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Four more years… Four more years…Jermaine Pennant, as most will be aware, used to play for Liverpool. When he moved to Zaragoza in 2009 he decided to buy a new Porsche so that he could day trip around the vineyards of La Rioja in style. He also got a sweet vanity license plate that read “P33NNT” to make it all just that much more awesome.
When he headed back to England at the start of the season to join Stoke on loan, he did what any normal person would do and just abandoned that custom-plated Porsche in a train station parking lot, completely forgetting that he owned it until the police tracked him down six months later.
I imagine he has a bright future as a Sky Sports pundit…
*Jimmy Rice, news editor of the official site and as such probably not responsible for the transfer rumours section so beloved by Ed, discusses the idea that Rafa Benitez’ overhaul of the academy in his final year with the club might be his real lasting legacy for Liverpool. In bringing back former chief scout Frank McParland, as well as introducing La Masia gurus Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura–essential figures in the development of much of the current Barcelona lineup from Pique to Iniesta to Messi–to Merseyside, he may have provided the foundation for Liverpool’s long-term future of squad development from within, a method clearly favoured by John Henry and FSG. It doesn’t hurt that he managed to bring in players like Shelvey and Suso before the end, either.
* In related news, along with bringing Suso and Conor Coady to train at Melwood for the week as part of what will be an ongoing effort to acclimatise promising youngsters with the senior squad to make their eventual transition easier, Kenny Dalglish also sought to praise both those leading the charge to revitalize the academy and to give a nod to the man who started the overhaul:
I wouldn’t go and say there are any kids who played in the Youth Cup against Crystal Palace are going to be first team [yet] but the progress at the Academy in the last year and a half has been absolutely fantastic.
That’s great credit to Rafa who brought in Pep Segura, Rodolfo Borrell and Frank McParland. He reorganised the whole Academy and you can see the benefit in the kids now. It’s fantastic to see.
The reserve team’s average age has been drastically reduced. Whether we get them through or not, we’d never put that pressure on them, but we’re clearly encouraged by the work that’s being done there and it’s a work in progress.
What a change two weeks makes.
* Back on the senior side of the squad, Steven Gerrard has set the goal of playing for another four to five years, which probably isn’t an especially surprising statement, but it seems like the sort of thing people might like to know. So there you go, and now you know. He also may consider getting his coaching badges at some point. Or he might join Jamie Redknapp as a commentator, leaving fans to fear he’ll spend years in the television studio chipping away at his image with asinine and simplistic commentary like just about every other ex-pro who goes that route.
So yeah, here’s hoping he goes for coaching, I suppose. Though in any case, he doesn’t actually say that he’ll spend those next four or five years of his career at Liverpool. So queue “Gerrard to Madrid!” rumour-mongering in 5… 4… 3…
Say, I wonder if the Suarez deal is done yet? No? What about now? Oh. Okay. Well, in the meantime, I guess we could all brush up on the best methods for getting a bargain in the transfer market…
Some Related Liverpool Posts:Lucas Leiva is the Fifth Beatle, and Other Friday NotesGerrard and Agger Fit, More on Rafa, and Other Thursday NotesGerrard on Dalglish, Approaching Wolves, and Other NotesTorres’ Form, Year End Polls, and Other Friday NotesDaniel Agger, Dani Pacheco, and Other Friday Notes
Category: Premier League, Team News, Transfer News
Tags: Conor Coady, Jermaine Pennant, Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool youth academy, Premier League, Rafa Benitez, Steven Gerrard, Suso, Team News, Transfer NewsTweet « Say the Right Thing: The Owners | Home | Red2deathI'm still eager to see Rafa's academy come through. When he arrived he started a major long term academy project that would take 10 years to yield real results. Sadly 2 years in he was already being forced to strip assets and make a profit in every transfer window. By 5 years that had become untenable, he'd held out for as much as he could but the results on the pitch were beginning to show. It was either H&G out or Rafa out, and it ended up being the latter.
Would have been good to see what Rafa could have built with some of his first-choice signings, rather than always having to resort to 4th or 5th choice - and then being condemned cos they weren't as good! But that's in the past. We'll never see what could have been.PyroI think Rafael Benitez was a mediocre coach. Hopefully, he really did fix the academy. Benitez's biggest fault was contact with his players. At Inter, he had no contact with his players; Samuel Eto'o proclaims that he has kept in contact with all of his coaches except Benitez. A team cannot have unity and success on the pitch, if they are not closely bonded with their manager. Dick-ass Mourinho proved this.arn00bRemember when they said that Rafa destroyed the academy by making himself boss? They were saying that he took over Liverpool's great academy and destroyed it by bringing in his people and damaging it to the point that it wasn't producing anything worth value. There's some serious Rafa-hating out there.blog comments powered by Disqus
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