Transition

My final article of the 2014/2015 season isn't going to review or dwell on what has been a season full of let downs. Let's be honest, this current campaign has gone from bad to worse. With the sole exception of the emergence of the little Brazilian Phillippe Coutinho, Liverpool fans have had little to shout about. The sooner this miserable season draws to it's close, the better!

Instead, I'd like to focus on the forthcoming season and the changes I'd like to see before the 2015/2016 season gets underway in August.

I've put together a set of 11 objectives for FSG. Some are more fiasble than others to achieve. However, if carried out, I strongly believe would put us in better stead for next season.

1. Replace Rodgers with Jurgen Kloop. 

In contrast to what is being reported in the papers, I personally think, the German wouldn't be keen on taking on the Real Madrid job. Not yet, anyway. Let's face it, at 47 he will have more long term ambitions to achieve rather than taking the 2 year job at The Bernabéu!

As Liverpool fans, Champions Leauge qualification is the absolute minimum requirement we demand from any manager. I'm not saying that we have to win the leauge or trophies every season. However, converting Liverpool Football Club into an established top 4 club is the least we should have expected from Brendan Rodgers. Unfortunately, he hasn't been unable to achieve this and lacks the capabilities and skills in order to do so. Therefore, for me, Mr Henry has no other option, than to move him on. He's failed.

It's hard to tell what actions FSG will take, as they seem to keep their business close to their chest. Nonetheless, their discontent and frustration could be evident through their lack of visits to Anfield this season.

Jurgen Klopp has said himself he won't be discussing his future until after the German Cup final on the on the 30th May. Rodgers himself then travels to Boston for an end of season review on the 3rd June. Therefore, we still have a bit of a wait to find out what FSG plans are for the Rodgers' reign. 

The way Liverpool gave the FA Cup away by not turning up against Villa, then consequently throwing away Champions League qualification by failing to beat West Brom and Hull City is more than enough to prove that Rodgers can't produce when it matters.

Rodgers' Liverpool have won only 3 of their last 10 games. One being against championship side Blackburn Rovers and the other two against Newcastle and QPR who both sit in the bottom 4 of the Premier Leauge. 

2. Shake up the backroom Staff.

Change the coaching staff entirely apart from Mike Marsh and add another Scouser to the ranks. Jamie Carragher would be the obvious choice. Despite being comfortable and successful at his punditry job at Sky, his knowledge and understanding of the club, city, fans, history and the Liverpool way in general would help any new manager immensely. Moreover, with Steven Gerrard, Rickie Lambett and young Jon Flanagan, who unfortunately continues to struggle with long term injuries, the dressing room will be lacking local lads, who always seem to add that little bit extra to the set up. I can't remember the last time a Liverpool team didn't have home grown players within it's ranks. Therefore, the next best thing would be to include a couple on the coaching staff instilling the values and traditions into the team.

3. Reevaluate transfer policy. 

Abolish this so called "Transfer commitee" Since Brendan took control of Liverpool in 2012, 3 years ago, we have signed 25 players for £212,380,00 million, with no trophies won.

4. Martin Skrtel, Captain.

Resolve Martin Skrtel's contract issues and make him the new Captain of Liverpool Football Club. Maintain Jordan Henderson as Vice-Captain, as for me, Skrtel's leadership qualities are far more superior to Jordan's.

5. Don't sell Raheem Sterling.

Make a Statment. This is Liverpool Football Club. Shankly's club. Yes, Raheem is good but he's not world class and certainly is not in the same leauge as Luis Suárez at the time of requesting and demanding ridiculous amounts of money and insisting everything is done on his and Aidy Ward's terms.

Im sick of football players refusing to respect their contracts and along with their agents think they've got the run of the green, showing little respect to their clubs, forcing them to give in and surrender to their greedy demands. Liverpool Football Club should always be pulling the strings no matter who you are.

My proposal to FSG on dealing with this current situation would be; Ok, fair enough if Raheem doesn't want to renew his current contract at Liverpool then nobody's going to hold a gun to his head until he does so. However, let's not make it that easy for him either. At the moment, he's earning £35,000 a week and has already turned down a £100,000 a week contract which is a 186% wage increase. Ludicrous really isn't it?

