Liverpool Rumours Archive December 19 2017

19 Dec 2017 23:19:20
Hi Ed’s, Long time reader. Thank you

With Marco Asensio threatening to leave if Hazard joins RM, is there a chance Liverpool May be interested? It was reported that we put a bid in last summer.

{Ed002's Note - He won’t be moving to Liverpool Boot. Sorry.}

19 Dec 2017 17:09:27
Is there much of a chance that Emre stays?

{Ed002's Note - I think it is unlikely. There are a number of clubs who will look to direct talks with the player in January.}

19 Dec 2017 17:56:25
And if he does indeed leave in January ed do you expect a replacement, or wait until the Summer?

{Ed002's Note - Clubs are not looking to a January transfer but to talk to the player about a pre-contract for a summer move. Liverpool has more than enough midfield players at the moment and Nobby Keita is arriving in the summer.}

19 Dec 2017 18:21:09
Cheers ed. Emre qnd Couts will be missed but they both hsve the chance of playing on a higher platform. can't fault them for wanting to improve there playing careers and win trophys.

19 Dec 2017 18:45:08
What higher platform is Emre Can going to be playing on? Juventus are not a bigger club than Liverpool, either or Dortmund. What everyone and Emre needs to realise is that if he was under a longterm contract Juventus would have no interest in him, they'll promise him the world now but after a few poor performances or when the next young Italian star comes along he'll be dropped or sold in a flash. for a nice tidy profit of course.

{Ed002's Note - what he means is that he will be playing at the higher level - challenging for silverware.}

19 Dec 2017 19:27:01
I know what he means. he'll be challenging for silverware staying here.

19 Dec 2017 19:45:52
Ed 002, I am curious as to your thoughts on how Liverpool should progress as a club that can continually challenge for trophies? Anytime one of our players takes their game to the next level (Suarez, Couthino, Etc), clubs try and buy them from us. Yet when we dig our heels in we end up taking stick for it.
We can try and develop youngsters but once they turn 25 if those same clubs come knocking wanting to buy the cycle will repeat itself. Do we just need new owners with more money?

{Ed002's Note - That is just the transfer process - I am not sure why Liverpool fans feel hard done by. It is the same for all clubs.

This was a simple six point plan to get the entire club back on a good footing that I proposed a while back:

1. Corporate Business: Liverpool have done well financially out of the sponsorship and partnership agreements but in some cases have sold their soul to the devil and in others the deal is not as good as it could be for a club of the profile of Liverpool. Look to move away from Standard Chartered and bring in a higher profile and better paying sponsor as soon as is practical. The deal with New Balance/Warrior was a major mistake and the club need to exit it as soon as possible – sadly the boat to get a deal with Adidas after Chelsea dumped them has sailed. Any deals with organisations that are socially questionable (e.g. Bet Victor), socially bankrupt or have caused the club embarrassment (e.g. Dunkin’ Donuts), nonsense (Nivea and the club’s official coconut water supplier TCC), are from a country with controversial human rights (flag carrier Malaysian Airlines – who replaced just as bad Indonesia’s Garuda) should be cancelled or run down as soon as possible. Being on morally better ground will make a club with Liverpool’s profile to get better profile sponsors.

Status: Still not good.

2. Football Business: Liverpool has revamped in the past three years from top to bottom but yet Klopp is still getting an easy ride and the transfer windows are far from successful. Two things to do (a) get a decent Director of Football in (not taking the advice of anyone who suggests Damien Comolli would be a good idea), and (b) explain to Klopp that his inability to adapt is a large part of the problem as to why Liverpool are still inconsistent.

Status: Michael Edwards appointed - not ideal in my view.

3. Fan Considerations: Establish a point of liaison with fan representatives (Ed001 perhaps and the sad fat guy who runs the other site - I don't recall his name) but do not involve the Spirit of Shankly in any way – a bunch of morons in a pub who want the club handed over to them and are planning already to give the owners a hard time starting again this summer need to be brushed aside. If they are interested in buying the club they need to be told to have their bankers call when they have a $1B Banker’s Draft in hand and the club will be sold to them. If they want to act responsibly and represent supporters they need to lose the aggressive and controntational approach.

