Is Football Manager the answer?

[dimexi]

Now this may seem a bit crazy but I think that we should ditch our scouting system and put the money into increasing our wage bill. Meanwhile, allow Harry to spend one day a week on his PC and play Football Manager. All the names that have been banded around by all the top clubs are players that were not well known before (By the general public at least). Play a few seasons on FM and find the players that turn into stars. Get in an early bid (unheard of at spurs by the way), wait for the player to become a hero, and reap the plaudits for discovering an 'unknown talent'. EASY!
Players that become stars in FM:

Okay, so a bit tongue in cheek, but why do we insist on waiting till the last minute to try and scrape a deal? The way the Modric saga has been handled so far has been excellent, I hope we can stand firm. But unless we start to declare we mean business and start bringing in some quality, we will only repeat last season or worse.

I know we still have time, but let's get the squad right before pre-season begins, so we can hit the ground running. Looking at the fixture list I think this could potentially be our best season in the premiership yet, a few tough games at the start and then from the end of March to May the games look good for us. So if we can get a good start, we may be able to keep the momentum going. With the right acquisitions we could push for top 3.

[YidJoe24]

While the football manager database is amazingly accurate, it doesnt take into account how diferent the premier league is to other leagues. As for wages word on the street is that Levy is willing to break the wage structure for the right player.

[Holtspur]

While the football manager database is amazingly accurate, it doesnt take into account how diferent the premier league is to other leagues. As for wages word on the street is that Levy is willing to break the wage structure for the right player.

If he does, it will great inorder to get a top top player!

[ugs]

Buying players is also about players fitting in and becomng part of the team, its all well and good saying he's the best striker but his attitude may well stink and be a disruptive influence. You may also find that the player may have the best left foot in the world but is also the laziest player too, nice idea but flawed I feel!!!
 
 

[dimexi]

Of course it is flawed, that is why I said it was tongue in cheek. I was merely raising the point that our current transfer policy did not allow for the best possible results and we are not competing (as yet) in the transfer market with the teams that we will be challenging for position next season. Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool and Man city are active and looking to bring in the best players they can for their squads. There are even rumours that Tight as you Like Wenger may loosen his purse.

I just hope we can get some quality players, even if they are relatively unknown at the moment.

[ugs]

Our biggest problem is that all the players that we are linked with or trying to sign are also being linked with the other top clubs and without CL we are going to struggle to compete. Maybe we need to look at the clubs just below us in the League and try to entice their better players away and hope that being in a better side will help them improve also. Maybe Odemwingie or Gyan could be prised away or we need to take a chance on older players like Drogba or Anelka if we could persuade them to give us a couple of years service and hope they could fire us into the CL spots again. To be fair if we could lose some of the deadwood and replace it with decent players I don't think we will be to far away, personally I think we should try Berbatov again...... proven goalscorer who just might want to prove something !!!!!
 
 

[dimexi]

So why is it that Liverpool are able to attract some quality players, albeit for a price, and they were below us in the league this year and missed out the year before as well?

[ugs]

You answered your own question "at a price", plus arguably one of their best players left to go to Chelski to play CL. To be honest though have they signed anybody who is a real top class player ......No, Suarez OK maybe in a year or two but who else !!!!

[COYSacrossthepond]

So why is it that Liverpool are able to attract some quality players, albeit for a price, and they were below us in the league this year and missed out the year before as well?

What UGS said, as well as the fact that Liverpool had been for years a perennial European side before they fell out the last few years. Also, Anfield has a capacity 10k larger than WHL. which is 10k more people worth of ticket sales week in week out. That makes a tidy difference, in the long run. What it really comes down to is that Liverpool has been an established Top Four team with 5 European cups to their name (and 18 league cups) for many a year, whereas Tottenham are still working to get into the top 4 perennially for the first time. Wish that history didn't make a difference... but it does.

[Spurs218]

Liverpool's transfer dealings have been so s**t it's unreal. 20 million on Henderson is just f**king ridiculous.

[COYSacrossthepond]

Liverpool's transfer dealings have been so s**t it's unreal. 20 million on Henderson is just f**king ridiculous.

I won't argue with you there. I was more than happy to let them have Andy Carrol for 35 mil (it's saying andy carrol is 70% of the player that Fernando Torres is. Anybody willing to agree with that?) But my point was more that if Liverpool and Tottenham are both trying to sign the same player right now, chances are Liverpool will have a slight edge due to available funds and their overall prestige and history as a club. Wish it weren't so, but them's the brakes... for now

that being said, if we continue to play in Europe (even staying in the Europa League counts for something) and keep Liveropool out, things will start to change dramatically. So here's hoping that happens.

[ugs]

I agree with you to a point but all I was saying was that Liverpool haven't really set the world alight with their signings, spent alot and haven't really got anything worth shouting about. Even with their added signings I still don't think their squad is anywhere as good as ours.... just my opinion, and I don't think they are going to be as good as everyone is saying next season top 8 that's about all !!!!!
 
 

[dimexi]

Do you know what scares me the most? The fact that we have so little to discuss at the moment. We are not even getting linked to every tom, richard and harry like we are most years.

Being that we do not usually end up with the players we are linked to anyway, I suppose the outcome is the same. Naff all until the last day of the window!