25 Apr 2015 21:20:07
Ed02. I'm interested in your view of Ian Ayre as a CEO nogotiator in the transfer market. We had Rick Parry previously, and he at least got deals done, but Ayre doesn't seem to have a clue. We all go in low with a deal and expect to be bidded up, but his dealing is woeful and stubborn, overpaying or losing out with ridiculously insulting low bids. Rumour has it that he wants to offload Lambert plus £10 million to Crystal Palace in exchange for Yannick Bolasie. Pardew scoffed and said 40 to 60 million. Why do we make such stupid offers if we know it will be laughed at? Makes our club a laughing stock.
{Ed002's Note - Firstly, I don't know Ian Ayre at all so I will try and stick to what I know to be correct rather than drop in to conjecture and supposition.
However, I can answer for each of the players that are usually mentioned - and they are not picked by Mr Ayre: (a) Liverpool were accused of tapping up Clint Dempsey which is why Mr Werner and Mr Ayre issued apologies to Fulham in order to have them withdraw their complaint to the FA. A transfer was not going to happen. (b) Mkhitaryan was never going to happen due to the price being too high and Shakhtar wanting a single payment. It would have been dependent on the sale of Suarez. (c) As for Salah, the club's valuation of the player was miles away from what Basal would consider acceptable - hence there being no negotiation. This was made worse by Brendan Rodgers saying that they were not sure if the player was good enough for England and that is why they would not offer anything like a reasonable amount of money on such a high-risk purchase. The player and his club both, quite rightly, found this offensive. (d) The Dnipro owner was always likely to want to keep Konoplyanka - you cannot blame Mr Ayre for not being able to resolve that.
I am pretty sure that I explained all of these at the time.
You can add to that: (e) Willian was a player Liverpool were interested in, but they did not offer enough money to buy him. (f) Costa was not going to happen without selling Suarez - because of the money and because he was seen as his replacement. (g) Sigurdsson decided to sign for Spurs instead of Liverpool because he felt they had a better chance of giving him Champions League football - he was probably wrong - but how many still lust after him?
And don't forget the players he has done the deals for since Brendan Rodgers arrived: Daniel Sturridge, Kolo Touré, Tiago Ilori, Joe Allen, Fabio Borini, Mamadou Sakho, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Simon Mignolet, Coutinho, Oussama Assaidi, Samed Yesil and the loans of Victor Moses, Nuri Sahin and Aly Cissokho. I appreciate many of these players are not favourites of the fans, but you cannot blame Ian Ayre for that - he doesn't pick the players but he did get the transfers done.
You are right about the seeming indecision in going in with a very low offer and not following it up - it will not help anyone and it can make it difficult to negotiate sensibly later.
As for how selling clubs feel about low bids, generally they see it as simply wasting their time and it makes it more difficult to do business between the clubs in the future. I am also aware that a number of senior personnel within EPL clubs found what John Henry said about an Arsenal bid in public 18 months ago to be very disrespectful.
Liverpool perhaps need to become a little more humble in the way they do their transfer business.}
26 Apr 2015 09:31:57
Thanks Ed2 for the very enlightening answer. You have amazing insight. Cheers.
26 Apr 2015 11:07:33
Hats off to you Edds. Amazing insight info.
26 Apr 2015 12:11:20
And Arsenal's infamous "£1" bid wasn't taking the **** !?
{Ed002's Note - They made a bid that met the contractual terms in his contract - Suarez wanted out of Liverpool and wanted to join Arsenal - which is why they were made aware of it. This was to be the basis of Suarez suing the club. Try not to make yourself as stupid as the owners were in that situation.}
26 Apr 2015 12:38:16
Seemingly they were incorrect though.
But, whatever, the following year proved Mr Henry right.
As for Salah, Rodgers was proved correct too. He chose to go where he wished but couldn't settle in London, so what chance he would have done so up north ?
Willian went where he wished to also ; despite Spurs offering the money.
They were just dead ends those two deals.
The club has already said that Sterling is going nowhere in the Summer.
But I guess it's kick a man when he's down time now ed eh ?
26 Apr 2015 13:07:52
You don't mean BR is the man down, right juicer? Because according to him he has the full backing of the owners and the team is exactly where it's suppose to be, barely 5th and 2 cup semifinals! We're doing great!
26 Apr 2015 13:51:21
Was last season just an aberration though Steph ?
If you look at Liverpool's league finishes (not including last year) since 2010, it's been 7th, 6th, 8th, 7th and currently 5th.
If last year was all about Suarez, as some would argue (in which case, see above - better that we never accepted Arsenal's £1) then this season is not that poor.
Saying that Rodgers has given us some crap and brilliance. The only time I've ever walked out of a game early was at West Brom in his first league match in charge, to the fantastic stuff played last year.
I don't know what to think. As I said above, there is an article on TAW which sums this feeling up perfectly.
But I am uncomfortable ripping in to the manager, when last year he oversaw the best football we've seen for 25 years.
26 Apr 2015 13:58:41
I really don't understand your logic Juicer. If the players you mentioned had been shown enough respect they would probably have signed. Ed2 is spot on. And if you think we are kicking Brendan when he is down, then you are sadly mistaken, he put himself there with his strategies and blunders. He's lost the plot. He likes to use the "Fight to the Death" analogies, well he's missed the eight count. Time to throw in the towel mate.
26 Apr 2015 14:27:00
I think you're very much mistaken e-s, those players were always going to Chelsea regardless.
If you feel that way about BR that's your prerogative.
26 Apr 2015 14:27:22
Juicer, yes we played some amazing football last year. Credit goes to Rogers for that. But we got found out and he hasn't got a plan B that he can use to maintain the same standard. Last year was just that, last year. He's proved incapable of achieving anything close this season. So,in your logic we keep him because he had a good season last year, but has failed since. He said himself we overachieved, but does that not apply to his bloated ego too? Or is he immune of any blame?
26 Apr 2015 14:38:47
Awesome season! Wasted half a season screwing up and sleepwalking thru games, wasted money on players, some of which were not needed, spent more money than Chelsea, City, and they are miles as in Chelsea alone, ahead of us, dumped out of the CL and EL like a clinger girlfriend and dropped from 2nd to barely scraping 5th after spending over 100m. If this is success or progress then I need to go to a psychiatrist because I have defo lost my sanity and ability to understand life in general.LMFAO!!!!
26 Apr 2015 14:50:08
E-S, the most serious indictment against the set-up is the failure to recruit the strikers. It's not the case that we've been found out. Just that we're playing without the finishers and have not been able to play the football we've wished.
For me, whoever recruited Balotelli should be the first one / s to get the call to Boston.
Put the striker situation right in the Summer, and I think we can go back to approaching last season's form.
26 Apr 2015 15:18:37
Fair comment Juicer. Nothing personal mate. I do admire your faith though. However some would say its blind. All the best fella.
26 Apr 2015 16:03:02
Well, we're informed that there is not an awful lot in the pot for the Summer transfer window but there'll be even less if the club has to pay off Rodgers and his team.
Strikers situation sorted, tie up Sterling, and a keeper, that would do me !