Seriously guys, I don't think it's that bad... Sure I was disapointed like the rest of you that we didn't sign Messi; but surely the point is we have been badly run for years, not just a few months. We knew that after our worst league season for decades there was no quick fix. We were never going to bring in a big name striker this summer, unless he was on his last legs or paid millions. The criminal reason for this is that despite being one of the most famous and successful teams in the world, and despite having spent amongst the highest total amounts in the premiership on players in the last decade, we are not currently in the Champions League or performing at the highest level. Sure we didn't sign Dempsey - but I doubt it was over a mere million pounds or so. How do we know he wasn't demanding 150k per week salary? It would have been the overall package that the decision was made over, not the transfer fee. Sure he wanted to join us, but so did Joe Cole and that didn't exactly work out, and I'm sure BR didn't want a repeat of that. Just because he scored goals last season does NOT mean he would have solved out goal scoring problem last season, as the team would not have been set up around him to the extend Fulham was. I think there have been positives in our transfers, especially as with the change of managers there was little time to scout; 1) We kept key and PROVEN players - Agger, and new longterm contract for Suarez and Skrtel. 2) We have bought some players that I feel are going to be class, whilst not spending the stupid money - Allen, Assaidi and potentially Borini. 3) We have loaned in Sahin - a player we know is class, for little financial risk to ourselves. After a season playing with us, getting to know the manager / players - he is far more likely to sign permanently if he performs than would have been the case otherwise. 4) We have removed players from our payroll who were likely only benchwarmers - thereby ensuring we have more funds to spend next year - Aqualiani, Adam, Maxi, Kuyt, Aurelio. 5) FSG are in my opinion steadying the ship and increasing our financial income with good sponsorship deals; thereby increasing our longterm financial clout. I feel our team this season is much stronger than last season; who are Man U going to fear lining up against more: Kuyt Adam Gerrard Maxi Carrol Suarez or Allen Gerrard Sahin Assaidi Borini Suarez I also feel the latter team is more likely to attract big names next summer than the former. I think the sticking point for many fans has been the loaning of Carrol; but that also makes sense to me. Imaging you had spent £35m of your own money on something, and then 18 months later seen it's value drop to £15m and you had two options: 1) Keep it, and likely not use it very much, as you also own a lot of similarly valuable objects, and see its value drop further or at best stay the same. 2) Lend it out, where it would get used regularly, potentially doing very well in a system set up to get the best out of it andd watch it destroy oppositions defences and regain confidence whilst gaining experience and maturing, take points off your opposition, thereby helping your own overall chances and then potentially sell it for £5-7m MORE the following year or if it really develops and works on the areas its weak in come back into your own team the following summer. If Andy does well, his value WILL increase as more teams will want him and we will have £5-7m more to spend on players next season, or to offset against not making the Champions league should we fail. The same, to a lesser extend could be said of Jay spearing, so I feel his loan makes sense too. The players we sold were never going to go UP in value, so made sense to sell them. I'm sure in an ideal world, Brendan would have signed a top striker; but if none were available / or willing to join for a reasonable fee then I would prefer we saved the money and took time to allow him and his team to scout a better replacement for January, rather than panic buy again. I feel, playing the right system, we do have players to score goals and do well - look at the strikerless Spain in the Euros. So seriously guys... This transfer season was always going to be difficult for the reasons above, I think we did alright. Chill out and SMILE!!!!! We're Liverpool...
Well written article and I pretty much agree. The thing that annoys me most is that we were led to believe that we were bringing in 1-2 players and we didn't. I do expect money to be made available in January.
I agree with the sentiment of not panicing too much. Although regarding trasfers in: Allen is already establishing himself. Sahin looks like he probably will. The German turks, "Assman" and "Gerd", are complete unknowns- youth who may or may not take off- probably intended more for 2 or 3 years in the future not for today. Borini... well- it's early days yet so I don't want to be too harsh- but so far he has been a huge step down from Kuyt or Bellamy... maybe he just needs time though. So transfer season hasn't been a huge happy-happy-joy-joy time for us. Doesn't necessarily mean doom... we have huge potential for improvement from the squad we already had. We can do well with the squad we already have... would liked to have improved... but we didn't. We haven't had CL football for a few years now- we need to adjust our budget accordingly.
I'm happy enough with what we have and it's a good base to build from, I don't think we need to buy in January lets bring the youngsters through.
Am normally not one to worry about small things or occasional poor results, prefering to view the bigger picture.... and I do think that we have bought in a couple of decent players BUT and it's a big BUT the right royal f#ck up of yesterday WILL hurt us; we have no depth up front; No out and out strikers....what the feck do we do if Suarez gets injured ffs? If it transpires that FSG were behind the failure to fund a £6m acquisition then my support for them will stop right there and then. btw, if we did tap up Dempsey, i can't blame Fulham for playing hardball with us......seriously unprofessional from start to stop with regards to Dempsey....embarrassing actually. All that said, I do hope that the new signings slot in quickly and easily and i'm proven wrong!
I agree it was annoying that BR seemed to raise our expectations on deadline day with his interview, but the deals he thought were going to happen obviously fell through. To be honest, whilst I'd have loved us to sign a top top striker, I'd have been more annoyed if we'd panicked again and overpaid for an average to poor one who would just sit on the bench whilst taking high wages. I think this window will go some way to show clubs whose players we enquire about that we're not willing to be taken for mugs again, which can only be a good thing.
