Parry and Transfers

[kop]

I haven't bothered reading all comments from yesterday's match, but I've registered some on Parry. I wrote an article for the last issue, but never made 'the cut' :whistle:

 

If you bother to read it, remember that it was written approx the day after the transfer window shut.

 

In short (and a version I might've made the mag with ;) :

Parry has a lot of qualities but transfer's is not one of them. Get in a new person to do that part of his work.

 

****************************************************************************

We have seen heights and lows during Rafael Benitez’ first year as manager of Liverpool FC, the kind of ups and down this club lives for and makes it so special. The heights has been many, and culminated with the final in Istanbul where we once again were crowned as Champions of Europe. If someone’s told me we were going to win champions league in Benitez’ first year in charge I would’ve laughed it of and put it on the overoptimistic account. To say that we live for lows is of course an exaggeration, but lows also create an engagement on the lines of heights, and the engagement in this club is one of the factors that make it so special. It is however not last season I’m now going to comment on, it’s rather the period between last season and the current one, which is rightly called “silly season”. The fact that we now are reigning champions of Europe gives us unique possibilities as a club, and gave us a viewpoint ahead of “silly season” we seldom have.

 

We created values through winning champions league. We created pure financial profit from prize money, TV-rights and bonuses from our sponsors; we maintained our unique traditions as a top European club, and last but not least we made ourselves more attractive to the best players in the world. Now when the transfer window has shut we can ask ourselves; how did we administrate our newly acquired values during the summer?

 

To find the answers to this we have to see what kind of needs we as a club have and what’s required to take the step back to the top of the table. We have short-term needs through strengthening the squad, and we have long-term needs involving stadium facilities amongst others. The latter is an article in its own and I’m not going to say that much about it except that whether we build a new stadium or renew Anfield; it’s a need that requires resources and must be taken in consideration when we try to cover our short term needs. So let’s focus on our short term goals. The way I’ve understood the management headed by Benitez, through direct comments in the media and through common sense, we had, and still have, some need when it came to the squad. The following list is assumptions from my side, but for those who follow Liverpool FC closely most of the points are matters of course. The list can be read as a prioritized list, but I’m not laying any prestige in the order of it except for maybe the first two. We needed:

1. A new right wing

2. A new centre back

3. To renew our reserve- and academy teams with young talents.

4. A new goalkeeper

5. A different type of striker, one who can offer something else to the team, especially away from home

6. Depth; a stronger squad in general

7. Michael Owen

 

Now I don’t know for sure how the process of purchasing players works in Liverpool FC, but I assume Rafael Benitez through his scouting system identifies suitable players and then gives a (prioritized?) list to those in charge of checking out availability and price and thereafter start the process of negotiations. Those in charge of this are Rick Parry and his staff I recon. The ultimate responsibility rests on Mr. Parry’s shoulders. So how has Parry functioned in this important role this summer? Some might say he’s done a good job while others…..wait a minute, is there really someone who thinks he’s done a good job? I might be possible that someone think he’s not let us down as hard that there should be consequences for his job, but there’s surely no one who thinks he’s done good? Well, I am of the opinion that he in this part of his job has let us down so much that questions should be raised about his further involvement in the purchasing and selling of players.

 

Rick Parry was highly regarded when Liverpool hired him, and he’s been a key person in the transforming process from the minute Liverpool FC found out that we were about to become an old-fashioned club to this day when we’ve become better at using our commercial potential. I very much doubt that he was as highly regarded for his purchasing and selling of players, simply because he didn’t have the necessary experience in that department of the magnitude you will see in Liverpool FC. A learning process works for young lads coming to a club to develop into good football-players, but should be over a long time ago for a Chief Executive. One can therefore ask the question whether Rick Parry is as competent to handle transfers as he is in his ordinary chore. It seems as this transfer-process is a process that’s actually quite unique in the world of business. One factor that makes it unique is that one can crash into virtually any sort of people in your way, from the most experienced and competent people to “Mr. Voluntary” in a small club which just happened to have a great talent in their ranks at the moment. In situations like that it’s easy to use, and be used. The one responsible for transfers at our club, shouldn’t have it as a mean to use other people, but should as a minimum not be used and exploited by others. The events during this summer give us the right to ask the question whether Parry sometimes is used. Cases like Owen to Real, Baros to Villa, Owen to Newcastle, the Simão-case, etc, suggest a pattern rather than one-timers. It’s probably unfair to say that Parry has mishandled all of those, but the more cases of doubt we see the bigger the probability get for Parry to be the weak link in stead of the strong link he should be.

