There is no doubt in my mind that squad depth has been a determining force in the direction of Liverpool’s season. You only have to look at the backline against Chelsea yesterday to see that some of the problems this campaign stem directly from this issue. A defensive midfield player in Javier Mascherano at right back, a centre back in Daniel Agger playing at left back and a 30 year old former Rangers defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos alongside Jamie Carragher at centre-half.
Rafa Benitez was adamant in where the blame should lie for such failings in squad strength:
“Always in the past two years the manager here has been taking responsibility for everything. The reality is that, if you compare with other teams in terms of money, power and the option you have in the market, so you can analyse carefully and then you have answers. The fans are very clever, they know what is going on. It is very clear that things are like this now and still we have to carry on going forward. Next season we have to do almost everything perfect and, if we make one or two mistakes, we don’t have the possibility to react so it is more difficult for us.”
Lack of investment according to Benitez means that injuries to key players are catastrophic to the team’s chances in the league and that everything in this area must be “perfect” for the team to succeed. Last season this was luckily the case, but this campaign Rafa and the team have not been so fortunate with injuries and results. So does Rafa have a point regarding investment determining squad depth? In some respects he does if we look at the players that have gone in and out from Merseyside over the last few years. Net spend in the last two seasons has been way below what is expected of a top four club and one of the best examples of this is in central defence.
Sotirios Kyrgiakos was signed for £1.5million last summer to replace the colossus that was Sami Hyypia. The Greek has done quite admirably this season as his replacement but he isn’t a long term replacement which is required, and something that would cost in excess of £10million. There is no £30m on a Rio Ferdinand to spend like Sir Alex Ferguson has done at Manchester United. Then we must look in other positions, when Xabi Alonso was sold for £30million, why was only a small fraction spent on the initial fee for Alberto Aquilani? Where did the money go after Robbie Keane was sold back to Spurs? These are all legitimate questions and questions which back up Rafa Benitez’s side of his case against the owners.
Despite all of this, Rafa must take some of the blame though for the club’s current failings, they are after all his players at the club currently with the exception of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard. The lack of depth in some positions is not entirely down to the owners, especially in the full back areas and striking positions. We currently have Glen Johnson and Philipp Degen as our two right backs, and although Johnson has had his injuries, the presence of Degen in the squad is questionable. After the sale of the much superior, if injury hampered Steven Finnan, Benitez brought in Degen and Rafa has subsequently used him sparingly, using Mascherano or Jamie Carragher in his position rather than him on a number of occasions. At left back, certainly the injuries to Fabio Aurelio and Emiliano Insua have been unfortunate, but you have to remember Insua was third choice left back at the start of the season and has now become a regular starter despite his shortcomings. It is certainly a position that the club has gone backwards in after Rafa replace John Arne Riise with the hapless Andrea Dossena.
So tha lack of strength in depth has been both down to the board AND the manager. The two at times have also intertwined in the cases of our midfield and striker problems. Due to the lack of investment, Benitez attempted to buy both Robbie Keane and Gareth Barry while being forced to offload a player to fund one of his signings. The unfortunate victim was Xabi Alonso but due to the incompetence of Rick Parry, the entire episode was mishandled and none of the deals were sorted in the right order. According to Benitez:
“The plan was for Barry to play on the left and feed the ball to Robbie Keane, who would play up front with Fernando Torres. This blueprint had to be scrapped. The collateral damage was Keane, who signed from Tottenham Hotspur before the Barry deal had been done. When we wanted to sign Barry, we were sure we were signing a good player with a very good mentality and the quality to play in the Premier League. The priority was Barry, then Keane.”
So the signing of primary target Barry never went ahead, leaving us with an unhappy Alonso and a misfit in Keane. The sale of both Keane and Alonso, two strong players in their own right, were not replaced due to a lack of funding. The money from the sales of rejects Voronin and Dossena also never found their way into the transfer kitty. Incompetence at boardroom level with mistakes by the manager had led to a weakened team. Wrong purchases combined with false promises on funding to find us in this position. It led to a bizarre situation this campaign when Liverpool only had two strikers in Fernando Torres and David Ngog after Andrey Voronin was sold in January. It is certainly not the case that we have always lacked in the striking department; Peter Crouch, Michael Owen, Craig Bellamy, Fernando Morientes, Robbie Keane and Dirk Kuyt have all been options at the club at one time or another. Some were mistakes, some wanted to go and in the case of Kuyt, they were moved to different positions, but we have gone backwards in this area in terms of strength too.
