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the dude abides
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I see Spurs top man is very unhappy about our public interest in Keane.
They are also very angry at Man Utd's targetting of Berbatov.
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martin
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absolutely, Martin!
you've brought up a very salient point here, re Stevie being to you, what King Kenny was to reds fans in another era.
See, that's the difference that younger fans don't appreciate.
King Kenny was never put on a high pedestal back then, and praised to the rafters, to the detriment of other players in the team.
You played for the shirt back then. You were one part of the team unit. Bob Paisley would always stop interviewers who tried to bring up individual performances. It was a team game, as Bob would say.
Same with Bill Shankly. It was a sea of red thing.....indeed Bill would often compare football to socialism, "The socialism I believe in is everybody working for the same goal and everybody having a share in the rewards. That's how I see football, that's how I see life."
Everyone had their part to play. No one was any bigger or more important than anyone else. no one was allowed to get too big for their boots. Egos were very quickly kept in check. The club was always far far bigger than any individual employee.
Sadly, Liverpool (and football as a whole) in the modern era, is a big business/corporate affair. It is capitalism with a capital C.
I cannot imagine what Bill or Bob would make of the modern game.
And that's the era that I come from. That's the mindset that I come from.
That's a fair point Dude and I agree. The only thing I would say is that it isn't Gerrard's fault if he gets called world class by commentators once per minute. Maybe we should lament the spirit of the current game and not Gerrard if you knwo what I mean?  
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Tes
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Too much media exposure leads to too much hype. Also the media like "personalities" and magazines like Hello and that other one (the name escapes my uninterested and ageing mind) have led the public in general to crave "celebrity" and they go a long way to creating "celebrities" out of people who simply don't warrant the term.
They also fail to understand the whole concept of "the collective" which is what a team is all about.
It's also easy for the "know nothing" ex pros to pick out obvious individuals and repeat themselves collectively ad nauseam rather than try and explain to the masses about how the team mechanic works in any given team or about tactical nuances or patterns of play.
Viewing figures and circulation numbers (all advertising revenue driven) also drive the insanity of talking up the mediocre and average into the spectacular and "world class" (whatever that term actually means).
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the dude abides
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That's a fair point Dude and I agree. The only thing I would say is that it isn't Gerrard's fault if he gets called world class by commentators once per minute. Maybe we should lament the spirit of the current game and not Gerrard if you knwo what I mean?
it's too easy to get sucked into it, Martin. And young lads have to have a very strong character, to avoid not believing the media and the plaudits. Too much media exposure leads to too much hype. Also the media like "personalities" and magazines like Hello and that other one (the name escapes my uninterested and ageing mind) have led the public in general to crave "celebrity" and they go a long way to creating "celebrities" out of people who simply don't warrant the term.
They also fail to understand the whole concept of "the collective" which is what a team is all about.
It's also easy for the "know nothing" ex pros to pick out obvious individuals and repeat themselves collectively ad nauseam rather than try and explain to the masses about how the team mechanic works in any given team or about tactical nuances or patterns of play.
Viewing figures and circulation numbers (all advertising revenue driven) also drive the insanity of talking up the mediocre and average into the spectacular and "world class" (whatever that term actually means).
you've hit the nail on the head, Tes, when you say: "They (media) also fail to understand the whole concept of "the collective" which is what a team is all about." The media (be it Sky, or the various magazines/newspapers), have a vested interest in creating heroes and villains. They want to inflate the average and the mediocre. They want easily tangible individuals/stereotypes to have in their football environment. That's why it is so refreshing to hear such honesty from Kevin Keegan last season, when he said that there was essentially little competition in the premiership, and that breaking into the top four's cartel was nearly impossible. His was a lone voice from the wilderness, that was amazingly honest. The rest of the people in the industry are probably scared to speak out, lest they hurt the duck that lays the golden eggs (money). The modern game is entirely about money, and to that ends, it is all about accentuating the positive. Sadly the sky template is now used across all the channels (and most of the mainstream print media).
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Durgs
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On this whole Keane offer, it has gained pace quite quickly but, maybe its just me, i've lost some belief and faith in this (or any transfer) going through quickly because of the whole Barry saga.
I would rather us get Keane than Barry to be honest but with Levy moaning to the FA and coming out in the press with paranoia, i can see another drawn out transfer on the cards ( i hope i'm proven wrong tho!).
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the dude abides
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Durgs, in the bigger picture, I think what we are currently seeing is the top four now being so powerful, as to be able to bully those immediately below them (the spurs and villas of this world).
Barry and Keane were never for sale...
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Durgs
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Fair comment dude, but out of the 'top 4' we are the team that is only just in the catagory. You're right, we have gone for players who were not up for sale but we don;t have the financial muscle of the other top 4 (maybe even top 6) clubs) to push something through quickly and effortlessly.
If the yanks had not taken over, we would say this is normal Parry transfer work with protracted negotiations dragging any sigings out. Most fans have now accepted that, with money being so tight, it either 1 or 2 real targets that we want or we go looking in the bargin bins again (and i've got nothing against Degan or any of the other new boys - a bargain that does the job on the pitch can sometimes become more of a hero that a major signing
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skippy
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Seems like its the global financial climate at the mo. Only the chavs are unaffected but even they refuse to give Lampard a 5 year deal as he is 30 same as Drogba 5 live said he wanted a 5yr deal but chavs only offered a 2yr deal owing to dodgy knees. Wenger says he needs to sell a £24m player every season to pay the debts on the Emirates. Man U say they only want 1 player aswell so I think we just have to accept that we cannot pay big fees for now and the near future. Have faith in Rafa he is doing the best he can in difficult circumstances.
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Tes
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It would be nice if the upshot of the credit crunch is a return to more sensible transfer fees, as was just starting to happen before Abramovich came along and that clubs start to get tough on wages and we see them driven down. Whilst I'm in my utopian bubble it would also be great to see a lowering in total that the clubs spent on player budgets and to see the TV money increases being used to hold or even reduce ticket prices for fans but I guess the game will need to implode somewhere down the line for that to happen.
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the dude abides
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the fees this summer, for decent/good players, have staggered me.
there seems to be two markets - the market for those who have money to burn....and the market for everyone else.
you see the likes of Carson going to WBA for three and a half million, meanwhile Villa want 18 million for Barry. The market just doesn't make any sense. The price of an asset depends it seems merely on who's wanting it.
But I'm pretty positive about our dealings. You just have to look at other clubs weak summer efforts - look at Newcastle, Villa, Everton, etc. If anybody thinks we are struggling in the summer sales, you ain't been watching the rest of the division.
Villa and Newcastle need to bring in players fast, if only to merely have a big enough squad to last the season.
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