Bad Transfer Windows and Liverpool

 

It's happening to Liverpool. I realise that a lot of their downfalls have to do with bad recruitment. Every time the Livepool football takes a turn for the worse, it's because of one or two infamously bad transfer windows.

During the Graeme Souness era, it was infamous for having a few transfers that didn't work. There were Dean Saunders, Nigel Clough, Julian Dicks, amongst others. This was one of the most significant declines in the fortunes of Liverpool Football club, because it caused Liverpool to fall behind Manchester United. It was only 20 years later, when Alex Ferguson's departure caused a similar decline in Man U, that Souness' taking Liverpool below Man U ceased to matter. There would be a thrilling challenge for the title, under Brendan Rodgers, and that was when Liverpool would overtake Man U again.

It's not a shame for Liverpool to be behind Chelsea and Man City when they were pulling in big bucks, but their real rivals should be Man U and Arsenal, because those are the clubs which are not being bankrolled by wealthy benefactors.

Another bad transfer window is one of the Gerard Houllier's last transfer windows. He had done great things with Liverpool Football club. He ended the Spice Boys era and turned Liverpool into a club where everybody defended well and played tough. He built the team with scrappy players who were tactical. Emile Heskey, Sami Hyypia, Gary McAllister, Jari Litmanen. He promoted young players like Michael Owen and Steven Gerrard to the first team. And for the spice boys who were still out and about, like Robbie Fowler, he showed them the door. He won 3 cups in the 2001 season, and then finished second in 2002. Liverpool were seemingly on the upward trend and could challenge for the title in a few years, seemingly.

But there was that transfer window right after 2002, where he brought in the 2 Senagalese players, Diouf and Diop, as well as Bruno Cheyrou. All 3 turned out to be flops, and Houllier soon had to resign, as much because of this downturn in form, as because of the health problems, revealed by his heart attack.

Liverpool was that classic Northern side, in a part of England which thrived during the industrial revolution, but experienced decline during the 70s. It was remarkable that during the 60s and 70s, Arsenal and Tottenham were not amongst the top sides in England. They won doubles in 1971 and 1961 respectively but were otherwise quite quiet. The league winners were the northern clubs. Burnley. Liverpool, Everton, Man United, Man City, Leeds, Derby, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa. Not until the late 80s did Arsenal start making their presence felt. They didn't lean heavily on being richer than their rivals or having sugar daddies, especially in the 90s and 00s when their dominance of English football was essentially over. They had to do more with less, and a lot to do with making Anfield a ground which intimidated opponents in European football. And that would explain why, during their title droughts, they still managed to win the champions league twice, in 2005 and 2019.

Rafael Benitez may not be remembered well, but he managed to give them a champions league (albeit a lucky one), an FA cup, another march to the UCL final, and finally a tilt at the title in 2009, before that team was broken up.

After he left, the club was bought out by owners who turned out to be very unpopular. Hicks and Gillett were essentially asset strippers who gave Liverpool substandard players. Roy Hodgson is a very good coach for middle table sides, but Liverpool was too much for him. Then the FSG Boston group came in, and they appointed Kenny Dalglish, which I think was a PR move. They just wanted Liverpool supporters to know that the Dalglish era was well and truly over.

Dalglish did win 2 cups – he was after all, one of the best managers of the 80s and 90s. But his big mistake was to go in hard on British players. His transfer mistakes came from there: Andy Carroll, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jordan Henderson. In the coming years, Jordan Henderson would grow in stature and importance to become a crucial piece in Klopp's greatest team, but the other 3 would be seen as disappointments.

The 2014 title challenge for Liverpool was exciting. It had been 24 years since Liverpool last won the title. There was a challenge in 1997, when Liverpool was pushing Man U hard, only to collapse at the end and end up 4^th. Then there was 2002, when Liverpool was on the ascendency, only to be derailed by one of the bad transfer windows I had mentioned earlier. Then there was 2009, and Benitez allowed a few crucial players to leave after that. Brendan Rodgers seemed to be a hot talent, who turned Swansea into a mid table side, but he undermined his popularity by talking too much managerial jargon. Still, it was great how he turned Luis Suarez into a world class player. People were looking forward to the new season, until, buoyed by his own hubris, he thought that he was going to be the one to turn Mario Balotelli into a great player. He also brought in Dejan Lovren, Divock Origi, Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert. Emre Can and Alberto Moreno. They weren't terrible players, but they weren't going to win you the premier league title. Jurgen Klopp managed to cobble a team with those players to qualify for the champions league, but ultimately he had to replace all of them.

We don't have to repeat what a glorious period the Klopp era was. He built 2 great teams – the team from 2018-2020 which won the Champions League and the league. And after that team was dismantled, he left behind from Arne Slot a team which was capable of challenging for the title. He signed Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Cody Gakpo and, Ryan Gravenberch. They helped to make Liverpool another tough side.

Arne Slot replaced Jurgen Klopp, and seemed to be good enough to win the league in his first season. And then he signed a whole clutch of players. He lost some players who were important to his title challenge: Diogo Jota died tragically. Trent Alexander Arnold left for Real Madrid. Luis Diaz left for Bayern. Darwin Nunez will probably not be missed, but who knows? And Mohamad Salah had been a great player for Liverpool right from the moment he arrived from Roma, but he probably has his best days behind him.

It's too early to label players as flops. Remember Jordan Henderson needed time to settle in. But a lot of big money was spent on Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez. So far, the only player who seems to have done well is Hugo Ekiteke. This is a bad sign for Liverpool: are they going to recover and turn into a great side again, or did Arne Slot just dismantle all the good work that Jurgen Klopp has done for the Liverpool side?

So we had a few dodgy transfer windows, in the early 90s, in the wake of Houllier's triumphs, during Kenny Dalglish's second spell, after Brendan Rodger's title challenge of 2014, and now, after Arne Slot's title. It's remarkable how many times this has happened to Liverpool, and it goes to show you that that's a club where the transfer policy is very important. You could have a few great transfer decisions, and that will take the club forward. Gerard Houllier put a very good side together in a short time. Rafael Benitez brought in Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres and Xabi Alonso to mount a title tilt. Brendan Rodgers had Luis Suarez (signed by Dalglish), Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho to help him challenge for the title. Jurgen Klopp's success in building not one but two great teams makes him a legend at Liverpool.

But equally, a bad transfer window could set the club back. So while I hope that Liverpool manages to fix their problems (Man City seems to be a better team this year, but they still have some way to go to replace their best players) they will be a great side again some point in the future. But at least let Arsenal break their title drought first.