Monday, 3rd September, 2012
After their worst start to a season in 50 years, Liverpool owner John W. Henry has addressed fans in an open letter on the club’s website.
Henry has voiced his disappointment at being unable to recruit a new striker in time after Andy Carroll, signed in 2011 for £35M, was loaned to West Ham on the last day of the transfer window, leaving Liverpool’s squad thin up front.
"I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window.", the owner of Fenway Sports Group said. "But that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved.
"They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in."
Henry insisted that the summer transfer window had nevertheless resulted in an improved team, with young talents arriving at Anfield and the best players extending their contracts.
"But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future – Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi – could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future.
"Nor should anyone minimise the importance of keeping our best players during this window. We successfully retained Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez. We greatly appreciate their faith and belief in the club. And we successfully negotiated new, long-term contracts with Luis and with Martin."
The 62-year-old was adamant that Fenway Sports Group only had the best in mind for Liverpool and were on track to implement their vision of running the Premier League club without "wasting resources" and with the aim to "develop [their] own players using the skills of an increasingly impressive coaching team".
"No one should doubt our commitment to the club. In Brendan Rodgers we have a talented young manager and we have valued highly his judgement about the make-up of the squad. This is a work in progress. It will take time for Brendan to instill his philosophy into the squad and build exactly what he needs for the long term.
"The transfer policy was not about cutting costs. It was – and will be in the future – about getting maximum value for what is spent so that we can build quality and depth. (…)
"We are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes. It will not happen overnight. It has been compounded by our own mistakes in a difficult first two years of ownership. It has been a harsh education, but make no mistake, the club is healthier today than when we took over.
"Spending is not merely about buying talent. Our ambitions do not lie in cementing a mid-table place with expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years. Our emphasis will be on developing our own players using the skills of an increasingly impressive coaching team. Much thought and investment already have gone into developing a self-sustaining pool of youngsters imbued in the club’s traditions.
"That ethos is to win. We will invest to succeed. But we will not mortgage the future with risky spending."
>> Read the open letter in full.
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