Let's just say hypothetically he did sign for that amount and played out the last two years of his current contract of £35,000 a week. Liverpool will be saving £65,000 a week for 2 years on wages which would be around £7 million.

Let's not overlook, that we only paid £600,000 for Raheem 5 years ago. So, if we take the figure of 7 million mentioned, again hypothetically speaking, we would have still made or saved around 6 million, which ever way you want to look at it. Of course, that's if we decide to keep him on a low wage contract.

When it all boils down to it, Liverpool Football club should never be seen to be a feeder club. Especially, with the lads we have brought through our very own academy who have learnt the game the Liverpool way.

FSG will still have a bit of left over change in their pockets from the Suárez deal and along with our share of the TV money, the sale of Raheem Sterling to fund other transfers should not be an issue.

6. Release or Sell the following players: (14)

7. Leaving a core squad of: (14)

 

8. Promote these players to first team: (6)

9. Recall from loan: (2)

10. Sign on a free: (3)

This would give us a squad of 25 players without spending a penny and after loosing 14 first team players it's not a bad starting point.

11. Add quality.

This isn't as easy as it sounds, even though we have plentiful funds available, just looking back to last season will prove this. Adding 5 new recruits to the lads above would be enough. I'm not going to roll off a bunch of names, that would be pointless. However, to improve the above  squad to start seriously challenging again we would need: a Right Back, a Holding Midfielder, a Left Winger and two Strikers (ones that know where the net is!)

Being in the position to be able to spend 100 plus million to improve your squad, but failing to have the ability to attract big names must be frustrating. It's clearly visible that Rodgers doesn't have sufficient pulling power to attract these sorts of players. Nevertheless, this is an area where a change of management and personnel could ultimately make the difference. 

Having a top class European manager at the helm doesn’t guarantee marquee signings. However, it certainly helps. Players who are going to play for a manager who has already enjoyed many years of success, some in different leagues, winning various titles, know that they are going to play for someone who knows exactly what they are doing. Sadly, Rodgers doesn't have much experience, with only 7 years as a top flight manager and winning no trophies along the way. 

Let's not forget, Brendan Rodgers is the only Liverpool manager to spend over a £100 million in a single summer. An amount which FSG would have thought to be more than enough for Liverpool to compete in the Premiership Leauge and in the Champions Leauge.

If you were John Henry would you trust Brendan Rodgers with another 100 million?

I understand not all fans will agree with me on all of these proposals. I've spoke to a lot of people over the last few months and I've got a mixed response to many of these issues, especially concerning Brendan Rodgers. I agree, the Liverpool manager position shouldn't be a revolving door, manager in, manager out. Nonetheless 3 years in football is more than enough to prove your worth.

Liverpool fans as a whole don't look forward to changes in management. Managers don't just look after the first team but also have to instill their own philosophy, system and way of thinking right from the youth ranks up until the first team. More importantly, every manager change brings a shape up in personnel, players and a redevelopment process which could take years to build. After waiting three years for Brendan to bring us success and glory, it will be like we'd be starting all over again. However, this would depend entirely on who he was replaced by. Bringing in a Top European manager with years of experience at managering and winning at the top level would obviously need less time to get going, than giving the job to another young inexperienced manager.

Now that the 2014/2015 season has been deemed an unsuccessful and disappointing one, not only for finishing outside the top four but also for falling at the first hurdle in both European competitions we took part in. Everything we have competed in this season has seemed to drift slowly away from us, The Leauge, The Champions League, The Europa Leauge, The Leauge Cup and finally Top 4 & the FA Cup.

Delivering silverware and securing Champions League qualification would have been enough to keep FSG's faith in Rodgers. Whereas, finishing outside of the lucrative European spots and finishing another season without picking up any honors is now going to really test our owners’ patience. Not only our progression as a football club would be halted but also the financial side of the club would suffer greatly.

Entering the Champions League this season must have been an absolute minimal requirement for Rodgers due to the extensive investments FSG have put into the club in order for Liverpool to be able to compete with the best teams, not only in the Premier League, but also across the continent. 

To be the best, you have to beat the best. Rodgers' record against top four opposition in the three seasons he has been at Liverpool (As you can see from the graphics below) has been abysmal.

