25 Jul 2014 14:11:51
The liverhampton fans make me laugh with the repeated taunt of "why would he join you with no champions league?" Well the answer is one season. That is one season we not there and one season they are. Liverpool are busy "doing a Tottenham" ie selling their best player for a few bucks then lavishing it on lots of pretty average players.

LVG will know who we need and any player will know his success and style, it is a draw to any player - not some Welsh guy they not heard of - this was a mega issue with Moyes too and one reason he was a really poor choice in the first place.

1.) 25 Jul 2014
I appreciate that the transfer window is far from shut and generally abhor people who wine about the way we conduct our transfer business - but I'm finding myself increasingly frustrated with how this window is going.

Herrera and Shaw are fantastic additions but still leave us some way from being a side capable of competing for the title (let alone ECL qualification). Our two biggest rivals on that front are Chelsea and City; both of whom came into the window with significantly stronger squads and have strengthened their squads more than we have.

It's true that our lack of Champions League football may make things difficult in terms of signing players - but with the right investment it should be possible to ensure that we're back in the top four come the end of this season. From a financial point of view we're the biggest team in the league by some distance and so there's no obvious reason that we can't pay what's needed to bring players in and a little extra to compensate for the lack of one season of ECL football (especially when you consider that there are only 6 teams in the competition with a real chance of winning it).

Compare that with Manchester City - a team struggling to balance the books (in terms of FFP) and it's hard to understand exactly why they're able to push deals through with such ease when we are struggling. Up until a few years back they were unable to offer Champions League football either and yet were still able to sign world class players (the same goes for Chelsea when Roman first arrived).

The general consensus seems to be that it's because we're too stingy with the cash; but given our signings over the past 12 months I don't buy that (not to mention Ed coming out and saying how we've got no fixed budget). To me the issue seems to lie in the players we're targeting and the negotiation process.

On that front I have to ask - how can a club of our stature get something as inherently important as player acquisitions so wrong? This will probably be the most important season of the clubs recent history (as last season was before it) - and as it stands it's looking likely that we will repeat our mistakes. Failure to secure Champions League qualification for a second successive season would be catastrophic and as it stands that seems a very real possibility.

2.) 25 Jul 2014
And what Welsh guy would that be then - Gareth Bale? Ryan Giggs? At least engage your brain if you're going to post something.

3.) 25 Jul 2014
What makes me laugh is the lack of knowledge in that post.

4.) 25 Jul 2014
Wouldn't be so sure mate.
Looking at the other top clubs, and taking into consideration our signings so far (both quality, but not enough):

I think it'll be us vs. Liverpool for 4th, and it'll be a close-run thing.