Liverpool FC Forum

[Reg]

As a long standing fan having enjoyed the success and squirming in our bleaker moments, it's hard to face that apart from a few isolated seasons we haven't improved our football in the last 20 seasons. Twenty years is an almighty period of time, many of today's fans weren't even born during the golden days, never mind remember them.

The last 3 seasons of Rafa leaving, Hodgeson bringing in no-hopers, Kenny making some high profile silly purchases then BR sweeping them all away and focusing on young talent moving straight into the first team without a bedding in process, I have to come to terms with our club being well and truely downsized to mid-table status.

Our record against the top 10 this season and being unable to turn a game around against Oldham are just the lastest examples of how far we've fallen. We're trying to rebuild from Ground Zero.

My long term Liverpool fan colleagues are of the same opinion, not only are we off our perch but there seems little chance of getting even halfway up within the next 5-10 years as we focus investment on rebuilding Anfield. At best we're a business that's going to bimble along simply because of a fiercely loyal client base, not because our actual product is any good.

I find it very difficult to get excited by LFC these days, not only do we not have the player base but we bring in distinctly average players and put them straight into the first team.

Bottom line is our global fan base will decline - its inevitable without success and this further reduced income will only hinder our investment yet again.

That loss against Oldham was more than a football result, it was a massive indicator of where our club is these days.

[Boocity]

I think you are reading too much into that defeat Reg, 99/100 we would thrash them but last night was just a bad day at the office with some poor selections by the manager. Am I disappoined, yes, will i lose sleep over it, no. We are where we are and I will give the manager the opportunity to get the club challenging again and if he believes that young talented players are the way forward then so be it. There has been too much upheaval in the club over the past few years and we need some stability and we need the investment in the stadium which should have been done twenty years ago, I cannot see NESV wanting us to be a mid-table team as that will just diminish their investment and as you say, we are a business and businesses need to be successful to flourish.

[Reg]

Its not the single defeat mate, its the fact we don't have a mature, settled nor top quality squad nor will we whilst we're rebuilding the ground. Its a general realisation that we are weak in squad, financial ability and in short/medium term prospects. Our Under 15's would have beaten Oldham in the past and Ure's probably could today.

You're talking about the success of rebuilding, you accept the fact we're at that level. How the hell did we sink to these depths?

[Kenny Kan]

Feckin pass me the razor blade! 

You're a fecking drama Queen Reggy, Jesus F-ing Christ. 

[laza]

So what are you going to do Reg, start supporting another club because glory exciting days are gone or take up lawn bowls.

I know it was depressing result but please I think razor blades can stay in bathroom cabinet for a little bit longer

[Thommo's perm]

We are the Jekyll and Hyde of fotball with either sublime play or the sh'ite we were served yesterday
Rodgers HAS to make his mind up about what he wants to achieve because there is no way that team he put out yesterday was going to beat Oldaham at their ground in an FA cup tie. Whether or not it was good enough on paper and that they played for LFC isnt the point. He should know by now that Sterling, Robinson, Borini, Allen and Coates are not good enough without our best and most experienced players alongside them. He had no choice but to play Jones because of Reinas injury, but to leave out Lucas, Johnson, Gerrard, Downing and Carragher or Agger, or dare I say Shelvey was asking for trouble and thats what we got. Sometimes we are sh'ite. sometimes average, sometimes great.
Will the real Liverpool please stand up?

[mkingdom]

I think it will take at least 3 years for us to be close to challenging again.

If BR gets that time it is only then that any panic buttons should be hit if we are still inconsistent and mid table.  By that time the likes of Sterling, Suso, Wisdom, Kelly, Borini, Shelvey, Robinson and of course Couthino (sp?) etc will be approaching their peaks.  For now I'm resigned to the ups and downs of a young side learning their trade.

I don't like it, I think we need a couple of "experienced" prem players but all the signs are we aren't going to get them.

Hopefully by that time too, Anfield will hold 65,000 and we can start to compete financially in terms of match day earnings etc too, which will mean we can spend a few more bob on better players.

[damjan193]

And after we beat Arsenal, we'll have a thread "The fight for fourth".

[heimdall]

At the moment we are a lot lot closer to mid-table obscurity than challenging for the Premiership crown. The problem is that once you get into that mid-table mire it is very very hard to get out becuase all of a sudden the big name sponsors start leaving you, you find it harder and harder to retain and attract top players, attendance starts sliding and the global fanbase will decline. If that happens you need a miracle to happen, which is what happend to Man City but its rare.
At the present time I can't see anything positives in LFC's future, that can all change with new ownership and a return to good management, at all levels of the club.

[jacdaniel]

Its frustrating as hell because we just keep making mistakes over and over again!  Signing bad players, selling to poor owners, not having a new stadium despite the fact we realised the need for it over a decade ago, sacking managers that shouldn't of been sacked, hiring some clowns.  The more I think of it, the more frustrating it becomes.

Even now, one minute FSG seem to be insisting on a DOF, then they hire Rodgers and ditch the DOF.

