Au revoir Gunners, Bonjour Barca!

Bonjour Barca! Thierry Henry has admitted his love for Barcelona and a switch to Camp Nou are imminent now. Barcelona has reportedly agreed to pay Gunners £16million for Henry and only medical examination yet to be done before the Catalan club parade him later today in a press conference. Barcelona is building a new galacticos at Camp Nou with a strike force of Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Henry and Messi. Frank Rijkaard summer spending doesn't end here, there are more players to be sign. But where is our signing?

Henry, Arsenal's all-time record goalscorer with 226 goals from 364 appearances was signed by Arsene Wenger in 1999 from Juventus will be deeply miss by Gunners fans. He's truly a gentleman and a professional footballer on and off the pitch. All I can say about Henry is, he's a true servant and loyal to Arsenal through thicks and thins but now it's time for him to move on as his age is catching up. He'll be 30 year old in two months time.

Chill out Gunners, at least you'll see new players coming in or may I say former player in the likes of Nicolas Anelka cos we still left clueless by the owners on who's going to join us.


YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Poll closed

Due to overwhelming votes for Thierry Henry 35/59 (59%), I've decided to close this poll as news on Henry moving to Spanish giant Barcelona has been confirmed by the player himself. A new poll will be setup shortly here. Stay tune for more updates!

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Bellamy for Italian job?

Craig Bellamy has been offered an unexpected chance to play in Italy after Juventus and Roma entered the market for the controversial Liverpool forward.

The Wales captain is expected to leave Anfield this summer, having struggled to adapt to Rafael Benitez's rotation policy during his debut season at the club. He represents a profitable asset for a Liverpool manager seeking to maximise his transfer budget.


Read more...

Read More

Tora! Tora! Torres!

Fernando Torres, 23 year old Spanish striker and Atletico Madrid's captain was in the center of the media attention this week. Just weeks ago, we've been linked with Henry, Villa, Eto'o and Bent which hasn't produced any positive signs for them. Now the press are widely speculating about Torres buy-out-clause worth £27million and revived the 3 major talking points on why he should be donning the red shirt? But Liverpool is not the only team that chasing for his signature, Chelsea and Manchester United are monitoring the situation very closely too. News from Atletico said 'Torres is not for sale'! Looks like Atletico Madrid ready to cash-in on him as his contract expires in 2009 and force us to trigger Torres's clause. Since they're playing hardball over the transfer fee, Rafa need an alternative persuasion. Report from Echo saying that Luis Garcia will be use as a bargaining chip.

If Fernando is worth £27million, then Rafa have to dig-deep into the pockets of the new owners for this. But the question is can Fernando Torres 'survive' in the English Premier League? Is he another 'Fernando' Morientes, who failed to live up to our expectation but banging in goals week in, week out once he left us for Valencia? Why don't we compete for Darren Bent instead of going after Torres? Bent is cheaper, almost half the asking price to Torres's and now we are set to lose him to Spurs.

The amount of money spent on an untried player will put Rafa in tremendous pressure to land the league title. If Torres perform then it's ok but what if he just an 'average joe'? A very good example, just look at Chelsea's megabuck superstar Andriy Shevchenko, a high profile striker in Europe but a flop in EPL. Henry cost lesser and Owen's clause is cheaper, both proven premiership goalscorers but Owen recent recovery from injury has caused Rafa to reconsider his availability. Henry rated £20million by Barcelona is far much complete player than Torres and I think Rafa would love to have him onboard if he can put his ego aside.

I know Rafa always play his cards close to his chest, but how many cards does Rafa possesses are remain to be seen? Selling players hasn't been successful so far. That's means George and Tom have to use their own pocket money to finance the purchase first, if not we'll not going to see any new player coming in at all. If we want to win the league title then we need to gamble and I mean big gamble. If Cisse was our biggest signing with £14million and wasn't able to perform, he was not signed by Rafa. Now we need Rafa to make his biggest signing in his reign and then we can judge whether he is making the right decisions or not?