 

There is another relation that I personally think has played a vital role in our poor attempt to bring in a right winger and a centre back. Early this summer it became known to the public that Michael Owen wanted away from Real Madrid. You could also read between the lines that Liverpool was his preferred destination. Gradually it became the lines it self, not only that in between, that told us this. From the moment this became a public story our management had no choice, they had to try and get him. It wasn’t as a result of pressure from the fans alone they went in for him, they clearly wanted him themselves (and from where I stand; Parry & co more than Benitez). This can have ruined a lot. A conclusion in the Owen-case didn’t happen until the day before the transfer window closed. Up until that day Parry & co had bound capital in an Owen deal that never happened, and about £10m worth of it. That’s why we were linked with £1m-£2m players like Stelios and Solano. From the moment Owen signed for Newcastle we had money untied and we could bid for players like Simão. Only it was too late, and we had in reality no other choice but to let us be blackmailed once, and to put our foot down when Benfica tried to blackmail us for the second time in about as many hours. It was a transfer that was bound to fail as it was too high profiled and too many participants involved for the deal to go through. We will hopefully be in for him I January though, as I for one was beginning to like the idea of him in a Liverpool shirt.

 

To sum up our dealings this summer I have to say we have failed. We did buy a goalkeeper, and probably a good one too judging by his reputation in Spain. We have to see if he cuts it in England in general and Liverpool FC in particular but if we’ve bought a world class goalie he’s worth 10 points easy. We did get a new striker, and Crouch does bring something new to the squad. He is proven premier league quality too, so a good buy from Benitez in my opinion. We’ve also brought in some depth in Zenden and Sissoko, and Sissoko in particular has already shown that he can be more than depth. At the same time we have lost Biscan and Diao (from those who actually got games last year) but in sum I would say we have more quality in our squad. We’ve also brought in several youngsters so the renewing of our younger lines has been a success. At least one of them (Barragan) can be used in the senior squad as well, so he also fits the “depth-bill”. So we did achieve 4 out of our 7 goals, but there’s 3 left. Two of those three is in excess the two most important and precarious. We had 3 months to make the deals happen (and even more time to identify potential signings), but we couldn’t make it happen. That is simply not good enough.

 

So what will the consequences of our poor handlings this summer become? To split them in two; there is one consequence directly related to the performance on the pitch, and there’s one of the pitch. The first I can only guess while the latter I can suggest.

 

On the pitch I would say that we are in a better condition per Sept 1st than we were last season. If we were to finish this season with the current squad I would still say Liverpool were to finish top 4. When we now seem to be hard to beat, we don’t concede many goals and we create lots of opportunities (as Benitez use to put it), I think we will be in a good spot come January. We can then bring in the necessary players in key positions and make a run at it from there. But is this an excuse for not being able to bring in players in those key positions during the summer? No. No. No. If we are 5th, 20 points behind the leader in January there’s a distinct possibility we would’ve been closer to the leaders with a Simão and a Bonera in our team. If we are second, 3 points behind the leader, well in that case we could’ve been the leaders ourselves with the players in question. So it doesn’t matter if we get them in January in stead. Those 2, 3, 5, 10 or whatever points we could’ve had with them in the team is lost for ever come January.

 

The consequences of the pitch are about our management. I’m tempted to say that Parry should get his notice, but at the same time I’m aware of that my own state of mind in the days after September 1st might be just a little bit overheated. My suggested consequences is therefore that Parry from now on sticks to what he knows best and let the responsibility of purchasing and selling players go to someone else. We probably have competent people in our ranks, and if not we should do some external recruiting. A person responsible for transfers is of such an importance that we shouldn’t be afraid to pay good money to secure his services either. As an example; a competent person could make a £2m difference in a Baros-deal, £3m in an Owen to Real Madrid-deal, £1m in a Crouch-deal, he could be the difference in a Simão-transfer…and it goes on and on. Only from these examples alone it’s a £6m difference, and I dare say that those examples weren’t even exaggerated. That’s why I say; bring in a person responsible for transfers, one who is competent in that particular business that do not need a learning process and knows what he’s doing. And let Parry do, well, something else.

[Rushian]

We were in talks over the price for Simao for two weeks before the window closed and had at least three bids of over 5m turned down for defenders before the conclusion of the Owen saga. There was at least 17m on the table unspent at the end of the transfer window.