Rafa has signed 77 players in his 6 year stay at the club, and although a massive overhaul was needed after the Houllier era, the amount is still way in excess of what it should have been. The turnaround of players has been lightning quick at times. A lot of it can be attributed to having to “wheel and deal” due to a lack of funds, other times Rafa has made mistakes. It is up to you to decide who is more at fault, the manager or the board.
I don’t have the time to check whether the figures offered here (http://therepublikofmancunia.com/krap-keep-rafa-at-pool/) are any credible, but in case they are, the answer is pretty clear. It’s Rafa’s fault more than the boards.
Just consider the following. You are the chairman of a club. Your manager claims he is in need of instant reinforcements to the team and then signs a midfielder for close to 20m. The midfielder is currently injured and will not be ready for action for at least two or three more months so you check the internet and find out that this players has only played in an average of 20 games in the past seven seasons, mostly because of injuries. Would you give that manager of yours even more money to waste? I wouldn’t.
we can go around and round in circles with the manager but 3 negligible net spends over the last 3 transfer windows won’t win you titles ,let alone challenge for them
you need look no further than the carpetbagging owners
if you care enough , join us and force change
http://www.spiritofshankly.com/join.html
As a Liverpool supporter of over 35 years, I have no doubt in saying that the blame lies on Rafas shoulders.
He constantly blames everyone else but himself, constantly embarrasses the club by calling out players and airing our dirty linen in public, and, even worse than this and the fortune of cash he has wasted on an armada of below average players, pales into insignificance when compared with how he screwed the club over the Keane deal.
He didn’t buy Keane, so he subbed him after 60 minutes of 75% of his games, then shipped him out after only a few months. He put his own personal agenda ahead of the club, it back-fired massively, now he blames others again.
Goodbye Rafa, your reigh has been a total failure. Steven Gerrard won us the CL and FA Cups, not you. You bring nothing. Goodbye.
Well said Anteater.
we can go around and round in circles with the manager but 3 negligible net spends over the last 3 transfer windows won’t win you titles ,let alone challenge for them
whover is the liverpool boss cannot compete under the them constraints
you need look no further than the carpetbagging owners
if you care enough , join us and force change
http://www.spiritofshankly.com/join.html
or you can bicker here like neighbours across the garden fence standing by idly whilst rome burns
aquilani 1st year £5 million down payment, johnson £9 million because of crouch money owed to lfc , soto £1.5 million and maxi advertised at £1.5 million but that was not a transfer fee that is his wages, so maxi was free, total spent in the summer of is 2009 £15.5 million. money in, alonso 35 mill, arbeloa 3.5 mill, voronin £1.8 mill, dossena £4.5 million and £1.65 million in other player sales, total in £46.45 million.
where has the £30.95 million balance gone. not on players as promised by the yanks.rafa has had to sell to buy, he’s never been able to complement the squad without selling first. another £5 million to pay for aquilani next summer and that will probably come out of 2010 budget. lfc squad has been hit by massive injuries to many players this year, people blame rafa for that as well. rafa is fighting an ever losing battle. So called fans please stop reading the newspapers. rafa to stay for me, the yanks to go and fast, they have not kept promises to rafa or the fans.
No need to post that again, roy beno. While I agree with you that our current owners have to go, I don’t feel that your organisation entirely represents my views so I better stay away. I am entitled to have an opinion of my own without SOS (or anyone else) telling me what to think, but I appreciate the effort you put in.
Many thanks to Trask for your words of encouragement.
dj, I don’t care when we have to pay down the entire fee for Aquilani and your calculation regarding the Johnson transfer is a joke. If you owe me a tenner I will buy stuff from you for twenty which is worth a tenner. So I only spend a tenner, but lose the tenner you owed me anyway. Are you any good at maths?
What you also miss in your post are the huge fees those players who allegedly love the club so much get for signing extensions on their contracts. Where’s that money coming from? I don’t want to defend our owners, but I rather have our club ran in a sustainable way. Otherwise we may end up like Leeds or Pompey. Is that really what you want?
Sustainable? We’re 237 mill in debt because of those idiots. I reckon we need new owners, a new manager, new coaching staff apart from Sammy Lee and an overhaul of most of the current squad.
