There's a number of reasons why we were more successful in the transfer market in yesteryear.
Firstly, we signed players from lower league teams so the expectation wasn't as high as it is today. Ian Rush, when signed, wasn't expected to come in and win us the League single handedly whereas it appears that Andy Carroll is.
Secondly, we bought players based on what they were like as people as much as what they were like as players. I doubt we'd of bought somebody with Suarez' record of controversy back in our hay-day. Now that doesn't seem too important which is why we've had players with discipline problems like Ince, Diouf, Suarez, Bellamy (before he matured) among others.
Thirdly, we used to sign players and more often than not would have them sitting in our reserves for a year or two to learn the ways of the club before putting them into the pressure of first team football. Now, due to the ridiculous inflated transfer prices, players are thrown straight in and are expected to be world class players.
Fourthly, we were much more patient as fans and didn't jump down the throats of our players at the first sign of trouble.
Fifthly, we were much more successful as a team meaning new players could just slot into a winning side. It's much easier to play for a side that is winning than a side on decline.
OR we just bought a lot of overpriced british crap whereas before we bought prospective quality at reasonable prices like newcastle have done this season.
Dress it up whatever way you want.. Newcastle are a better side than us this season and that is really hard to take. Theyve lost their 2 central defenders for the season without a blip. Agger/Lucas injured we're breaking records for losing streaks. Several of their players would break into our first 11 on form this season forgetting the big names we supposedly have since no CL football.
As for CL/PL. I'll repeat this till im blue in the face: If you are not in the top 4 you a) havent won the League (biggest prize) b) cant even compete for the second biggest prize.
That statement above is disregarding money,image,brand,marketing etc just from a success point of view there is nothing bigger than winning/competing for either of those 2 prizes. There is a massive drop in quality to the next prizes of even fa cup/uefa.
Top 4 is not a measuring stick.. its an absolute necessity for any team claiming to be a domestic or european power. We are 8th for a reason. I dont even think personally we have a squad that could get top 4 no matter who the manager is.
I'll be patient like most liverpool fans and give a full season and into next to rectify this situation but not all silverware is created equal. Im not happy beating other PL reserve teams/championship teams to win the league cup. Im much happier to be testing ourselves against domestic and european best as a true litmus test of how good we are.
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