The January transfer window is a tricky one and suggestions for doing away it have been floating around for the last few seasons. The month long window usually doesn’t yield many signings and does cause prices to be inflated as clubs usually engage in panic buying. When you have teams like Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City in the mix, it really does not help the cause of responsible football clubs like ours. It is no secret that we are trying to sign Charlie Adam from Blackpool and Luis Suarez from Ajax however both of these clubs are playing hardball and trying to get a very high price for their star players.
Damien Camolli (who from what we understand is leading the negotiations) wants to pay a fair price for these players and quite frankly I do not blame him. We have seen how Aston Villa splashed £24 million for Darren Bent last week and everyone seems to agree that no way Bent is worth that kind of price. Unlike the last few transfer windows, we now have money to spend however this money is going to be spent wisely so the club (which is now debt free) can sustain itself and not run huge losses and risk of ending up in debt again.
John W Henry and Tom Werner have so far kept all their promises and I do trust them to keep doing the right thing, these guys have the winning formula. When they bought us we were in the bottom three and as of today we are in seventh place. Not only did they listen to us but they took action on what we had to say. They sat down and talked to various supporters groups and now are getting us (fans) involved in the operation of the club. We wanted our unpopular manager out and they did that, they brought on King Kenny to steady the ship and stop our decline.
All this would have been unimaginable under Hicks & Gillett.
So let us be patient and remember we are in good hands.
Y.N.W.A.
-Antoine
on Twitter @empireofthekop
I like your style man. I totally agree with you on this.
The worst thing is that now we have the money but we are to cheap to invest… nodays football.. is all about money.. and if you dont go with that.. you aint going to have success!!
And further more 20Mor21M isnt over priced for Suarez… but offering 12.5M is CHEAP!!
Well said, we shouldn’t be held at ransom by any club. We do need additions but we’re not panicking either. We have a goal machine in Torres and the supply line is improving. Suarez would be nice to have, but it’s now up to him to force a transfer through at the right price. I won’t be in despair come next Monday and no transfers have been completed.
well said!!!
Absolutely right on the money, we are light years away from the mess we were in recently. Kenny is doing as expected and the money is in place no douts about it. Im sure Suarez and Adam will sign soon, talks are on-going with both. Liverpool is getting back on it’s feet again and quickly, stop worrying and watch and see what happens in the next few days.
I have to agree with the majority of that article.
There is a huge job on the clubs hands to get the team moving up the league and trying to match our recent success is no mean feat, however I do have faith that the owners have taken a subtle hands on approach no soundbites or false dawns a quiet and effective management that took its time to evaluate the position of the club and made the relevent changes when required.
I am not totally convinced about supporters influencing their decisions but they are taking them on board which is positive.
I am not concerned if we do not get anyone in this week as I feel the real work will happen in the summer and we can get better value and a greater choice then.
the season has been dire so far on the pitch but behind the scenes things are looking pretty rosey.
new owners a stable debt free club and our star players looking to the future as liverpool players.
some investment and a new possitive air about the place is just whats needed. ( and a few top players would be perfect )
Thats all well and good but what about in 3 weeks when Torres gets injured and we dont have any back up,they want to buy young players Suraz is 23 top scorer in the dutch league how much do you think he is worth? Villa spent the dosh on a player and have won there last two games? im sorry but if you have ambition like Liverpool should have a top striker should have been brought in way way before now ,it will be the same old story sell a couple of players and wont buy any,we will miss out on a striker and Adam will probably go to united in the summer.
Either Suarez is worth the ask or he isnt and if Bent is priced at 24 mill he probably is I know were not Chelsea or Manchester City but if were not as wealthy as Aston Villa something has gone badly wrong There’s no point making us look like minor league no bodies with bids that are bound to get knocked back .It’s not Baghdad market
At last some one speaking with some sense. If liverpool spend stupid money now its less for us to spend in summer. Certain clubs have unlimited funds the new owners are looking to put the money back into the club and run it as a business complying with the new fifa rule which are due to come in to force soon. With negotiation u start low but they will have a figure which they are willing to spend and deals are very rarely done in the space of a couple of days. Unless they go over the top as mention with bent 24 mil bit excessive. YNWA
I totally get your point.. BUT there is a BIG BUT.. why are we only looking at adam and suarez.. anyone with a single brain cell knows that we NEED at least a winger, striker and a left back.. now its fine we dont wanna pay BIG inflated price for anyone and then SPLASH THE CASH IN SUMMER but we need to get some players who are better than some deadwood we have! whether on loan or on the cheap till at least end of the season.. with this squad we wont finish above 10th.. MARK MY WORD!!!