Status: The club has addressed this and appointed someone.

4. Wrest Power Back from the Players: Players at high profile teams (in particular in the Premier League and a few other individual players dotted around Europe) are not fully focussed on doing what they are employed to do, and in many cases are paid well to do. I would get someone in (a really knowledgeable football guy who can advise the club) and have them speak to each of the players to really understand where their focus is and where they want to be. I would also have a suitable advisor go right through all of the coaching staff and look at the methods of coaching. I would then get the players together and tell them that the club will be making addendums to their contracts requiring such things as responsible behaviour, not wearing flimsy designer football boots that offer little protection, wearing black boots only in games, responsible usage of social media, banning all at club visits by hairdressers and car salesmen, banning the use of all hair care products etc.. The players need to be controlled in any interviews and interviews, and any endorsements, should all be arranged through the club. Any players to which the club is making payments to third parties for such nonsense as image rights need to be moved on or the contracts amended at no penalty to the club. Then they need to be asked if they buy in to the club and these changes – if they don’t their agents can be told that the club is happy for them to find new employers for their charges.

Status: Nothing has been done.

5. Reserves and Loans: Firstly get some structure and planning for a career path and look to establish relationships with a couple of sides such that the loan system can work for the club. The liaison structure is critical as whilst managers may occasionally see players it is generally something undertaken by others dedicated to the task. As an example, each loan player from Chelsea has a liaison officer assigned (some are ex-players) who regularly see them, deal with any issues and report progress back to the club. For instance there was a problem with a couple of players in the Netherlands and that resulted in the club having them get involved with spending some time with the local community (schools and charities). Chelsea has also helped clubs they have and are building relationships with - this may include providing training facilities, loaning coaching staff, having ex-players works with them in some capacity etc.. They have a structure in the Netherlands and Belgium in addition to relationships with South American and old Eastern Bloc countries. They are currently working a deal with a Champions League side as well. Similarly in Italy I know that the clubs with a significant number of players on loan have regular contact and bring them back as a group for training on a couple of occasions mid-season. I am sure there will be someone at Liverpool keeping contact with the younger players on loan where there are legal responsibilities as some are still technically children but others on loan from Liverpool reported the occasional text message only – simply not good enough. Many clubs in Spain and Portugal have built relationships with other sides and it helps with brining in players from South America.

This still needs to be addressed.

6. On Field: Whilst the fans want significant changes every year the club needs to get in to the position of making small changes to improve the team each season, not simply discarding the work done and starting again. It has not worked with the recent managers at the club and Damien Comolli was a massive mistake (which I did explain here the day he joined). Right now the side is not too far away but like other managers it is a task Klopp struggles with – so the club need a good footballing guy as Director of Football to help out. Financially the club need to be self-sufficient or making a profit – particularly given the additional media income. Give Klopp the marquee buy of Julian Brandt this summer and then fix the problem areas though sales.

Status: Financially the club is better placed, ion field the side is playing well but is still inconsistent - but moving in the right direction.}

19 Dec 2017 20:51:20
Cheers Ed for the response. I also appreciate your answers to the follow up questions. To your response on the status of the club, I agree with each of your six points, and I hope you don't mind me adding my opinions on the matters.

1) I miss the Carlsberg and Adidas days - though we can still do better. Perhaps Nike would pick us up after Man United moved to Adidas?

2) Why can't we purchase a decent defender?

3) I think Tony Barrett is doing a fine job, but will struggle since Liverpool has some of the most delusional fans out there.

4) I don't think we'll ever see this happen. The Spice Boys got this tradition started at Liverpool, and even a consummate professional like Stevie G couldn't get rid of it.

5) I hate when you use Chelsea as a role model (personal reasons, namely jealousy) but I think they are the perfect one for how a loan system should work. IMO, Chelsea is one of the most well run businesses in football, up there with clubs like Monaco, Porto, Ajax. They always seem to break even or profit during transfer windows while improving their squad.

6) Inconsistent yes, but also fun to watch.

