The difference between the summer 2010 transfer window and the two transfer windows of 2011, particularly the window that has just closed, could not have been more different in what the club set out to achieve, what was achieved and the way in which the club’s efficient leadership team and affected players conducted themselves.
In the 9 months since the Anfield advent of the FSG, Comolli and Dalglish Triumvirate it’s patently clear, and doubly refreshing following the board room battles of previous regimes, that those at the helm of Liverpool Football Club are pulling in the same direction both in the current 2011/12 season and seemingly for the longer term. In the short time they have had to work together the FSG/Comolli/Dalglish partnership are well on the way to developing the strategic model for ‘The Project’ that aims to match commercial success off the field with investment and trophies on it. In fact it can be argued that following recent activity in the transfer market and a turnaround in results since the turn of 2011 all parties have made strides in the actual delivery of this strategy. Each faction of the Triumvirate possess the experience, skillset and support that when pulled together should begin to rattle a few whisky bottles at the other end of the East Lancs Road and then beyond.
The players we've brought in are young (yes Bellamy I know...), brimming with valuable Premier League experience (yes Coates...) and have a drive and ambition that can only have a positive influence on the dressing room. As I have alluded to in the Henderson thread, first impressions suggest that these are level headed young men who are willing to put in a shift in training throughout the week and stand up and be counted when it comes to 3pm on a Saturday afternoon (or whenever appropriate). Our additions this summer are also excellent footballers with an end product to their game. We need only look at the defeat of Bolton last week to see what we can expect offensively from Henderson, Adam and Downing and at the back from Enrique, who himself will also prove to be a valuable attacking option.
Compare the immediate impact and future potential of these recent signings to the hapless haul of 2010 which saw the additions of Joe Cole, Christian Poulen, Paul Konchesky and Milan Jovanovic. Admittedly the aforementioned summer 2010 transfer alumni were signed at a time of huge off-field uncertainty for Liverpool, but even so somebody within the higher echelons of Anfield/Melwood (Purslow, Broughton, even Roy?) should have realised how short sighted (possibly even optically) these signings were. I daren’t hazard a guess at what the summer 2010 transfer strategy was, if indeed there was a strategy as at all. If it was a case of a cash strapped club looking for cheap or even free quick fixes in the transfer market Purslow et al. bollocksed that one up by offering lucrative long term contracts to ageing squad players, ensuring any capital savings in this strategy where soon erased with the disproportionate operating expenditure of paying these players obscene amounts of money over inexcusably lengthy contracts.
One year on and there is light at the end of the tunnel, or Channel Tunnel a least for Cole, Poulsen and Jova who have been shipped off to France and Belgium as well as the Konch and his Mum (remember her!?) who has joined up with Uncle Sven in Leicester.
What is apparent after my lengthy ramble, which I realise could have been cut much shorter (sorry) is that we had an agreed and clear strategy this summer, and a Leadership Team of experts working together to make things happen. I look back on FSG's takeover with relief more than anyting when I compare the efficiency, long term thinking and ambition we have seen in 2011 to last summer's shenanigans. The importance of sticking to the agreed strategy and having the Leadership team working exactly as that, a team, is going to be a massive weapon for us as we look to make up ground first on Chelsea and the as I see it, City and United.
This summer was all about laying the foundation stones for future success. The hard work has now been done and we now have a competitive squad for the domestic season ahead, that is more than capable of achieving a Champions League spot. The loss of Meireles to a rival was a like catching your little finger in the transfer window as it shuts, but that is much more preferable to losing an arm, as we did when the window shut last summer (that sounds almost Rafa-esque in it's oddness, anway, you're nearly at the end...) Future transfer windows will see us add to this quality as we aim to compete to win the League and hold our own in the Champions League. But for now, I'm more than happy with how things are panning out.
