So who is making our signings ?

[RedZeppelin III]

Rodgers said: "The biggest thing we need this summer is to bring in some men, some character that allows and supports the other men to see the games out. That is the biggest thing for me. Look at Jamie Carragher. He is our best defender, he is 35, but we are losing that character. That has to be replaced somehow.
"I also think there are other areas of the team that need improving. They have to be established players and they have to have that hunger, that is the key thing."
Liverpool's managing director, Ian Ayre, has denied that FSG has implemented a rigid policy of signing only young players under Rodgers, although the club have not bought anyone over 24 since he became manager. Liverpool paid £8.5m for 20-year-old Philippe Coutinho last month, after Rodgers admitted there was a need for experienced leaders, and doubts remain over the extent of the manager's influence on transfer policy.
He added: "That is something we will talk about at the end of the season, when we identify where the improvements have to be made. Personally, I just want the best team. Whether that is senior players, youth players, or the best, which is the mixture. I always like to give young players hope but in order to do that they need that bit of experience alongside them."
Rodgers insisted that Liverpool will not require "wholesale changes" this summer, citing the impact of the £12m January signing Daniel Sturridge as a lesson in "improving key areas if we are going to make the jumps we need to make.
"It is not something I'll talk about now," said the Liverpool manager. "Martin Skrtel came into the team against Zenit and did well. I gave him a new contract in the summer because I had faith in him. This has been a difficult but a real eye-opening period in terms of coming into a club with such ambition.". Yet with Carragher retiring, Liverpool open to offers for Sebastián Coates, and Skrtel out of favour, Rodgers could require three new signings in central defence alone.
"I don't think massive surgery is needed. Maybe if we had a few more of Daniel Sturridge's capacity in the group that could set us up. Technically we have shown we are very capable, tactically we have not been found wanting like in the recent two games against Arsenal and Man City. The condition and intensity of their work is high so that only leaves one thing – mentality.
"That is the area which needs to improve and to do that we need character."

Now i may be wrong but the tone of these quotes sounds again like a few months ago when both Gerrard and Rodgers were questioning the club's poilicy of only signing young players .

So it's left me wondering , who exactly is involved in signing our players? . In the summer it looked like we wanted to go the route of an experienced Director of Football (van Gaal) and a young coach (Martinez or rodgers) . We scrapped that to go solely with Rodgers as manager . So you'd imagine he has the most influnece on dealings but since then there has been mentions of a "management team" who review transfers signings and policy together . Now if that's the case who the hell is on that "team" with rodgers ? Ayre i fear . These super scouts from city ? Who else could be involved?

Or perhaps there is no real team and Rodgers has just been given strict criteria for signings that the onwers won't budge on , yet Ayre denies this .

So anyway i'm really quite confused . Whichever one is true just leads to more questions because we're in a position now where we've spent 50m but rodgers is now implying he might have made different signings . Worst could be he's spent 50m and only now realised he needed a different type of player , "some men" .

 

[RedZeppelin III]

So the term being branded about a few months ago was "technical Committee " and i also found this in the echo -

The scouts will work closely with Liverpool’s head of analytics Michael Edwards but Rodgers insists suggestions that a technical committee will take power away from the manager are wide of the mark.
Finances may dictate who can and can’t be bought but the Northern Irishman insists he will have the casting vote on signings.
“I don’t need to do everything on my own as the modern day manager can’t do that, but you have the final say on players, there’s absolutely no question about that,” he said.
“If I want a player and we can’t afford it, that’s a different matter. Then it comes back to availability and affordability.

“Every football club has a technical team – let’s not say we are trying to reinvent the wheel here.
“Michael is to oversee the analysis side. When there was a whole restructuring of everything, Michael was a constant here and he had a way in to the owners.
“He works very hard behind the scenes and his job will be to support the scouts in terms of looking into the analysis of players and trying to find out as much about them as we possibly can.
“The job of Barry and Dave and their team is to identify the targets, Michael will then try and find out as much about the player as we possibly can. But that’s no different to numbers of other clubs.
“Summer was always going to be difficult for a number of reasons but already pieces of the jigsaw are starting to slot in, which means the wheels are running a bit more smoothly.”

 

[Hansern]

I'll be gobsmacked if they bring in a centre back that isnt dominiating and a bit of a beast in the air.
Ashely Williams isnt the answer.

 

[peterhague]

I think there's obviously a team of scouts/whatever advising on transfers, but the two biggest influences will be Rodgers with the final choice and FSG with their policy of under 23s and the power of veto.