I agree with this. Our transfer dealings over the last eighteen months may have given other clubs the impression we're a soft touch and can be mugged easily. The situation over Gylfi and Dempsey hopefully will expiate that impression. If Fulham were playing hard to get over Dempsey and thinking we'd cough up in the last minute then they're the ones who have shot themselves in the foot, not us. The more we can get across that we drive a hard bargain then the better for us in the long term. As for the short term, we're not looking that bad. Yes we do need a striker and I'm disappointed we didn't get one, but the squad isn't that bad. Put it this way, I bet Fergie could get some decent performances out of that squad, it only remains to be seen whether BR can.
The OP wrote a fantastic article. Our future is in safe hands ,only a certain type of player will get in our side now, they have to be versatile and have real technical ability. Our biggest spend was on a gem of a footballer, I'm convinced Joe Allen is going to be a star. This may sound premature, but the three games I've seen him in, since he's joined, he's been man of the match in all 3. Brendan Rodgers faith in youth has also impressed me. Would the likes of Adam Morgan who would run through walls for the club be given a chance under Woy or Kenny? I don't think so. Raheem ''The speed-machine'' Sterling has been fantastic, okay he's got slammed for being cheeky, but he's been a revelation. As for future signings. I reckon signing Sahin permanently will be a definite, and I can see Brendan Rodgers going in for Jack Butland as the eventual successor to Pepe. He's terrific and he's going to push Joe Hart all the way as the English number 1. Thats not mentioning another striker. I can also see Suso playing a major part too, and Andre Wisdom is going to be heir to the Carra throne.
My thoughts exactly. Also, with Coates showing composure, Pacheco being moved up the pecking order and more coming through the academy the future is bright.
Disagree! Of course we do not know the exact details of why it fell through, however a player that the manager CLEARLY wanted is now playing for a rival who payed what was a MARKET price. How anyone can think this was a clever strategy is deluding themselves.
I agree the fact that he did eventually move undermines that part of my post a little, but I stand by the gist of it. None of us know the exact circumstances of the whole situation and passing judgement on something in that light is just pointless. I didn't say it was a clever strategy, it is one that has been forced upon us by the profligacy of the previous regime and will,I hope, stand us in good stead in future negotiations. So we missed out for now, maybe we won't in the future if we show ourselves to mean what we say. I know this might seem hopelessly optimistic to some, but to me that's better than being pessimistic. Following your team should, after all, be an enjoyable thing and I don't want to be a Cassandra all the time. Also, being an old git, I remember a time when it didn't seem like the only solution to any problem was to throw money at it.
Nice post Saint! I agree with the sentiment; I am an optimist when it comes to Liverpool, anybody that has seen my posts last season will attest to that. The trouble is I have to admit to being a little worried about the future for our club, whilst I can also see it could turn out well, there is a huge part of me that says we seem to be pinning all our hopes on one person to succeed in this plan. The trouble is if it does not go as well as we hope we will be in a far, far worse positiopn with even less hope financially of competeing, oh well lets get on with the game! Good post though!
And yet we sacked a manager who was one season into rebuilding and won a cup for nothing more than some fancy idea we can be the New Arsenal, who have won **** all since before we last won a cup with their Barca-inspired ways. And Wenger has a better pedigree than Rodgers. Can you show your working? Where did we get all this money to spend so much? Are you seriously trying to suggest Tom Hicks gave Rafa a suitcase stuffed with "Over £200m" in used fivers and told him to get Degan and Jovanovic at any cost? We sold Torres for £50m to buy Carroll for £35m. In your world is that £15m profit or just £35m loss? Because what's criminal is the muppet maths in modern football which says FSG "invested £120m" last season. Did they ****. They barely spent any of their own cash and they're still not. I'm beginnig to think they're a front for Tom Hicks because leaving us a striker short for the want of £1m is not only ****ing criminal, it's gross incompetence. What's criminal is letting Carroll go because the manager doesn't have a clue how to play that kind of football. Y'know, the kind you need to play when you're down to ten men and two goals down against WBA. How do we know any player at a fee of £5m doesn't have such a high opinion of himself that he makes ridiculous wage demands? We don't but what are the chances? I mean seriously? How do we know they didn't leave the whole wage thing until 10pm on Aug 31st? We don't but what are the chances FSG knew what the wage expectations were long before then? If it had been Sneijder asking for £250,000 pw then okay but it's Clint Dempsey, FFS! And FSG are the ones who want a Yank in the squad to sell shirts! But we were ready to sell Agger. I wonder if we'd had a big offer for Stevie whether BR would've let him go. Or Suarez or Skrtel or Reina or Lucas? £15m on Allen could turn out to be stupid money but of course you have a *feeling* so that's okay. What was your *feeling* on Lucas when he was 22? Were you comparing him to Alonso at 28 and sighing heavily, like the rest of the impatient muppets? Yeah, Tom Hicks did that, too. What's your point? We're not paying our funds, club earnings, in interest so why do we seem to be back in the Hicks days? 2nd half of the season about the same. 1st half you're having a ****ing laugh, dude. You seriously think Allen is a bigger lure than the club? Maybe if we'd signed Dempsey we'd have been able to get Messi but we're ****ed now. You imagine you spent £2,500 on a car then sold it for £5,000 and then you buy another car for £3,500 but your wife just keeps banging on and on about how you've spent £6,000, despite you waving a wad of cash in her face. Then your boss claims he paid for your new car. I dunno what that means anymore. It doesn't mean ****ting on a legend who won silverware and dishonouring a three-year contract like we're Chelsea. But that's what happened.
