Downing Completes Liverpool Transfer

[eastie]

So this not for sale at any price Faulkner bollocks turned out to be exactly bollocks and now whoever we are after the club will bump up the price knowing how much we got for downing - when will Faulkner learn to get deals for replacements before selling the jewels?

[Chris Jameson]

Has Faulkner issued a statement claiming 'Heskey is not for sale, at any price' yet? Fingers crossed.

[Mazrim]

Hehehe.

[Stu]

Has Alex McLeish said anything about the Downing sale? I can't find anything.

Who's in charge of the team?

[Toronto Villa]

Thing is about the "not for sale" statement, whichever club it is, it really means fuck all anymore. Every player has a price, or if the player is refused a move they act like a prick until they get it. Levy came out the other day with a bold statement. He's either going to stick by it, or now that Modric has handed in his transfer request he'll try and avoid further distraction to their summer, get the best price out of Chelsea and move on. When they do invariably you'll get fans saying they are selling out, those hating Modric for forcing a move, and those who accept it but hate what's happening in the game to allow it happen as easily as it does.

[mazrimsbruv]

We need to reinvest wisely. NZogbia for 10 million is worthwhile anything above not worth it.

Oh, don't worry, Dave Whelan is now just waiting for us to approach him with what he thinks is 36m in our pockets.

He'll be reaching for the surgical gloves to stick his fist up our arse again over this one. And they're probably still slightly slimey and pungent from the last time he fucked us over, over Martinez.

Why is everyone so certain that we'll get N'Zogbia? I'll believe it when it happens. If it does happen, then as Paulie says, it won't be on the cheap.

 Exactly. Tbh we got a good deal for Downing and Im not that sad to see him leave. Im more pissed off of the fact that we have let him leave with no replacement. Why cant we say to teams " yeah we'll agree to that deal but we want to get our replacement in first". At least that would soften the blow with most, if not all fans. Do they not realise this when trying to get the fans to buy season tickets?

Because if you're a manager who's been told that you have to generate your own transfer budget you can't get a replacement in first.

It's a simple concept. It's called 'sell to buy'.

[Toronto Villa]

Has Alex McLeish said anything about the Downing sale? I can't find anything.

Who's in charge of the team?

what would you expect him to say? He'll say he's disappointed to have lost a quality player but he's confident in the sqaud that he has and will try and sign players to replace him. It's standard fair. No point getting upset from his perspective because it serves no purpose. When we sign a replacement e.g N'Zogbia we'll be the same to someone else.

Manager and players don't see things like fans. It's a business, and I'm sure after a while most of them get pretty cold to it all.

[olaftab]

Great news. I would have been  disappointed if the t*wt had stayed after his recent attitude towards us. Never rated him never liked him combined with the fact we get £20M I am delighted.

[Sarunyu]

Bye Bye Downing.
Looking for David Bentley

[Villafirst]

What's the betting that Lerner and Krulak achieve Hicks and Gillet status soon? I wish we had Liverpool's new owners!

[Stu]

Bye Bye Downing.
Looking for David Bentley

He did sign for McLeish before...

[Stu]

Has Alex McLeish said anything about the Downing sale? I can't find anything.

Who's in charge of the team?

what would you expect him to say? He'll say he's disappointed to have lost a quality player but he's confident in the sqaud that he has and will try and sign players to replace him. It's standard fair. No point getting upset from his perspective because it serves no purpose. When we sign a replacement e.g N'Zogbia we'll be the same to someone else.

Manager and players don't see things like fans. It's a business, and I'm sure after a while most of them get pretty cold to it all.

I'd rather the manager of the team made comments about player sales and aquisitions than the CEO. That's what he's supposed to be employed for isn't it, to be in charge of the team?

[Stu]

What's the betting that Lerner and Krulak achieve Hicks and Gillet status soon? I wish we had Liverpool's new owners!

Not a chance. Hicks and Gillette really were a couple of chancers.

It was all very different when we were spending money.

[barrysleftfoot]

  If we got £20m for a footballer with no heart, we have done a great bit of business imho.

  The most important thing is we now start to spend some of the money, to show we are not a club in decline, and to reassure supporters that we are still ambitious.Signing N'Zog would be a start in my eyes.

 Every player has a price, and if he handed a transfer request in, even better for us.

[not3bad]

All I have to say on this matter is, 'Wanker'.

Thinking about it, that was my immediate response, in that we signed him when he was on crutches, blah blah, he told us a few months ago how he wouldnt want to leave, etc etc, but to be entirely honest, I don't really blame him or any other player for wanting to leave us now.

Look how utterly pessimistic the vast majority of people on here are about our prospects, then put yourself in his shoes.

Stopping players leaving by demanding top dollar is one thing but you also need to make them feel that there is a chance their ambitions can be realised here. Not too long ago, we were talked about as challenging to break the top four. No matter how realistic we may have thought that was or was not, right now, we're universally talked about as a selling club which is on the slide.

Now, that may or may not be true, but we've had a long sequence of events adding to that impression, and have done next to nothing to break it.

So, imagine yourself being a player asked to hitch your career to us, or given a chance at a club which is spending a lot of money and trying to get somewhere. It's a no brainer.

That's absolutely nailed on to be the same situation we will have with Darren Bent in 6 or 12 months, and the end result will be the same.

If i were Downing, I'd have done the same thing, and to be honest, that is the thing that scares me the most about the club, right now.

I thought this was a thought provoking, sensible response, then I thought more and it's bullshit.  When you change you position as fast as Downing did; when you knew the manager was probably going to be replaced but you didn't even hang on to see who the replacement would be before announcing you want out; when you had the opportunity, as player of the year that you to show you were grateful by maybe taking some leadership on behalf of the players but instead start engineering your own move; when you do this after one decent season, as opposed to the others who at least gave more, then nobody should be even attempting to give hop-along Downing any kind of understanding.