In an absolutely fantastic move by Brendan Rodgers, Liverpool have brought in three of the club's 1990s greats to nurture and develop the the club's exciting batch of young players.
According to the Liverpool Echo today:
"Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Rob Jones have been snapped up on a part-time basis to work with the Reds’ under-21s and under-18s squads at the Kirkby Academy.
"Rodgers is keen to tap into the knowledge and experience of former Kop favourites and believes Liverpool’s youngsters will benefit greatly from being mentored by the trio."
This is superb news - it's massively important that Liverpool follow the lead of many of Europe's top clubs and get legendary ex-players involved in the club, and it's something I hoped would happen for a long time.
Announcing the move, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers enthused:
“It’s great to have Robbie, Steve and Rob on board. Steve McManaman is working with the wingers and attacking players, Rob Jones is doing some work with the full-backs and defenders, and Robbie Fowler is obviously working with the strikers. They are giving them little pointers and passing on experiences from their own careers to help the youngsters.
Now, the next step is to get a couple of Reds legends involved in the player recruitment process. When Real Madrid want to sign someone, they send Zinedine Zidane along to negotiations; at Juve, Pavel Nedved is on the Board of Directors; Andoni Zubizaretta is Barcelona's Director of Football; Ruis Costa is a DoF at Benfica; Fernando Hierro is DoF at Malaga; and the list goes on.
It's all well and good getting Ian Ayre to close small deals for relatively unknown players, who see Liverpool as a step-up (i.e. Aspas/Mignolet), but when it comes to convincing the big guns to join the club, the Reds seem to fail repeatedly, and I believe Ayre's unknown/non-football status is a big reason for that.
Just imagine if prospective players were meeting with the likes of Didi Hamann, Jan Molby, Ian Rush or John Barnes instead? These are internationally renowned players who won everything in the game, and their unmatched passion for LFC could make all the difference.
I just can't see how sitting across a table from Ian Ayre is in anyway enticing and exciting for a top-class player. Yes, Liverpool's status and history plays a part, but things have changed, and the club cannot afford to simply trade on past glories anymore.
For now though, this is a great start. Macca and Robbie back at Anfield? Absolutely magic :-)
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
According to the Liverpool Echo today:
"Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Rob Jones have been snapped up on a part-time basis to work with the Reds’ under-21s and under-18s squads at the Kirkby Academy.
"Rodgers is keen to tap into the knowledge and experience of former Kop favourites and believes Liverpool’s youngsters will benefit greatly from being mentored by the trio."
This is superb news - it's massively important that Liverpool follow the lead of many of Europe's top clubs and get legendary ex-players involved in the club, and it's something I hoped would happen for a long time.
Announcing the move, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers enthused:
“It’s great to have Robbie, Steve and Rob on board. Steve McManaman is working with the wingers and attacking players, Rob Jones is doing some work with the full-backs and defenders, and Robbie Fowler is obviously working with the strikers. They are giving them little pointers and passing on experiences from their own careers to help the youngsters.
Now, the next step is to get a couple of Reds legends involved in the player recruitment process. When Real Madrid want to sign someone, they send Zinedine Zidane along to negotiations; at Juve, Pavel Nedved is on the Board of Directors; Andoni Zubizaretta is Barcelona's Director of Football; Ruis Costa is a DoF at Benfica; Fernando Hierro is DoF at Malaga; and the list goes on.
It's all well and good getting Ian Ayre to close small deals for relatively unknown players, who see Liverpool as a step-up (i.e. Aspas/Mignolet), but when it comes to convincing the big guns to join the club, the Reds seem to fail repeatedly, and I believe Ayre's unknown/non-football status is a big reason for that.
Just imagine if prospective players were meeting with the likes of Didi Hamann, Jan Molby, Ian Rush or John Barnes instead? These are internationally renowned players who won everything in the game, and their unmatched passion for LFC could make all the difference.
I just can't see how sitting across a table from Ian Ayre is in anyway enticing and exciting for a top-class player. Yes, Liverpool's status and history plays a part, but things have changed, and the club cannot afford to simply trade on past glories anymore.