Yes, I would like to see the club run in a sustainable way. I did not say it is run in a sustainable way. What do you want then, Bill? New owners who too don’t run the club in a sustainable way?
I don’t agree with article..It is clearly the Yanks who should leave…
They promised 20m on top of money from players’ sale. So it should’ve been 20m + players sold (alonso 30m, arbeloa 3.5m, keane 16m) 49.5m. Thats a total of 69.5m. minus aquilani 20m, johnson 9m and soto 1.5m, so where the balance of 60m went?
People question Rafa Benitez alot…but LFC fans knew what he have done for us..
Give him a huge transfer kitty and give him another 2 years to compete…we will do better..
who guided us to second place last year?
Mourinho or whoever wanted by some of the fans..will take time to rebuild the squad..and we will have to wait for another 4-5 years….provided huge amount are spend..
Build by Shank, Ruined by the Yanks!!!!
Wrong purchases….by Rafa, was due to the lack of funds….you cannot by a ferrari, if you do NOT have the funds and, funds should have been made available, through the sales of Alonso and Keane, as you have said yourself.
YNWA
YNWA, lack of funds? Rafa has had more than 41m to spend every year on average. That makes two 20m players a year. So where are our twelve 20m players after six years.
a little research on yer 41 million ‘A YEAR’
2004/05
£2m – Josemi: peanuts and was moved on in a swap for Kromkamp 18 months later
£1.5m – Antonio Nunez: part of the Michael Owen deal and filled a gap for a while. Peanuts.
£10.7m – Xabi Alonso: Massive success and sold for £30m+ in the summer when he wanted to leave
£6m – Luis Garcia: Massive success and sold to Athletico Madrid for £4m
Free – Pelligrino: Stop gap that allowed us to rest Sami for league games, benefitting us massively in Istanbul. Now on the coaching staff.
£6.3m – Fernando Morientes: Pretty much everyone made up when we signed him, top class, but never settled. Sold for £3m to Valencia.
£1m – Scott Carson: One the most highly rated young keepers around. Lost out through injury and signing of Reina when Dudek left the club. Sold for £3.25m.
Total bought: £27.5m
Free – Marcus Babbel: Released to Stuttgart at the end of his career.
£2.5m – Danny Murphy: Xabi Alonso signed to fill the role Murphy had in the side
£8.5m – Michael Owen: Wouldn’t sign a new contract and sold before he left on a free. He’s done nothing since that is a masterstroke with hindsight.
Free – Stephane Henchoz: Released to Celtic at the end of his career
Total sold: £11m
A total of £16.5m net spend in his first year at the club, with the vast majority of that being spent on Xabi Alonso.
2004/05 net spend: £16.5m
2005/06
£240,000 – Antonio Barragan: Kid for the future. Sold for £675,000 to Deportivo a year later.
Free – Boudewijn Zenden: Signed for nothing and released for nothing. Did a job for us.
£6m – Pepe Reina: In the top 3 or 4 keepers in the world now and still young. One of Rafa’s best signings.
£5.6m – Momo Sissoko: Brilliant for a few years, had that eye injury and sold to Juventus when his form dipped for £8.2m. Replaced by Mascherano.
£7m – Peter Crouch: One signing I did question but proved to be a great bit of business. Turned him from a laughing stock into an international. Sold for £11m.
Unkown – Miki Roque: Kid bought for peanuts. Sold again for an unknown amount.
£150,000 – Jack Hobbs: Highly rated 16yr old signed from Lincoln. Didn’t progress as hoped and sold to Leicester for a reported £1.5m, although figure not confirmed.
£190,000 Besian Idrizaj: No idea who he is
£1.5m – Mark Gonzales: Cheap player to provide back up for the left wing. Sold for £3.5m to Real Betis.
Exchange – Paul Anderson: Swapped for John Welsh. Sold for £250,000.
Exchange – Jan Kromkamp: Swapped for Josemi. Later sold for £1.75m
£5.8m – Daniel Agger: Blighted by injuries but potentially top class and great signing for the money.
£250,000 – David Martin: Young reserve keeper
Free – Robbie Fowler: Pay as you play deal and no risk involved. Scored a few goals. Released in the summer.
Total bought: £26.73
Free – Vladimir Smicer: Out of contract and released. Played a small part in Istanbul.