I would say the reason for my negativity towards Rodgers was mainly due to my pain and sadness of waiting many years' for Liverpool's return to Europe's elite competition. To perform the way we did, after all the hard work we put into getting there, was dissatisfying to say the least. To only to notch up 1 win in 6 isn't the form of a Liverpool side in Europe I'm used to.

Rodgers himself would argue that he needs more time. His team at the start of this season had just lost one of Liverpool's greatest ever players in Luis Suarez and his strike partner Daniel Sturridge was injured before the Champions League had even started. In addition, adding a string of new recruits which have needed time to be molded into his new system reinforces the fact that Rodgers' team weren't the best prepared entering into the Champions Leauge or competing at the highest level this campaign.

Liverpool Football Club need to be playing Champions Leauge football year in, year out. As a Liverpool fan, them fixtures home and away in Europe are what we thrive on and with Brendan's European win percentage at 35% (7/20) after three seasons simply isn't acceptable. 

It is unthinkable finishing outside the top 4 again. In football, managers get the sack not players. At the end of the day it's his and his coaching staff's responsibility and sole objective to make Liverpool Football Club a success. If they don't come up with the goods and fail, then in my view they should be moved on.

Brendan himself wasn't anyway near a top manager when he joined Liverpool. He did have a successful spell at Swansea but that was it. He was brought in because "potentially" he could become a top manager. Liverpool Football Club can't be waiting around to find out if a manager will be successful or not. 

Liverpool Football Club are currently in need of a top European manager someone like Klopp, who has won Leauges before and someone who's CV fits the role to manager a club as big as Liverpool.

As I've said all season, I'll always defend Liverpool Football Club as "a club" but not always the people, they come & go, apart from us, the fans, and WE aren't going anywhere far soon. So let's be strong, stick together and hope this storm passes.

As always, thank you for reading, and please voice your opinions in the comments box on the Twitter below. This will be my last article of the year. See you all next season.

King regards.

@anfieldeurope

Standing up to Modern Football

I think it's frustrating or even despressing how money is ruining football. International ownership, wages, agents, transfers, TV deals, sponsership, corporations, ticket prices and players contracts are beginning to control how our game is run. Obviously, these factors have always existed in football but not to this excessive greedy extent. Measures need to be put in place immediately to prevent football from becoming a corporate event which only the rich and wealthy are able to enjoy.

          (The Kop voice their opinion)

The sooner fans from all football clubs come together and fight as one against these modern day issues the better, if not, without wanting to exaggerate, we are in danger of loosing the game we and passed generations loved and cherished.

Anyway, moving on, regarding the Raheem Sterling Saga. I strongly believe, as long as Fenway Sports Group "dig deep into their pockets" as Stevie stated on Sunday and provide us with more than a sufficient transfer kitty, then in my opinion there is no need to cash in on Raheem Sterling.

Make a statement. This is Liverpool Football Club. Shankly's club. Yes, Raheem is good but he's not world class and certainly is not in the same leauge as Luis Suárez at the time of requesting and demanding ridiculous amounts of money and insisting everything is done on his terms.

(Raheem and his agent have called off all contract talks with Liverpool FC until the end of the season)

We all know it has been widely documented that he has had issues with his agent and advisors. Nonetheless, loosing a talent, a potential world class talent that Liverpool have nurtured since he arrived from QPR as a 15-year-old kid would be giving out all the wrong messages with regards to where the club is at. Not only to our rivals but for potential signings who are mulling over joining Liverpool Football Club or not. Letting this type of player go isn't what Brendan Rodgers should be doing, not yet anyway.

  (Raheem was signed in 2000 by Rafa)

It's obvious, Raheem isn't looking for a move abroad and is keen to carry on playing in the Premier Leauge, with London or Manchester more likely to be his preferred destinations. He wouldn't want to be too far away from his mum, who now lives in the capital and his daughter, who he already sees a lot less of than he would like. 

Im sick of football players refusing to respect their contracts and along with their agents think they've got the run of the green, showing little respect to their clubs, forcing them to give in and surrender to their greedy demands. Liverpool Football Club should always be pulling the strings no matter who you are.