 

Out of interest which person has impressed you in handling transfer dealings? How would you advertise for the post?

[kop]

We were in talks over the price for Simao for two weeks before the window closed and had at least three bids of over 5m turned down for defenders before the conclusion of the Owen saga. There was at least 17m on the table unspent at the end of the transfer window.

 

Out of interest which person has impressed you in handling transfer dealings? How would you advertise for the post?[/QUOTE]

 

That's a very good question, and one I should've adressed in the article. I'm not sure who it should've been to be honest, but it would have to be a person with negotiations as his strong side. Teams like Real, Milan, Chelsea, etc always seems to get the players they want but the also have different budgets than us. Smaller teams like Charlton and Bolton also seem to have some success in the transfer marked, but I've no idea who does the negotiations for them.

[Rashid]

We were in talks over the price for Simao for two weeks before the window closed and had at least three bids of over 5m turned down for defenders before the conclusion of the Owen saga. There was at least 17m on the table unspent at the end of the transfer window.

 

Out of interest which person has impressed you in handling transfer dealings? How would you advertise for the post?

 

How about we get the man who handles transfers at Real or Barcelona on board? They seem to get good players in for a good price, how about we tried to get Arneson in?

 

Are you suggesting Parry is a good wheeler dealer on the back of a good deal he got for the Premier League? The man's a dinasour when it comes to transfers.

[Hermes]

Out of interest which person has impressed you in handling transfer dealings?

 

Roman Abramovich has impressed me.

[Rushian]

Roman Abramovich has impressed me.

 

I'll write to him and ask him to switch clubs.

[Rashid]

Roman Abramovich has impressed me.

 

On a more serious note, Greame Souness hasn't done badly this past year.

 

Boumsong, Emre, Luque, Owen, Parker. Apart from Parker the others would into our team.

[Rashid]

I'll write to him and ask him to switch clubs.

 

Do you think Parry has a good transfer track record?

[Rushian]

Do you think Parry has a good transfer track record?

 

I don't see any difference between us and other top clubs taking into account respective budgets. Those that do often have highly selective memories.

[Rashid]

Would anyone say Morientes, Josemi, Crouch, Zenden, Nunez etc, have been a success? I also have doubts about Rafa's judgement in the transfer market. I think this is the first job where he has full control of targets. He hasn't excelled.

[WeAreTheBest]

On a more serious note, Greame Souness hasn't done badly this past year.

 

Boumsong, Emre, Luque, Owen, Parker. Apart from Parker the others would into our team.

 

Have you seen Boumsong lately? Even Newcastle fans hate him. Luque is about as consistant as Harry Kewell.

[Rashid]

I don't see any difference between us and other top clubs taking into account respective budgets. Those that do often have highly selective memories.

 

Then why are we 12th with a set of underperforming players? Whydid he pay £7M for Crouch in the same summer he sold Baros for £6.5M?

 

Why have we taken huge hits on Diouf, Heskey etc? Cisse £14M? Monumental cock up over Simao and Owen. Steve Gerrard made to wait on a contract. Etc. No Investment to pay for the grat players, buck stops with Parry and you know it Steve. Even Newcastle, Tottenham have great ambition than him and they are small time compared to us, currently and historically.

[Rashid]

Have you seen Boumsong lately? Even Newcastle fans hate him. Luque is about as consistant as Harry Kewell.

 

He is a good player mate, but can't defend on his own. Luque is also a good player but agree with Kewell comparisons. But for Newcastle with no Europe and no history to attract these players is credit to them. By comparison its like us buying Ronaldino.

[WeAreTheBest]

He is a good player mate, but can't defend on his own. Luque is also a good player but agree with Kewell comparisons. But for Newcastle with no Europe and no history to attract these players is credit to them. By comparison its like us buying Ronaldino.

 

He isnt good imo, he's absolutely shocking, he cant be far off being one of the worst defenders in the League at the moment. He looked good for a few games to begin with but has gone shit ever since

[kop]

I don't see any difference between us and other top clubs taking into account respective budgets. Those that do often have highly selective memories.

 

There's one difference in my opinion. We clearly stated that our main priority was an defender and a right wing. The right wing has been a priority for a long time but we've still not managed to get one. That's just not good enough.