£3.5m – El Hadji Diouf: The best £3.5m Rafa has ever recieved.
Free – Pellegrino: Filled the gap in the last 5 months of the previous season, not good enough and released.
£2m – Alou Diarra: Sold for £2m. One of Houllier’s buys.
£2m – Antonio Nunez: Bought for £1.5m and now sold for £2m when didn’t work out.
£6.5m – Milan Baros: A Houllier signing sold at a profit. He’s done nothing since.
Exchange – John Welsh: Swapped for Paul Anderson
Exchange – Josemi: Swapped for Kronkamp.
Total sold: £14m
2005/06 net spend: £12.73m
2006/07
£6m – Craig Bellamy: Good signing and later sold for £7.5m to fund Torres deal.
£2m – Gabriel Palletta: Played a few league cup games, not good enough and sold for £1.2m
Free – Fabio Aurelio: Very injury prone but a good player when fit. Great signing for nothing.
£6.7m – Jermaine Pennant: Second choice after missing out on Alves. Ran his contract down and released. Attitude stank.
£9m – Dirk Kuyt: Has his critics, but has been brilliant for the money. 15 goals last season from wide and vital to the way we play. Ultimate pro. Great signing.
£200,000 – Nabil El Zhar: Few cameos last season and improving. Injured now. Promising still. Peanuts.
£750,000 – Astrit Ajdarevic: No idea who he is, and released on a free to Leicester.
Loan – Daniele Padelli: Reserve keeper, made one appearance and never seen again.
Undisclosed – Jordy Brouwer: Young reserve.
£2.5m – Alvaro Arbeloa: Bargain signing, great service for a few years and sold for £3.5m when running his contract down.
Loan – Javier Mascherano: Rescued from West Ham, now one of the best defensive midfielders in the world and will probably be sold to Barca this summer for a massive profit. Paid £18.6m for him a year later at end of loan deal.
Total bought: £27.15m
£200,000 – Zak Whitbread: Youngster
Undisclosed – Bruno Cheyrou: Houllier flopped, sold for a reported £1.5m.
£3m – Fernando Morientes: Didn’t work out. Cut his losses.
Free – Didi Hamann: Great servant, released at the end of his career
£675,000 – Antonio Barragan: Paid £240,000 for him.
£2m – Djimi Traore: Houllier signing and daylight robbery getting £2m for him
£500,000 – Neil Mellor: Signed as a kid and did a job for a while. Not good enough and released.
£1.75m – Jan Kromkamp: Nunez bought for £2m, swapped for him, who then sold for £1.75m. Stop gaps at minimal expense.
£525,000 – Darren Potter: Acadamy lad, not good enough and robbery getting that much for him.
£1.5m – Steven Warnock: Probably sold to cheap and looks a mistake with hindsight. Good squad player.
Free – Salif Diao: The clearout of Houllier’s flops continues.
Total sold: £10.15m
2006/07 net spend: £17m
2007/08
£5m – Lucas Leiva: Brazilian player of the year when signed. Could still go either way but a lot to prove.
Undisclosed – Krisztian Nemeth: Promising youngster currently out on loan in Athens.
£270,000 – Mikel San Jose Dominguez: Youngester plays in the reserves.
£1.8m – Sebastian Leto: Left winger signing but refused a work permit. Sold for £3m.
£20.2m – Fernando Torres: Bargain of the century
Free – Andriy Voronin: Free transfer to strengthen the squad. Plays well in Germany, garbage over here.
£5m – Yossi Benayoun: Took a while to settle but now a key player. Superb signing and an absolute bargain.
£11.5m – Ryan Babel: Highly rated dutch international. Absolute waste of space. Bad signing on reflection, but nobody knew how he’d turn out. Still got potential but he can’t be arsed.
Undisclosed – Charles Itandje: Back up keeper signed for peanuts. Now released.
£1.3m – Emiliano Insua: Youngster who is now a full Argentinian international and massive potential. Bargain.
£6.5m – Martin Skrtel: Been off form this season so far, but brilliant last year and a good signing for the money.
£18.6m – Javier Mascherano: Completion of loan deal
Total bought: £70.7m
£2.7m – Florent Simana-Pongolle: Houllier youngster sold wanting first team football.