I have been saying pretty much the same as you on other sites antoine and your right there are supporters out there panicking and slaging the owners and comolli off one thing I would like to ask our disgrunteled supporters what if we paid over the price of 28-30 million for suarez that ajax are asking and he is a flop who would you lot blame then the manager, the owners, comolli, for doing what you have demanded that they do on other sites as Antoine has said the owners bought the club when we were on the floor the have listened they have acted and we now have a manager we no is suited to our club they have put up the finances as Kenny stated there in place so they have done everything asked of them what more can they do fellas one other point if we pay over the odds for suarez or adams that gives licence for all other clubs to do the same when we ask about a player in the future and price us out the market just let the people running liverpool football club do the work I am sure it is not in there intrest to do what hicks and gillett done and look what they ended up with . good article Antione
disagree,
So just because they brought the club we have to give them the red carpet for the long term and think that we should just trust all they do.
Do you really think this torres bid has come out of the blue!! wake up man, every player we have gone for we have heard the same,,, we will not meet with that price,,,,
Is something not dawning on you!! suarez deal has been a joke form day one, i mean come on the time that this deal is taking,, i mean he sin’t messi is he.
The Afam thing was just stupid, i dont rate him that much, think he is ok but for gods sake man, a bid of 4 mill pounds for the best player that blackpool have, after the year he has had!!!
The warnock deal, is another joke, we are talking about a left back( that in my view is only slightly better than mr gimp konchesky!!) and we cant even pull that deal off…
Is this not a enough is enough, if every tiem they go into a deal with ” i will only pay what i want to pay” type attiude, then we will not be signing naff all,
Life for me doesn’t work that way, almost all deal take middle ground, and are you telling me suarez deal takes 4 weeks to find middle ground????
this club has not got time any more, do you you really think rein and torres have not just about had enough with the lack of pace and the over all lack of progression into the playing squad,,,INVEST OR WE MIGHT AS WELL PACK UP.
FSG – NESV HAVE MADE THE CLUB LOOK WEAK AND VERY LOW IN MONEY AND IN CLASS IN THIS WINDOW AND FOR ME ITS NO WOUNDER CHELSEA THINK,” WHAT ARE LIVERPOOL UP TO, THEY STILL CANNNOT SIGN ANYONE LETS GET TO TORRES?????
BIG TIME WORRIED AT THESE PEOPLE RUNNING THE CLUB, IF YOUR NOT THEN YOU NEED YOUR HEAD TESTED…
THANKS MR HENRY FOR ANOTHER SHITE DAY BEING A RED YET AGAIN,, AND ALL THIS AFTER 3 YEARS WITH THE LAST LOT…
Totally agree Ant!
Just a few points I have to make being a Red.
1. Being a Red, I’d like to support the owners just the way I support my team. The time before the take-over and also under Roy have seen the us, the fans, doing two things that we never did – a. stand up against the owners, b. make the gaffer feel unwelcome. Both of those were totally justified and also justified is the fact that there may be a certain degree of distrust (once bitten, twice shy). However, lets give it to Misters Henry and Werner. They’ve gone out of the way to blend in the Reds family. They understood that the onus is on them to be trusted and be welcomed at Anfield. Since they’ve done that, I say that they are a part of the community and we should treat them like they are.
2. While it’s always worthwhile for fans to voice their opinions, let’s not coax the owners to spend obscene monies on overvalued players. The club is our passion but it is their business and there’s nothing shameful about being in business. As much as I’d like to a red shirt I wouldn’t pay 200 pounds for one. Similar for them. Let’s give it to them that they know how to do their business.
