I think it's a little unfair he's being lynched. Some don't realise he was our Commercial Director before this and helped dramatically increase the club's revenue stream He also negotiated the Standard Chartered deal, and I don't have to tell anyone that it's still one of the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deals in football. He has also negotiated several smaller commercial deals in Asia where he has a bunch of contacts. He was heavily involved in bringing the club here for the first time. Friends of mine have actually met him in person when he was living in Malaysia as CEO of Total Sports Asia. Maybe he isn't a good Managing Director but one thing's for sure. He was tasked with making money for the club and that he did. Why else would he have been promoted?

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 1 2012, 09:38 PM

Carroll obviously doesn't feature in Rodger's plans and having loaned him to West Ham, we've trimmed our wage bill. Likely the reason why we've loaned him out.

How is Morgan not a prodigy? He's 18, scored 21 goals at youth level last season and has represented England at the U-17 World Cup. He certainly fits the definition of the term if you ask me.

I'm perplexed as to why you don't feel Dempsey would be a good signing? He's 29 but that's hardly retirement age. Tim Cahill was approaching his mid 30's when he was still scoring for Everton. Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs are approaching 40. Nothing wrong with having some experience in the side, especially given how little he costs, considering he's a proven goal scorer and has been the top dog in Fulham for consecutive seasons. We've been signing young players and it would have been nice to have someone with bags of Premiership experience who will get you goals. What's the downside?

I'm just trying to look at it from a positive viewpoint. I'm a fan of Carroll's and really wanted to see him do well at the club. I also thought that Dempsey would be a safe and useful acquisition but que sera sera. Like I said earlier, I'd like to see the midfielders chip in when it comes to scoring.

Carroll is most effective when teams play direct football, something Allardyce's West Ham does. They were just pumping the ball into him and within the first 15 minutes, he was winning everything in the air. We play a more patient style of football where Carroll was expected to hold up the ball, push it back and move further up the park. I don't see Rodgers falling in love with him anytime soon.

This is discerning indeed. Thing is Ian Ayre has done a lot for the club financially and the decision not to fund Dempsey's transfer may not have been his. If not for him we may not have secured the Standard Chartered deal. There's more going on upstairs than we know I suspect. I mean all this walk of a new stadium and suddenly it's all gone silent again? Could be Rodger's wanted to be his own man and assumed he had the power to sign whoever he wanted whilst the top brass may have seen Dempsey as nothing but an ageing footballer with no resale value. Cybermetrics at work again? Whatever it is, it stinks.

Happy Birthday Bill Shankly - Gone But Never Forgotten.

If there was one man would could stare down the owners and put them in their places, it would have had to be the Shanks.

Word is we're looking for a new MD and it remains to be seen if Ian Ayre will be given his old job back, where he was successful. Anyway, I'm dedicating all my posts today to the man who started it all.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 2 2012, 03:18 PM


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99 years old today

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 2 2012, 03:24 PM


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I have to say that the person who looks most lost today is Steven Gerrard. He's been taking too long to make decisions and is slowing us down. Oh mon capitan. Get back in the game.

It's why I've been saying that Gerrard should sit further back. He isn't the sort of player to play quick short passes, the way the rest of the team is playing. He wants the ball all the time and needs runners so he can make incisive passes. By being so far up the pitch, he's also being pressed into mistakes. I think Joe Allen looks better going forward that Stevie. If he continues to struggle and the score stays the same, he'll surely be subbed around the 60-65 minute mark. His only saving grace is that Borini is struggling as well and may be sacrificed before him.

Owen? Heaven forbid. I appreciate what he's done for us in the past but he's lost a lot of his pace and if I'm to be honest, he is half the player he was without it. He burst into the international scene at the tender age of 17 when at the 98 World Cup, he skipped past one of the best defenders in the world at the time, Roberto Ayala and Jose Chamot before slotting the ball into goal. He had blinding pace and even such renowned and experience defenders had problem coping. As injuries took it's toll however, he had to rely on other attributes and was never really the player he was before. I wouldn't even label him a stop-gap measure at the moment. I'd much rather play Adam Morgan and have him gain more experience. I would not put Michael Owen in the same category as players like Drogba and Dempsey who still play regular football and get the job done.

You also have to consider the type of player that they are. Drogs unlike Owen relies on power and not pace. The latter diminishes faster with age and injury than the former. In short, Drogba has a longer lifespan that someone like Owen does.

