THERE isn’t a player who is linked with any club these days who isn’t first subjected to a seemingly endless scrutiny on message boards and radio phone-in shows. Amateur scouting has become as much a part of modern football as daft kick-off times and feigning injury and what’s more it is undoubtedly here to stay.
People are now able to watch much more football than ever before thanks to satellite television and internet streams and the popularity of computer games that allow anyone to be the manager, in fantasy world at least, means that supporters can indulge themselves when it comes to assessing the relative merits of a potential transfer target.
In the past week alone the media has linked Liverpool with – among others – Jordan Henderson, Phil Jones, Connor Wickham, Charlie Adam and Sylvain Marveux and all have been subjected to trial by forum. In a way, this is just a technologically fuelled advance on people debating transfer targets verbally in a pub but the one thing that hasn’t changed is that when you have a manager like Kenny Dalglish in charge he should be trusted to know better than anyone else what is best for his team.
Towards the end of last season, Dalglish made a pertinent point which offered both an insight into the type of players Liverpool would be in the market for this summer and the importance of the club being single minded in their pursuit of these targets.
“If people want to see the best players and assets of football club wearing a red shirt, that’s what we want to try and provide,” the Liverpool manager said. “We want to get the highest quality of player in that we can. That’s what position we have been put into, and that’s what we will try to do. Who judges players? Whose opinion is it that matters? It’s the people that go after them. Some others might not think they are the highest quality, but it’s our opinion that matters most.”
That Dalglish is adamant that only the views of himself, Damien Comolli and the club’s scouting department is all that matters when it comes to deciding whether or not a player is good enough for Liverpool should provide a major reassurance to everyone desperate to see the club regain its place among English football’s elite. The moment a manager falls prey to outside influences he ceases to be a manager. In that role, you cannot afford to be swayed by public opinion, this is Liverpool Football Club after all, not Pop Idol.
Anyone wanting to understand how Dalglish will do things this summer could do a lot worse than seek out a book called The Secret Diary Of A Liverpool Scout, a brilliant account of the work of the legendary Geoff Twentyman who worked with Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. There may be those who believe that modern day scouting is a world apart from how it was done when Twentyman was recruiting some of the best players English football has seen but Dalglish knows better than anyone that the basics remain the same.
He will be looking for the same things that Twentyman sought out, the kind of qualities that served Liverpool so well in the past and which can do so again in the future. If a player can pass and move, has a good temperament and a winning mentality then he has the starting points needed to become a Liverpool player. Of course, there are a multitude of such players currently plying their trade in football so then it comes down to the eye of the person scouting them and, according to those in the game, there are few better than Dalglish at spotting talent.
We have been here before, of course. Go back to 1987 when Dalglish was working on putting together arguably the greatest ever Liverpool side. John Aldridge was the first signed and it might be hard to imagine now but at the time there were plenty who questioned whether an Oxford United player and someone who once played in the Liverpool Sunday League would be good enough for a title challenging team.
The same went for John Barnes who aroused suspicion because he had been inconsistent at Watford and had not attracted bids from any of the top English clubs when Liverpool came in with a £900,000 offer for his services. The capture of Peter Beardsley for a then club record of £1.9 million prompted less doubt with the only real concern being that his signing would inevitably push Dalglish the player ever closer to retirement.
When Ray Houghton and Nigel Spackman, two steady but far from spectacular players with Oxford and Chelsea respectively, were brought in there were those who wondered why Liverpool were not in the market for top stars. Dalglish saw things differently. In his eyes he had bought a quintet of stars and the world just did not know it yet. He was proven right in the most spectacular fashion as Liverpool swept all comers aside and romped to the league title playing some of the best football ever seen in this country.
All that was down to Dalglish’s ability to spot a player and then to mould a team around his new signings and those already at the club. It is an art and he is an artist. That is why when we debate whether or not a transfer target is good enough for Liverpool – as we all do – there is one man who is better placed than any of us to decide that and that man is Kenny Dalglish.
People are now able to watch much more football than ever before thanks to satellite television and internet streams and the popularity of computer games that allow anyone to be the manager, in fantasy world at least, means that supporters can indulge themselves when it comes to assessing the relative merits of a potential transfer target.
In the past week alone the media has linked Liverpool with – among others – Jordan Henderson, Phil Jones, Connor Wickham, Charlie Adam and Sylvain Marveux and all have been subjected to trial by forum. In a way, this is just a technologically fuelled advance on people debating transfer targets verbally in a pub but the one thing that hasn’t changed is that when you have a manager like Kenny Dalglish in charge he should be trusted to know better than anyone else what is best for his team.
Towards the end of last season, Dalglish made a pertinent point which offered both an insight into the type of players Liverpool would be in the market for this summer and the importance of the club being single minded in their pursuit of these targets.
“If people want to see the best players and assets of football club wearing a red shirt, that’s what we want to try and provide,” the Liverpool manager said. “We want to get the highest quality of player in that we can. That’s what position we have been put into, and that’s what we will try to do. Who judges players? Whose opinion is it that matters? It’s the people that go after them. Some others might not think they are the highest quality, but it’s our opinion that matters most.”
That Dalglish is adamant that only the views of himself, Damien Comolli and the club’s scouting department is all that matters when it comes to deciding whether or not a player is good enough for Liverpool should provide a major reassurance to everyone desperate to see the club regain its place among English football’s elite. The moment a manager falls prey to outside influences he ceases to be a manager. In that role, you cannot afford to be swayed by public opinion, this is Liverpool Football Club after all, not Pop Idol.
Anyone wanting to understand how Dalglish will do things this summer could do a lot worse than seek out a book called The Secret Diary Of A Liverpool Scout, a brilliant account of the work of the legendary Geoff Twentyman who worked with Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan. There may be those who believe that modern day scouting is a world apart from how it was done when Twentyman was recruiting some of the best players English football has seen but Dalglish knows better than anyone that the basics remain the same.
He will be looking for the same things that Twentyman sought out, the kind of qualities that served Liverpool so well in the past and which can do so again in the future. If a player can pass and move, has a good temperament and a winning mentality then he has the starting points needed to become a Liverpool player. Of course, there are a multitude of such players currently plying their trade in football so then it comes down to the eye of the person scouting them and, according to those in the game, there are few better than Dalglish at spotting talent.
We have been here before, of course. Go back to 1987 when Dalglish was working on putting together arguably the greatest ever Liverpool side. John Aldridge was the first signed and it might be hard to imagine now but at the time there were plenty who questioned whether an Oxford United player and someone who once played in the Liverpool Sunday League would be good enough for a title challenging team.
The same went for John Barnes who aroused suspicion because he had been inconsistent at Watford and had not attracted bids from any of the top English clubs when Liverpool came in with a £900,000 offer for his services. The capture of Peter Beardsley for a then club record of £1.9 million prompted less doubt with the only real concern being that his signing would inevitably push Dalglish the player ever closer to retirement.
When Ray Houghton and Nigel Spackman, two steady but far from spectacular players with Oxford and Chelsea respectively, were brought in there were those who wondered why Liverpool were not in the market for top stars. Dalglish saw things differently. In his eyes he had bought a quintet of stars and the world just did not know it yet. He was proven right in the most spectacular fashion as Liverpool swept all comers aside and romped to the league title playing some of the best football ever seen in this country.
All that was down to Dalglish’s ability to spot a player and then to mould a team around his new signings and those already at the club. It is an art and he is an artist. That is why when we debate whether or not a transfer target is good enough for Liverpool – as we all do – there is one man who is better placed than any of us to decide that and that man is Kenny Dalglish.
