Does Houllier want to buy everyone so nobody else can have them?

This was copied from Annanova yesterday

Houllier confirms Emerton interest

Gerard Houllier has confirmed he is interested in bringing Feyenoord's Brett Emerton to Anfield.

The Australian international looks set for a move to the Premiership before the start of next season, with Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle all reportedly leading the chase for his signature.

The Liverpool boss has also confirmed that Auxerre's Djibril Cisse is one of a number of players he has had scouted over recent months.

He told Liverpool's website: "Cisse belongs to a group of four or five players we are looking at.

"We've got a scope of about four or five. We also like Brett Emerton."

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2002

Answers

They are rumoured to have already signed Bernard Cheyrou for £4m - looks a helluva buy at that price.

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2002

Which was why I was led to believe they no longer had an interest in Emerton!

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2002

Bob - I suspect they are looking to bring in someone who can play wide right.

I picked up a rumour that they had Wayne Bridge lined up to play LB so they could move Riise to wide left m/f.

They were horribly lacking width last season, but getting hold of Emerton and Bridge to improve the width and balance of the team could make them highly competitive. This is another reason for us to go after Emerton.

-- Anonymous, May 17, 2002

I read they were spending another £30M this summer! Where do they get the money from?

I also see they are building a new stadium in Stanley Park. Saw a Liverpool fan's site where they were bemoaning having to leave Anfield 'but at least wer're staying in the area, not moving to some out of town sh*thole'. Eh? What do they think the Anfield area is? Salubrious?

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

....they most likely do, Lynda!

The new stadium will be only 300 yds from Anfield and 55,000 capacity. They shelved plans for a 70,000 capacity stadium as it would have cost £120m.

As I understand it, this is simply a statement of intent and planning permission still has to be granted with opposition to the move already having been declared by the City Council's ruling Lib-Dems.

The Club's opposition to expanding Anfield is financial, and seems principally to be associated with the loss of revenue caused by the inevitable capacity reduction during the three-year construction programme.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

could we export Dolly to Merseyside ?

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

So they're spending £70m to add another 10,000 seats??

It hardly seems worth it for the amount of seats they'll add. From my perspective, the £70,000 seater seems better value, as they would add three times the amount of seats at less than two times the cost.

The latest rumour I heard was that FS wants to add another tier to the Gallowgate if we do well in the CL next season, although I always thought it's capacity was saturated now and SJP couldn't be expanded any more (except for anothr 3k on the Milburn stand which would cost a fortune). Something to do with mine workings under the ground which would make anything bigger unstable.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

Assuming Liverpool can fill the extra 10,000 seats long term it probably will be worth it. Not sure what they charge there, but if it`s 25 quid then that`s a touch under 5 million quid for league games alone so in theory it could pay for itself in 14 years in gate receipts alone. Throw in extra other income from 10,000 fans (food & drink, programme sales, merchandise etc), plus Champions League games and FA Cup and it might pay for itself even quicker. On the other hand, if it all goes pear-shaped and their gates drop.....

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

there is also the thought of what happens to the old Anfield ? Maybe some money to be had there.

I believe the "old mine workings" under the Gallowgate end have trains coming into them

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

ADK, I have no doubt they'll make the money long term, but do you not think that £120m for 30,000 extra seats seems better value, especially in the long run?

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

I'm not convinced that Liverpool could fill 70,000 seats on a regular basis. And if they did imagine what it would do for the crime rate in Greater Merseyside to pay for those extra tickets.

PS. we should really make every possible effort to steal Wayne Bridges from them...Good connections between Newcastle and Southampton. He would be a great assett.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

.....perhaps they'll throw in El Khalej as a job lot! ;o{)

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

Paul, to be honest I`d always be tempted to go bigger rather than smaller but I presume that the extra 50 million was deemed to be too great a risk - would be catastrophic for them if, say, they ended up averaging 55,000 a game in their 70,000 capacity 120 million stadium.

-- Anonymous, May 18, 2002

I'd have thought that if they have any sense, they would build a stadium that can be easily extended at a later stage as/when they know the regular potential. Obviously where they are at present has severe limitations (tho they could simply just knock aal the hooses doon) so a new location as close to Anfield as possible would e preferred by their fans.

Wasn't there some talk a while ago that they would share a new ground with Everton? That could have funded a 70,000 seater to rival Old Trafford. However, I also recal that Everton have now decided to build a new one by the river ("something" Dock, tho not the Albert I think).

Is a groundshare a real possibility these days? Looking at the state that our pitch and the one at OT get into with only being played on once every two weeks makes me think that it wouldn't be feasaible. Unless they had two pitches which can be slid out and back. Isn't there a stadium somewhere which slides the pitch "outside" for better weather and then into the stadium for the game?

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2002

Screacher, I read a letter from a Scouser on football365 complaining that he didn`t like the proposed stadium design because there were big gaps at all 4 corners. Sounds as though maybe they`re thinking on exactly those lines?

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2002

Screach, I think it's Ajax that have the sliding pitch. Perhaps Stevo can perhaps enlighten us as to whether it actually works, or if I've even got the right club? ;-)

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2002

I think you're right Ciara. Now you come to mention it, I think it is Ajax.

-- Anonymous, May 19, 2002