£100,000 – Daniel O’Donnell: Kid sold
Free – Jerzy Dudek: Released at end of contract
Free – Zenden: Released at end of contract
Free – Robbie Fowler: Released at end of contract
£4m – Luis Garcia: Wanted to return to Spain. Great service.
£6m – Djibril Cisse: Houllier signing sold to part fund Torres deal.
£7.5m – Craig Bellamy: Sold at profit to part fund Torres deal
£3.5m – Mark Gonzales: Signed for £1.5m and sold when didn’t work out.
£1.2m – Gabriel Palletta: Bought for £2m but never worked out. Young defender.
£3.5m – Chris Kirkland: Houllier signing. Injury prone and wanted first team football.
£8.2m – Momo Sissoko: Great signing, good service, sold when lost his form at a profit.
Total sold: £36.7m
2007/08 net spend: £34m
2008/09
Free – Philip Degen: Garbage, but free.
£7m – Andrea Dossena: Italian international left back. Hasn’t settled. Bad signing.
£3.5m – Diego Cavalieri: Reserve keeper. Only played league cup games so far.
£1.5m – David N’gog: Young French striker. Promising.
£19m – Robbie Keane: Everyone made up when we signed him. Didn’t work out and sold back to Spurs for £16m.
£8m – Albert Riera: Spanish international. Started well but jury still out.
Total bought: £39m
£4m – John Arne Riise: Good servant but form tailed off. Snapped their hands off at £4m.
Free – Harry Kewell: Harry who?
Undisclosed – Anthony Le Tallec: Houllier youngster finally released. Fee not known.
£11m – Peter Crouch: Laughing stock bought for £7m. Great signing. Wanted first team football.
£2.25m – Danny Guthrie: Youngster from Acadamy thought not good enough.
£3.25m – Scott Carson: Injury prone and Reina now first choice. Sold at profit.
Undisclosed – Steve Finnan: Sold for a fee believed to be £1m
£16m – Robbie Keane: Didn’t work out.
Undisclosed – Jack Hobbs: Young defender that didn’t progress. Sold for believed to £1.5m.
Total sold: £36.5m
2008/09 net spend: £2.5m
2009/10
£17.5m – Glen Johnson: Big fee, but has been brilliant so far.
£17.1m – Alberto Aquilani: Injured so far but meant to be a class act. Highly rated in Italy.
£2m – Sotirios Kyrgiakos: Last minute signing to fill Hyypia’s shoes. Only money we had to spend.
£160,000 – Daniel Ayala: Young defender, played a few times this season and looked promising.
Total bought: £36.76m
£250,000 – Paul Anderson: Youngster that didn’t progess.
Free – Jermaine Pennant: Out of contract. Poor signing.
Free – Miki Roque: No idea who he is. Bought for peanuts.
£3m – Sebastian Leto: Signed for £1.8m but didn’t get a work permit. Had to sell.
£3.5m – Alvaro Arbeloa: Wanted to leave and out of contract in the summer.
£30m – Xabi Alonso: Wanted to leave. Bought for £10.7m. Great signing.
Total sold: £36.75m
2009/10 net spend: £10,000
Total Players Bought: £228,976,000
Total Players Sold: £145,100,000
Total Net Spend: £83,876,000
So, that’s a total spend of just over £83m in 5 years at the club. An average of £16.6m a year.
The vast majority of his signings have been sold at profit, or if still at the club, are worth a lot more than we paid for them. Exceptions being Babel and Dossena, but we’ll still get decent fees for them when sold as they’re full internationals.
A lot of the signings above have been stepping stones in rebuilding the squad, gradually improving it by replacing players with better ones. Our league positions over the past 5 years and the improvement in our league positions and points totals show the progression.
2004/05: Finished 5th – 58 pts
2005/06: Finished 3rd – 82 pts
2006/07: Finished 3rd – 68 pts
2007/08: Finished 4th – 76 pts
2008/09: Finished 2nd – 86 pts
Is it any coincidence that the progression seems to have stopped this summer? Look at the transfer activity above for this year and it might explain why.
Look at our net spend over the past 2 years!
We have a wage bill that is the 5th highest in the league. We can’t afford to pay players £70,000 to be sat on the bench like United and Chelsea can.
Rafa Benitez’ record with signings at the top end of the market is nothing short of brilliant. Robbie Keane being the only flop, but he was sold 6 months later and only a small financial hit taken on that mistake. Rick Parry agreed the fee for buying him in the first place, and common knowledge Rafa wasn’t happy with it; feeling it was far too high.
