Liverpool manager claims current ownership had the funds to end the Gareth Barry saga
by offsidetrap on August 19th, 2008The Liverpool saga between Rafa Benitez and the current ownership continues to rage on at Anfield. After watching his bid for Gareth Barry go from probable to almost impossible, the goateed-one appears to be on the offensive once again. This time he’s claiming that Uncle Tom and George had the funds to make the Barry deal the whole time!
Liverpool manager Benitez said: ‘He told me we had the money. We have sold players for more than £20million during the summer, and he told me: ‘If you sell players, you can buy with that, too.’
‘I have the support of at least one of the owners. I sent e-mails to all of them, but he was clear we had the money. If the manager has an idea, and it is not a question of money, we have to make the right decision in terms of who we bring in. That has to be the decision of the manager.
‘We have to be quicker as well. I thought this four years ago, and I think it now. If you are quicker, it is easier to sign targets.’ (Daily Mail)
Whilst there’s a good chance that this rumour will disappear by the end of the month, the tug-o-war battle between the current ownership and Rafa B looks like it won’t be ending anytime soon. From Rafa’s comment, the onus looks to be on co-owner Tom Hicks and his ability to lie straight to the face of his manager. The whole relationship between the entire lot has been deteriorating for some time now. But this could be the final straw if Benitez still can’t get a straight answer on his transfer budget for the August window.
What do Liverpool supporters think about Rafa’s current comments? How much of the blame should be on George and Tom for not securing Barry’s services?
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Tagged Under: liverpool fc, Premier League, rafa benitez, Transfer Rumours



bridgey - August 19th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
its all aload of bullshit,ive seen somet bout this saga in the paper or on this website 4 too long now,plse stop,were not gona get barry now,the owners along wiv parried dick av embarrased benitez,and it wont be b4 long that he just sticks his fingers up at those bastards,and goes to madrid and wins everythin,coz he fuckin will do.
LFC - August 19th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
stupid owners
michael - August 19th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
I agree wit the above
LFC - August 19th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
every years the same shit from the owners
yeah - August 19th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
i wish rafa would stop complaining about the owners. if he does not like it, leave. if i owned the club, i would have sacked him last season
brian - August 19th, 2008 at 7:54 pm
heres one for ya, never mind getting gareth barry, what about Robbie savage, BARGAIN! a bit of muscle in the team. and what about boumsong as future replacement for the ageing Carragher, i like the cut of his jib! who else agrees! while im at it, robbie keane ,what a waste of 22million dollars, could of got heskey to change his hard stance on coming back to liverpool for a fraction of the price plus throw Graham Souness into the liverpool mix , he’s got a fanastic attitude. but we do need to be realistic, we wont be able to get all these , but capturing one, will put us on the right track!
yeah - August 19th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
buy a winger….having a surplus of defensive midfielders does not win games
Postmodernist - August 19th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
The Liverpool owners are deliberately trying to spend the minimum as they intend to appoint Roberto Mancini at the first available opportunity.
carra fan - August 19th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Where did the mancini crap come from? Have you been reading the daily star or something?
Donavan Ried - August 19th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
yeah - August 19th, 2008 at 7:52 pm ………Right on Yeah, Right on…………….yeah - August 19th, 2008 at 7:58 pm: saying this all along
61red - August 19th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
“yeah” wingers is too inflexible for EPL teams now. Rafa wants a left footed, left side midfield and not wingers. Do give him the wrong piece of furniture and blame him for not winning anything for you at the end of the season. Rafa is making money for LFC, through buying young, playing well enough to bring each player value up, progress to the very end every season in CL, sake him and you will find it hard to replace him with a better manager. Mancini, not even close to Rafa league. LFC will find it hard to find a good manager who will join the club under G&H, not even Kenny.
paul H - August 19th, 2008 at 8:37 pm
at the end of the day rafa picks the team its not his money that he is spending , i dont like the americans any more than you lot, but they havent told rafa they cant have the money, they are saying barry isnt worth 18 million and they are right.
rafa has spent £182 million, with half of it wasted.
