During the fanzine explosion of the late 1980s a magazine was brought out with a title that drew attention to Liverpool’s most glaring weakness of that era. Another Wasted Corner was its name but if a similar publication had been launched at any time during the last three years it would have to have been called Another Wasted Summer.
The last three summer transfer windows have been and gone without Liverpool signing a single player who it could be claimed has significantly improved the squad. There are those who have at times made a positive impression – Raul Meireles, Glen Johnson and perhaps Albert Riera being the most notable examples – but the overwhelming majority of new recruits have struggled to make any kind of impact at all.
Robbie Keane and Alberto Aquilani both cost in the region of £20 million only for the former to be sold after just half a season and the latter to be sent out on loan after only one full campaign.
Money has been spent – even if at times transfers were conducted under financial pressure from the bank or the boardroom – and it has not been spent wisely enough. That is one of the fundamental reasons why Liverpool has gone from being title contenders in 2008/09 to also rans in 2010/11. It may only have been a short space of time but it was sufficient for a flawed transfer strategy that saw good players leave and not so good ones arrive have a negative effect on performance levels and standards.
The blame game has already been played in respect of this fall from grace and whether you blame managers, executives, owners or whoever no longer matters. The most important thing is that Liverpool learn from these failings and do not repeat them because the one thing that they can least afford is another wasted summer.
Almost every single summer since Liverpool stopped winning league titles in 1990 has been billed as the most important in the club’s recent history but the feeling is that this one really does fit that description. With new owners, a new manager and a new sense of purpose the forthcoming campaign is one in which Liverpool can rejoin English football’s elite. But that will only happen if they buy well; there can be no duds this time around.
Giant strides have already been taken since Kenny Dalglish returned as manager last January. The style of football is much improved, there is an obvious togetherness in the playing squad and at times there has even been a feelgood factor about Liverpool. It is for these reasons that there are so many people within the game who feel that the forthcoming campaign could be a special one for Liverpool, one in which they reassert themselves at the top end of the table and challenge for trophies.
That in itself shows how far the club has come since this time last year when Liverpool’s hopes of getting in the mix were null and void. There may have been those who unrealistically harboured a belief that success was just around the corner but hindsight has shown us that there was no chance of glory given the problems that continued to plague the club.
This time around it is different though. There is no danger of Liverpool being plunged into administration by the banks nor is there a manager in charge who is hopelessly out of his depth. Disharmony has been replaced by unity and cancerous negativity washed away by a sea of positivity. If ever there was a chance for Liverpool to reassert themselves and start living up to their glorious past again then that time is now.
There will be those who say that claiming a place in the top four is out of the question given the immense spending power of Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs. Even if that is the case, and shelling out vast fortunes on players does not always yield improvement as countless examples prove, then at worst that still leaves fourth place up for grabs, a position which occupied last season but are by no means guaranteed to hold on to this time around.
The changes that are about to take place at Arsenal are likely to leave them more vulnerable than they have been for some time and Liverpool’s first target for the new campaign should be to usurp the North London club. Should they take the momentum from the tail end of last season into the start of the new one then there is no reason why they cannot send a message out to Arsenal and the other teams who expect to finish in the top four that Liverpool are genuine challengers.
Again though, for that to happen Liverpool have to do something that they haven’t done for far too long and that is to buy well. The starting point for that is for Dalglish to be backed in the transfer market with whatever funds are available and it is to be trusted that the club’s owners will do that. Then it is up to the manager Damien Comolli, the director of football, and their global network of scouts to identify and recruit those players who will improve the squad and give it a chance of fulfilling its potential.
This summer has to be different to the previous three and the cycle of poor recruitment must be broken. Liverpool cannot afford another wasted summer, they have to make this one count.