Now, on the issue of stop-gap players. We already have a bunch of relatively young players in today's side. If you look at the players who lined-up against Arsenal, we fielded a team with an average age of 25.

Pepe Reina (30), Glen Johnson (28), Luis Enrique (26), Daniel Agger (27), Martin Skrtel (27), Steven Gerrard (32), Joe Allen (22), Nuri Sahin (23), Fabio Borini (21), Luis Suarez (25), Raheem Sterling (17).

If you factor in the subs that came on i.e. Jonjo Shelvey (20), Stewart Downing (28), that figure drops to 23. Fact is we do have a pretty young squad. We had wanted to build a squad for the future and we have. Pepe Reina can play well into his 30's if he keeps himself fit. When Glen Johnson and Stevie G are eventually phased out, we have the likes of Jonjo Shelvey, Lucas, and Martin Kelly waiting in the wings. What I feel we need right now more than anything, is Champions League football. The financial windfall from just qualifying means we can spend on younger, more expensive players who can potentially yield more returns on investment in the future. We need proven players even if they are a little older than we'd like to take us into Europe's top competition. Ageing, proven players may not be good value (considering their age and price) but if they get us into the Champions League, their value increases based on how much we stand to gain just by qualifying, considering they are cheaper than a lot of young talent out there. If I were desperate for it, I'd much rather rely on older players who we know will have no problems adapting to English football than an unknown quantity, with a big reputation. I think it's what we need now given the expectation of the owners and our desperation to get back into the CPL.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Sep 3 2012, 11:21 AM

I don't know what actually happened on the final day of the transfer window, I don't think any of us do. All we an offer is speculation. What I do know is this however, that we were made to look like fools. What makes it worse is that reports are now suggesting that Rodgers is having an open rift with FSG, and we all know that spells trouble as the latter is all about the bottom line. What makes us look more like idiots now isn't that we are considering bringing in Owen or Drogba to resolve our striker shortage, it's that I've read unconfirmed reports suggesting that Rodgers is considering recalling Carroll from his loan spell!

Things are obviously not harmonious in the board room and I shudder to think that Rodger's reign may be the shortest in our history as he doesn't strike me as the sort to back down. FSG had initially pledged to get behind their man but it doesn't look like they've done that, have they?

He play on the left of an attacking trident, so I don't think it's accurate to say he was on the flank. Against Arsenal, he repeated came in-field to a more central position, dragging Gibbs with him, which mean that Podolski had to track Glen Johnson, who was out wide whenever we went forward. I would however like to see him swap positions with Suarez as I feel the latter is better with his feet and creating whilst Borini is the type of player whose first instinct isn't to create like Suarez's is, but rather, to finish.

We did indeed. I think the Joe Allen acquisition is proving out to be a real coup. He was superb last night in his role at the back. He never lost possession and his passing was spot on. At one point towards the end as we were pushing forward, he brought the ball all the way up to the edge of the Arsenal box and danced past 2-3 defenders who were trying to get the ball off him. He's still only 22 so we need to hold on to this one. I'm thinking teams will come sniffing at the end of the season and maybe even as early as January.

Snubbing Dempsey may have been down to principle but given the stakes involved, one could also have put it down to stubbornness. I don't really blame Fulham for quoting us higher especially after we basically assumed he was already one, telling the media he was on his way.

Well the good thing is we aren't in debt so the situation isn't as dire but you're right, it looks like only a matter of time before fans direct their frustration some place and FSG are the obvious targets. The fans are smart enough to know that Rodger's wasn't going to build a title challenging side over night.

My thoughts exactly on Gerrard. I've always seen him dropping further back as age catches on. It's a natural progression as one is no longer physically able to outpace defenders, or when your reaction time increases. As you get older, you'll noticed that your reflexes get slower, if even by micro seconds. Players like Gullit, Matthaus or event Giggs, who were potent attacking threats in their prime, dropped further back as age caught on.

Rodger's system insists that players make quick, short passes which isn't a strong part of Stevie's game. He is always looking for the killer, incisive pass and he prefers to run with the ball. He simply is not going to be afforded that amount of time up front. Yesterday, he was once step behind each time he was played a short pass. He often took too long and lost possession or he was forced into turning the ball over. Until Lucas returns, Gerrard should fall back, adopting a role Xabi Alonso used to for us, allowing Allen to move further up the pitch.