Who are we buying this window?

[RedZeppelin III]

It's been decent, but that's with our low expectations. I've said it before and I'll say it again, they bought the Club for a song and are trying to rebuild it on the cheap. We can do better than that, as you won't get back in the CL, b counting pennies. I'm starting to see it for the bullshit it is.

Back the bloody manager. You bought the club for a bargain. Invest in it, stop this ridiculously cheap penny pinching model, Carroll, downing and Henderson or not. You've now got a manager that scouts well. Trust him and take a risk to punt us into the CL.

yeah but back him with what ? The club doesn't seem to have the money itself and they are never going to invest large amounts of FSG money . I think someone said they've put 30m in and i doubt they will put much more . I don't know , i mean it obviously makes logical sense for the club to fund itself but with the way other clubs spend it might takes years for us to close the gap or it may not even be possible . I get the feeling FSG were really pinning their hopes on Financial Fair Play levelling the playing field but that doesn't seem to be the case or clubs can get around it .

 

[localny]

we're a fucking joke. spurs haven't made the cl and will have spent over 50 mill without bale going.

This

 

[localny]

yeah but back him with what ? The club doesn't seem to have the money itself and they are never going to invest large amounts of FSG money . I think someone said they've put 30m in and i doubt they will put much more . I don't know , i mean it obviously makes logical sense for the club to fund itself but with the way other clubs spend it might takes years for us to close the gap or it may not even be possible . I get the feeling FSG were really pinning their hopes on Financial Fair Play levelling the playing field but that doesn't seem to be the case or clubs can get around it .

Right so maybe we need owners that can compete. Otherwise, it's mid table r us

 

[peterhague]

The problem with relying on FFP even in principle is that for most clubs the sheer size of modern CL revenues kind of makes it irrelevant. The big European clubs are pulling in £50m a year AT LEAST - Man City might struggle a bit and get a slap on the wrists, but I'm pretty sure Chelsea will be ok. The CL has made it basically irrelevant how 'big' a club we are: if we're not in it, we're not competitive. Us being a big club is meaningless in financial terms under the current system: we have no way of earning what those clubs do.

Basically the problem is that FSG never had even close to enough capital to make a strong attempt at putting us back in a self-sustaining position (regular CL revenues providing a strong squad, providing further CL revenues, providing money to expand Anfield = more or less competitive with Utd and Arsenal). £100-150m injected in 2011 to be spent by competent people would've probably paid off. £30-50m or whatever they've put in, given to a couple of numpties, has probably yielded nothing.

 

[Whirly]

Don't agree.

Arsenal whilst they aren't entirely convincing, always find themselves in the top 4. Widely reported they're going to spend some serious money this summer as well - time will tell.
Spurs already have a very good side that have has finished about us for the last few years and they've signed Paulinho and will continue to spend.

We need at least 2 players to go straight into the first team imo.

http://havearsenalspentanymoneyyet.com/

Seriously though, Rogers has come out and pretty clearly said that we're definitely not done yet this window. It's too early to have this conversation without it being a lot of silly conjecture.

 

[Hyena]

http://havearsenalspentanymoneyyet.com/

Seriously though, Rogers has come out and pretty clearly said that we're definitely not done yet this window. It's too early to have this conversation without it being a lot of silly conjecture.

Arsenal will look like fools at the end of this window I suspect.

But we are sitting on our hands a bit.
Spurs, City and Chelsea have strengthened a lot.
Arsenal and Man Utd are slipping but still way ahead of us.

The problem is that we don't have a lot of star attraction right now. So we need to identify the targets that will join and are good enough, and go in hard and fast with the money. Like Spurs have generally done over the last few seasons. No good player is going to kick up a fuss to join us or wait out a transfer saga for us like before.

Mkhitaryan was a good try. We need more like that.

 

[LarryHagman]

At least with Martinez going to Everton, 6th is up for grabs. Bar us signing a couple of Messi's, tend to think that's where we'll be next May.

 

[Dreambeliever]

hmmm not so sure, i still think our defence and midfield will come back to haunt us this season .

Defence of Johnson. Agger Skrtel (on form) and Enrique will be fine and as long as Lucas doesn't play so will our midfield.

 

[Mystic]

I don't get this backlash, we have spent well so far, we just need to make one or two quality signings and we've had a fantastic window. We need to spend large on a very good, goalscoring, attack minded player, and ideally, we need to sign a 1st choice centre back and sell Skrtel, although I don't think thats quite as important as Ryan makes out.

 

[Hansern]

Is it the 2nd of september already?

 

[StevieM]

I'm starting to lose hope that the widely reported £20m budget was ever there, which is annoying cos I thought after the January signings that we shouldn't really expect any more this summer, so I wouldn't have been disappointed if not for those reports.

I've been disappointed further because the signings of Aspas and Alberto look underwhelming and probably not even priorities. Tbh there have been so many things I'd have done differently it's just a bit depressing to think about.

I see it differently - Mikiwhatsisface was our priority target - an attacking mid to compliment what we already have.

