top 5 manager , then we can only look at the difference in terms of financial policy with regards to the top 6 clubs and how it played out in respective campaigns.

Given that Pool were runners up in 09 ,C.L final 07 , C.l Title in 05 .The problem is obviously financial and H&G at the helm of Liverpool FC was a lynch pin around Rafa neck creating a stifling effect.The outcome was the obvious him leaving.

[Sir X]

Thanks to Roy Hodgson.

[Mosiah]

I am LIVERPOOL! And don't forget that!

YNWA!

[Portmore]

I am so sorry sir. Somehow, through my lttle reading on the site, I tried to make an inference based also on my gut. I was wrong. I had figured you were the Harry Redknapp and David Ginola fan type.

[Portmore]

You are very kind. I like to think I am intelligent but I am not sure I am in the same league as some you foreign big shots like X and Mosiah. I only have a few Jamaica school certificate and two GCE. I went to tech school and I am a contractor. Is X the president by the way? He seems like a guy who tries to command the fan base. What is the empire? Is it the Reggaeboyz club?

[Paul Marin]

X - when we came second to the "unmentionables" that was in my opinion a botched effort on Rafa's part. He went on TV trying to influence the outcome of the Chelsea/Manu** game and it backfired. That had nothing to do with finances as that squad was on song. They had what it took then to win the title.

HOWEVER - I don't disagree with you about the sell/buy policy or the injuries, but I don't think these alone were the issue for Rafa. He actually did well under these conditions but in the end, he made a mess of his man management, which is what I believe did him in (at Liverpool). There is no question that Rafa is a top manager, but he is in search of a heavy spending club - this is what he yearns for. If Mancini leaves the Eastlands, I would not be surprised that Rafa would be a finalist for that job. I have no doubt that were he to take the reigns he could take City (on the backs of even bigger spending) to a title. Or he may end up at Real Madrid. Who knows. I still rate Rafa, but whether he left by himself or they showed him the door, he had to go.