(In 1995 Jason McAteer sent his agent to Anfield and said to him "Money isn't an issue, just don't mess this up!" Long gone are them days)

My proposal to deal with this current situation would be; Ok, fair enough if Raheem doesn't want to renew his current contract at Liverpool then nobody's going to hold a gun to his head until he does so. However, let's not make it that easy for him either. At the moment, he's earning £35,000 a week and has already turned down a £100,000 a week contract which is a 186% wage increase. Ludicrous really isn't it?

Let's just say hypothetically he did sign for that amount and played out the last two years of his current contract of £35,000 a week. Liverpool will be saving £65,000 a week for 2 years on wages which would be around £7m.

(Raheem's goal against Chelsea in the League Cup earlier this season, will be one of his highlights of the current campaign.)

This small amount doesn't sound that much if he eventually leaves on a free, but this way would also give Brendan Rodgers two more years to add, build and improve to his squad which Raheem would be apart of. If Brendan finally delivers success then Raheem could quite easily turn round and say, "Go on then", and sign a long term deal with Liverpool.

Realistically, Rodgers only has one more year to improve the club's current situation. Therefore, if the Gaffa goes at the end of next season, still with one year to go on Raheem's contract, then his replacement and new faces might be enough in itself to persude Raheem to stay.

   (Will we be seeing this next season?)

Let's not overlook, that we only paid £600,000 for Raheem 5 years ago. So, if we take the figure of 7m mentioned before, again hypothetically speaking, we would have still made or saved around 6m which ever way you want to look at it. Of course, that's if we decide to keep him on a low wage contract.

When it all boils down to it, Liverpool Football club should never be seen to be a feeder club. Especially, with the  lads we have brought through our very own academy who have learnt the game the Liverpool way.

Let's see how this one pans out and as always I'll always defend Liverpool Football Club as "a club" but not the people, they come & go, apart from us, the fans, and WE aren't going anywhere far soon!

Thanks for reading. Please leave any comments on the Twitter below:

@anfieldeurope

Rodgers' Attraction

This week’s talking point has been on Rodger's inability to excel and succeed in the transfer market and his failure in attracting big names. These points have always been debated by Liverpool fans. However, more so, this week, after young Memphis Depay chose our bitter rivals Manchester United as his next club over Rodger's Liverpool on Wednesday morning.

I seem to get the impression, it's not that these transfer targets are doutful of representing Liverpool Football Club, I mean, Why would they? Who's bigger than Liverpool? I Believe, it's more the case of: Do the top players actually want to play for Rodgers?

Obviously, for a player, having to decide on their future is a massive decision for them, as their careers are so short. Modern day players, will probably only be given the chance to move 2 or 3 times in their entire career as a professional footballer. Therefore, managers have to sell their clubs to them in order to convince them they are making the correct decision. Moreover, and more importantly, they have to get across their philosophy, direction, style of play, what the club can offer the player and vicesversa.

Personally, I don’t believe these players trust in what Rodgers can offer them. Why should they? He doesn’t have the CV to prove it. Up until now he’s not a winner. Not counting winning the play-off final with Swansea, he’s not won a single trophy at the top level. Furthermore, he’s not been able to keep hold of his top players, namely Luis Suárez. Finally, which potential incoming players would ask themselves why he hasn’t been successful in persuading young players, such as Raheem Sterling to commit their long term futures to the club.

The fact that “camp Raheem” suspended all contract negotiations until the end of the season couldn’t have helped Rodgers in convining Depay to join his team. Raheem Sterling is one of the world’s best young talented footballers. Therefore, If a player of Raheem's caliber isn’t sure whether Liverpool is the right club for him and his development, when he’s been there for the last 5 years, then what sort of image does this give Liverpool to these players such as Mempthis Depay when deciding on their future destination.

Joining Liverpool, at this moment in time would be a risk for any player who is looking to improve. Rodgers, can only set out his own plans and goals. Yet, with the possibility of only being given one more year to achieve them, unfortunately, won’t be enough to satisfy players who are hungry and eager for success.

Having a top class European manager at the helm doesn’t guarantee marquee signings. However, it certainly helps. Players who are going to play for a manager who has already enjoyed many years of success, some in different leagues, winning various titles, know that they are going to play for someone who knows exactly what they are doing. Sadly, Rodgers doesn't have much experience, with only 7 years as a top flight manager and winning no trophies along the way. 

