How long do we need?

[SummerOnions]

Let's face the facts:

We have a pretty shit, overpaid aging squad with quite a few bright spots.

Rodgers needs to (with seemingly little budget) get rid of the older, higher earners and bring in quality youngsters on much lower wages it seems.

How long does he need for this sort of strategy to work?

I've got faith in him but if FSG decide to bomb him out the door after 6 months if it isn't going perfect then we're only going to get worse and worse, so how long should Rodgers get to prove that he can do it?

 

[barrymac20]

Let's face the facts:

We have a pretty shit, overpaid aging squad with quite a few bright spots.

Rodgers needs to (with seemingly little budget) get rid of the older, higher earners and bring in quality youngsters on much lower wages it seems.

How long does he need for this sort of strategy to work?

I've got faith in him but if FSG decide to bomb him out the door after 6 months if it isn't going perfect then we're only going to get worse and worse, so how long should Rodgers get to prove that he can do it?

The length of his contract at least

 

[peterhague]

I'd say till January. If he makes it past then then review progress at the end of the season.

 

[LarryHagman]

Without throwing mega bucks at it, which doesn't look like it's going to happen again after last year, it's obviously going to be a gradual process. The club, owners and management, have been selling that message since Rodgers came. Anyone who's not got it by now stands to be severely disappointed.
I reckon we're 2 full years away from competing for top 4.

 

[SummerOnions]

Without throwing mega bucks at it, which doesn't look like it's going to happen again after last year, it's obviously going to be a gradual process. The club, owners and management, have been selling that message since Rodgers came. Anyone who's not got it by now stands to be severely disappointed.
I reckon we're 2 full years away from competing for top 4.

Yeah i wouldnt be surprised if that happens.

i don't think that would bother me either if we got there with a strong spine of players all under 26 or so who could easily stick around for a while

 

[LarryHagman]

I'm sure that's the plan.

 

[Modo]

How we play on the pitch will be the decider for me.
If we look organized and in control of games like we did with Rafa, I'll be happy.

 

[peterhague]

The massive problem with the slow and sure approach is we're losing £30m a year from not being in the CL, and that's just the direct cost. That's a massive argument for just throwing £60m on a sensible transfer policy of buying quality young players who are also ready to contribute now. If it gets us CL within a couple of years it'd be more than worth it.

So I'd maybe sell Carroll, Johnson, Downing, Adam, and Agger for ~ £60m and spend £120m on 6 top class young players, all under 25. Treat this season as a bedding in period and look for top 6 and then go for CL in 2014. We're a great club just in need of some strong investment. Unfortunately it looks like our owners are unwilling or unable to make it happen.

 

[Oncy]

Hahahahaha Its all fucked.
Rafa, Roy, Kenny, Gillet, Hicks, Parry, Henry and Werner have done a fucking number on us and no mistake.

Reina
Arbeloa
Agger
Carragher
Skrtel
Riise
Mascherano
Alonso
Lucas
Gerrard
Torres
Hyppia
Benayoun
Kuyt
Riera
Babel
Insua
Keane

To this fucking unbalanced rabble.
We really need a fucking EPIC two weeks in the transfer window.

 

[localny]

Are the owners being penny wise and pound foolish? By not investing 70m now to get us to top 4 are they depleting the asset to the point where it will become harder ans harder as years go by? And will we lose out on sponsor gigs? And pay players more to join us because we r still in transition?

Wouldn't it be cheaper to splash out now? Again?

Whats the cost benefit analysis? Any thoughts?

 

[gene hughes]

I don't know. Maybe Rodgers is a genius. If not I reckon it'll take a few years.

 

[LarryHagman]

We tried the big bucks approach last season and it got us from 7th to 8th. We’re obviously committed to a different strategy now otherwise we’d have let the new Manager spend a shit load of cash already. Maybe that strategy was determined before we sourced the new Manager and played a part in the level of applicants we interviewed, and ended up with. No disrespect to Rodgers but (1) this is a dream job for him & (2) it’s not like he beat Mourinho or Ferguson to the job is it?
It’s pretty clear we are in it for the long haul with no immediate quick wins likely. I would imagine the owners don’t expect us to go from 8th to top 4 by signing Borini and playing more short passes.

 

[Ryan]

18 months ago I got laughed out of town on this site (Dreamy, I'm looking at you here) for saying we were about 10 years away from properly competing on and off the field with the elite.

I stand by that.

 

[keniget]

Ten years may as well be never.

All the talk of 1 year, 2 years or whatever is based on management getting things bang on and... well.... come on now.

Rogers has no real track record to speak of and so far our American owners haven't done anything more impressive than hire a DoF that turned out to be useless and then abandon the idea altogether all the whilst overseeing us waste all our money on overpaid shit. There is nothing here but blind faith and hope that everything will turn out okay.

