The rot starts from the top – that is the motto all of us should follow. While many people here have been quick to denigrate Rodgers, blaming him for the entire failings of the club so far, it is important to realise that he is merely a cog in the machine and a lot of blame must be given to those above him. Where do we start? There are many, but I single out one man and his merry men – Ian Ayre and the transfer committee. The ‘philosophy’ that FSG talk is attractive, and I don’t think many would disagree with principles of the fast paced, attractive football based upon the ideals of Total Football and propelled by a reinvigorated youth academy – principles that we not only look back on with misty eyed fondness with the success it gave us, but principles that can guide us to an exciting future.
So it is bizarre that the implementation and appointments towards this far reaching continental brand of football is led by a businessman whose footballing pedigree extends only as far as chief executive and chairman of Huddersfield Town.
Having had such a big say in the appointments of the men above Rodgers – i.e. the transfer committee of Fallows, Edwards and co – it is shocking to notice that not one of these men are pure football men. Sure enough, there are ex professionals at the help of this network. But by ‘pure’ football men, their CV’s don’t exactly stand out do they? Ex Rushden & Diamond ‘legend’ Barry Hunter retired in 2006 and was swiftly drafted in as Blackburn’s chief scout, Michael Edwards was performance director at Tottenham and Portsmouth prior to joining Liverpool and has no experience as a football player, while Fallows past experience includes being a scout at Norwich, Bolton and Blackburn – hardly the luminary scouts we desperately need. Any breadth and depth in knowledge of different footballing cultures and continental type player is non-existent, with none of them having ever ventured outside of the UK to study the game, let alone the lower divisions. With these scouts only having ever been educated at the UK level, this suggests to me they know more about ‘Total Sh*te Football’ rather than ‘Total Football’.
Critically, our scouting department lacks this continental knowledge upon which Rodgers current ideals are based upon, having all been based in and around the British Isles. They are certainly not of the type that Arsenal has under Gilles Grimandi – an ex professional for France and whose depth and knowledge of players extends well beyond Britain to countries with far more sophisticated footballing cultures, thus providing a synchronised mindset between him and Wenger. To have the likes of these, well, inexperienced and unqualified scouts at Liverpool’s helm indicates men who do not have the instinctive or intuitive mindset required for seeking out the right players for the right team.
I thoroughly believe we have the right man as manager – Rodgers is a man whose coaching knowledge doesn’t derive from the luddite footballing culture of England but rather the silky and sophisticated cultures from continental Europe where he spent his formative coaching years educating himself. He deserves men of similar mindset and in my view, we should be looking at scouts from the continent with the intuitive knowledge of what is required from the type of footballer we need for Rodger’s system. But it is evidently clear when we sign a player like Mario Balotelli that there is a lack of any synchronicity within the scouting team, considering the fact Rodgers voted against the signing. Thus, it is indicative of a wider failing within the club that seems to suggest that not all are buying into this ‘philosophy’ that FSG espouse. The ambitions to achieve this philosophy from the owners, the fans and the manager cannot possibly be achieved if we have such ‘rogue agents’ who spread a malignant influence that extends to the match day squad. It is incredibly worrying to think that we are paying these scouts to seek players who go against the desired playing style of the club.
Rodgers has to take responsibility for failed signings of course, but the appointment of real football men with the continental knowledge and experience could influence Rodgers in a direction which is positive for the team, because even the greatest managers in football today are not reliant on their own knowledge and have to depend upon an expert scouting network. Despite his adamant position that he will not work under a Director of Football, I do believe that this position would be more beneficial to the club – if only for the fact that it can’t get any worse under the current committee.
Over the past years, men with esteemed football backgrounds at Bayern, Dortmund, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have defined the philosophies at those clubs with most having played at their respective clubs. Meanwhile, at Liverpool, ours is defined by a businessman who drives a Harley Davidson to work and a bunch of lower league uneducated non-entities who have no conception or knowledge of the desired footballing philosophy. Rodgers – having proved his coaching methods and desired playing style of FSG with last year’s scintillating brand of football – is the one sane voice in a mad world at Liverpool FC. But that doesn’t stop it from being a mad world does it? Reconfigure the scouting network with genuine experts with great credentials and Rodgers could soar. However, if we persist with this current scouting network, the tide that Rodgers is fighting against will inevitably sweep him and the entire club under.
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