Where has this myth come from that he’s wasted money on shite players? Have a look through the lists above and try to point them out. There isn’t many.
The ones that haven’t worked out he’s moved on, and not very often has he made a financial loss on them.
The squad is now worth a hell of a lot more than the one he inherited, and that £83m net spend over 5 years is easily offset by the increased value of the squad. He’d recoup nearly all of that through the sale of Torres alone!
He’s worked absolute wonders with the money he’s had to spend. Then take into account the massive amounts of money he’s self generated by reaching the latter stages of the CL every season. Two final appearances, one win. That £83m he’s spent he’s earned the right to spend.
And when comparing it to what United have spent in the same period is flawed, as they already had a title winning squad and all the foundations in place. They weren’t rebuilding from scratch like we were. It also doesn’t take into account their massive wage bill.
When comparing to Chelsea, they spent all their money before Rafa came to the club and just topping up an already established squad.
Man City have spent more than double in the past 12 months than Rafa Benitez has in his 5 year reign.
Do some people still want to get rid of him? If so, you’ve been listening to Andy Gray and Richard Keys for too much and unable to look at the facts yourself to form an opinion.
Every manager makes tactical mistakes. Every manager makes mistakes in the transfer market. Despite what the press seem to think; Rafael Benitez appears to make less mistakes than most.
We’re expected to win the league and European Cup on a budget and wage bill that is entitled to finish 4th or 5th in the league. We’ve been overachieving under Rafael Benitez, not underachieving.
I’m not even going to mention the environment he’s working in under them two clowns.
You’ll only miss him when he’s gone….
Thanks for the research roy beno, honestly! You must have an awful lot of time at your hands.
Well, ok, £228,976,000 divided by six is: £ 38,162,666.67, average, per year.
Still this man complains about needing five more 20m players. Dear me. And you buy into that. What’s wrong with you?
Rafa has spent his money poorly on most occasions. I think he deliberately didn’t get us a back-up striker to proof his point. And he proof his point he did. At our clubs cost. Is that what you want?
Yes, I may miss him when he’s gone because we may get a manager even worse than him, but we may also get in someone decent.
Ah, and don’t tell me something about his net spend. If I sell my 1m house and buy a 2m house, I should have a 2m house to show for it.
ROY BENO….YNWA says thank for your comprehensive research and as, for ANTEATER…you need to do same!, before posting unruly comments!!.
A very well done…ROY BENO.
YNWA
I meant to say “And proof his point he did”. Sorry for the typo.
YNWA, I posted a link to my source in the beginning. It is quite obvious that I don’t have as much time on my hand as roy beno. Have to finish my thesis to get my M.Sc. Hope you understand that this is more important to me than doing in depth research to proof the obvious to some stranger on the internet (no disrespect meant here).
on your last point …liverpool is a labour of love mate
on your first post…just trying to dispel a number of media myths
on the back up striker point…the money earmarked for jovetic was pulled by the banks when refincing day came around last summer
what jumps out at you in the last 2 and a half years on that list of transfers and if you get the answer then you’ll get the point why this organisation was very much formed
http://www.spiritofshankly.com/
The point I am making is quite clear , the money promised to Rafa last summer was £20 million plus the money raised by the sale of players, but is was apparent that money was taken away from Rafa to fund the debt. Now, anteater I don’t know if I have to write this in crayon to make you understand that I was talking specifically about last summer and what happened with the buying of Aquilani and Johnson. Yes Aquilani was 20 million euro and Johnson £18 million but it is the way we bought them that I’m talking about. Now you may argue over the figures but you cannot argue over the method. We were owed money by Portsmouth from when they purchased crouch, therefore we only had to pay £9 million to close that deal. Aquilani was purchased on the never never, which will probably eat into this coming summers budget, making the budget even smaller again. The surplus money, where has it gone from last years player sales? Now renewing some player’s contracts is an everyday running cost, it has nothing to do with the money provided to buy players. This club would be a more profitable club if we hadn’t been saddled with the £240 million of debt by these jokers. The only good thing the yanks have done is increase turnover, but they just don’t have the money to buy players, but they have tried everything in the book to make it look as if they can and have. The club is sustainable and profitable as long as you never buy any players. So anteater when you next have a brain fart hold your breath for a while and then read what I written.