Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: J P Fear 
Date:Monday May 12 2008
Time: 12:06PM
UK time is: 08:49:25
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Tom Jones mini-me Is Confused At MON Anger
Tom Jones look-alike mini-me Rafa Benitiz has told icLiverpool that he can't understand why Martin O’Neill has been so angry over their conversations relating to Villa skipper Gareth Barry.
The Liverpool boss said: 'I think the right approach when you want to sign a player is to talk to the manager. I was talking to Martin O’Neill, I said we would like to sign Gareth Barry and asked what the situation was. He just said he needed to talk to the owner and I said okay. He will not have any problems with his supporters because he never said to me he wanted to sell Barry.'
Oh great, more 'he said, she said' being played out in the press. This really has done neither club any favours has it?
He also says they are talking about Scott Carson, who Villa have an option to sign, adding, 'We were just talking about football so why he was so angry I do not know. I’ve been very clear. The player had said before he wanted to play Champions League football. We knew that and so tried to sign a good player. It’s that simple. If your captain wants to leave, it’s a problem but that’s football.'
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Your Comments
See his parting shot? "If your captain wants to leave, it’s a problem but that’s football.' Does Gerrard want to leave AGAIN then?
jonah
Will RAFA be manager of Liverpool next season? I thought Morenio would make a better manager for LIverpool personally.
col8
cheap shot at the end. if barry was to leave i dont know why he would go there! that club is in turmoil!
durks de rover
this guy is a c.ock. end of. how about when you leaked the story to the press rafa???????
Stig
I think rafa is having trouble with his English again, quote "The player had said before he wanted to play Champions League football. "
rafa translation "I (Barry)want to leave Villa".
Did it ever cross rafas' mind that Barry was on about playing Champions League football with Villa.The word arrogant springs to mind.
Willa
Nail on the head Stig.Managers talk all the time about players, but when you go the press that is when you cross the line.The fat ***** did not get the response he wanted from Martin so tried to stir the situation and the player in the press.No respect, for us as a club, or Martin as a manager...I do believe Rafa will regret this incident, as next year we are coming after them...
OneloveVilla
I have been saying to anyone who will listen that Barry is going nowhere for weeks and I stand by it. I have also been saying to anyone who will listen ***** off Benitez you're a **** and I stand by that too.
jonah
Fat****.
british84
It's easy to confuse a fool!!!!!!!
gappy65
What a compleate clown, rafa is behaving like a total prat and any respect I had for him has gone, why cant he keep his mouth shut.
villapeach
He keeps digging deeper and deeper. Reminds me of when that Hicks fellow went on Sky trying to slag off the other guys. Only Scousers, Americans or drunk people would have believed his sincerity.
Villan444
This is what Rafa said today, "We made an offer but I think we were straight. When you make an official offer, you do so by fax. Some people see the fax and you cannot control everything.
"The Birmingham press found out about the offer and it was not our fault. They were very clever and used that information.
"I was talking with Martin O'Neill 20 days before that and nobody knew. We were doing things properly. We are waiting now to see what happens next." Liverpool's offer wasn't known by the press until a fax was sent to Villa, so the leak most likely originated from Villa, not Liverpool. If the leak was from Liverpool, the press would've known about it from the original talk between the two managers, more than 20 days ago. Villa fans need to look closer to home to find the leak.
JohnDoe
Oh THAT clears it up, someone in the Villa office saw the fax and contacted the Liverpool echo. And there was us all thinking it was the bin dippers when it was MON himself, or maybe even randy lerner all along. Shame on us all for thinking those fine upstanding citizens from the European city of culture (go on, try saying that without smiling) would do such a thing!
jonah
Don't forget folks, Benitez says that's what happened so it MUST be true.
jonah
What's the opposite view, O'Neill says that's what happened so it MUST be true?
JohnDoe
JohnDoe are you Rafa's PR man? Why the quest to clear his name? Liverpoll always leak to the press. Thats how you conduct business nowadays. Like I said in a previous post Liverpool are not the Bastian they once were. they struggle to sign players like we all do so they leak to the papers in the vain hope to disrupt the player. If what you say is correct it was leaked at our end, why have we not had a leak before about any transfer? It only seems to be with Liverpool!! Like I said previously MON does his business behind a closed door. Rif-Rafa seems to do his business in public as do Liverpool in general. So Mr Doe I would give up this quest to clear Rafa's name because you will be a busy man, until he leaves in the summer or gets the sack by one of the million consortiums bidding for shambolic mess you call your club. Now run along to your end of the street.... Otherwise I will have to verbally thrash you....
gappy65
gappy65, Barry isn't any other transfer for Villa, he's your captain and the fans favorite player, or so I'm told. So a bid for him is big news in Birmingham, hence the leak. When have we conducted our transfer business in public? Don't think that what goes on with Hicks and Parry is our usual way of doing things, and that has nothing to do with our transfer dealings. Like I've said in another article, Rafa doesn't name his transfer targets until they are signed. That's been his usual practice in the past four years, why would he change now with Barry's bid? He said he didn't leak the bid and I believe him, and if you want to verbally thrash me for this, then you're welcome to try.
