My Opening Day Transfer Rant...

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This Sigurdsson transfer is a testing little incident isn't it. Especially since Twitter keeps us all constantly updated with... no real update.

Firstly I've seen it suggested that because we pay players like Aquilani and Cole large wages then we should automatically pay Sigurdsson what he wants as it's reasonable (according to rumor) in comparison. If you have stated this opinion then you are saying that our players' wages should be adjusted based on what we are paying two players who have each spent as much time on loan as they have with us, and who were signed by two of the most incompetent owners in football history. Regardless of personal opinions of footballing talent, that is a terrible idea.

Many of our fans have this hysteria that the money is instantly about to dry up, that the owners won't "cough up", but at what point do we change the way we do things and actually implement a model for long term success? If we do not change the way we negotiate, the players we sign, and implement some kind of coherent structure, then we're doomed to keep making the same mistakes, and boy have we made a few transfer howlers in the last few years.

I do agree that we can probably afford to offer Sigurdsson what Spurs are offering, but in Rodgers we have a man who has seen him in training every day and is probably pretty well placed to judge how much he is worth. Maybe it's Rodgers' judgement call not to offer more money, instead of this desperate will some of our fans have to believe the owners take every opportunity to be an obstacle to the man they've just spent a lot of money to hire. Maybe all these rumors have the figures slightly skewed. Maybe Sigurdsson is squeezing a few extra out of his contract with us as he is entitled to try by playing on the Spurs offer. Maybe we're actually playing hardball for once and offering sporting opportunity (the lure of Rodgers) versus economic opportunity (higher wages at Spurs) in the way we jealously watch other teams do. Maybe Rodgers only ever saw him as an opportunity purchase and he's never been a first choice. So many maybes! We don't know our transfer budget, where Rodgers feels we need strengthening, the size and payment of Sigurdsson's transfer fee, our wage offer versus Spurs' wage offer and yet... blind panic.

Wages are important to FSG. Massively. An extra £10k per week is over £2mil on a 4 year contract. Getting players such as Aquilani and Joe Cole on huge contracts has shown us that the player often becomes unsaleable as no other team can afford the wages. It's a lot easier to shift a player you paid £10mil for who's on 40k a week than someone who you signed for £5mil who's on £65k a week. That's a very simplistic, barely correct example but it should help you get your head round why. The player doesn't want to take a wage cut to meet the buying club's wage cap, the buying club is careful of getting lumbered with another club's problem. This kind of approach will keep our squad more flexible and in theory it'll make it easier to renovate year upon year.

I think the guy is a talented player, and will be jealous if Spurs sign him, but come on! If there was EVER a player we were in a position to stand firm over it's this guy. Every newspaper report will say we 'missed out', but enjoy the Euros tonight, let this apparent decision on his future later arrive as it will, and remember when we 'missed out' on Conor Wickham last summer...

...and thanks for letting me vent, feel better for that.

 

[David Schofield]

At the minute, LFC Fans could be forgiven for wondering whether you have swapped Hicks & Gilett for Hicks & Giless.

Everything looks 'on the cheap' to me.

 

[DirtyFrank]

At the minute, LFC Fans could be forgiven for wondering whether you have swapped Hicks & Gilett for Hicks & Giless.

Everything looks 'on the cheap' to me.

Oh look; not one player bought yet in this transfer window & yet another "constructive" criticism from David.

Well this makes a change from the "massively overpaid" on mediocre players from last year. Were they bought by the same owners ...mmmmm.

Make up your mind.

 

[David Schofield]

You paid the going (inflated)rate for most of your Players last Summer, and I certainly didn't criticise your Club for that.

The only two signings I have criticised in terms of VFM were Andy Carroll, which if I really need to explain why you should perhaps consider a new sport to put your energy into, and Suarez. The £100M gamble on these two was piss poor, but as many were keen to point out at the time, you just swapped them for Torres and Mierles, so the actual outlay was minimal.

The Managerial appointment, the stick a few more exec boxes in Anfield, time will tell, but I think these fellas bought you because you were available on the cheap, and are prepared to sit and wait for a better offer to come along. Just saying.

 

[Super G Ted'inho]

You paid the going (inflated)rate for most of your Players last Summer, and I certainly didn't criticise your Club for that.

