'Reds overspent' admits Werner

By Olivavu, Tue 24/07/12 at 14:43

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has indicated that the big spending that marked Kenny Dalglish's second spell as Anfield manager is a thing of the past.

Dalglish spent £35 million on Andy Carroll, lavished around £20 million each on Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson and bought Charlie Adam from Blackpool for £8 million.

Despite the heavy outlay, the Merseysiders - although winning the Carling Cup - finished in a disappointing eighth place in the Premier League and Dalglish departed soon after the end of the season to be replaced by Brendan Rodgers.

"This is a very financially strong organisation, LFC," Werner said. "I believe - not just in the previous season, but in the past - we have overspent for players, and the results were not what we have expected.

"We do have the resources to be competitive, but at the same time, we are going to operate in a way that will be a self-sustaining model.

"I think you will see that you don't necessarily have to go out and spend £50 million on one player to see success."

Werner predicted that Rodgers would make a positive impression on the Anfield faithful, adding: "I don't think anyone could have been happy with our performance on the pitch last year - no disrespect to Kenny. I think he is an iconic figure for Liverpool and he will always be appreciated for the stability that he brought to the club.

"Brendan brings a very thoughtful, modern, attacking philosophy - I think our fans will be very delighted with the attacking philosophy that he brings to Liverpool - and hopefully we will see improvement."

Carroll, in particular, has become symbolic of Liverpool's big spending, with reports suggesting the club are likely to take a hit of at least £15 million on the deal in any permanent sale only 18 months after signing him.

The England international, 23, has been linked with a return to Newcastle - who offered to take him on loan with a view to a permanent deal - while AC Milan expressed an interest in a loan after Rodgers hinted that the striker may not be part of his long-term plans.

Werner has insisted that the manager will have the final say on Carroll and suggested a decision will be made on the forward in the near future, insisting the club would not attempt to influence Rodgers in any way.

"Brendan is clearly the leader here," he told Sky Sports News. "The only thing I can say is we will do what is best for the club. At the moment Andy is on the squad, he is an important member of the England team and he has a lot of talent. We will see what happens."

It would appear that Werner does not expect the situation to drag on deep into the transfer window, saying: "Hopefully the question will be answered shortly, but at the moment Andy is on the team and we look forward to him contributing."

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/1126700/liverpool-overspent,-admits-tom-werner?cc=5739

He couldn't have said much else, to be fair!

I like the support given to Rodgers though. I hope it works out.

hold51
Tue 24/07/12 at 17:00

Henderson was only 20 million in the heads of Sky TV, closer to 14, as for Carroll didnt JH state clearly it was Chelsea's money so no point him or Werner rewriting history now!

KK73
Wed 25/07/12 at 02:14

Obviously out of all the transfers the Downing one stands out as the most expensive bit of business. A player that wasn't really on the radar of our rivals, but we decided to break the bank on him. With Henderson he still could prove his worth and become a valuable player and apparently Utd were interested too. With Carroll it was very different situation and can't really say it was a mistake take everything into consideration.

I think we need to really tighten our negotiations and with BR very early stance with Sigurtesson or whatever, think that wouldn't have done any harm.

I've been away for a while Oli please don't add to my opening statement!

jcallen29
Wed 25/07/12 at 07:34

We only spent 35million on carroll because we had just got 50 for torres and the transfer window was about to close.

Djirbil4Real
Wed 25/07/12 at 08:26

No s**t Einstein.

jcallen29
Wed 25/07/12 at 09:04

My point was it kind of subsidised the overspending.
Even though we are likely to take a 20 million hit on carroll we probably got 20 million too much for torres.

Dragon07
Wed 25/07/12 at 12:59

Another American owner saying in a round about way,we are not going to spend money on Anfield

Olivavu
Wed 25/07/12 at 13:01

Quote from: Dragon07 on Wed 25/07/12 at 12:59

Another American owner saying in a round about way,we are not going to spend money on Anfield

If you are trying to make FSG look the the same as H&G, then not only are you wrong but you are also blind.

frankyasha
Wed 25/07/12 at 15:12

its time we move on we must get the best out of them now so as to see the real and amount of talent each posses we must not sell andy in any way

Olivavu
Wed 25/07/12 at 18:02

And what happens if, as expected by many, players such as Carroll, Downing and Adam don't get any better and their value drops further?

Djirbil4Real
Wed 25/07/12 at 21:25

I was talking about Werner btw.

jcallen29
Wed 25/07/12 at 21:31

WildMichael
Wed 25/07/12 at 22:40

Quote from: Olivavu on Wed 25/07/12 at 13:01

If you are trying to make FSG look the the same as H&G, then not only are you wrong but you are also blind.

Big advantage of the new owners is that they don't use debt to finance the club! They're sensible with their cash so the club is now well run and safe! Bit frustrating that they won't dip their hand in their pockets one in a while though as even last summers spending was mostly subsidised by sales

KK73
Thu 26/07/12 at 04:21

I don't think many expected them to dig into their own pockets very few clubs do that anyway. They just attach it to the clubs liabilities. But would you push the boat with transfers in this delicate situation with a young manager that has a lot of power in the transfers?

Manu-23
Sat 28/07/12 at 16:28

we overspent stupidly last year !

Remember when KD came back and made an outstanding end of season 2010-11 (spending money only on CArroll 35 and Suarez 20 - Torres 50) so we hadn't broken the bank !!!
The team came back from the bottom of the league. Was on a good trend...

why the hell did overspend during the summer 2011 ??????

Henderson 20
Downing 14-20 ?
Adam 8 ?

those 3 had shown nothing in 1 year ! For that price it is a SHAME

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