Egal, was Joey Barton anpackt, es gibt immer irgendwie Schwierigkeiten.
Kaum ein Spieler produziert so regelmässig negative Schlagzeilen wie Manchester Citys Joey Barton. Nachdem er Anfang Mai einen Mitspieler im Training zusammengeschlagen hatte, wurde er für den Rest der Saison suspendiert. Es wurde ihm wohl nahegelegt, sich einen neuen Club zu suchen. Entlassen wurde er aber nicht, denn das hätte ManCity um die Ablösesumme gebracht (Bartons Vertrag läuft erst in einem Jahr aus). Nun hat sich Sam Allardyce – seines Zeichens neuer Coach von Newcastle United – in den Kopf gesetzt, Barton zu zähmen:
Ich hatte Spieler mit einem schlechteren Ruf als Joey Barton und hatte nie Probleme mit ihnen, weil ich weiss, wie ich mit ihnen sprechen muss. Er hat Charakter; manchmal liegt er falsch, aber er ist stark, hat eine eigene Meinung und versteht das Fussballspielen.
Also haben die ‹Magpies› Manchester City 5.5 Millionen Pfund für Barton geboten. Er hat bereits alle medizinischen Tests bestanden und die Vertragsbedingungen ausgehandelt. Aber nun – Sie ahnen es – gibt es Ärger, und zwar mit seinem alten Verein. Barton hat in seinem Vertrag eine Klausel, die ihm einen sogenannten Treuebonus von £300’000 garantiert, falls er ManCity verlässt, ohne selbst um den Transfer gebeten zu haben. Der Club behauptet nun aber, niemand hätte Barton gezwungen zu gehen. Inzwischen hat sich die Professional Footballers’ Association eingeschaltet, um den Streit zu schlichten.
Einerseits kann ich nachvollziehen, dass Manchester City seinem Störenfried das Geld nicht nachwerfen will. Andererseits macht der Club ein gutes Geschäft, denn Barton stammt aus der eigenen Jugend. Wieso Barton allerdings nicht einfach auf das Geld verzichtet, wenn er unbedingt weg will, ist mir ein Rätsel. Aber wie soll ich auch verstehen, was in Joey Barton vorgeht – ich drücke ja auch nicht Zigarren in den Augen anderer Menschen aus.
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Reds supporters worldwide anxiously await the fulfilment of their American owners’ promises. But it could be a while…
As Manchester United fork out over £50m on three players, with seemingly more to come, Liverpool supporters are still waiting for one big name – and it seems it’s going to be a long wait.
With George Gillett and Tom Hicks testing the patience of Rafa Benitez, we need to know where the promised funding is. I take you back to an article I wrote in February highlighting my reservations about the American tycoons.
I hate to say it, but I told you so.
At a time when Benitez should be snapping up the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Fernando Torres, Carlos Tevez or David Villa, we are now being linked to the likes of Manchester reject Diego Forlan, and other ‘lesser’ targets. Sure Forlan is flying in La Liga, but the Premiership is a different ball game altogether, and we all remember his last tenure in England. The question is whether the Americans have promised the world in meetings but not come up with the goods.
The CEO of DIC, who were previously linked with a buy-out, is a season-ticket-holding Liverpool supporter. Can you imagine what his passion associated with corporate funding could have done to Liverpool’s progress? A world of difference from the current owners, who had to learn about Liverpool’s history through books. You can’t learn passion, and that seems to be the missing element, and Rafa’s ‘passion’ is being mistaken for ‘falling out with the board’.
If securing established stars like Florent Malouda seems to be such an uphill battle, while Manchester United spend the same amount on teenagers, then the likes of Eto’o, Villa and Torres seem unrealistic dreams for the Liverpool faithful. At the moment, it seems Rafa is walking alone.
Benitez is a master tactician (Athens aside) and most probably will use the knowledge of the last three years to finally attempt to land the Premiership title. The lack of new signings may well prompt the remaining players to play out of their skins and in the process catapult Liverpool to success – ‘Survive or Die’ their motto, no doubt. What must also be remembered is that a player like Dirk Kuyt is likely to improve after his first season at Anfield.
We could see the return of the long-range passing that made Xabi Alonso famous with the Kop now that he has secured his peak years with Liverpool via a new contract. Steven Gerrard will only get better as he closes in on his peak years, and Jamie Carragher,seems to mature with age as well. Still, I’m pretty sure they would all relish the chance of playing with Torres, Eto’o or Villa.
But there’s still time, and the Kop faithful will be willing to forgive all the deception and false promises from the new owners in exchange for some superstar signings of note. Gillett said last week that something is in the pipeline, and that he is sure that Reds supporters will be happy with developments. He is setting up an excitement frenzy amongst supporters.
But he had better not be pulling their leg, as the Kop have a humorous way of showing their disapproval, and his name may well be the key phrase in some new songs at Anfield next season. Until supporters see new star players holding up the famous red shirt standing next to a smiling Rafa, Liverpool’s bright future may be under some cloud cover for now.
Gerrard, Carragher , Pepe Reina and Alonso would not have cemented their future if Liverpool were gripped in crisis. But I’m sure they would not be impressed by their new bosses’ lacklustre approach to strengthening the squad. Gerrard will no doubt feel his wonderful achievements and medals collection will be incomplete without the Premiership medal hanging in his trophy cabinet.
No.19 seems to be in the balance right now.