The only two signings I have criticised in terms of VFM were Andy Carroll, which if I really need to explain why you should perhaps consider a new sport to put your energy into, and Suarez. The £100M gamble on these two was piss poor, but as many were keen to point out at the time, you just swapped them for Torres and Mierles, so the actual outlay was minimal.

The Managerial appointment, the stick a few more exec boxes in Anfield, time will tell, but I think these fellas bought you because you were available on the cheap, and are prepared to sit and wait for a better offer to come along. Just saying.

Carroll and Suarez joined with Torres and Babel leaving in January 2011. Meireles left in the summer of 2011...

In terms of VFM, Suarez is absolutely worth every penny despite the off field crap that's come with it. He sells shirts and puts bums on seats, isn't a top earner at the minute (queue agent) and if we were to sell him we would get a lot more than we paid too.

 

[David Schofield]

OK so you swapped them for Torres and Babel, my bad. Same rules apply.

I doubt very much that you would see profit on Suarez, he's done ok, no more, but if you've enjoyed watching him, then he is worth the money.

The criticism I referred to was my assertion that LFC had taken an enormous gamble with the signing of those two, in the expectation of Champion League qualification, and as was borne out, you did not have the firepower to achieve it.

 

[saintanton]

How can everything be "on the cheap" when nowt has happened yet?

Nice post Nips,btw.

 

[David Schofield]

The Transfer Window not open yet is peddled by Clubs selling Season Tickets, and taken in by mugs.

As Podolski, Giroud, Hazard, Powell, Kagawa et al will happily confirm

 

[Foredeckdave]

You paid the going (inflated)rate for most of your Players last Summer, and I certainly didn't criticise your Club for that.

The only two signings I have criticised in terms of VFM were Andy Carroll, which if I really need to explain why you should perhaps consider a new sport to put your energy into, and Suarez. The £100M gamble on these two was piss poor, but as many were keen to point out at the time, you just swapped them for Torres and Mierles, so the actual outlay was minimal.

The Managerial appointment, the stick a few more exec boxes in Anfield, time will tell, but I think these fellas bought you because you were available on the cheap, and are prepared to sit and wait for a better offer to come along. Just saying.

Oh please! You could at least preface your ramblings with "I think" or "I believe" instead of trying to peddle them as fact. The truth is that you don't know why FSG bought Liverpool and what their long term intentions are. Like all well managed organisations they are not going to tell you. However, if you have any expertise in corporate analysis (which I strongly doubt) then it is possible to narrow down the medium to long term possibilities. As you have not forwarded any proof of undertaking such analysis then I will treat your comments as mere 'pissing in the wind'.

You obviously do not keep abreast of statements made either by the club or by John Henry regarding both a new stadium or the refurbishment of Anfield. Henry has already stated that it is NOT FSG's or LFC's intention to "stick a few more boxes in Anfield" and has gone to some pains to explain why.

 

[DirtyFrank]

They can't be both though. Owners who buy on the cheap don't throw 150m away on players (not getting into a net spend argument here )if all they're looking for is a quick turn around on the cheap.

No decision has been made on stadium but they do look like they are leaning towards refurbishment. Which (pointing to quite a good blog posted on a previous thread ) seems to be the most economically viable to owners & the current climate in the real world outside of football; they are not in a position to throw 600m in the pot and call it "pot plant sponsorship."

I actually laugh as their plans become clearer when people say "short term fix" or "quick turnaround" owners. These plans will take at least a decade to restore us to the top AND be stable economically. They are showing quite clearly that the favoured model is self sufficiency and a reliance that the ludicrous and unsustainable economic policy of premiership football can not go on forever. Now maybe, somehow this madness will continue forever and in that case, with these owners we will never be top 2 again unless we have the same kind of luck/skill United had in bringing through almost an entire premier league winning team in two years from their academy.

As fans the only downside is that we needed these owners with this plan 20 years ago.because it is only starting now we will have to wait a long time to see it bear fruit.

The only flaw in my perception of their long term thinking was the reason given for sacking KD.But quite frankly I think it was a lie because they knew a group of fans would accept that reason above the real one. Which is; "we wanted to install a top to toe change in structure & we didn't think it could work with KD there"

So in that light I believe your opinion is premature & largely inaccurate.