To Samuel Charles:
Have you wondered why CFC bid now and not at the starting of the window? Coincidental that it is only about 8 days before a game against them? If you were CFC, wouldn’t you want Nando unsettled before the big game especially since he royally raped them the last time we played? Wouldn’t CFC like to win a game against us especially when the campaign appears to be back on track?
I also think that if we were to challenge for 4th, the competition would be from CFC and THFC. I think Chelsea think the same and would like to unsettle Fernando.
Very good point Samuel Charles..
Sky Sport News: Torres tells Liverpool to listen to Chelsea offer…!!
OHHH i want to see those fans faces who said we are in good hand… Clearly these owners are to cheap to pay for CHARLIE ADAMS ffs….
NO INVESTMENT NO FUTURE…
And no investment was made.. and it was promised…LAIRS!!
New owners are great and Kenny is just Kenny BUT Torres will be leaving . Not the end of the world – he does get injured a lot and Kenny will buy wisely.
100% agree. Lets learn the lesson and don’t rush. I like how the club has moved back to its former style of doing business in a relative short time. Lets support and leave the business side of things to the manager and board. As Antoine said the fans have already received a lot of recognition from the new owners. YNWA
Agree with the principle of your article Ant, BUT in keeping with what Samuel points out. Why after 4 weeks of messing about have we still not signed anyone considering we have sold Babel and therefore been weakened further still for the 5th or 6th window running???? And Guillem Ballague has just tweeted that Nando has asked LFC to continue negotiations with the chavs!!! So if he’s considering leaving now he’ll defo want out by summer no matter who we try and spend 3 months signing! And why is everyone fooling themselves that things will be easier in the summer??? Prices will still be overinflated with City/Chavs/Real pushing up prices and competition for all the best players….
I agree with everything the author says here.
Unfortunately a lot of so called Liverpool fans seem to be very young and dont appreciate how we should act as fans. For example comparing the current owners with H&G is just ridiculous. Just because they havent said ‘here you go Ajax heres the £30m you want and sure here have another 2m as a tip, Cheers!’
Be calm. There is no point paying twice what a players worth. I would like Suarez here as much as the next man but the fact of the matter is he is unproven in the premier league so I would not agree to any price above 18m.
Like the author I trust the new owners, I believe they are good business men. If it turns out we do not sign any players in this window I will be disappointed but I trust their Judgement!
I am with you on this one, Antoine. I can understand that clubs don’t want to sell key players midway through the season. That said now would be the time to go for Keisuke Honda as the Russian season is over (as far as I know).
Liverpool fans need to hold their nerve and show some bottle. Hicks, Gillett, (and their debts), and Hodgson, are gone now. This is the start of a new era, so stop strangling it at birth. Dalglish already said he will not tell the media what’s going on, so why do you all believe the media ? If you think it is good for Liverpool to waste money by paying over-inflated prices, why don’t you donate the money …. or be quiet. They are acting for the club, in the clubs best interests. If you cannot accept that, and let them get on with doing their jobs, then you will never be a true Liverpool supporter. Support the team (all of them), support the management, support the club, and stop whining.
No samuel charles its you that needs your head testing your panicking over nothing if torres and reina were going they would of manufacured a move under roy they have both stated there here for the long haul . chelsea have bid for torres for the last 3 yrs to apease there supporters they no he wont go there .If liverpool did there buisness as you want samuel the club would be bankrupt in no time .Adams from Blackpool why should we pay over 4 million for a player who has had one good season in the premier league who is not a sert for a starting place in our team and now its come out there manager gets a cut of the sale ye ok samuel . warnock is a stand in cover till the end of the season till we can get shut of koncheski and buy a top class left back . going in to a deal with an attitude that you will pay anything to get the player then your on a looser torres was being touted for 70 million we got him for 21 million can you spot the diffrence there samuel . Nesv have not made the club look anything of the sort what you said samuel they are saying were no easy touch we will negotiate the best deal for liverpool football club not ajax they are making a statement of intent that they run a buisness not a charity for other clubs who are in financial difficulties I dont no if your old enough samuel but this is how we ran the club up untill the late eighties under the late John smith and Peter robinson we missed out on players then because of the fee asked but we won many trophys still .Samuel charles i think it may be time for you to pack up because you cant run a club like you want to and the people who are presently running liverpool fc will be here a very long time so the choice is yours my friend .
