Clear out: Who is classified as ‘dead-wood’?

WITH a season over and a new one in the offing there is always the summer transfer window to contend with, which many have now taken to referring to as ‘silly season’ thanks to the ridiculous about of rumours surrounding huge clubs, such as our own.

But with the transfer rumours comes actual transfers, and with those transfers there must be some cash freed up for both fees and wages and that is where the term ‘dead-wood’ comes in.

Over the past few years there have been far too many terrible players ‘gracing’ the famous (and only) Red shirt and sadly, we still have a few too many poor players still at the club.

For Liverpool to move forward and to improve, we need to improve the squad but that doesn’t only mean bringing in higher quality players, it also means moving on those that are not up to scratch.

The first and, for me, most obvious of these is Jay Spearing. At just 6 months short of 25 it frankly amazes me that a player of Spearing’s limited quality is still contracted to this club. In my opinion, he is a prime example of the fallacy that ‘local = good’.

Having seen a lot of Spearing for the reserves, I was aware that his ability was very limited but being captain and being a ‘local’ (if you can count Wallasey as such) lad meant he was granted a stay of execution that others might not have been.

I feel quite strongly about this one simply because I feel that at Bolton, in the Championship, Spearing has found his ‘level’ but for too long, his place at the club has limited the development of others and I can see him being silently moved out in the summer.

The second player on my list, that we should still get some relatively decent money for, is Stewart Downing. He had a decent – and easily his best – season in a Red shirt last year but he wasn’t in the least bit impressive enough. And with some of the names being linked with the club, he will simply become surplus to requirements.

Downing isn’t necessarily a bad player but he always isn’t a special one and special players are precisely what is needed to move the club back in the right direction. Had he been younger he may perhaps have been given more time but at near enough 29, he will be very lucky to be kept about.
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Another piece of so-called ‘dead-wood’ is Danny Wilson and it pains me to name him such. The lad has potential but at 21 he has been loaned out 3 times since his arrival from Rangers and if it was ever going to happen at Liverpool it would’ve done by now.

He isn’t a particularly bad player but three managers now have chosen to loan the defender out and that can never be a good sign. Particularly when there are young defenders of a similar age, such as Steven Caulker, around the Premier League.

I’m sure that Wilson will go on to have a good career at Hearts, after having moved on in a free transfer over the Bank Holiday weekend, but the money we should save in his reported £20,000 a week wage will far out-weigh the amount we’d miss him at the club, which is not at all.

Finally, and this one saddens me, is Andy Carroll. I’ve perhaps not rated him as highly as others but a decent half-season in the Premier League with Newcastle and a well-taken goal against Sweden doesn’t make a player worth kicking up a fuss about.

As with Spearing, Carroll’s nationality has given him more support than his performances and ability perhaps deserve but he is a better player that he has been treated by Rodgers.

I always thought that a manager would give a player a chance when joining a new club but Brendan Rodgers had already decided that Carroll was not a part of his long-term plans. Which is fine. He clearly has a ‘vision’ and whether I agree with it or not is irrelevant. If the striker isn’t a part of it then we need to back the manager and get as much as we can for him.

The money we should get would allow us to move for much more vital targets and Carroll will no-doubt prove to be a financial key to any major moves we make in the summer.

There are of course other players that could potentially move in the summer but our first-team is relatively strong and another pre-season should only strengthen that.

The £20-£30 million we should receive for these four players would allow us to bring in some genuine quality in the summer and provided that money is directed toward the right targets we should move into next season a great deal more confidently.

However, only time will tell.
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