I'm not the most knowledgeable fan on the business side of things. I've only been watching the Premier League for the past 15 years (I'm American), and the stuff available to read doesn't seem to provide nearly as much about how things truly are as the Eds on this website. If I'm wrong, on anything, please correct me. But I do like the current status of our club. We are an entertaining side, can compete with the biggest of clubs on any given match day, and have plenty of room for improvement. Thanks again for your time!

{Ed002's Note - I am also an American. But not a Yankee. I think your points are good.}

19 Dec 2017 20:55:15
Your knowledge Ed2 is absolutely incredible and I admire it, thanks for the second time today.

{Ed002's Note - You are most welcome.}

19 Dec 2017 22:33:27
It's more of a satirical use of "Yankee" for me. I'm calling myself out as an American before anyone else can. I'm actually from the Southeastern US where Yankee is often used in a derogatory fashion towards "outsiders. "

{Ed002's Note - I am from the West Coast - you would never hear the word used.}

19 Dec 2017 23:08:15
brilliant, absolutely brilliant stuff Ed. The New Balance deal ends after next season, I believe do you know if they are speaking with anyone else or is it too soon?

{Ed002's Note - I think it goes on rather longer and I am not aware of any discussions with others just yet.}

19 Dec 2017 23:10:37
Fantastic and appreciated review of the clubs current status ed002. Cheers for your input, although iv no doubt it won’t be long before someone disagrees/ takes imaginary insult and says something silly on here!

20 Dec 2017 03:52:24
Great post Ed2, touched on a lot of good subjects there. Curious, what is your opinion on Liverpool getting a B team? Worth it?

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool already has one - they are currently top of play of Premier League 2.}

20 Dec 2017 10:28:35
Wow, Ed002, I don't even know what to say! Someone smart at Melwood should be hiring you right now if only there was anyone from the echelons reading or following this site. Even though you're not a Liverpool fan, your vision for how to run the club is unbelievable! Who could argue with all you just laid out?
Thanks Ed!

20 Dec 2017 10:48:14
Fantastic insight and comments to move LFC forward, thanks for that eds.

20 Dec 2017 17:58:04
As always great insights. Stil I have a couple of questions for you Ed 002, and a couple of comments.

1. I know we have made many mistakes appointing Sporting directors; but i wish to know what would make a candidate for Sporting director a good fit for this job, and what would make him/ her a good fit for liverpool sporting director spot.

2. In your point about Wrest Power Back from the Players, you talk about player's image rights, oeher third parties payments, and some of the other clauses you would addemend. So my question, is there any big club that right now has this kind of clauses on their players (specially on their star players) . I ask, beacuse as mucha as this is desirable, i can't imagine players and specially agents, nowdays would like to sign this kind of clauses.

3. I don't know if this was part of your point about football business, but our status and image in the transfer system has been awful for years. So if we can't clean our image, and if we can't get a good mix of players in tranfer windows we will continue in a all life transition team, just bringing good prospects or signing lots of mediocre players, never stablishing a team that can really compete at the highest level again.

4. I love Klopp, he has made a stronger team and squad, but you are right he should have found some solutions by now in problems we have had for a long long time. Stil impressed Migs's our number 1 (I like the lad, but just can't have him as n1 of a team trying to win PL and CL) . Defense and the issue of fitness/ rotation/ consistence are just other.

Hopefully we'll get back into greatest teams again. Since one or two years i think we are finally going forward; just hope we continue to go that way.

{Ed002's Note - (1) Yes, Liverpool has screwed up. Better options would be the likes of Rangnick, Zorc, Monchi, Marotta or Raul Sanllehi (who has just joined Arsenal. The pick would be Luis Campos. (2) Yes, at least one Liverpool player benefitted from substantial payments up until recently from image rights. Other clubs have players who have a serioes of strange clauses. In the past there have been players paid in classic cars and oil paintings and many paid off shore in tax free havens. Most of that has gone. (3) Liverpool need to act professionally for a sustained period if the wish to build a good image and have other clubs show respect to them. (4) Klopp is a good manager but the great manager learn from their mistakes.}

20 Dec 2017 20:23:47
Thank you very much for the response Ed 002! I got an idea of the kind of sporting direcor you'll be looking for.