Are we really going to see 3 / 4 youngsters come out of the reserves and properly establish themselves, unearth gems in the transfer market and successfully build a team of young players capable of challenging 2 or 3 years down the line?

How likely is that really?

We'll need Wenger in his prime esque genius to pull this off. Great if it happens but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Fabio]

18 months ago I got laughed out of town on this site (Dreamy, I'm looking at you here) for saying we were about 10 years away from properly competing on and off the field with the elite.

I stand by that.

I've said 10 years myself.

 

[Y1]

And I was thinking 3 years was being generous... given the sacking of our 2 previous managers in less than a year.

 

[Rosco]

Let's face the facts:

We have a pretty shit, overpaid aging squad with quite a few bright spots.

Rodgers needs to (with seemingly little budget) get rid of the older, higher earners and bring in quality youngsters on much lower wages it seems.

How long does he need for this sort of strategy to work?

I've got faith in him but if FSG decide to bomb him out the door after 6 months if it isn't going perfect then we're only going to get worse and worse, so how long should Rodgers get to prove that he can do it?

Not everybody accepts that the above is the case - some think we can somehow turn this squad into contenders by getting rid of all the dross the nobody will buy and buying superstars with the 3 million we raise.

I don't see us being competitive in the next two seasons. If we start to get our spending right now, avoiding older players who will become the next batch of overpaid ageing shite then we should see our perseverance bear fruit in that third season.

 

[Woland]

It's not a time thing, it's a money thing. With this level of investment we can expect to win fuck all for eternity.

 

[StevieM]

Ah balls - we can compete for 4th this season.

 

[Rosco]

It's not a time thing, it's a money thing. With this level of investment we can expect to win fuck all for eternity.

So ? The owners need to break FFP rules and ensure they never make any money out of the club ?

I don't agree.

 

[Woland]

We're a million miles from breaking any rules, unless there are rules about asset stripping.

 

[Rosco]

We're a million miles from breaking any rules, unless there are rules about asset stripping.

It sounds like you're going down the mental route.

People went on about asset stripping under the last set of American owners - the reality was transfer and wage spending was crippling us despite Rafa Benitez's complaints. That situation has only gotten worse because we've increased spending and wages and have a worse squad.

Once we return the wage bill to manageable level we'll be able to spend on transfers. CL football will make it even better. But there's only one option open right now if we want to make the club competitive.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

Ah balls - we can compete for 4th this season.

A lot has to go right for this to happen, and considering how fucking shit everything was last year, I think we're due for a lot of breaks. I'm not optimistic ... I'd be happy with a top 7 finish if there's definite progress (playing style, the youngsters taking more steps forward etc) - but I'm not even sure that's possible.

 

[Woland]

Nah. The Standard Chartered deal upped our shirt sponsorship from 7m to 25m a year, and Carlsberg still pay us six just to be associated. Warrior pay us 25m instead of Adidas's 10m. We're 40m a year better off than a couple of years ago from those two deals alone. That more than makes up for the CL. My season tickets have gone up from 2200 each to 3000 each this season, and the squad is being reduced. I don't see why anyone is buying this bullshit about us needing to cut costs.

 

[Rosco]

Nah. The Standard Chartered deal upped our shirt sponsorship from 7m to 25m a year, and Carlsberg still pay us six just to be associated. Warrior pay us 25m instead of Adidas's 10m. We're 40m a year better off than a couple of years ago from those two deals alone. That more than makes up for the CL. My season tickets have gone up from 2200 each to 3000 each this season, and the squad is being reduced. I don't see why anyone is buying this bullshit about us needing to cut costs.

Wages are 70% of turnover.

All sensible sources say it should never be more than 60% for the stability of the club.

 

[Woland]

Sensible sources? Since when? Says who?

 

[Rosco]

Sensible sources? Since when? Says who?

Peter Ridsdale.

the increases in sponsorship have only offset the CL cash we missed out on. Turnover has stayed steady, while wages increased.

But I reckon increasing wages to turnover to 100% would be a better option right now. Let's totally destroy the club

 

[Woland]

The club is in a very healthy financial position. There's no need to cut the wage bill.

 

[Rosco]

The club is in a very healthy financial position. There's no need to cut the wage bill.

If it was in a healthy position we could have spent money on transfers last season without 30m from the owners. We're spending everything we possibly can right now.

I agree to an extent, we don't need to cut the wage bill to survive in the short term but we'll never be competitive until we do. But we can't really add to it, and we're presently shite. So do we stand pat and add the odd player as we free up wages periodically ? Or gut the squad and start again.

Option 1 needs a miracle to bring us league success, option 2 just needs time.

 

[Woland]

Have the accounts been published since FSG took over?