Red Fred hat vergessen, die Quelle anzugeben.
Die Ausführungen über Liverpool stammen von Sportingo.
Oooops, yes I’m sorry about omitting the source…
Sportingo is the homepage and the 25 years old Ejaz Khan from South Africa is the author of the comments about the unlucky Liverpool transfer activities … What a difference to Man U, I hate to admit! If only the Liverpool board and Messrs Hicks and Gillett would also read these comments.
Thank you Mr C!
PS: Liverpool will play Werder Bremen in Grenchen the coming July 17th
Liverpool prove that money can’t buy success
Author – Subhas Dawda (subhash_dawda@hotmail.com)
Taken from Affliate site(www.soccerglobe.net)
Filed under: Premiership by Anirudha Dasgupta
6th February was ostensibly one of the most surprising, if not shocking days on the plains of Merseyside—as Liverpool Football Club—in most un-KOP-like manner, finally gave in to the corporate tentacles of the American sports franchising kings– George Gillett and Tom Hicks.
The pair, who each own NHL ice hockey teams, beat off competition from Dubai International Capital. Their offer is worth £5,000 per share, valuing the club at £174.1m, and along with the club’s £44.8m debt it values the club at £218.9m.
But the pair is also believed to have guaranteed to invest over £200m in the club, but they refused to discuss figures.
They confirmed they will make funds available, both for team strengthening and the building of the club’s new stadium in Stanley Park and denied they had secured the club on borrowed money.
Big Yankee money, coupled with Rafael Benitez’s incurable affinity to be a fairly active part of the transfer market—which, thus far—has been a matter of ebb and flow—his signings range from brilliance (Mascherano and Xabi Alonso) to inexplicably shambolic buys, Zenden ala mode. This seemed like a match made in the footballing heavens—or is it?
Benitez had famously lambasted Valencia’s spending policy after moving across the English Channel, “After winning one title, the people at the club think they do not need to spend more, but then you see what happens—we finish fourth the next season…”
Benitez must’ve been licking his fingers after publicly asking Gillett and Hicks to splash the cash, break the bank, unleash his war chest—he wasn’t going to have another Los Che again—no sire—only to be fairly flummoxed at his current status in the transfer market.
Before the transfer markets actually opened for their summer bonanza—Liverpool FC were in the midst of something resembling a psychotic transfer coup, frequent linkups with a plethora of players—ranging from Daniel Alves, Gabriel Milito, David Villa, Samuel Eto’o, Ricardo Quaresma, Florent Malouda—what his brazen summer has thus far revealed is much different.
Daniel Alves has been in serious contact with Real Madrid—already having informed Seville to lay preference on a move to the Bernebeu, Gabby Milito appears to have secured a move to the newly promoted Juventus, Eto’o is on a tabloid merry-go-round as he is linked with all of England’s top four, but also Milan—who have jumped into the race to sign Cameroon’s finest forward.
Thus far, he has only been able to secure the services of the Ukrainian journeyman Andriy Voronin on Bosman, and Lucas Leiva—the highly rated Brazilian U-21 captain—however—neither of them appear to be setting the stage alight, and when compared to Manchester United’s 30 million pound double-deal for Nani and Anderson, it is merely a far cry from what Benitez thought his summer would be like.
And the reasons behind this apparent lack of interest from Europe’s finest players to join the legendary KOP is anyone’s guess—is it the manager’s rotation-based policy where nobody is quite sure as to where they stand in the pecking order, is the pragmatic, tight, conservative philosophy of football that is employed at Anfield, or is it the relative inability of Liverpool to be able to make any serious inroads into posing a serious threat to grab the Holy Grail of the English game, the Premier League?
Or is it simply that the players are not convinced of Rafael Benitez’s ability to be able to churn in a good footballing side, along with the assiduously sought after boatload of trophies?
To come to think of it, the very thought of playing in front—arguably—the world’s most vocal, passionate, knowledgeable fans, screaming their lungs out to the sound of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’, to walk down that tunnel classically emblazoned with the ‘This is Anfield’ banner, which players touch while exiting the tunnel—as if it were holy, to play for the famous Reds of Merseyside, holders of 5 Champions League titles, 18 League titles, 7 FA cups, 3 UEFA cups and a horde of other titles—why would you not play for such a team, which promises history, ambition and now—even the clink of the cash register?
The reason would be the relative decline—if I may have the license to use the word decline—of the club in terms of titles compared to the other Red-colored teams of England since 1992, the last league title they won was back in 1990, 17 years ago, and though they have notched 2 FA Cups, one UEFA Cup and even the most coveted UEFA Champions League en route—four major cup trophies over a period of 17 years is relatively barren for a club having won so much in the past.
Compared to the Red Devils massive worldwide presence, the lure of fast-paced football, the Gunners’ silken, skilful and attractive brand of the game, or the trophy churning machine that is Chelsea—Liverpool have relatively less to offer to the truly world class player…
What Rafael Benitez must change about himself to be able to attract Europe’s big names would be a re-think at his rotation policy and a hash of more attacking, attractive football, which could possibly pave out a way for a new era in the history book of this arguably massive club, to create his very own dynasty…a legacy wherein he may leave a mark in the hearts of KOP, for generations to come.
Author – Subhas Dawda (subhash_dawda@hotmail.com)
Taken from Affliate site(www.soccerglobe.net)
Filed under: Premiership by Anirudha Dasgupta