For now though, this is a great start. Macca and Robbie back at Anfield? Absolutely magic :-)
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
It's a great move for sure, the youngsters will get the best tips from the best players, all 3 of them were top top class!!!................It hopefully will develop into full-time contracts, If they do the business!!!
ReplyDeleteRegarding Ian Ayre, I don't think players reject Liverpool because of Ian Ayre status in world football, no matter whom we send for negotiations, player won't come until Liverpool show some kind of ambitions.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. Players like Costa, Willian etc probably don't even know who Ayre is; he's just an old, grey man in a suit, with no standing in the game. If those players were sat across a table from Ian Rush, or John Barnes, I believe it would make a massive difference when it comes to persuading players.
ReplyDeleteLFC website has just confirmed this!!!!
ReplyDeleteI really don't think that's the case. I mean players would be more interested about the club than a negotiator. If not, they aren't doing themselves any favor.
ReplyDeleteI'm a massive fan of keeping legends at the club. We should be asking King Kenny to be our main negotiator. Many players have said the reason they came to Liverpool was because of Kenny Dalglish.
ReplyDeleteOkay, but as long as he stays out of the actual scouting operations! His task should simply be stated as, "Sire, we would like to buy x player tommorow, and y player in the next few days. Please fly over to x location tommorow, and y location in a few days, and work your charm."
ReplyDeleteKenny got Suarez after-all.............:-)
ReplyDeleteHaha. Totally agree.
ReplyDeletejust imagining John Barnes as our negotiator, gives me the goosebumps
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. he seems like a good bloke, but he neither has the appeal of a top ex-player, the network of someone like Baldini, nor the ability to close a big deal (like Levi) when we are seemingly in pole position. As for bringing top ex-players to work with the U-21s, well done Rodgers. i saw on Sky Sports news this week that Pires is training with the Arsenal u-21 and passing on his knowledge etc and I'm so glad to hear we're doing the same.
ReplyDeleteMy Opinion On M r McManaman Is He Owes Us The Liverpool Public Big Time For His Last Season The One When He Mysteriously Lost The Ability To Run Past Defenders After Doing It For Fun. Anyway The Knowledge Those Three Have Can Only Aid The Club InThe Future Welcome Back Aboard
ReplyDeleteThis is good news. I would likes us to start hiring our managers from within as well like Barca did for a few years, the way we used to do.
ReplyDeleteThese 3 will def help the u18's and u21's, which they were full time though.
I agree that Ayre does not have that intising pull. However some of our legends may not have to know how to negotiate etc... but certainly bringing them along with negotiation and have them explain what the club is would be great.
At the same time I am not sure many players actually know who some of our legends are.
Well done Brennie!
Bring back Biscan ;oP
It's a subconscious factor mate.
ReplyDeleteDo Way Have A Position Within The First Team Setup For Rodolfo Borrell I Like The Way He Handles Players And I Think The Club Could Get Better Use Out Of Him We Don't Wanna Loose Him
ReplyDeleteexception to rule.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I saw that and was impressed. I didn't know Pires was there. Great stuff.
ReplyDeleteMacca doesn't own Liverpool anything.
ReplyDeleteHe played great when he was with us and Liverpool Football Club had a big hand in him leaving for a free to RM.
Pires Can Coach The Arsenal Youth In Diving Leasons
ReplyDeleteI think Didi is a great shout actually, seems to be a very intelligent man and would be great at selling the club. Would be nice to get a few German players in as well...
ReplyDeleteJaimie, are you sure people like young foreign south americans/southern europeans, who are the near future generation, entirely know who players like Barnes and McManaman are? Are you sure they would have that same yielding power? Because they could be sitting at the table, and the south american will be thinking..."John Barnes....John Barnes....name rings a bell...but yeah anyway."
ReplyDeleteMy Opinion On Him Won't Change Sure The Previous Seasons He Was The Bollox But During That Last Season He Earned His Place In The Team On Past Reputation Not Weekly Performances He Was Still Being Paid By The Club
ReplyDeleteI hope Arsenal wins if we don't (I know, likely). Sick of seeing Utd and Chelsea dominate.
ReplyDeleteI think they could do it - they are a much better team than most of us appreciated. Ozil is clearly a brilliant signing, the improvements in the like's of Ramsey is impressive, plus they were the form team at the end of last season anyway. In addition to this Arsene's stunning new haircut has taken years off him!