paul H - August 19th, 2008 at 8:38 pm
i want liverpool to appoint someone like paul jewell, he is a cracking manager and it would set a new trend in the prem, wish someone would take a chance.
yeah - August 19th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
your joking right?
exhibit A: Ronaldo
Exhibit B: Joe Cole, Wright-Phillips
Exhibit C: Abongalor, Young
Exhibit D: Bentley
do you need more examples? if you watched the game saturday, you would have saw how effective richardson was down the left side and I would hardly consider him a great player….or…perhaps there was not a liverpool player out there…they were all in the middle of the park
rafael benitez fan - August 19th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
owners arent being straight with rafa.if i remember correct,there was a bid of 18 made at 5.15 which was 15 mins after a deadline set by m oniell.so why the change of mind ? i think someone else is in line for the job which will be a mistake.fergie took seven yrs.give rafa a chance.and as for wasting half of what he spent,how much did mourihno waste?or fergie for that matter?we all make mistakes and this will be a big one by the yanks if they force him out…………………
61red - August 19th, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Ronaldo wasn’t played as a winger! he was used as a wide forward who can cross as well as cut in field and played as a second striker. SG was employed for the same role by Rafa and did very well, but is not his best position, that’s why GB is needed tsuch that SG can go back to the centre. How often SWP played under Mourinho and Joe Cole was only used as an impact player similar to how Rafa used Yossi, Penant or even Crouch as a tall impact player up front last year. As for Exhibit C, that’s why MON’s team is lower in the table under LFC even with half the amount of games that LFC had to play. Bentley, that’s why Arsenal sold him years ago. Btw, Henry was playing wide on the left, none call him a winger
brian - August 19th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
i tink lfc have the write players at the moment first we have to start giving d 100% on d pich and then we start talking evre one nows that all the yanks are full of bullshittttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt i dont imagen but if thay continu to own this hestoric club we want to waht more to see our club winning the pl hopefully not
yeah - August 19th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
61 whatever…if you do not consider any of these players wingers…then get a wide player.
liverpool could use swp…joe cole has been used a whole lot more than your liverpool players and to greater effect. liverpool was also one of the first teams to look into getting bentley last spring but unfortunately they did not have the money.
Penant is also an arsenal reject, right?
I will be looking forward to the Aston Villa - liverpool match this year, because they are the only team that will be able to replace liverpool in the top 4 this year.
The Chosen one - August 19th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
yeah has a good point
sooks - August 20th, 2008 at 4:59 am
whats the manager for if the owners are picking the team!!!
The yanks always fcuk everything up so keep them out of lfc.
Postmodernist - August 20th, 2008 at 8:24 am
The Roberto Mancini story stems from him being photographed with Tom Hicks at the Dallas Stars stadium (the American Airlines Center) . He is also known to have visited England recently. Could be hyperbole but given Benitez’s comments recently I’d be surprised if there wasn’t a strong contingency plan.
Aman Ramdeyal - August 20th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Good day all.
I for one think that paying 18million for Gareth Barry was to much. In this case I back the owners. I am sure if we offer 18million to Chelsea for Joe Cole they will accept it. Cole is worth around 18million or maybe even more.
Tom - August 20th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Liverpool need a whole new set up after this Barry sag, new Chief exc, new owners and def a new manager after wastin 20 million on Robbie Keane, i’m Irish and i still think he’s useless, cud of got a way betr player for that money, possibly eto’o or villa, club will win nothin until someone wit money takes over a buys a completely new team wit the exception of maybe 5 players ye know who they are
Donavan Ried - August 20th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
61red - August 19th, 2008 at 8:35 pm :…”wingers is too inflexible for EPL teams now. Rafa wants a left footed, left side midfield and not wingers”……Sorry mate, the only thing right with that statement is ” Rafa wants”… if we take it that someone like Alan Hanson knows more a but football than me and you even he knows we NEED wingers. ….It’s a pity Rafa can’t see that.
Donavan Ried - August 20th, 2008 at 10:04 pm
61red - August 19th, 2008 at 9:13 pm : A.Robben, and D.Duff, wingers for Chelsea under Mourinho luke how awesome they were