Stay tune for more transfer news!


YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Real campeones, spending spree begins!

Last Sunday, Real Madrid crowned champions of La Liga for the 30th time after four seasons in the wild. They had to comeback from a goal down to beat Mallorca 3-1 while Barcelona efforts went down the drain with 5-1 win over Gimnàstic. While Sevilla was beaten by Villarreal 0-1 at home. The three horses race to the Spanish La Liga title has come to an end now, the summer shopping spree is about to begins but there is one more game left in Spain. The Copa del Rey final between Getafe and Sevilla on 23rd June and then the transfer market is open to all clubs in the European continents on 1st July 2007.

Pressures are mounting on the two new owners of Liverpool over summer signings for the past few weeks as fans have grown anxious to see who will be coming to Anfield. Liverpool's co-owner, George Gillett has spoken to liverpoolfc.tv recently and once again assuring all of us that Liverpool Football Club are entering the second phase after securing extended deals to our current stars like Stevie G (MBE), Jamie Carragher, Jose Reina and Xabi Alonso. What does he means by 'second phase'? - bringing players in. Now we will give them the time to initiate their course before we lay down the judgement.

"We're not going to do something just to try to prove something. I can assure you that we are working on different things.

"The first part was identifying a number of our existing star players whom Rafa wanted to sign on long-term contracts.

"That was the first step and it has been done. Now we're moving on to phase two, which is bringing players in.

"For Tom and me, this really is about trying to win championships, and that takes commitment, no matter what sport.

I has read an interesting blog from kopblog.com on 'Time for Reds fans to Kop on' which the author has rally all the Reds fans to be patience and have faith in the new owners. I think he's right for the time being. We need to calm down a bit and let them do their jobs. The prospect of the takeover by George Gillett and Tom Hicks has had all of us begging for a better instalment to challenge Manchester United and Chelsea megabucks. So, I don't see why not some of us are getting impatient over some media hypes. Although, we can not totally believe what the media has been cooked up but this is really what give us the excitement over the summer holidays!

Lets discuss who do you think Rafa should sign to fill the No.9 shirt? Barcelona offered Gunners £20million for Henry and Arsene Wenger wants Eto'o as part of the deal. What happen if Barcelona refuse to include Eto'o? Should Rafa hijack it? I know Henry won't play for another premier league team but rumour from Spain saying Frank Rijkaard is stepping down as the Catalan club manager and Wenger was the replacement. If Wenger go and manage Barcelona, he won't buy player who is almost 30 year old for an over-priced £20million, he's specialize in cashing in on them not purchasing. Does the meeting between Wenger and Barcelona's club director in Paris was to discuss his position as the club's manager rather than Henry's availability? The press could again cooked up a half-baked story on this but who knows, Thierry Henry a household name in the premiership could be on his way to Anfield.

We'll have to wait and see. Just keep the faith!


YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Reds start glory hunting at Villa Park

The EPL fixtures for 2007/08 has been released two days ago. It's about 54 days from today to kick off the new season. Put aside the frustration in the transfer market, here's something for all the Reds supporters to keep tab on. Liverpool will visit Villa Park on 11th August to kick off the Barclays Premier League campaign and hoping to collect all the three points this time as last season we only managed to drew 1-1 at Sheffield United. Since then all our away games were sucks!

In August, Reds will play four games and our first home game was scheduled against West Ham United on 15th August but was subject to be change (TBC) due to Reds involvement in the Champions League's qualification. The first team that most likely to visit Anfield in the new season is Chelsea. This time we have the opportunity to show the 2007 runner-up that we want the Premier League crown and draw first blood. To close the 20 points gaps, we need to win games against Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

The Merseyside derby falls on 20th October at Goodison Park and the blue half of Liverpool visit us on 29th March 2008. Liverpool entertain Gunners at home on 27th October, while Manchester United travel to Anfield on 15th December. On Boxing Day, the Reds will face newly promoted Derby County at Pride Park. Then, Wigan comes to Anfield on New Year's Day. Well, here goes the rest of Liverpool fixtures;

