First I want to be clear, this is not some begging letter to encourage LFC fans to be optimistic or delusional about anything. This is simply one way of looking at why people seem to believe LFC are glacially slow when singing players compared to other clubs. Its just to start perhaps a conversation on the topic So here it is; LFC fans on many forums seem to think LFC need a DoF or someone, indeed anyone bar Ayre running the show when it comes to transfers as we either never bid, thus missing out on easy targets... OR we take so long that a player is stolen from under our noses, i.e. Willian. Why? My thoughts on the topic are all centered around fan perception of business rather than the actual work going on behind closed doors. How many of us daily check the football gossip. How many of us at least check in with the usual suspects who post rumours, innuendo, agents rumblings and a variety of twitter stuff? I'd say 95% As a result we either know about or think we know about a potential transfer even when the briefest interest is registered or a scout is spotted. In fact we know what agents and players and clubs want us to know as well. In contrast we s LFC fans know virtually nothing about targets for other clubs unless we are specifically also linked to said player OR its on a general sky sport or bbc or europsort website etc. So here is my theory. People see a longer time period between when they first see a rumour for us and when we complete compared to when they first hear a rival is in for someone and they buy that player. Example... we have been linked to Arda turn for 5 years, never ever bid. people are asking why is it taking so long. Eriksen. linked in May we never bid.. people ask why not. We seem to think spurs are moving like lightening over several signings yet right now everyone is moving fast so Lamela isn't shockingly quick... and we forget how long it took for them to agree to soldado deal. Is it all just perception based on thinking we know something is possible and the time lapse to something really occurring? Willian is a great example. We inquired, failed to agree a fee... people, in absence of knowing that, said what are we at? spurs step in, do agree a fee. nothing occurs for a while... then theres a medical... nothing happens... next thing its chelsea! all the while LFC fans are not happy. Well we didn't value the player and made a choice. the player later proved that he was only using our name to get a move and yet people still think we failed through incompetence. I humbly submit that its a cut throat market out there and LFC do not have tottenhams windfall to play with nor cheslea unlimted funds. LFC have actually brought 4 players in to add to 2 already added in january but it seems the now is also a function of perception. what we did a month ago has no bearing on what we are not doing now in the minds of fans.
I humbly submit that its a cut throat market out there and LFC do not have tottenhams windfall to play with nor cheslea unlimted funds. To a point this is true. How did Spurs then assemble the squad they have had that the past two years have pushed for 4th/GOT fourth? Doing business well, taking risks when needed, and making sure that they built a team suited to the managers style and the prem. Right now yes Spurs are buying everything due to Real overpaying for Bale but they have been doing business well enough that over the past 4 years they have been either in 4-5 every year. Buying VDV for some 6 mil? Eriksen now on apparently only 12 mil? Capoue, Dembele, etc they bought well. What did we do with our windfall of money ( people forget that we actually had a similar situation)..... we ****ed it up big time. We should have made that jump when we sold Torres but did not buy well, now the teams that are in similar positions to what we had a few years ago are buying well. Ourselves and Arsenal are in trouble of not getting back in the CL for a few years unless someone comes in massively for a player ( Suarez 50+) and we re-invest it correctly in the squad, or a new owner comes along/stadium. It is a hard truth but it is what it is. We have to focus on a team chemistry and style to try and attract the players we want and our "history" will only work maybe another year or two, as players want CL, they want to win trophies, they want to get paid as well. We have also slashed the wage bill exponentialy. So surely we have some room to pay the right player good money? Who are we worried we are upsetting? Not saying jovanovic, Cole, etc type of wages ( no where near worth 100k a week) but a player like a Soldado, like a willian, like a eriksen, could get paid close to that and be worth it imo. Time lapse as well..... Rodgers has said for the past few months ( after we brought in Toure, Mignolet, Aspas, and LA) that we are looking to bring in more quality for the first team. We are now at the deadline day door and we are still waiting and if we don't get, we will slip behind even further. I thought we had learned not to leave certain positions we are lacking in late like we did last year and yet here we are scrambling for a CB. Coates wasn't going to be good enough, Wisdom not ready, kelly hardly fit. That always left you with Agger, Kolo, and Skrtel, who may also be off. Should have been sorted weeks ago.
I think the fans perception of where you are in relation to these transfers is largely irrelevant, it's the result of the enquiries / interest is all that ultimately matters. The result of the all of the 'big name' player enquiries that you've supposedly made over the summer have all ended with the same result - zilch. Whatever the reasons are behind the failure of those moves or what the fans perceive them to be, would soon be forgotten if another one them came off. The fact they've all gone pear, inevitably leads to fans questioning the reasons why - lack of cash, dithering etc etc. The same is happening at United this summer. If the window shuts & there's been no big moves then the fan inquest will begin in ernest......