 

On the players we have got, we have as good (or bad) record as any. I've previous made a point that when buying new players, there's a general 'ruel' (or at least my ruel) that for each success-buy, there's one mediocre player and one bad signing. That's just the risk of buying players and I don't think we are better or worse than other teams when it comes to the share of successful signings contra bad ones.

[Rushian]

Then why are we 12th with a set of underperforming players? Whydid he pay £7M for Crouch in the same summer he sold Baros for £6.5M?

 

Why have we taken huge hits on Diouf, Heskey etc? Cisse £14M? Monumental cock up over Simao and Owen. Steve Gerrard made to wait on a contract. Etc. No Investment to pay for the grat players, buck stops with Parry and you know it Steve. Even Newcastle, Tottenham have great ambition than him and they are small time compared to us, currently and historically.

 

Again as always you're being extremely selective in your use of facts, muddling managerial player choices with executive decisions, and ignoring the financial realities of any club who chooses not to go massively into debt or pimp off a Russian oligarch.

 

I asked a question a month back about what Liverpool fans want.

 

Some want us to spend ten of millions without being too commercial, without leaving Anfield, without sponsoring the name of the new stadium, without going into debt, without out of towners buying tickets, without the price of tickets rising, without a sponsor on the shirt, without investment from Thailand, without groundshare, without buying foreign players, without summer tours to America and the Far East, without competing in the World Club Cup, without a Malcolm Glazer, without becoming a plc, without spending that extra 2-3m on players the manager chooses as transfer targets who turn out to be duds 2 years down line, without missing out on the manager's transfer targets by not spending that extra 2-3m to secure who he wants.

 

What principles are you prepared to sacrifice?

[chrisbonnie]

does anybody actually have a ball pary figure of how much money we has to spend in the summer

 

actualyl, no, to narrow it down, how much we had left?

[Rushian]

There's one difference in my opinion. We clearly stated that our main priority was an defender and a right wing. The right wing has been a priority for a long time but we've still not managed to get one. That's just not good enough.

 

I'd agree with you on that and made the point on here and other forums at the end of the transfer window. Rafa had money to spend but chose to:

 

i) spend 6m on a keeper when we had three keepers at the club

ii) spend 7m on a striker with no pace and just half a season of form and who mentally didn't look string enough to play for a big club

iii) spend 5.6m on a central midfielder, no matter how promising, when it was the strongest part of the team

 

Our priorities from day one had to be to improve the wide positions and the centreback options. In fact we've needed a right wing for 3-4 seasons. Rafa failed to do that.

[chrisbonnie]

never mind the last 3 or 4 seasons

 

smicer was McMannamans repalcement, he wasnt a right winger, so, basically, its been about 7 years since we had winger

 

thats down right crazy :wallbutt:

[Josef Svejk]

Have you seen Boumsong lately? Even Newcastle fans hate him. Luque is about as consistant as Harry Kewell.

 

Boumsong is atrocious, I agree. Luque, however, is a terrific player. And no more inconsistent than any of the top wingers around (which excludes Kewell in any case)...

[JangoSolo]

Some want us to spend ten of millions without being too commercial, without leaving Anfield, without sponsoring the name of the new stadium, without going into debt, without out of towners buying tickets, without the price of tickets rising, without a sponsor on the shirt, without investment from Thailand, without groundshare, without buying foreign players, without summer tours to America and the Far East, without competing in the World Club Cup, without a Malcolm Glazer, without becoming a plc, without spending that extra 2-3m on players the manager chooses as transfer targets who turn out to be duds 2 years down line, without missing out on the manager's transfer targets by not spending that extra 2-3m to secure who he wants.

 

What principles are you prepared to sacrifice?

Got to say that about sums up the issues with Liverpool at the moment, we are an Old fashioned Club, with old fashioned values, how much longer can we compete if we aren't willing to conceed a few of those? The point about OOTers is particulary stupid, we have all here prided ourselves on how popular our club is in the world, so why complain about fans that aren't from liverpool (which is not directed at you, Rushian)?

 

All these things listed by Rushian are what enables a club to be successful, I don't personally agree with them all, but as a club we have to be more reuthless in certain quarters

 

And as regards money and pride/dignity, sometimes you just have to take the hit on the likes of Owen and Simao if those players are the difference between success and mediocrity then you have to pay the price, its all very well saying "well I think we were right not to be ripped off" (I have used this arguement many times) but at the end of the day when you are ensconced in mid table becuase your team is lacking quality on the wing or up front maybe you should ask yourself whether that extra million or so would have been worth it? Just ask Chelsea and even Newcastle.

