I was thinking the other day about how is best for us to move forward in terms of transfer strategies now.. Its no secret we have been poor in terms of transfers over recents years and we have lacked any decent long termism over transfer plans for a while, we have been for want of a better phrase knee jerk in our approach..
What? we have 50 million? lets spend it as soon as we f**king can.. What? I dont know who? I dont care.. Just spend itWhat we need is a clear plan, Brendan seems to have a vision and has been rightly pointed out he will need his own players to implement that.. So He right now as we stand should be planning at least two windows in front, be thinking what he needs and sending scouts out to look for those players and speaking with their representetives and checking on their availablility, price, wage demand, personality... To see if they will fit in here. Not just go for the current "hot property".
We need to be spendning the money we have better, so therefore have these long term scouting in progress, and if target A doesnt come off, then have target B there to fall back on.. To stop what happened in the summer happening again with Dempsey.
Whats making me think he may well be doing this is with Sturridge, he aparently lined him up in the summer, had a deal "in principle" there, but waited, something wasnt right, so rather than rush in waited and now it looks as though it will go through.. And on the first of the month rather than the last. A player he wants done all bar the contract being signed, someone he feels will fit "his style"
He spoke the other day about wanting a traditional No.10 and that the process had started, hinting it was for the summer.. Again forward planning, finding the right players rather tha think..
I want a number 10... i want one now...We dont have bundles of cash so deals need to be perfect, no-one gets all deals right, transfers are a form of lottery, but if we can turn it into 75% hits then we will be doing better.
What we dont need are people forcing players on the manager, let him set out the perameters of the search and then get final say in who is brought to him.. I have to wonder (as the story is Assaidi wasnt a Rodgers signing and that he refused a DOF) if he is proving a point with Assaidi, who has done well in his outings but is never in the reckoning for the league.. Is Rodgers saying,
they can be 3 million or 30 million, unless i want them and i bring them in i wont use themOne of the biggest problems in my opinion the club has suffered over recent times is the constant restarting of these processes... Changing managers, changing ideas, changing plans.. We need to stick to one coherent plan and see it through.. Woy came in and brought his players, Kenny came in and didnt rate some, so they move on, normally at a loss or you cant move them on because of obseen wages.. Kenny brings his own players in.. Kenny gets sacked, Brendan comes in doesnt rate some.. Moves them on..
Round and round we go..
So we need to stick by the manager, he be able to know what he has to spend over a few windows and put plans in place now for the next few, not wondering if he will be sacked like Kenny or Woy and having to take gambles on signings that may have a percieved more immediate impact.. Id like to think that Borini and Allen were the first parts of a big jigsaw he is putting together, that Sturridge and Ince are the next parts and that he is already thinking of his summer parts (the No.10 etc)
A worrying part of the game and us is the table that came out recently...
Of course for me we stand out, how have we paid 7 million quid to agents? I cant find the interview, not for the lack of looking, but i remember reading an interview with Werner/Hnery when they first brought the club saying they found these payments and fee's daft and they would stop the uneeded money going from the club to agents.. So have they now realised its imposible to stop or have we simply just not got any better at it? It cant be impossible as some clubs pay very little..
We are a big club, should it get to a stage where we are sat round the table with agents and players and they ask for daft fees's then just walk away, give them the chance to play here, at Anfield for Liverpool and a competetive wage, the rest can f**k off..
Move on to target B..
Do transfer windows make it easier for agents to force this? By having a short period of time to do deals do clubs feel backed into a corner almost over the need to get these deals done?
I heard Neil Mellor talking on City the other day and he said he has never had an agent when he played, he felt they were only in it for themselves, that players were being railroaded by agents to move when its probably not the time to do so.. that he wasnt sure that players truely understood what agents were taking, that they take a fee from the player and from the club..
He recounted a story from his time at Liverpool where after he had played 3 games under GH that Houllier took him to one side to say he wanted to offer him a new deal, which Mellor was delighted with, asked him to go with his agent, Mellor said no, that he didnt belive in them and that the PFA would act on his behalf.. He never heard about the new deal again or played under Houllier again in the first team.
Its not just us though, i heard Harry Redknapp talking the other day about his squad at QPR... saying that the wage bill was crippling.. That he told Jose Bosingwa that he was on the bench and he refused to play.. That he had fined him two weeks wages, 130,000.. Which as a basic was higher than anyone he had at Spurs.. The situation with bringing Green and Cesar in within weeks of each other? Madness
QPR? They average what 18,000 a week at Loftus road? Must have a wage bill to get on rival ours.. Boardering on relegation.. Footballs gone mad.
Agents and transfer windows should be thrown out of the game for me.. Both causing football debts it cant handle..
We seem to be making a bit of a stand over wages and agents.. We supposedly refused Sturridges agents demands and the move is still going through, and we are looking to tie down talented kids on good contracts but not obscene ones.. Making them work to get the next grade in payment before give it them before they truely deserve it.. Rightly so in my opinion..
Thats a plus and credit must go to the owners for that from meWhat do people think on our transfer plans though? For the long term are we better to miss out on the odd few players to make sure we get the long term right?