This is how he fairs up against the Top four managers: 

Rodgers, since day one and to this very day has been Fenway Sports Group man. Nevertheless, the appointment of such an unexperienced manager was a risky one, especially at a club as big as Liverpool where the expectations are so high. Mr Henry’s idea at the time was to invest in the club by rebuilding it with young players and a young manager, as well as implementing new transfer policies, a wage structure and setting up a new transfer committee.

Let's not forget, Brendan Rodgers is the only Liverpool manager to spend over a £100 million in a single summer. An amount which should be enough for Liverpool to compete in the Premiership Leauge and in the Champions Leauge.

Has he blown it all on totally average players? Since Brendan took control of Liverpool we have signed 25 players for £212,380,00 million, with no trophies won. 

I don't agree much, that our squad needed improving so deeply after finishing 2nd last season. A couple of £40 million stars would have replaced Suárez & made us stronger. To sell Luis Suárez and not prioritise a decent enough replacement was negligent in the extreme. Let's just hope Balotelli has been a stop-gap until the summer because with all due respect to the lad, he is not a Liverpool player.

Therefore, "Squad players" in my opinion should be made up of lads from the "academy" that's why we invest so much into it, but when will they get a chance? when players like José Enrique aren't even making the bench these days. Therefore, the young kids will get nowhere near the bench due to the wages these players are earning automatically puts them before the academy lads.

Needless signings such as: Borini (10m) Alberto (6.8m) Aspas (7m) Llori (7m) Balotelli (16m) Lovren (20m) Assaidi (3m) Lambet (4.5) Allen (15m) Markovic (20m) is more than a 100 million just in itself. How many of the above are realistically going to have successful careers at Liverpool Football Club?

Being successful in the transfer market isn't easy. However, managers who have been around for many years' seem to enjoy more success due to the contacts they have made over the years, knowing the right people and having made strong ties and friendships. When Rodgers arrived at Liverpool in 2012 he signed a former player in Fabio Borini & brought with him Joe Allen. We have missed out on endless targets, not only to teams above us but also to teams below us. Do you remember when Christian Eriksen and Gylfi Sigurosson chose Spurs over us? and the lengthy transfer sagas of Mohamed Salah and Yevhen Konoplyanka

Furthermore, I strongly believe, not offering a player, especially young players, Champions League football in their first season isn't an issue. LVG was able to attract Di Maria & Falcao without any European Football at all.

The final straw for me, was not the fact we lost out on Depay to United and yet again history repeats itself through Liverpool's inability to tie down transfer targets. However, for Rodgers to come out in a press conference at Melwood this morning and say;

This of course is a blatant lie, as we all know we were interested in him. So why would Rodgers say otherwise? Liverpool fans arn't daft and with it been a sticky uncertain time for him, for me, just makes him look worse. 

Trusted and reliable journalist from the Liverpool Echo, James Pearce, can be quoted in a recent article of his stating: 

Therefore, am I missing something here? Or if the club were trying to convince a player to join Liverpool, it goes without saying that we were interested in him, right? Rodgers Lied.

I also checked with Tony Barrett from the times who also was reporting Liverpool's interest in Depay. Tony also confirmed Rodgers wasn't being honest.

It getting embarrassing now. We are Liverpool Football Club and our manager is sounding as if his girlfriend dumped him and then he tells her "Oh, I never fancied you anyway"

Nothing seems to be going right these days. Suárez left, Stevie is leaving. Sturridge is never fit. Sterling is not renewing, not winning trophies, no top 4, and finally, being ineffective in the transfer market makes being a Liverpool fan very frustrating at present.

I apologise for any negativity of late and I can assure you I'm not part of any "Rodgers Out Brigade". I just do what I have done for the last 30 years and fight for the success of Liverpool Football Club. 

I'll always defend Liverpool Football Club as "a club" but sometimes not the people, they come & go, apart from us, the fans, and WE aren't going anywhere far soon. So let's be strong, stick together and hope this storm passes.

As always, thanks for reading, and please voice your opinions in the comments box on the Twitter below.

@Anfieldeurope