 

I think it is.

[Rashid]

Again as always you're being extremely selective in your use of facts, muddling managerial player choices with executive decisions, and ignoring the financial realities of any club who chooses not to go massively into debt or pimp off a Russian oligarch.

 

I asked a question a month back about what Liverpool fans want.

 

Some want us to spend ten of millions without being too commercial, without leaving Anfield, without sponsoring the name of the new stadium, without going into debt, without out of towners buying tickets, without the price of tickets rising, without a sponsor on the shirt, without investment from Thailand, without groundshare, without buying foreign players, without summer tours to America and the Far East, without competing in the World Club Cup, without a Malcolm Glazer, without becoming a plc, without spending that extra 2-3m on players the manager chooses as transfer targets who turn out to be duds 2 years down line, without missing out on the manager's transfer targets by not spending that extra 2-3m to secure who he wants.

 

What principles are you prepared to sacrifice?

 

Which brings me to the point, do you think Parry is maximising our potential? Why has it taken the most successful club in English football and current European Champions 3 years to find an investor?

 

I am happy for us to be commercial, to expand Anfield if need be, and to buy top players using money we generate from the gate and prize money. That should give us a fair wedge considering we are Liverpool FC. Instead we act small time, this summers signings as European Champions have been small time.

[kop]

I'd agree with you on that and made the point on here and other forums at the end of the transfer window. Rafa had money to spend but chose to:

 

i) spend 6m on a keeper when we had three keepers at the club

ii) spend 7m on a striker with no pace and just half a season of form and who mentally didn't look string enough to play for a big club

iii) spend 5.6m on a central midfielder, no matter how promising, when it was the strongest part of the team

 

Our priorities from day one had to be to improve the wide positions and the centreback options. In fact we've needed a right wing for 3-4 seasons. Rafa failed to do that.

 

Do you think it's Rafa's fault? The way I see it Rafa has asked for players, and Parry has failed to deliver. The way we went for Owen is, at least in my opinion, a proof of our failures. I know that Dave and probably yourself are saying that Rafa wanted Owen as mutch as the rest of the management, but I honestly don't think so. I firmly believe that going after Owen tampered with other transfer targets, and that the main reason we went for Owen lies other places than with Rafa.

[JangoSolo]

I'd agree with you on that and made the point on here and other forums at the end of the transfer window. Rafa had money to spend but chose to:

 

i) spend 6m on a keeper when we had three keepers at the club

ii) spend 7m on a striker with no pace and just half a season of form and who mentally didn't look string enough to play for a big club

iii) spend 5.6m on a central midfielder, no matter how promising, when it was the strongest part of the team

 

Our priorities from day one had to be to improve the wide positions and the centreback options. In fact we've needed a right wing for 3-4 seasons. Rafa failed to do that.

Gotta agree with point 1 - I think Carson form what I have seen from him, looks very capable - I don't see anything in Reina that I can't see in any of the other keepers we have inc Kirkland, but as for the others, if we had achiebed the target of a winger and CB the signings as a whole would have looked much better.

[Rashid]

Got to say that about sums up the issues with Liverpool at the moment, we are an Old fashioned Club, with old fashioned values, how much longer can we compete if we aren't willing to conceed a few of those? The point about OOTers is particulary stupid, we have all here prided ourselves on how popular our club is in the world, so why complain about fans that aren't from liverpool (which is not directed at you, Rushian)?

 

All these things listed by Rushian are what enables a club to be successful, I don't personally agree with them all, but as a club we have to be more reuthless in certain quarters

 

And as regards money and pride/dignity, sometimes you just have to take the hit on the likes of Owen and Simao if those players are the difference between success and mediocrity then you have to pay the price, its all very well saying "well I think we were right not to be ripped off" (I have used this arguement many times) but at the end of the day when you are ensconced in mid table becuase your team is lacking quality on the wing or up front maybe you should ask yourself whether that extra million or so would have been worth it? Just ask Chelsea and even Newcastle.

 

I think it is.

 

Spot on there fella, I'd rather have 1 great player as opposed to 5 average ones. E.g I'd rather one Michael Owen rather than Crouch and Morientes. Same money two players who have been average and one great player who loves us. I thought after turning down Duff for Diouf and Cheyrou would have tought us a lesson by now.