BRENDAN RODGERS has been let down massively by Fenway Sports Group.
Now, after the deadline day fiasco, the Liverpool manager, having suffered a poor start to the season, is under even more pressure.
The open letter to supporters from principal owner John Henry is all a bit embarrassing, and it doesn’t answer the fundamental question.
Why on earth would Liverpool sanction the departure of Andy Carroll if they didn’t have a replacement lined up?
I seriously don’t get that whatsoever. And the idea they could get Clint Dempsey on the cheap for £3m was also pretty ridiculous.
Speaking to some of the Anfield regulars, they tell me that everything inside the ground has gone up in price, from bottles of water to the pies.
Tom Hicks and George Gillett were rightly castigated for what they did to the club, and the danger is Fenway Sports Group are taking Liverpool down the same road.
My belief is if that somebody came in with an offer for the club right now that gave them their money back, then they would take it.
There’s an argument that even with Andy Carroll in the squad, Liverpool still needed an extra striker. Now they need two.
There was talk of Michael Owen returning, but Liverpool shouldn’t be going down the route of scrapping around for free agents. It’s incredible they may have to resort to that.
FSG would have gained money from the sale of Charlie Adam and the loan of Jay Spearing would have released some wages. So to then not get a striker in… from a footballing point of view, Liverpool are in a nonsensical position.
Rodgers clearly didn’t fancy Andy Carroll but he’s already admitted he’d have kept him had he known there’d be no replacement.
Carroll would have been used, even if it was just for the final 20 minutes of games. And what happens now if Luis Suarez gets injured?
Forget spending all that money on Carroll in the first place, or the likes of Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing. FSG can take that on the chin.
Carroll cost a lot, but he scored some important goals, particularly in the FA Cup. If he’s not at the club, then he can’t do anything like that, can he?
Not replacing Carroll is the biggest mistake FSG have made during their ownership. I’m baffled. Totally and utterly baffled.
Having their fingers burnt in the past cannot be used as an excuse for this.
Suarez apart, there’s not one Liverpool player who looks like they will score 12 goals in a season. Goals win you games, it’s that simple.
You can’t con the fans that regularly go to games. And just about anybody can see what Liverpool’s problem is.
My mother, who is 77, was watching Sunday’s game against Arsenal on television and she commented “well, this team aren’t going to score many goals”. Talk about stating the bleeding obvious.
The actions – or rather, inaction – of FSG have made it appear Liverpool is a poorly run football club in regards to the playing side.
Sure, we don’t know what Rodgers was promised or what he was trying to do, there may have been all sorts in the pipeline he was trying to do.
But this situation has reflected badly on him as a manager.
Where’s the supposed communication between manager and owners? FSG have been talking about getting back into the Champions League, and then they leave Rodgers in this situation. Are they having a laugh?
It’s a long time between now and January 1.
And for Brendan Rodgers, it will feel like it.