• Sat Aug 11 Aston Villa (away)
• Wed Aug 15 West Ham United (home)
• Sat Aug 18 Chelsea (home)
• Sat Aug 25 Sunderland (away)

• Sat Sep 1 Derby County (home)
• Sat Sep 15 Portsmouth (away)
• Sat Sep 22 Birmingham City (home)
• Sat Sep 29 Wigan Athletic (away)

• Sat Oct 6 Tottenham Hotspur (home)
• Sat Oct 20 Everton (away)
• Sat Oct 27 Arsenal (home)

• Sat Nov 3 Blackburn Rovers (away)
• Sat Nov 10 Fulham (home)
• Sat Nov 24 Newcastle United (away)

• Sat Dec 1 Bolton Wanderers (home)
• Sat Dec 8 Reading (away)
• Sat Dec 15 Manchester United (home)
• Sat Dec 22 Portsmouth (home)
• Wed Dec 26 Derby County (away)
• Sat Dec 29 Manchester City (away)

• Tue Jan 1 Wigan Athletic (home)
• Sat Jan 12 Middlesbrough (away)
• Sat Jan 19 Aston Villa (home)
• Tue Jan 29 West Ham United (away)

• Sat Feb 2 Sunderland (home)
• Sat Feb 9 Chelsea (away)
• Sat Feb 23 Middlesbrough (home)

• Sat Mar 1 Bolton Wanderers (away)
• Sat Mar 8 Newcastle United (home)
• Sat Mar 15 Reading (home)
• Sat Mar 22 Manchester United (away)
• Sat Mar 29 Everton (home)

• Sat Apr 5 Arsenal (away)
• Sat Apr 12 Blackburn Rovers (home)
• Sat Apr 19 Fulham (away)
• Sat Apr 26 Birmingham City (away)

• Sat May 3 Manchester City (home)
• Sun May 11 Tottenham Hotspur (away)

Will this new season marks the end of our long awaited 19th league champions? Can Rafa deliver us the cup that we've been missing since 1990?

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

No money, no talk

Now I'm very pissed! It's already been three weeks since the talk on signing at least one top class player for Liverpool and none of them has show up yet. The question of 'how much we have for transfer budget this summer?' still hasn't been answered by the American owners. Rafa failed to launch a bid on the likes of Samuel Eto'o (£35million), David Villa, Carlos Tevez (£30million), Fernando Torres (£15million), Simao Sabrosa (£11million), Florent Malouda (£17million) and Darrent Bent (£16million) was not due to his inconsistency in the transfer market. It was the owners who has not given the full funding to Rafa for the players he want to bring onboard. Show us the damn money!

We've already missed out on a few targets to rival clubs in the continent such as Daniel Alves to Real Madrid and Gabriel Milito to Juventus. Samuel Eto'o too was out of our range with a hefty price tag. Now David Villa wants to stay with Valencia cos he is under contract until June 2013 and has a buy-out-clause of £100million. £100million! That's insane! While for Carlos Tevez, his desire to leave the Premiership outfit has prompted Inter Milan to offer £34million to West Ham and knocked us and a bunch of premier league suitors out of the race for his signature.

The list of transfer targets are getting shorter. Lyon won't release Malouda unless we met the revised transfer fee from £8million to £17million. This is ridiculous, £17million for a left-winger. Lyon chairman Jean-Michel Aulas has immensely raised the transfer fee just because Chelsea has shown interest on Malouda and want to have a bite on Abramovich's pie. Now Rafa was forced to look for other option elsewhere and long-term target, Simao Sabrosa was his next move. However, Benfica's club president Luis Filipe Vieira will only consider an “incredible offer” as they don’t wish to sell him. There goes our left and right wingers. No money, no talk as my header suggest was rightfully justify our summer transfer transactions.