I tweeted this earlier.
This is what we look like each time we hear that Torres is leaving http://youtu.be/5ilGGP9BDZs
if we dont buy a class striker we are not in good hands – simple,
it tells you we have wrote off this season when it could still be productive.
First off all I would like to give my tumbs up for this article as I think it’s spot on.
Second I would like to answer samuel charles and all the fans who think he has a point.
“So just because they brought the club we have to give them the red carpet for the long term and think that we should just trust all they do.”
After this comment I just hope your not one of the fans singing loud “You’ll never walk alone.” Give the lads a chance before you start slating them on what they do. How can you say that the owners are not good? on which basis you can criticise them?? because they gave a debt free Liverpool to the likes of you?? or because they wnat to take a long term solution which is seen as a role model by Fifa? is it possible that all you can see in the owners is just how deep there pockets are? in that case all you have to do is chage colors to man city’s blue my friend.
All the decisions they took seem to be very reasonable till now and I can assure you that if they will continue this way in 3 years time Liverpool will be one of the top clubs in the world again.
All they have to do is get a good CEO in place get the stadium desicion right and control the stadium project in a way that it doesnt interfier with the clubs budget.
Regarding the transfers I beleive its very difficult for you to grasp the concept but to try and simplify it for you. If they splash the cash now, every one will say ohh Liverpool have loads of money to spend they are just like Man city!! and of you go with every player linked to Liverpool having a 10mil price hike just because we spent a lot of money in this transfer window as some guys like you are suggesting.
Thanks for your article Antoine.
we are now even lighter in attack than we were and that was less than the bare bones. we must buy MUST.
i think FSG/Comolli are behind torres sale.. they wanna sell him and then spend that money on 2 or 3 players without investing any money..my gut feeling!!
Wow. Some of you “fans” are unbelievable. What an embarrassing disgrace.
I totally agree with the article :)
Totaly agree Samuel.
For those saying why are we being cheap with our initial bids for Suarez & Adams – these were obviously “Test the water” bids to let the clubs (and players themselves) know we are interested – Both players it now seems have let their clubs know they’d like to move. Also as the old saying goes “If he says 10, he means 8 so he wants 6 so he’s worth 4 so you offer 2………..”
Anyone who has a rant at the owners are ungrateful.Lets not cry wof and be a bunch of ungrateful fans hungry for transfers.Lets trust in the owners.They are winners.We are being linked to the right calibre of players and we should be smart in the transfer market.Clubs dont know how liverpool are going to spend with the new owners so they are going to test us. I thank the new owners and i appreciate what they have done for us.They took action on Hodgson and for me they have got my backing 100%, great article
OUR NEW OWNER HAD SO FAR DONE A GOOD JOB.NO DEBT.HODGSON HAD BEEN SAKE.APPOINT GOOD TECH. DIRECTOR.GOT A NEW MANAGER.KING KENNY.NOW WE IN TALK WITH TWO CAPTAIN.SUAREZ AND ADAM.IN TWO DAYS HOPFULY GOOD RESULT CAN BE.JUST IMAGINE.NOW WE HAVE 3 CAPTAIN AND ADD ANOTHER 2.WHAT A RED ARMY.IT’S GOING BATTER AND BATTER.IT’S HAPPEN ONLY 6 MONTH.THANKS MR.HENRY. YOU NEVER WALK ALONE.
I have nothing bad to say about the new owners they were a wise choice.But i think Suarez is easily worth 25 mill and i fear we will lose him to another club.He is one of the best strikers around is only 23 we need at least one winger too.Adam is a great player but i dont think we are in desperate need of a centre mid.Anyway as long as we have Kenny in charge we’ll be alright.
ahahhah I’m in a PANIC!!!!!
dont invest too much on players, invest on redeveloping Anfield instead, will make a good return for LFC in the long term.
