In a poll ran by Football Fancast, nearly two-thirds of Liverpool fans disagree with Liverpool co-owner John W Henry that January might not be the best time to spend money on new players. Out of 1,482 who voted in the poll, 63% (937) felt that the Reds should not wait until the summer before spending on players to improve the squad, while only 37% (545) felt that the Reds should “definitely” hold fire on transfers until June. Replying to questions put forward for Liverpool fan site Red and White Kop, Henry said about the January transfer window:
“We have work to do and must invest in this club to improve it on the field. Can that be successfully done in January? A number of people I’ve talked with doubt it. Most people seem to think it will be the summer before we can really begin to improve.”
I have mixed feelings myself about spending in the January. Since the introduction of the transfer window, January has always been a sellers market. Players are generally over-priced as under-performing clubs, either relegation threatened or, like Liverpool, performing below expectations, compete furiously for the few genuinely good players that are on the market.
The January market is also very different from the summer as many clubs are reluctant to sell players mid season when they are either competing in European competitions or challenging for domestic titles. Considering the market is only open for a month too, if a club does choose to sell a player then they have very little time to find a replacement, and therefore sky high prices are demanded for their top assets. This is surely the advice that John W Henry has been given, and mentions in the quote above about being reluctant to spend big in January.
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Well if Roys still there in January he shouldnt be allowed to spend a penny unless Commoli does the spending. If Henry doesn’t spend then Roy has got an excuse for not getting in the top 4.
Realisticaly i think we all knew we would do majority of our spending and selling in the summer, but i do still think we will buy a couple if not more in January, just hope Roys gone by then……YNWA
I really hpoe he’s gone soon. It’s very depressing to watch Liverpool .NESW get rid of him now. Please, please, please
I agree with John Henry, in that we would all like to strengthen in January, I do not want us buying mediocre players just for the sake of it. Then spending the next 3 or 4 years trying to offload them (Riera, Bable, etc). I dont want panic buys, I want class players and if that means we wait until the summer so be it. We can get back up into 4th/5th with the team we have. But to push for 1st then we need class and we all know these players are unlikely to be available in January.
He never said he wasnt going to spend, and to be fair probably 63% of people in general have no business acumen
well said
if a proven class striker is not bought in january, then the new people dont know what they are doing, i have my doubts about their judgement in keeping this manager. they say they are winners, just where do they see a winner in mr hodgson, benitez and all recent liverpool managers were judged by the past success and it cost some their jobs but but mr hodgson says we must not look at the past, well we will because he is no different than the others.
Just having another class striker isn’t going to help as much as having a top quality wide-man – what’s the point in having two target men and nobody to get the ball to them in quality areas.
Quality in the wide areas is more important to improving our attack than anything else (barring the removal of Hodgson and his negative tactics)…
I recon there will be a signing just to make a statement towards the players of NESV inentions in the summer.
The only addition that is likely to be brought in is an additional striker. But we will never attract top players if Torres and Reina decide to leave.
Therefore I feel it is imperitive to buy 2 or 3 class players in january even if they are over priced. Get us back in the top 4 and we will keep Reina and Torres..
I agree totally, if we don’t get back in the top 4 and don’t show any fight from now until the end of season why would Torres and Reina want to stay. The likes of Gerrard and Carragher might be deluded and belive in Roy but the rest of us fans who go to the games paid with our hard earned cash have had enough of these drab performances……YNWA
Funnily the only way we can strengthen in January is to a ‘mutual’ parting of ways with Roy though I am now a bit concerned with our new owners. Besides getting rid of the loathed old owners, They seem to be doing nothing different from the old owners apart from no public bickering.
Many fans want new management but John Henry has kept backing him against fans wishes..What happened to listening to fans? Now this is a bit of concern given he John Henry readily readily admits he is learning the game but at the same time feels he knows more about the performances than fans who have followed the team for ages who are now so fed up if this wasn’t a new ownership, we would be seeing more protests.
John Henry states this is not Roy’s team but seems to overlook the fact that Roy has brought in Poulsen and Konchesky who have weakened the team while paying over £11million on Meireles who he doesn’t seem to know how to best utilise. Any sane person would have thought the club would be sronger with Meireles doing the defensive work with licence to go forward interchanging with Gerard while Aquilani would be doing the creative work in midfield. If Insua was not replaced by a worse player in Konchesky, the club may have saved £4.5million while potentially making £2million from the 2 youngster who were the top up in the deal for the former Fulham man.
With the current setup, top 4 will be a dream and we may be back in champions league as of 2012-13 and possibly lose key players as well as attracting no players who care for their own careers.
Just watch how the Fifa World Cup under 19 Golden boot winner Pacheco has disappeared from the scene yet we struggle to score.
Look guys, if we are to get back into the top four, it’s necessary to spend in January and get a couple of quality players. If we wait until the summer to spend big and fail to get champions league football then I’m quite sure that Torres and Reina will leave. Even if the targets are overpriced, we have to spend, simply because we have to get back into the top four. I don’t often agree about spending big in January because of other teams’ reluctance to sell players in the middle of the season causing overpriced players but the circumstances suggest that we need to spend 20-30 million on 2 or 3 players that will help us push into the top four. If we don’t spend to strengthen the squad, our chances of getting back in the top four would be quite slim so why not spend some money on a couple of decent players and leave the major changes and plans for the summer?
Roys gotta go, but if he stays i hope we dont spend big as im sure he will be gone in the summer. then the next manager will be stuck with ‘roys team’ aka carlton cole, koncheskey and poulsen insted of Torres, Johnson and Lucas. we cant afford to lose those 3 guys, first 2 for obvious reasons and Lucas for depth reasons. hes a great squad player.
Bottom line is roys gotta go or else LFC will start to look like Fulham!!
FFS plz dont let Torres, reina, johnson and Pacheco gooo!
roys brief was to steady the boat – he has not only failed but made it rockier.
100% agreed – the club won’t stabilise until he’s gone, as every poor performance/result from now on in will just see the calls for his head go up again, regardless of any outlying positive performances in between.
I just can’t see the point in hanging onto the manager in such a tenuous situation and can only think that the board are waiting until a new Chief Exec is in place before pulling the trigger.
We do need a new (highly respected) manager more than we need new players though anyway. Hodgson continues to alienate our more talented players who will undoubtedly want out if he remains, and it will be a lot more difficult to build a whole new team full of talented, young players (+ the dross that would remain content with their big contracts and playing regularly for Hodgson) if he remains, than to just add a few talented players to what we’ve already got (- the dross that a new manager would hopefully have no time for)
no,i dont disagree with henry’s idea of not buying in january,i disagree with him more on keeping roy.i want roy to be fired and then we move on to the next phase of buying players becoz the players should not be managed by roy.
What i would like to see is some young players especially academy aged players bought in from abroad eg Germany Spain Holland.
I would like them to have half a season but only who the club is really looking for.
I do believe before the club is going to attract the best youth a first team policy must be put in place to encourage development.
Pacheco possibly leaving is a sign he does not see opportunities arising.