1. Spend our money considerably better - look at our squad currently and most were bought during the Rafa era plus Suarez - we have spent a lot of money in 2 years and have one player to show for it - if we work within a self sufficient model we need to use our money far better
2. Sort out our scouting - currently it's beyond awful - Segura I understand was responsible for players like Suarez yet has left. Plenty of clubs are buying quality players for decent fees - there are lots of quality players out there - we pay our scouts millions - time for them to earn it
3. Increase our commercial income - sort out the expansion of the stadium to increase our match day revenue.
4. The one thing out of our control is FFP - we need that to work and also it seems the prem are going to do the same thing - that could put us in a strong position
5. Get someone in to work above BR - I don't care what he wants - he doesn't have the track record or experience to run our club and needs someone to look after the off the field stuff whilst he manages the squad.
Sorry didn't get back to you earlier, family visits etc you know what it's like at Christmas!
Agree with most points, although there was a reason why Rafa was able to bring those bigger names in, his name plus the addition of playing in the Champions League. Unfortunately Brendan hasn't got the Champions League or the name to attract the biggest names available. It's why Kenny went for the players he did last season, we never had the Champions League to attract those players that could make a difference. Currently it's like were making do with what we can get and I'm sure Suarez was sold on the idea of getting us into the competition.
Agree about the scouting, we all know Rafa had his own scouts all over the globe, so it was never a problem identifying these players, when he left we at least had Segura and to some extent Macia at the club who still identified targets. Couldn't name any of our current scouts, especially the two we got after the transfer deadline in August.
The one area where we seemed to improve when Ayre came in was commercial expansion, now isn't it some yank over in Boston in charge of this now, rather than Ayre, who is now MD and doesn't seem to have the same gravitas as people previously in that position including Parry. As for the stadium, that's been a problem since the late 90's/early 2000's when it should of been sorted then instead of being allowed to drag on, think of the commercial income we'd of got from a bigger ground circa 2005-2009, when we had sell-outs every week and tickets hard to come by!
FFP gives me a headache just thinking about it!!
I can't see anyone being brought in above Brendan, he didn't like the idea of a DOF, so we can definitely conclude that he won't want anyone above him trying to guide him. He's got his own ideas, I just think he needs the players for it to work and we don't have the players right now, some senior players are too set in their ways and what I've noticed especially the last few weeks watching us, it's most of the younger players who have adapted more quickly to his ideas, plus he seems to work best with the younger players, always dishing out advice to them etc, never see him do it a lot with the senior players, that could just be his style though.
We won 2 trophies in 6 years under Rafa - it's not "consistent" success.
Yes winning the CL in 2005 was a fantastic success but getting to a final isn't unless you win.
Being close isn't good enough
The thing is though at that point we were getting there, we were a threat and everyone knew, every team in Europe feared coming to Anfield and feared drawing us in the Champions League, that's were we want to be after all. In the league, I still say we were two players away from cracking it in 2009 and then the raping of the club took effect, Rafa had to make do with doing business with Roma and Pompey, cos they owed us money and we were fu**ed, a couple of years of making do and no champions league money on top of that means we've been buying not just second-rate players but lower than that and we're still seeing it today, because until we can get into the top four, we'll just keep having to make do!!