I think we're just taking time to make sure we get the right player and not be forced in to another costly mistake.

If its Erikson or Bernard, so be it, but let's pick the right one, for the right price.

 

[Best Believe It]

I see it differently - Mikiwhatsisface was our priority target - an attacking mid to compliment what we already have.

I think we're just taking time to make sure we get the right player and not be forced in to another costly mistake.

If its Erikson or Bernard, so be it, but let's pick the right one, for the right price.

I don't think we are taking our time. I think we're making enquiries and being told by agents 'no chance' because we don't have European Cup football. The normal way to sign a player seems to be make enquiries via agents, see if players are up for a move, then make a bid. We've heard very little since Henrikh Mykterianisnatntezh because we haven't actually made any bids, because we're not getting that far as the players aren't interested.

 

[peterhague]

I see it differently - Mikiwhatsisface was our priority target - an attacking mid to compliment what we already have.

I think we're just taking time to make sure we get the right player and not be forced in to another costly mistake.

If its Erikson or Bernard, so be it, but let's pick the right one, for the right price.

Oh that is the main alternative 'narrative', definitely. That's the plausible explanation for why we haven't spent. I've just got less faith in it being true than I did a couple of weeks ago, that's all.

 

[redhorizon2]

Do you spend the entire transfer budget for the forth coming season in this window, or do you leave some of it for January?

 

[peterhague]

Entire budget for this window would be preferable, I think.

 

[Silver Sean]

yeah but back him with what ? The club doesn't seem to have the money itself and they are never going to invest large amounts of FSG money . I think someone said they've put 30m in and i doubt they will put much more . I don't know , i mean it obviously makes logical sense for the club to fund itself but with the way other clubs spend it might takes years for us to close the gap or it may not even be possible . I get the feeling FSG were really pinning their hopes on Financial Fair Play levelling the playing field but that doesn't seem to be the case or clubs can get around it .

Red Sox just gave Dustin Pedroia a contract extension worth $100 million. There's money. We are just trying to get by without spending huge amounts. FSG would rather buy three players for under £10 million and hope one becomes worth £30 million than buy someone who is already worth £30 million. We have zero chance of getting 4th let alone challenging.
Seriously, go on the official website and take a good look at our squad. It's shite.

 

[peterhague]

Red Sox just gave Dustin Pedroia a contract extension worth $100 million. There's money. We are just trying to get by without spending huge amounts. FSG would rather buy three players for under £10 million and hope one becomes worth £30 million than buy someone who is already worth £30 million. We have zero chance of getting 4th let alone challenging.
Seriously, go on the official website and take a good look at our squad. It's shite.

It's true, the squad is as poor as it's ever been. Too little spent overall, but worse, so much invested in players who don't really contribute that much: over £40m, for example, in Borini, Allen, and Henderson. I won't even mention Downing. Oh darn.

 

[Silver Sean]

It's true, the squad is as poor as it's ever been. Too little spent overall, but worse, so much invested in players who don't really contribute that much: over £40m, for example, in Borini, Allen, and Henderson. I won't even mention Downing. Oh darn.

Yep. Visited a mate over the weekend who moved down to Sussex for work a year ago but still has his season ticket. We used to go to Anfield together during the 90s/00s. We got drunk and talked about the Reds for over three hours. Every conversation came back to the fact we have a manager with no experience and Borini. He still dreams we can win the league. Poor bastard.

 

[peterhague]

Well, I'm still an optimist in the sense that I think we *could* still be great if we have a clear strategy and execute it single-mindedly. I don't think FSG have the means, or more likely, the will, to do that via sensible but significant investment, but they could do it by sacrificing short-term success for longer-term planning.

The academy IMO is good. I know plenty of people are sceptical of that, and fair enough, but I believe it. I think in 5 years it will have produced at least 10 players capable of playing a useful part in a top PL squad. For argument's sake:

Wisdom
Suso
Teixeira
Sterling
Ibe
Jones
Rossiter
Ojo
Sinclair
Canos

We have another 4 or 5 good first team players who could also play a part in that squad. Spend money with a view to bolstering that squad. Buy the best 20-24 year olds we can possibly attract. That would hopefully have the effect of keeping us relatively competitive in the short term and convincing the likes of Coutinho to stick around for a while. Supplement that budget by sacrificing players who are 'valuable' but have no realistic chance of playing a part in 5 or 7 years: Reina, Agger, Skrtel, Johnson, Suarez, Downing. That doesn't have to be as austere as it sounds. Sell Suarez and buy Luis Muriel - if you can't get him, get someone as close to him as possible. Sell Skrtel, get Papadopoulos. Etc etc.

That's my main problem with FSG: not a lack of money, because I think they've been ok-ish there, but a total lack of strategy. They've chopped and changed constantly, meanwhile so much of the money that's been spent has been wasted, and so much of the value of the squad they inherited (Agger, Reina, Johnson, Skrtel, even Gerrard, to take a purely financial perspective) has been allowed to wither on the vine, meaning that we've been sprinting hard just to (putting it kindly) stand still.