I'm no FSG hater, I actually think they've done a lot of good.  But I dont like our transfer policy at all. 
I dont understand why we only sign young players and are reluctant to pay wages. 
I believe we've lost some good players in Maxi, Kuyt, Meireles and maybe even Aquilaini due to their wages and /or age.

We need some experienced players to improve the side.  I fear that we won't get them though, because we have no CL to offer and we won't offer them the wages that other clubs will. 

Soon we could end up in a vicious cycle of players leaving, younger one's stepping up, then leaving etc.   

Razor blade 

[red till i die!!]

i believe we have a chance of 4th this year if we sign the right players but we are not. at this stage last season we had a shot also but we failed to address the problem of a goalscorer and it went pear shaped from here on in.
its important the same mistakes arent repeated this time.
we have a decent 1st team here and can match anyone on their day if fully fit and available.
                                                                reina
                johnson                  skyrtel                       agger            enrique

                          henderson              gerrard     allen               downing
                                         
                                               suarez                   sturridge.

we dont have the a proper balance in the squad to be hell bent on a set formation of 4-3-3. the back up is also inexperienced or poor. sterling is no where near ready to be holding a starting spot and neither is borini or wisdom and the more they are played the more i realise this. they are ok for a game here and there but not as replacements.
henderson has 2 1/2 years at this level and still struggles so i dont know why rodgers thinks that the players he is signing will hit the ground running because they arent this year and they wont be next year either.
he has signed allen,borini,assaidi and sahin and none of them have excelled and actually improved us and i doubt that ince and coutinho are going to vastly change that if they sign either. this is our problem.
we dont have the time to wait several years for this lot to become world beaters and rodgers doesnt have that either. if we fail to at least threaten 4th place this season then we could lose players which will further set us back. the ambition from the club is non existent with these signings and does not send out a good message to the players we already have who have already given us the best part of their careers with nothing to show for it.
people will say its fenways fault but i beg to differ as when rodgers got this job he refused a D.O.F and got the full backing from fenway on his philosophy and this is what is being implemented. these are his players he is signing as i dont think he would have that forced on him so soon into his contract and it completly goes against what he has been saying in getting players he wants that suit his style.
we are all speculating he has had to cull the wage bill but he could have kept a hold of kuyt,maxi,aqualani,carroll and even bellamy. im not saying that any of these are worldbeaters but they would have helped ease the transition of the younger players this season and gave us much better depth in the squad.
in 2 years those deals with standard and warrior will be up for renewal and they will follow suit with addidas and refuse to pay us that kind of money again unless we are at the top and giving them maximum exposure for their investment.
fenway have clearly shown that they wont dip into their deep pockets now and they wont then either so unless this revolutionary blueprint for success they have pays off now then it is midtable for us for the forseeable future.
i always maintained that the appointment of rodgers came too early and ive seen nothing so far to suggest im wrong. we are threading a fine line between moving forward or becoming the equivalent of last years swansea or worse wigan.
we have a lot more to lose this season than just 4th place.

[Ben Patrick]

At the moment we are a lot lot closer to mid-table obscurity than challenging for the Premiership crown. The problem is that once you get into that mid-table mire it is very very hard to get out becuase all of a sudden the big name sponsors start leaving you, you find it harder and harder to retain and attract top players, attendance starts sliding and the global fanbase will decline. If that happens you need a miracle to happen, which is what happend to Man City but its rare.
At the present time I can't see anything positives in LFC's future, that can all change with new ownership and a return to good management, at all levels of the club.

Isnt the standard chartered sponsorship one of the best about ?
When is anfield ever struggling to sell out ?

I was at the Bristol city and bolton home FA cup defeats years ago, sh!t happens.
Rodgers picked the wrong side yesterday defo but lets not go OTT.
We arent where we want to be but its not all bad.
Yesterday was a bad day but we will come back.

[stmichael]

on that note i'm off to jump off a cliff.

bloody hell.

[Thommo's perm]

At the moment we are a lot lot closer to mid-table obscurity than challenging for the Premiership crown. The problem is that once you get into that mid-table mire it is very very hard to get out becuase all of a sudden the big name sponsors start leaving you, you find it harder and harder to retain and attract top players, attendance starts sliding and the global fanbase will decline. If that happens you need a miracle to happen, which is what happend to Man City but its rare.
At the present time I can't see anything positives in LFC's future, that can all change with new ownership and a return to good management, at all levels of the club.

Cheer up will yer!

[Reg]

Feckin pass me the razor blade! 

You're a fecking drama Queen Reggy, Jesus F-ing Christ. 

Bam, I'm not a drama queen, I'm an ex-Happy-Clappy who's taken off the rose tinted specs and can see the club what it is.

Some people prefer to live in La-la Land and don't see the wider implications of having a team of new-buy youngsters without wondering what happened to everything Rafa and the Academy was building towards over the last 5 years and the implied wasting of further millions of pounds but thats becuase they're only interested in the result, not the club.

Like I said, fan blind loyalty keeps LFC in business, not value for money or the quality of the product.

Come on Citeh, come on Citeh!