A report from Charlton said that West Ham has prepare to offer an £18million deal for Darren Bent. But Bent wasn't the actual target we need. We need a strong and big striker and Atletico Madrid's Fernando Torres was up for sales in the summer. Atletico failed to qualify for UEFA Cup means they are expecting to lose Torres and the Premier League big guns will keep an eye on him. Can we compete with Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United? This is our last chance to sign a new striker. The Red Devils has splashed around £50million on new players, Chelsea was successful in signing a player on free transfer, while Gunners signed a young goalkeeper and we only have Andriy Voronin, Lucas Leiva and two Hungarian youngsters. Where are the star players that Gillett and Hicks has promised to buy?

The players named in my poll (Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, David Villa, Darren Bent and Michael Owen) are disappearing one by one except Michael Owen. While, Thierry Henry are unlikely to join us (but we are really love to have him onboard!). Are little MO our only last resorts for a new striker? But Rafa is not very keen on Owen swoop just yet. We are not only losing summer transfer targets, if this situation prolong, Rafael Benitez will says "Adios amigos".



YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Lets snub Eto'o for Henry

Forget about Samuel Eto'o, he's not coming to Anfield. We don't know how much the American owners are willing to splash their cash in the transfer market and Rafa has stressed that he can't bid for a world class player when he don't know how much he could spend? Milan is officially launch their bid for the Cameroonian international. So, end of the story.

But the good news is Thierry Henry still hasn't given Arsenal the assurance that he'll stay with the Gunners next season. The rifts in the Arsenal's board has caused Henry to re-think his future and the departure of his close friend, vice-chairman David Dein also hinted that the relationship between him and the club has came to a standstill. This rumour spread rapidly in Liverpool recently and we would very much appreciate it if Henry do switch to the red of Merseyside. Even the betting giant William Hill has reduced the odds for Henry to leave Arsenal in the summer from 10/1 to 3/1. Hill's spokesman Graham Sharpe said;

'Thierry keeps saying he is happy where he is but we have been offering odds against him staying at Arsenal for some time now - and there are very few takers.'

My poll "Who would you sign?" shown that Thierry Henry is the favorite and second by Michael Owen. Rumours suggested that Djibril Cisse will be use as a bargaining chip to lure Henry to Anfield. I think it's a good deal for us and Arsenal although the odds are staked against us. We all know what Henry can do in the Premiership and he is a world's top class striker.

Come to Anfield, Thierry and we will worship you as we worshiped Robbie 'GOD' Fowler. What do you think?

Read More

Milan add Eto'o into their shopping cart

Milan, the current European champions confirmed that they'll bid for Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o this summer. Rumours circulating in England on Eto'o linked to the Premiership big guns has prompted the Rossoneri chief, Adriano Galliani make a bid on him when Spanish season is over on 17th June.

"He's a player that appeals to both myself and our coach Carlo Ancelotti."

Milan fails to land Andriy Shevchenko after the player insisted on staying at Stamford Bridge next season. This leaving Milan to look else where for a striker to boost their aging squad. Milan are looking to beef up their attack with Samuel Eto'o and to partner Brazilian ace Ronaldo.

This rings bad news for Liverpool, if the rumours are true that Eto'o was on Rafa Benitez's top transfer target then Rafa will need to face competitions from Milan. But the player has dismissed that he was wanted by Liverpool and he wants to stay with the Catalans giant.

Now we have to wait and see who's coming in next week as Rafa is busy getting his current squad sorted out with new contracts being awarded to Stevie G (MBE), Carragher, Pepe Reina and Alonso which all the players had pledged their future to the club. Momo Sissoko will be the next player to be offer with an extension.


YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

UEFA still playing the blame game

Few days ago, UEFA brands Liverpool have the worst fans in Europe and now Michel Platini said the stadium security at fault, Greece turn to take the blames. A meeting between UEFA president Michel Platini and England sports minister Richard Caborn in Brussels, Belgium to establish a working party to look into ways of tightening security and crowd control ahead of next year's final.

