What would our stars of yesteryear cost today?

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It would be nice to have inflation go away, that and debt. But I’m not here to talk about money, because I don’t need to be depressed. I was thinking about what some of our star players of the olden days cost today? It’s something that’s been kicking around in my head a lot lately.

Ray Clemence – Bought for 18,000k in 1967- now 212,699.72
King Kenny Dalglish – Bought for £440,000 in 1977 – now £1,780,633.99
Ian Rush – Bought for 300,000 in 1980 – now 837,760.19
John Barnes – Bought for 900,000 in 1987 now – £1,647,238.32
John Aldridge – Bought for 750,000 in 1987 now – 1,372,698.60
Alan Hansen – bought for 110,000 in 1977 now – 445,158.50
Bruce Grobbelaar – bought for 250,000 in 1981 now – 623,890.52

Now what does that show us? Really not much other than transfer fees have shot up like the inflation has. It also shows to me, that once again these new owners need to inject a lot of money into the club to get it back to where it should be. Yes I want Arab money into the club like everyone else, but history has shown that buying titles only gets you so far. Anyone remember the down falls of Blackburn, Newcastle, and Leeds? If the money is splashed the right, and the players are scouted the right way the club can return to the glory days. I’m not going to rip on Rafa, because he’s done alright for what he has been given, but he’s not in the class of Shankly, Paisley, or Dalglish. Then again, very few managers have been like them. Maybe it’s a help that the scouting and the Academy are going in a better direction now.

I didn’t look at transfer fees if players were transferred out, because players leaving don’t concern me. Well unless it’s Ian Rush since he came back. For the most part, this should be a companion to my last blog about the ownership. You have to spend money to make money, not sell to buy. The small minded approach has really hurt the club, and I hope that it doesn’t come over to the next ownership group.

2 Comments

  1. That’d been intriguing me too. But surely King Kenny and Ian Rush and EVERYBODY ELSE wouldn’t cost only that much now.

    If we’re talking Real Madrid numbers, they could easily be over 20 mils.

  2. If they were around today the numbers would be more like

    Ray Clemence – £12m
    King Kenny Dalglish – £25m
    Ian Rush – £30m
    John Barnes – £20m
    John Aldridge – £10m
    Alan Hansen – £13m
    Bruce Grobbelaar – £9m

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