As everyone knows we are paying too much in wages for the level of achievement that the squad has been producing.
FSG have been trying to rectify this imbalance by reducing the wage bill, taking out some of the older players and players who are perhaps not seen as making a sufficient contribution to the team.
Their idea seems to be that you can't pay CL WAGES and have a CL size squad when you are not getting CL. Sounds reasonable? The problem with this idea is that it is a self defeating policy, UNLESS you pay for top quality players and a reasonably large squad with adequate cover you are very unlikely to get CL.
So you finish up with a poor squad, your players with ambition leave, the replacements are of a lower quality or young players needing time to develop, and your lack of ambition and quality leads to further disappointments in the league. Mid- table finishes become the norm rather than the exception and the club then accepts and gears their budget accordingly.
Liverpool's budget has been based on qualifying for the CL since Houllier, which ment pressure on our managers to achieve, but with the knowledge that they would be adequately supported with funds to achieve their goals. Now our budget seems to be leaning more towards the safety of not gambling on our qualifying for CL, but happy in the knowledge that a small wage bill and small squad will allay any negative financial effects of such failure.
Maybe they believe it is cheaper and more cost effective in the short term to concentrate on commercial success rather than success on the field, but my fear is that acceptance of failure or perhaps just reduced expectation and ambition will lead sooner or later to commercial failure.
I have no doubt that there is an enormous amount of slack that can be taken up, I have no problem with older players or players who aren't giving us value for money leaving, my problem is that these players must be replaced with better, younger players who will give us value for money, not just cheap squad fillers and journeymen if they are even replaced at all.
Budget for success, demand success, support the team and manager and we may just get it. Budget for failure and we
may just get that instead.
Yes there is still a month of the transfer window open and still time to bring in the quality we need, and maybe I am reading the signs wrongly, but if I am not, I think it may be a long time before CL football never mind the title returns to Anfield.
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