Money should be spent wisely, i say shut down the Academy if they are not developing & using any players from there. What’s with Pacheco? He shud be playing regularly by now. Danny Wilson?? If he can play with Scotland, why cant he be a Liverpool regular? This bulls*it beats me.
YNWA
all of a sudden i have a weird flashback..rush (torres) is sold while king kenny is manager, he uses that money and goes on to buy aldridge, barnes and beardsley and we went on to more glory…hmmm…now…who will be our new aldridge (suarez?), barnes (turan?) and beardsley (benzema?)…wishful thinking i guess..but i have faith in kenny and nesv, excellent article ant..YNWA!!
i think we will get someone in but technical directors do not score goals.
Mr Zammit,
You never cease to amaze me. I totally agree with you on this artlicle. Keep up the good work my fellow red! :) YNWA!
Great article. Some people have spent too long playing Fantasy Football thinking that splashing the cash and replacing almost everyone of the first team except Reina, Gerrard and Torres will solve all our problems overnight. For me, the most important signing/decision to be made by the owners is in giving Kenny a 3- 5 year contract and allowing him develop a plan to return our long term playing strategy to the ‘pass and move, Liverpool way’. Having been a supporter for almost 40 years, I know that our successes were built on ‘the way, the style, the systems’ we played not on having a loose band of overvalued so called superstars in the team. Look at Chelsea – no consistent style or system because it changes with each manager, City have splashed the cash and are not exactly running away with the league and will probably ditch Mancini eventually, look at our own situation with a mish mash of styles from manager to manager ever since Souness ripped up the Liverpool template. United have achieved their success by letting Ferguson’s single philosophy dictate the United Way over the past 25 years. They too will have problems if they don’t find someone to continue it. We need to return to our own philosophy, culture and style by letting Kenny lay the foundations and the groom his successor but we must only buy players now and in the future that will fit in and enhance this style, the Liverpool style, and he will need the rest of the season to continue what he has started to recreate before deciding who he really needs. I will be happy with two signings but I won’t be upset if we don’t get any. I WILL be very upset if NESV/FSG don’t appoint Kenny as architect of our 10 year plan for restoring the Liverpool culture, style and inevitable success – the reality is that there is no one out there, not even Rafa, that could do it. I believe that NESV/FSG understand the importance of getting the structure and platform correct (the people who slag them off plainly don’t) in order to build a consistently strong team and club for the future. I like the way they listen and the fact that they have a plan and the fact that there is no knee jerk response to difficult situations such as the exit of Roy Hodgson. I also admire them for their hardnosed approach to transfers which are only being discussed by the target players clubs (De Boer/Holloway)and the media, not by anyone from Liverpool. These guys are strong and they remind me of the way that Peter Robinson used to operate. Strong, definite and no nonsense. So lets chill out, let Kenny do his job and the owners and Commolli do theirs – our club is in the best position, top to bottom, than it has been in 25 years. The last 6 months have seen amazing changes for the good. The present and the future is really bright, regardless of what happens between now an Monday at 11pm and that includes if Torres leaves because our previous success was built in no small way on people WANTING to play for us – if he doesn’t, thats okay and I am sure he has his reasons to go if indeed he does. Thats my bit on the soapbox for now!Keep up the great work Antoine. YNWA
@adrian hmm, your name is indonesian just like me, are manure fans? indonesian manure fans are famous for they insult to LFC, maybe because they feel the inferiority :) as for the winter transfer windows, was always not the best time and only good for emergency which I dont find it at our situation at the moment, suarez is good but has some violence history, adams maybe good but where would we place him when gerrard, raul and lucas has already have good performance if not in better form at the future?
http://www.spankthenews.com/html/article-detail.php?ArtID=444
This is funny
The owners are peviously proven winners. one cannot expect us to be a Chelsea or manc.we should be realistic . we are talkin big money here 25 million pound worth deal cannot be undertaken in a fortnight. obviously there are a lot of factors and risks to be considered. what best a true fan can hope is that we do not get deceived by others in our desperate times, and trust in our owners because by now i think the deal is already settled.. ywna.. always back the club