ReplyDeleteHere is the problem with a lot of football fans, they disregard all other factors in a players life and expect them keep playing at the top of their game.
ReplyDeleteDuring the first 6 months of his last season his mother who had been bed ridden for 2 years battling breast cancer died, but hey, that shouldn't get in his way of playing football should it...
Lets not forget that during the second period of that season he had put in some amazing performances and scored on of the goals of the season against spurs.
Never Knew About His Ma Thats Very Sad
ReplyDeleteSome exception!!!
ReplyDelete"On side a note please stop capitalizing every word."
ReplyDeleteWe seem to rely too much on our history to sell the club. Players want to win titles, fans want to support a club that can win titles and memories are unfortunately shorter than we like to admit. To get to that position we have to try and emulate Spurs, which isn't easy. Baldini, Levy and AVB are clearly helping Spurs to out perform their previous status. rodgers and Ayre as a team don't cut it and i personally wouldn't swap Rodgers, I can't imagine FSG aren't aware of this...
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see Hamman at the club. Multi-lingual and a connection to Bayern Munich, the Eurpean edge may help when signing players.
ReplyDeleteIt hurts my eyes to read it...
ReplyDeletei agreed with u....
ReplyDeleteIf our "cleaning lady" go with bag of money im sure messi or ronaldo would listen to our offer....
If im the player : Who care old legend said what....show me your $ 1st....$ = ambition. Harsh but almost true in modern day
hehehe im a liverpool fans bcoz of macca ! this is a good news to me
ReplyDeletei prefer Bruce Grobbelaar hahahhaaa brawl on !!!
ReplyDeleteIt's a pity that Jones suffered with the injury problems that he had - great full-back
ReplyDeleteYou did better than me mate - I just skipped the post after reading the first few words!
ReplyDeleteNo he didn't - Suarez was already wrapped up without Dalglish's involvement
ReplyDeleteI totally understand the frustration of their fans in the manager's reluctance to just go and make some big moves in the transfer market, but the furore over the 7 years or whatever it is since Arsenal last won a trophy is way over the top.
ReplyDeleteIt's not like they haven't been competing for trophies during that time. It's only by minor margins that they've come up short a number of times.
The addition of Ozil also means that Podolski becomes a striker again, rather than an out of position midfielder.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, there's plenty of depth and quality in their squad, and definitely enough to mount a serious title challenge. Just because a player is injured/unavailable, that doesn't mean he should be overlooked on the depth charts...
micheal owen negotaitor
ReplyDeleteI forgot about him! I'm hoping Arsenal will get worked out sooner or later, but it doesn't look likely. As for our challenge, we have to hope for a bit of luck with injuries, and that Suarez and Sturridge can keep banging the goals in. Hopefully come January, we'll be in a position to sign some genuine quality rather than potential or squad players.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. They're not in crisis; rather just in an inactive state of stagnation or dormancy. They've basically done nothing without sacrificing much for it. I don't know too much about how the administration of Arsenal works, but some of their fans tell me that the pay off of their stadium costs is largely to due with their general reluctance to spend in the transfer market.
ReplyDeleteI reckon any young player finding out he was meeting John Barnes would probably jump on You Tube to find out what the guy was like...
ReplyDeleteThat would make him sit up and take notive!
WILL YOU PLEASE STOP?
ReplyDeleteYou're driving me nuts with the auto capitalising. can't read your point.
JK, you keep bringing up the Ian Ayre's lack of ability to sign players.
ReplyDeleteSimply put, it's a financial and club status issue.
We either won't buckle down and write the big wage check (the club has openly stated that they have been gearing towards performance based pay), or we don't have Champions League competition to offer.
Admittedly, I'm not a huge Ian Ayre fan, but I've seen it time and again here slating him for failure to sign players, but it seems as though the players we fail to get go elsewhere for more money, Champions League, or to a currently more prestigious club (and sometimes all three).
We could hire the best managing director in the world tomorrow, but without at least Champions League, it's not going to matter.
Let's see how we are doing in January. If we are still in Top 4 contention, it may have an effect on which players are willing to come here then that weren't in the summer.