Just be careful of using the Spurs windfall as we had the same thing happen to us and we didn't do it right and they have this summer. Southampton have what.... ( put in another thread) 14th last year? Went and bought 3 quality first team players right through their spine ( CB, CM, CF) all of whom have played CL or start for their international teams ( Croatia and Italy, not sure on Wanyama). Just don't think we have been strong enough going after the players that are 10+.
indeed however each club has different situations and expectations. utd have a champions tag and fans expect to win. nobody really out either = no disaster. arsenal are different. they only expect 4th and are under pressure for it so no signings = disaster. LFC bought 4 so after the window closes the perception may or may not be total disaster... everton.... erm... i don't care. my perception here is i don't even remember who they bought.
None of us know who the club have earmarked, enquired about, talked to, offered for or anything else regarding targets and I think that's how it should be. The media whip up the rumours and thus fans expectations and the let downs [should the rumoured players not materialise]. It's easy, don't read the gossip and then you won't be let down. Speculate away on who you'd like to sign but I prefer to wait and see. The media can't manage our expectations, we have to do that ourselves.
Just to offer an outsider's view on this, we suffered years of similar transfer sagas prior to this window. Damiao dragged on for year after year, for example. The only real differences this time out have been the promise of Bale's transfer fee and the arrival of Franco Baldini, in my opinion. We also threatened all of the staff about leaks to the media, after someone got caught getting paid to give out stories.
In fairness, both clubs transfer business has been quite similar. I don't think either have significantly improved their 1st XI, but maybe the overall squad strength is slightly better. & neither have invested significant sums of cash.
Don't forget we've bought Cissokho too MITO I don't know what goes on behind the scenes, what enquires we have and haven't made, that's why I'm on a football forum, to speculate and discuss potential transfers. I've said before that I think our best bit of business we could ever wish to make this Summer would be keeping Suarez, and I stick by that. It's a shame we haven't took full advantage of a stuttering Arsenal and Man Utd this window, though there is still time left but all we can do is be content with what we do have, because ultimately despite what every other club does, they'll be the ones putting on the red shirt. I feel as if our good start to the season has been overshadowed by a faltering last month in the transfer window which is a shame.
BTW. The three targets we know we missed out on: Henry Ryan - Not bothered, went to a better club in a different league. Costa - Not bothered, wanted to stay put at a Club doing well. Willian - Not bothered, too risky at that price and Chelsea not really our rivals Everything is paper talk that people get wound up about.
At the end of last season, we would have all accepted that the club is in transition and it will take time for us to build. Most would have accepted that the twelve point gap between us and fourth placed Arsenal was a massive step up that we were unlikely to achieve. In addition to that, I think most of us would have been happy if we had been told who we were going to buy and sell up to this point immediately after the final game of last season. The issue we have now is a combination of BR saying we would recruit a couple of first teamers (one since in Cissokho) followed by three injuries in the cup game. Add to that 'the grass is always greener' (aka Spurs ATM) and people are panicking! Sure, we need another addition or two but I'm pretty sure if we went out and bought Papa and Eriksen there would be people on here saying we need a back-up keeper and DM! In short, fans are never happy.
Agree on Henry Ryan. Costa: He isn't in a poorer league and he wanted to stay at a CL club! Willian: wanted to join us (admitted it his self) but a better offer arrived from Tottenham (more likely to gain CL football) before a better offer still arrived from Chelsea (a current CL club) What makes this to understand for some fans is they don't understand why a player would turn their beloved club down. Most fans have the attitude of "it could be Liverpool (or whichever club you support) or Real Madrid/Barcelona, I'd chose Liverpool because they're my club. the real world doesn't work like that!
It's fine being a fan and speculating who we could get and who should be let go. But, it becomes silly to start challenging the professionalism of the LFC staff in transfer dealings with absolutely no true knowledge or understanding of exactly what is going on. What really irks me is that many people here automatically assumes that any other clubs purchases are fantastic. You more than most fans have recent experience of seeing just how wrong some of these transfers can go! None of us have any idea at the moment just which manager is going to look silly when opposing fans start singing "what a waste of money" with some justification. Many of the players were, at best, just names to you less than a month ago. Oh OK so you'd seen them on Youtube or looked them up on Optima but you really don't know anything about them or how they fitted in the team that they've just left. For me the more worrying trend is the statements saying that we are not in direct competition with some clubs. Well last time I looked, we were in direct competition with every team in the Premiership. Do we have the same financial resources with which to compete - probably not in terms of Chelsea and City. Do we have the players with which to compete? - I don't know. We improved significantly during last season and if we can keep that level up there is no reason to believe that we can't. We may still have our problems with 'lesser teams' we'll have to wait and see. But if we can improve our consistency we do stand a chance. So until it's mathematically impossible for us to get any higher than 4th I firmly believe that our target has to be win the bloody thing and see where we end up.
I'm of the opinion that we have done well so far in the transfer market this season and in the previous one in January, we have improved the squad with young talented players. Yes we have missed out on some targets but we seem to be only willing to push for players at the right price and with a desire to come to our club. I agree with most that we need 1 or 2 more if we are to have a chance at top 4 but if they don't come along in this window then we should be able to manage until January.
Top post, people may laught and call us delusional but the day we go into a season not looking to win the league and cups regardless of the money and squads around us I'll stop watching football.