UEFA spokesman, William Gaillard has revealed;

"The incidents involving Liverpool fans have been well known to us before the trouble at the Champions League final which involved Liverpool fans. That was just the latest example. What other set of fans steal tickets from their fellow supporters or out of the hands of children?"

And this is the same spokesman who praised our supporters for the well behaviour after the Istanbul final in 2005 and the semi-final victory against Chelsea last month. The war of words begun, Rick Parry countered with this statement;

"But at the end of the day Uefa can't hide from the fact that the match was played at a stadium not fit for football - no system checking numbers, no turnstiles, and the security was a joke."

Liverpool's co-owner, Tom Hicks said yesterday;

"Uefa did not handle this right at all. To give 17,000 tickets to the two teams, particularly knowing Liverpool are going to bring 40,000 fans, is insane. It's a classic case of a bureaucrat trying to take the pressure off himself. They didn't have proper ticketing procedures and unfortunately there were counterfeit tickets. There were fans who paid their hard-earned money to get their tickets and they get to the stadium and are told there is no more room. Are they (the fans) mad? Sure they're mad."

A Liverpool fan, Paul Gregory already issued a formal complaint to UEFA for reimbursement of his flights, accomodation and tickets by UEFA or risk facing legal action. Will UEFA reimburse Paul Gregory? He was one of the 5000 genuine tickets holder, if UEFA pay for the damages, 4999 will follow suits. Either way, the customer always right!

Back to the topic, the meeting held in Brussels was to receive the UEFA's report on their claims over the Athens final incidents. But the so-called report was 'confidential' according to William Gaillard. What the fu*k? What is he trying to cover up? If he dares to make such a statement, then why is he so afraid to show it to us?

Richard Caborn said;

“I told Uefa that there was no point in playing the blame game. We have to move on. I wanted assurances that Athens would not be repeated and that never again would any fans be put in this position. I got that assurance.”

William Gaillard's statement has infuriated many people and the Merseyside MPs called for his 'head on the gallows'. One of the MPs said;

“Gaillard knew exactly what he was saying. The bottom line is that the organisation was a shambles and it’s by the grace of God it didn’t turn out much worse. I don’t think he should resign – I think he should be sacked. For him to resign would be a way out with honour.”

"We, Liverpool's supporters NOT hooligans!"

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

What an amazing U-turn?

Just barely eight hours after I've posted this rumours about Sissoko going to be axed. This report has came out from Liverpool's independent news network which says this:

" Sissoko will be offered a new deal and if Juventus make a £10m bid as expected, they’ll be told to forget it. "

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher has put pen to paper today this afternoon (UK time) and agreed to four year deals before heading out with England to Estonia for the Euro 2008 qualifier. The duo will remains at Anfield until 2011.

Ok, we have Gerrard and Carragher in the bags. Now, back to the most important question, how much does George Gillett and Tom Hicks promised on Rafa's transfer kitty? Maybe due to the Athens hangover, I've missed out on this piece of news article 'Benitez's £50m transfer bonus' from The Telegraph. £50million it said, then why hesitate on getting Eto'o, Malouda or Alves transfer deals done?

Why on earth we still keeping Sissoko for? I've nothing against him but he just not the type of player that going to make tackles and pass the ball. He gets the ball and then gave it away! And the statement released above says it all. We don't have enough fund for transfer fees! Juve offered £10million and possibly £12million tops for a young player who can't adopt into English games, should be a fair deal to us and we are still bargain for a raise.

Show us the money, George and Tom!

Bag full of cash they said, I'll said excess baggage!

YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Momo Sissoko heads for the exit

News about Rafa Benitez chasing after Samuel Eto'o has been intensified recently as none of his targets yet to arrive at Anfield as the big two already started their summer's recruitments far ahead of us. Momo Sissoko will be the latest player to be shown the exit door, if Juve's £12million bid on the Liverpool midfielder being accepted by Rafa. We still doesn't know what are the transfer fund made available by George and Tom to Rafa, by selling players to fund his shopping spree was an alternative option and he need to get to his transfer targets as soon as possible before they being snap up by other teams.