JohnDoe
Put it this way JohnDoe I would believe O'Neill before I believe Benitez any day. The advantages to Liverpool in unsettling Barry are obvious but for the life of me I can't see what advantage there would be to O'Neill in doing so.
jonah
At this point I would now rather see Barry playing for Birmingham than Liverpool, they have acted like ass holes, think they are bigger then they are, if Barry wants to play for a club going backwards then he belongs at Liverpool and if he wants to play for a club on the up and under a manger that he has blossemed under then he has to stay at Villa. UP THE VILLA, TO FINISH HIGHER THAN THE POOL NEXT SEASON!!!
Tallaght Villan
Try? do you really think you have what it takes to verbally joust with me????? But back to the point NO ONE ON HERE GIVES A TOSS WHAT RIF-RAFA HAS TO SAY. I seen the smirk on his face, Thats the look of a guilty man. NOW go back to your little mates and sing you'll never walk alone. Give me the fans from the other side of Stanley Park any time they have ethics not like your showre of lying tossers!!!!! and if you want to believe the nonesense that Raffa speaks then your a fool. Just like all the other fools who think out fo Rafas ass the sun shines. This is the man who takes sides against the men who pay him. as for using the press thats all Liverpool do. talk to each other through the press because comunication is at such a low ebb at the club it's there only avenue of communication. So you expect us to believe that Rafa does things by the book? Then your a fool. Do you expect him to admit to it? it would be deemed as an unofficial approach so think on a little before you continue with this foolish quest to clear a guilty mans name!!!!!
gappy65
jonah, I can see two advantages. One, by complaining about Liverpool the way he is, O'Neill is putting pressure on Barry so that he won't sign for us. Two, he want to start a bidding war on Barry as he knows that Arsenal and Chelsea are also interested. By the way, Liverpool don't need to leak their bid to the press to unsettle Barry, he would know about our bid without having to read about it in the press, and he would be under pressure from Villa fans not to sign and we risk losing him, something that happened to us before when Benfica called off Simao's transfer to us after word leaked out due to their fans strong objections. He was on the plane coming for a physical when the transfer was called off. So why would we leak this to the press? What advantage would we gain?
JohnDoe
gappy65, this is what you call a verball joust? Insults and name calling. I'm impressed. I have one thing to say to you, grow up.
JohnDoe
JohnDoe Should'nt you be revising for your SATS.... So you leaked before? I see a pattern emerging form your rabbleings. A Leak involving Liverpool!!!!! Did Rafa deny it ever happened?
gappy65
Name calling???? at what point did I call you a name????
gappy65
Someone help JohnDoe escape from his goldfish bowl so he can see what is relly going on. I know the fat controller with the goatee won you the Champs league and I understand your loyalties towards him but are you really that dense to believe everything he says. Haven't seen any of your colleagues on here agreeing with you. A couple of my mates are Scouse red and although (like all Liverpool fans) they always see a different game to everyone else when you play, they are not so stupid to believe the rotund moustachioed star from "Max and Paddy". Quatto is calling you from Mars, OPEN YOUR MIND
Villan444
"lying tossers" what's that? And the leak was from Benfica, their chairman announced the transfer before it was completed, not from Liverpool.
JohnDoe
its in Rafas interset that the board are squabbleing it take the fans minds off what a crap job he's doing. Given the money he spends.
gappy65
Unbelievable - so now it's the Birmingham press and/or Villa that leaked the story. Where does the Liverpool Echo fit into Rafa's story then? Or has that relocated to Birmingham without me (or anyone else seemingly) realising?
bownesy
I'm talking about the club not the blinkered fans like you JohnDoe!!!!
gappy65
Villan444, same can be said about you. You're faulting me for believing what the manager of my club says, yet all of you believe what the manager of your club says without question. How do you define hypocrisy?
JohnDoe
If Rafa told me that night follows day I would have to check with MON!!!!
gappy65
"Give me the FANS from the other side of Stanley Park any time they have ethics not like your showre of lying tossers" Yep, that's talking about the club. Unbelievable.
JohnDoe
If you want to associate yourself with the lying tossres then thats your problem not mine. Your cquite correct it is unbelievable that a man with seemingly reasonable inteligence can actually believe Rafa...
gappy65
Do you really think you can come here and convince us that Rafs is telling the truth? When the evidence points in the other direction! I have to admire your complete disregard for the facts. It really is as you say Unbelievable.
gappy65
Have you gone home JohnDoe to lick your wounds????
gappy65
The most amazing thing about all this is that we're supposed to believe that the Birmingham press promptly leaked it .......via the Liverpool echo.
jonah
Like you would know what reasonable intelligence is gappy65. You say that I'm a lying tosser, along with the rest of Liverpool fans, then you deny calling me a name, and when I point it out to you, you say that I'm the one associating myself with the lying tossers. Genius, absolute genius.
