Reg » Fri May 15, 2015 4:41 am wrote:Yet our idiotic owners are playing a much more dangerous game in being stubborn and sticking to their youth and moneyball rubbish, which will set this club back decades........ Eds, they're not being idiotic, you're willing them to spent Abramovich or Sheikh Mansour hundreds of millions which they have already stated they don't have. And there are no equally crazy sugar daddies lining up to throw fantasy millions to buy a FIFA 15 team for you.
Yes - the money has been spent badly, no one disputes that however, they will not be drawn into over paying players, rememnber when the took over, UEFA and the FA were looking at a salary cap as part of Fair Play etc.. That didn't come about, however it didn't change the owners policy.
I know folks hate the owners, but this blind apathy towards them is because we're desperate to have endless millions that just aren't there.
If BR doesn't cut it next season - he's out and NO ONE will disagree with that. But if Klopp came in tomorrow, he still wouldn't have the Chelsea or City mega budget that people want - transfer pot or salary levels to attract the top dogs. FSG won't get drawn into a salary war with Chelsea/City. Stevie says no more 'potential', we need top players. He's right! But who's going to pay for it?!
Take the yanks out and who would the new owners be to throw millions a us? Some group fronted by Tony Adams?....
+ I repeat just in case you missed, it, Abramovich's free (non-repayable) transfer/salary money loans passed the 1 BILLION mark earlier this week. We're not in that league mate. Mourinho should be shot if he doesn't win the league and CL every year.....
But Reg I'm not asking for billions to be spent on our squad.
I have never advocated for a Man City / Chelsea style ownership, all I have simply asked for is for proper investment in the squad and beyond that even more intelligent spending on key players. Which is EXACTLY what you and Yakka have been going on about for a long, long time. We are on the same page mate.
You know that I have never trusted FSG and that is purely down to what the last yanks did to our club. Granted they have turned around the accounting books and it does look like we are in a much, much better position financially but it terms of our ON FIELD performance we have come nowhere near close to establishing the foundations of assembling a squad that will win trophies. Add to the mix a manager that is well and truly beyond his depth and it's a recipe for disaster.
The whole point I am making is that the REASON why the money has been mis-spent is because the owners have placed ALL their hopes in a ridiculous strategy that had some relative success within baseball mostly dominated by 1 team (the NY Yankees) but will NEVER translate to success in world football because of the VERY REASON of clubs like Man United, Chelsea and City existing (just in our league alone!). We saw this early on in their tenure with such signings as Downing, Adam, Henderson and Jose Enrique all moneyball acquisitions. When we lost money on Downing, Adam and even Carol (who wasn't moneyball BTW) their strategy changed to accommodate younger players where there was less of a risk in losing money. Hence since that season onward we have seen ONLY 3 players come in over the age of 25 (Kolo Toure, Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana) which is staggering! It paints a true picture of what is going on at our club. Players over 25yo generally cost more money and if we are looking at signing players at their peak, we will pay a premium, something which the owners are totally against.
But that's the thing. This is football. You need players in key positions to be at their peak to win trophies. I always see it as the team's "spine". You always need at least one world class CB, CM or ST to be in your "spine" to win you things. We came close last season because we had Suarez but no one else. Turning over players that hit their straps in their latter years (i.e. Suarez) and replacing them with a bunch of kids will get you nowhere. Especially if you are looking to offload them or can't keep them at the club (i.e. Sterling) beyond a certain point.
You yourself even mentioned that the team had no leadership, that's bloody why?!? It's not blind apathy at all Reg, its logical to be furious at the way this club has gone about acquiring players in the last few years.
Gerrard has hit the nail on the head and said exactly what all of us want. End this nonsense of buying purely young players or cheap fill-ins like Lambert, Toure, etc. It hasn't worked and will never work. You need to buy quality for key positions. NOT EVERY POSITION!!! Next season we need to bring in 1 ST and 1 CM that will be quality but cost money. Not another group of over priced toddlers from across Europe. The problem is our owners are too obtuse to understand this and Rodgers is just here enjoying the ride while it lasts.