Sissoko has lost his place in the team since the arrival of Javier Mascherano at Anfield from West Ham United in January. And have to compete with Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso too.

Barcelona has slapped a huge price-tag on Samuel Eto'o, £35million for the Cameroonian striker. With Manchester United reportedly interested in Eto'o too, Barcelona sieged this opportunity to raised the transfer sum and on the other hand they could use it to fund their bid for Thierry Henry. Henry was on top of their priority list and has been courted the Arsenal's forward since last season.

Things not getting any better for us as Aston Villa pullout on the £12million bid for Craig Bellamy as the price was to steep for them. Martin O'Neill declared he couldn't afford to sign the player. And the latest transfer news regarding Rafa's targets, Daniel Alves, who may join Real Madrid and Gabriel Milito to Juventus.

Where are our recruitments?

*Update: This post was written and posted using Windows Live Writer.

Technorati tags: liverpool fc, lfc, samuel eto'o, transfer rumours

Read More

Do we really need Michael Owen?

The answer is YES and NO. Stevie G (MBE) and Jamie Carragher, two of Liverpool's most influential figures have pleads to the club's American owners to bring Michael Owen back to Anfield. While the Reds regimes lack in fire-powers up-front with Craig Bellamy fails to deliver, Dirk Kuyt is a non out-and-out striker, Robbie 'GOD' Fowler was out of contract and Peter Crouch used sparringly throughout the campaign. Yes, we do need a proven goal scorer in the Premier League but Rafa Benitez is less enthusiastic on little MO. With speculation over Michael Owen's 'come and get me for £ 9 million' clause in his Newcastle contract and talked with Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce last week doesn't prompt that he'll commit his future to the club yet. This action hinted his desire to leave Toon Army and to play in European major tournament, the Champions League with a club that interested in his services.

I personally doesn't believe Owen will be the solutions to our strike-force problem. The league are getting more physical each year, Owen small of frame and Rafa's formation 4-5-1, which requires a strong forward, Owen is not suited for holding up the ball and bringing midfielders into play. An interesting poll is still in place for this BIG question at my other blog (located at reds77.spaces.live.com/). Just 16 votes received so far for "Would you like to see Michael Owen back at Liverpool FC ?", 7 peoples voted 'YES', 8 voted 'NO' and 1 'NOT SURE'. What do you think?

I really gutted when little MO left in a hurry to Madrid and it got something to do with the CEO, Rick Parry debatable actions in handling player's contracts. We almost lost Stevie G (MBE) to Chelsea in 2005 due to the CEO's unscrupulous decision to go on a holiday while Gerrard waited frantically for an answer to his contract extension. Rick Parry was once again gone M.I.A. in the transfer deadline last season when little MO wanted to come back from Real Madrid. Unconfirmed news reported that Parry was in a theater and his handphone was switched off on the eleventh hour of the transfer deadline last season. How can he do that? The question is why is he still the CEO of Liverpool Football Club? The recent agenda involving Rick Parry was the tickets allocation for the Athens Finals. There seems to be shortage of tickets made available for Liverpool's loyal supporters.

It's a NO, in my opinion, little MO small of frame, injury prone and not rated highly on Rafa Benitez's shopping list this summer proved that even with a £ 9 million get-out clause will not save Owen from the jail terms this time. Maybe I'm wrong, so what say you?





YNWA,
Red's Fury™

Read More

Welcome !

Welcome to Red's Fury™

I'm officially move in from Windows Live™ Spaces . Still not much changes from my previous blog, I just need to 'buy' some new furnitures to furnish my new 'home'page. And this blog will be 100% about Liverpool Football Club and football stuffs...

Come and join me for some 24/7 football ramblings here !!!

Do drop me a line or wishes in the comment box.

Technorati Profile

Read More