 

[Ossi]

So is there any dominating cbs with character who's under 23?

 

[Hansern]

From that interview I doubt those signings will be under 23

 

[gkmacca]

Apparently Ian Rush is one of FSG's 'inner circle' of advisors. So you'd hope he'd be telling them to sort this out.

 

[Rosco]

When signings are as unimaginative as ours have been I don't think it can be anyone other than Rodgers making them.

Signing players you worked with before is the hallmark of an average manager.

 

[mark1975]

When signings are as unimaginative as ours have been I don't think it can be anyone other than Rodgers making them.

Signing players you worked with before is the hallmark of an average manager.

You've got serious management issues Ross. Didn't Mourinho buy Carvalho?

 

[Rosco]

And Ferreira.
And He brought Essien to Madrid.

If these self important cunts knew anything about football they'd be able to find other players rather than overspending on their own past players.

 

[mark1975]

And Ferreira.
And He brought Essien to Madrid.

If these self important cunts knew anything about football they'd be able to find other players rather than overspending on their own past players.

It shouldn't really matter though, given managers don't really have any bearing on anything.

 

[Rosco]

There's no real difference between them all Mark. They're all rubbish. They just have different media profiles.

I wouldn't let any of them ever sign a player. I'd leave them to putting out cones on the training field.

 

[mark1975]

There's no real difference between them all Mark. They're all rubbish. They just have different media profiles.

I wouldn't let any of them ever sign a player. I'd leave them to putting out cones on the training field.

If it carries on like this, I can't see us throwing money around much longer, tbf.

 

[Rosco]

Well I think Rodgers has a point, we do need some experienced leaders.

We wouldn't if our experienced players were any use. So when he starts shipping them out, he can start replacing them.

 

[juniormember]

And Ferreira.
And He brought Essien to Madrid.

If these self important cunts knew anything about football they'd be able to find other players rather than overspending on their own past players.

Did Mourinho really overspend when he first got to Chelsea? Didn't he win the league two years running? Isn't that something that's somewhat worth the money instead of the riskier aspect of buying a player a manage e's never worked with?

 

[Hansern]

When did he work with Coutinho?

 

[juniormember]

When did he work with Coutinho?

That's not the point, is it.
Could he have spent 15m quid better on another signing? Would the club even have looked at Allen had Rodgers not been here? Likewise 10m Borini.

 

[Hansern]

That's not the point, is it.
Could he have spent 15m quid better on another signing? Would the club even have looked at Allen had Rodgers not been here? Likewise 10m Borini.

Well, I think he would have signed Allen regardless. Borini he probably wouldnt.

Seeing as we didnt have a scouting team set up when he joined, it was natural for him to go after players he knew already. This has also been in some interviews with Rodgers I believe.
They have now been in place since Novemberish and we've signed Sturridge and Coitinho.
I'll be very surprised if we do anymore signings with players he's coached before from now on.

 

[juniormember]

Well, I think he would have signed Allen regardless. Borini he probably wouldnt.

Seeing as we didnt have a scouting team set up when he joined, it was natural for him to go after players he knew already. This has also been in some interviews with Rodgers I believe.
They have now been in place since Novemberish and we've signed Sturridge and Coitinho.
I'll be very surprised if we do anymore signings with players he's coached before from now on.

I think that will have more to do with his record than the scouting network.

 

[refugee]

I worry about the lack of athleticism of most of our signings. Allen, Sahin, Assaidi and Borini lack any significant amount of pace and strength. I have no idea about Coutinho but his height seems to indicate that he isn't the strongest.

Thankfully Sturridge seems to be a lot better, but we could do with a proper athlete in midfield beside Gerrard.

 

[gkmacca]

There's a rumour there's a split in the boardroom with some wanting FSG to concentrate on the Red Sox. Vinik has left, supposedly because of these arguments.

Liverpool FC director and Tampa Bay Lighting owner Jeff Vinik steps down from Anfield board by Steve Graves,
Liverpool EchoFeb 6 2013

A MULTI-millionaire director of Liverpool FC has stepped down from his role at the club. Jeff Vinik had been appointed to the Anfield boardroom in 2010 after the club was bought by a consortium headed by fellow directors John Henry and Tom Werner. Mr Vinik, who owns ice hockey team Tampa Bay Lightning and American football's Tampa Bay Storm, is estimated to be worth more than $500m and made his name running investment funds. The 53-year-old is also a minority owner of the Boston Red Sox baseball team, owned by the same parent company as Liverpool. A club spokesman said: "We can confirm that Jeff Vinik has decided to step down as a board member of Liverpool FC, due to a desire to focus on his investment management and sporting interests. "We would like to thank Jeff for his valuable contribution and wish him well for the future."

