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Liverpool to give Dalglish money to spend on players

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Liverpool will be successful - Werner
By Dan Roan
BBC sports news correspondent


Liverpool chairman Tom Werner insists Kenny Dalglish will be given funds to strengthen the squad at Anfield.

Dalglish has taken charge for the rest of the season at Anfield following the sacking of Roy Hodgson this month.

"I would we devastated if we didn't see some improvement," Werner told BBC Sport. "We've identified some targets and hope we will be successful.

"I expect progress, we've resources to improve, we're not driven by spending, but our team needs to get younger."

The appointment of Anfield legend Dalglish, who made 355 appearances for the club and managed the team from 1985-1991, was hugely popular with the Liverpool fans, who had become disillusioned with Hodgson.

Dalglish began his new spell with two defeats and a draw but Werner said: "We feel very confident we're making progress. There's not an overnight success, our squad has been inconsistent and we expect to improve it short term.

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"Kenny's got many of the qualities we've looked for in a manager, he has the confidence of the players and we'll start to see better results."

Hodgson, who previously managed Blackburn and Fulham in the Premier League, was dismissed after less than six months at the Liverpool helm having won only seven of 20 league matches.

Werner said: "He may not have been the right man for Liverpool at this time.

"We felt we needed to change. We handled it with dignity, I think quite highly of him and we all take some responsibility for what has been an inconsistent season."

Attendances at Anfield dropped significantly towards the end of Hodgson's reign and Werner added: "We were aware of the fans point of view - in a perfect world we wouldn't have had to make the change but we're in a results business."




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see also
Hodgson goes as Dalglish steps in
08 Jan 11 | Liverpool
Damned lies, statistics and sabermetrics
03 Nov 10 | Liverpool

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Liverpool

Werner:

Quote:

I would we devastated if we didn't see some improvement. We've identified some targets and hope we will be successful. I expect progress, we've resources to improve, we're not driven by spending, but our team needs to get younger.

It sounds like actual football professional scouts, experts and personnel have properly advised the owners. Allowing Kuyt, Carra, Gerrard and get older is one thing as they have been with the club for a while; but actively scouring and recruiting 29 years old or older players is insanity. I hope we never purchase players pass 25 any more.

Quote:

He may not have been the right man for Liverpool at this time. We felt we needed to change. We handled it with dignity, I think quite highly of him and we all take some responsibility for what has been an inconsistent season. We were aware of the fans point of view - in a perfect world we wouldn't have had to make the change but we're in a results business."

Spot on!

I truly hope Sirbob is a female. Otherwise, some of the posts on this thread…disturbing

Fuck me, some of the posts on this thread are just plain embarrassing.

Can you take your disagreements elsewhere and not clog up the forum with them?

RE the original post, I am glad we are now targeting a youthful team, but I do hope that this doesn't preclude us from buying over 25's should they be the right player for us. For all the talk of emulating Arsenal and their business model/transfer policy, they haven't won anything since the FA Cup in 2005 I think?

Reds ready to buy big - Werner
Wednesday 19th January 2011 18:15

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Henry & Werner: Prepared to splash the cash
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.Liverpool chairman Tom Werner insists the club's owners will provide money for big-name signings if it benefits the team's long-term future.

Since their £300million purchase in October there has been little suggestion from principal owner John Henry and Werner that substantial investment would be available for squad rebuilding.

And while Werner admits they are looking for greater value in terms of the players they sign, that does not preclude a significant outlay on the right individual.

That will come as welcome news to both fans and manager Kenny Dalglish, who is looking to bolster the squad he inherited from Roy Hodgson nearly a fortnight ago.

It is a particularly timely pronouncement considering Ajax coach Frank de Boer has stressed it will take "an absurd amount" for him to part with Liverpool's number-one target Luis Suarez.

Valuations of the Uruguay international stretch from £18million to £25million and it remains to be seen whether Fenway Sports Group, the subsidiary of New England Sports Ventures - owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise and who originally bought the club - are prepared to go that far.

But Werner said taking a wide look at the economics of transfers did not preclude making major signings.

Asked if Liverpool could still secure marquee signings like the £22million spent on Fernando Torres in the summer of 2007 Werner replied: "Yes. Look at our history.

"The Boston Red Sox have the second-highest wages in baseball and we have been as successful, if not more, than the new York Yankees.

"We are coming from a market that is somewhere like Liverpool, we are not New York or London, and we have been successful in generating revenues which we have ploughed back into an excellent team.

"We will be driven by value but we certainly have the resources to have some targets.

"We are in this for the long-term and every pound that we make will strengthen the club.

"We do have great resources. We have a very high wage bill and it shouldn't be such that we are 12th in the league right now.

"I don't want to get the wage bill down, I want it to increase and we have the resources to do that - I just think we ought to be performing at a better level than we had been.

"I expect us to move forward and improve our position.

"But we are not going to be making decisions which do not improve the fortunes of the club long-term.

"There have been some decisions made which have set the club back and our hope is we will have some announcement to make but there is nothing I can say today."

Werner was keen to stress the long-term vision FSG have for Liverpool involves increasing income - with help from either a new or revamped stadium - in order to be able to invest in the club.

But he accepts that will take time and a far-reaching blueprint is not something which is easy to sell to supporters who are enduring the worst season for decades.

"Everyone knows our long-term goals are to restore the lustre to the club and we want to honour our great history by winning more trophies," added Werner.

"This has obviously been a somewhat frustrating period for all of our supporters so in the short term we just want to see some progress and hopefully under Kenny our fortunes will improve.

"We consider ourselves to be a big-four club and we have a lot of resources.

"At the same time we need to figure a way to grow our club because no-one is happy with the status quo at Anfield because we need to increase our match-day revenues.

"At the same time I feel the long-term is bright and I am very encouraged about some of the ideas to increase our revenue."

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seems to me ajax and liverpool officials are doing a PUBLIC DANCE TO PLACATE BOTH SETS OF FANS OVER THE SUAREZ DEAL

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/liverpool/9367098.stm

Interview with Tom Werner

even though suarez seems quality..the dutch league has to be questioned