JohnDoe
That's right I am!!!!!!! Compared to you that is. You have been verbally thrashed. My work here is done!!!!! Now JohnDoe take your ball home and don't play with the big boys again. until you can shave!!!! Or see the facts for what they are.....
gappy65
Exactly Jonah. What a scoop that would be, promptly giving it to another paper. It's funny really, as the Liverpool Echo bit we all know is true - in fact you can go read the "exclusive" story from May 2 on their website. It's taken Rafa long enough to come up with a decent story to explain it, though it's a fairly bad one as you say.
bownesy
What evidence? If there is evidence show it to me. How do you know that the Echo were the first paper to print this? I went back that day, via newsnow, to see who put this story first and I couldn't. All internet sites carried this story about the same time, so how do you know it was the Echo who first did it?
JohnDoe
Is the word exclusive a clue???????
gappy65
Sure you are gappy, sure you are.
JohnDoe
Your still not convinced JohnDoe???? The word Exclusive kin of tells it all...
gappy65
Yes, because no newspaper ever use the word Exclusive unless it's actually an exclusive.
JohnDoe
Hey folks, play nicely, at the end of the day it doesn't matter what any of us fans think, or what the managers think for that matter. Only person who has the real say (and power despite a contract) is Gareth Barry. Time will tell. Hope he stays, if not I hope a transfer is done asap AND to suit our valuation and no one elses!
The Fear
So there you have it JohnDoe... Now go home ...
gappy65
This is a Birmingham Post article on the same day, May 2, regarding Liverpool's bid, http://www.birminghampost.net/midlands-birmingham-sport/west-midlands-sports/aston-villa-fc/2008/05/02/liverpool-bid-10m-for-aston-villa-s-gareth-barry-65233-20854164/
JohnDoe
And the Birmingham Mail, also May 2, http://www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport/aston-villa-fc/aston-villa-news/2008/05/02/peter-crouch-set-to-return-to-aston-villa-in-14m-gareth-barry-deal-97319-20854205/
JohnDoe
Unfortunately the whole saga has left a bad taste in many a Villans mouth. We will never know the true chain of events 100%.
Villan444
Just 99%. The other percent can be for Rafa's royal backside polishers who will believe whatever they are told by their messiah regardless of what the facts say.
Villan444
Villan444: I think we do, Benitez is covering his tracks furiously now because MON exposed him, no need to complicate it, the truth is often the simplest answer.
jonah
The word Exclusive is still the evidence required to find the scousers guilty as charged. If this was a court case JohnDoe you would be sentenced tomorrow.
gappy65
Well said The Fear, and I agree. It's up to Barry. If he leaves it's because he wanted to leave, not because he was unsettled.
JohnDoe
The truth in this case is huge meal that requires it to be broken down to small bitesize pieces for the scousers to swallow. Because the lie in its entireity would indeed choke them all...
gappy65
You sound like Rafa now JohnDoe with your squirming styles as you have lost the argument hands down.
Villan444
What an ar$ehole.Im sure Gerrard wants to challenge for the league one day does that mean he'll be off.I think Rafa has ruined any potential deal,If Barry starts acting up I wouldn't be suprised if he just didnt play him like he did with Sorenson.
Pking
What argument have I lost, I'm still waiting for the Evidence. If there is evidence that the leak originated from Liverpool then I'm man enough to admit it when I'm wrong, but I won't take O'Neill's word as evidence.
JohnDoe
don't get me wrong john doe, I think the player has had his head turned, I'm sure a word in his shell like from Gerrard but who knows, was it rafa, was it the players agent? Don't care, the end result is a happy player might have become distracted and think the grass is greener. I actually don't think it would be greener for him and he'd end up spending a good time on the bench, just ask Crouch to name just one!
The Fear
Unfortunately I can't be bothered to go to court to obtain the evidence just to prove you wrong (is that what you expect???) so you will have to blindly follow the Phoenix Nights prophet. If there was any evidence then authorities would surely get involved and thats why the scousers slyly leaked the story. Can't believe that I have wasted all this time arguing a point that is obvious to all.
Villan444
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO1kKemcwYk&NR=1
Villan444
If I was the bin dippers, I'd be more worried about Manyou taking over their place in history. It's been a long time since a club of their stature has won the league.
tarzan
On a more serious note; Rumours are afoot that Redscouse are openly talking about our player (as they are entitled to), because we've pulled the plug on the Carson deal (well for 10m anyway!), They are mad as snakes because they would need that 10m. I suspected as much, It's well known that they've taken loan of 40m for Torres and Babbel and want to get our captain on the cheap. If Barry wants to move (and I suspect he may do), the best situation would be for Arsenal or Chelsea to come in for him.
tarzan
Rafa is at it again. He seems convinced that Barry wants to leave. The only way he could be so sure is if he has had contact either diect or indirect. Would that not be classed as an illegal approach?
gappy65
It damn well ought to be gappy65. The one rule for one law has never been more appropriate surely. Agree with tarzan. If Gareth wants out to a Champions League outfit, surely either Chelsea or Arsenal would have to be more attractive propositions? Not sure Chelsea need him, but Arsenal could be a different scenario entirely.
glensider
i,ve said all along liverpool could,nt afford barry and agree think they have got the hump because were not going to stump up 10 mill or even 5 mill for carson
super lionel martin
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