 

[Rosco]

And what exactly has it got to do with this thread?

 

[gkmacca]

Have a think, O Tetchy One.

 

[tombrown]

When signings are as unimaginative as ours have been I don't think it can be anyone other than Rodgers making them.

Signing players you worked with before is the hallmark of an average manager.

I think most managers who join a new club end up bringing 1 or 2 of their ex players in early on; the only reason Dalglish didnt do it was because Barnes was carrying an injury at the time, and Hansen was otheriwse engaged on MOTD

 

[gkmacca]

At least it wasn't Jean Michel Ferri.

 

[Rosco]

Have a think, O Tetchy One.

All I can come up with is you don't know where the new post button is.

We're talking About who signs the players, a question which had an obvious answer. And you try to throw in there's some split in the board over it, which there isn't, by saying the board need to focus on the Red Sox, and As an example of that show some director nobody has ever heard of leaving to concentrate on the Tampa bay lightening. Fuck knows Macca, it looks all over the shop to me.

 

[mark1975]

All I can come up with is you don't know where the new post button is.

We're talking About who signs the players, a question which had an obvious answer. And you try to throw in there's some split in the board over it, which there isn't, by saying the board need to focus on the Red Sox, and As an example of that show some director nobody has ever heard of leaving to concentrate on the Tampa bay lightening. Fuck knows Macca, it looks all over the shop to me.

It's ok, most of us are still perplexed trying to work out what standard/age/nationality/pedigree/value/mentality/weight of player you think it's ok to sign.

 

[gkmacca]

This is from last season It sounds like Rodgers really, really, likes Williams.



SWANSEA CITY manager Brendan Rodgers says he wouldn’t swap ever-present defender Ashley Williams for any other player in the Premier League.

Williams’ man-of-the-match performance in the 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Tuesday was the latest in a clutch of eye-catching performances for Swansea this season.

The Wales international hasn’t missed a game in the top flight or cup in this campaign, and his consecutive appearances record in the league stretches back to August 2008.

He has been watched by scouts from almost every Premier League club during his time with Swansea but only Championship outfit Leicester City and Scottish giants Celtic have tabled firm bids for the defender in the past.


Rodgers said: “I know other clubs were looking at him and didn’t think he was big enough to play at the top level, but I am not sure I would swap him for anyone.

“He is a top, top player. Invaluable to me. If you look at the value in the other defenders moving clubs for £7m, £10m, what price could you put on him?

“Ash does not just do it in the big games, he produces every week and it is great for Swansea and Wales he is doing so well.

“He is a top player and I am glad he is thriving at this level.”

Ironically Williams will face West Brom on Saturday, the club who released him as a teenager, which kicked-started his climb from non-League football with Hednesford Town to the Premier League with Swansea, via Stockport County.

The 27-year-old cost Swansea just £400,000 in 2008 but Rodgers says it would be hard to put a price on his head if Swansea were ever to sell him.

Williams’ performances over the last three years, but especially since promotion to the top flight, will undoubtedly make him a target for one of Swansea’s Premier League rivals in the summer but Rodgers is confident he can keep hold of his prize asset.

“I can’t say he wouldn’t be sold at any price, every player has the price because of the club they are at,” said Rodgers.

“All I know is that our players are happy here, proving their worth with a style of football that suits them. So I don’t worry about that.

“I am pleased because when I came in one or two clubs were looking at him but thought he wasn’t tall enough and that must have been difficult for him.

“He was seeing other centre halves without as much ability moving to clubs for big money and he was a guy who wasn’t.

“He is 6ft but can jump as high as players who are 6ft 4in, he is a defender who is as quick as anyone on the turn.

“His mentality is great, he’s tough and he hardly misses a day’s training, then what makes him stand out is his ability. He is not a defender who just defends, he is a footballer.

“I still feel there is more to come for him and thankfully he always wants to improve.

 

[LeTallecWiz]

With all respect to Williams - and he is a decent PL defender - we'd need to shell out 8-10 million minimum to get him ... It's too much imo

 

[Mystic]

If he was younger, maybe, but at his age, no thanks.