 

[David Schofield]

As a club with pride and honor, we do our business behind closed doors, so you will have no idea who we are or are not about to sign.

Sure. Gylfi Sigurdsson bears that out.

 

[David Schofield]

Oh please! You could at least preface your ramblings with "I think" or "I believe" instead of trying to peddle them as fact. The truth is that you don't know why FSG bought Liverpool and what their long term intentions are. Like all well managed organisations they are not going to tell you. However, if you have any expertise in corporate analysis (which I strongly doubt) then it is possible to narrow down the medium to long term possibilities. As you have not forwarded any proof of undertaking such analysis then I will treat your comments as mere 'pissing in the wind'.

You obviously do not keep abreast of statements made either by the club or by John Henry regarding both a new stadium or the refurbishment of Anfield. Henry has already stated that it is NOT FSG's or LFC's intention to "stick a few more boxes in Anfield" and has gone to some pains to explain why.

Well, I have bought a financially distressed Football Club, does that count?

 

[DirtyFrank]

As a club with pride and honor, we do our business behind closed doors, so you will have no idea who we are or are not about to sign.

Sure. Gylfi Sigurdsson bears that out.

Show me a statement from the club or a member of the club discussing this transfer other than the initial statement of interest from BR

You form your opinions based on the tabloid press. That's why it's so 2 dimensional.

 

[David Schofield]

Show me a statement from the club or a member of the club discussing this transfer other than the initial statement of interest from BR

You form your opinions based on the tabloid press. That's why it's so 2 dimensional.

So, apart from the Manager stating he would like to sign him then?

 

[DirtyFrank]

Show me a statement from the club or a member of the club discussing this transfer other than the initial statement of interest from BR

You form your opinions based on the tabloid press. That's why it's so 2 dimensional.

So, apart from the Manager stating he would like to sign him then?

Well yes; I just said that, you even quoted it. I'm sure you could get BR on record saying he'd like to sign Messi. You still won't hear anything official until its done.

 

[DirtyFrank]

Sorry David but you appear to be just randomly arguing for the sake of it. As it has been established that no information on any possible transfer for this player has been released by the club( so you don't know if or what LFC bid, offered as wages. )So just to clarify because as usual you're a little vague:

Is it the fact that we are interested in Sig at all that makes us "on the cheap"?

What about each of the 30+ other players we've been linked to int press? What do they make us. You know since you're basing your opinion on that level of "fact"

 

[Foredeckdave]

Well, I have bought a financially distressed Football Club, does that count?

Nowhere near! If you look at the publically quoted figures given at the time of the takeover/buyout then you would be aware that the club itself was only distressed by the purchase scheme employed by H&G.

Now let's see if you can demonstrate your abilities with some considered Portfolio Analysis in relation to FSG and maybe even a little Competitive Analysis in relation to LFC. Then you may be able to demonstrate some graduate level understanding of corporate decision making.

 

[David Schofield]

Foredeck,

LFC was a pre-pack without the 10 point penalty.

I have have bought and sold many businesses over the past two decades (including one in and out of administration), and in 2010 put a consortium together to buy Stockport County.

I understand the finances of football, including the funding of new/redeveloped stadia, all too well.

I don't profess to KNOW what FSG have in mind for LFC, but I have more than enough experience to make a judgement, and in my opinion they are in it for a flip/flop

 

[David Schofield]

Not that kind of flip flop Bazray ;-)

 

[Page_Moss_Kopite]

Foredeck,

LFC was a pre-pack without the 10 point penalty.

I have have bought and sold many businesses over the past two decades (including one in and out of administration), and in 2010 put a consortium together to buy Stockport County.

I understand the finances of football, including the funding of new/redeveloped stadia, all too well.

I don't profess to KNOW what FSG have in mind for LFC, but I have more than enough experience to make a judgement, and in my opinion they are in it for a flip/flop

Your opinion is worthless based on the fact that you admit you dont know what FSG have in mind for our club,this also negates your 'judgement'.

So even if you sold sand to the Saudi's or whatever your 'expertise' on this subject is non existant.