Liverpool ‘do things differently’? Not anymore – they’re now as bad as Chelsea and Man City
Liverpool have shifted from ‘doing things differently’ to doing things the same way as their worst enemies. Their starting line-up against Arsenal contained five £50million+ signings!
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…Lots of Scouse maths revision doing the rounds lately. The Isak and Wirtz fees obviously cut off a fair number of the traditional avenues via which Liverpool fans can roll out the “this means more” dross, as they’ve now put themselves squarely in the crosshairs of neutrals who previously would have targeted City and Chelsea.
Yes, their net spend may still be lower over X number of years, but they’ve sustained a heightened level of spending over a VERY long period now. If you want an illustration of the impact of that on the pitch, just look at the starting XI they fielded against Arsenal last Sunday. Not one of those players was signed for a fee below £35 million (and that’s net of add-ons). 5 players signed for over £50m. No sign of an Englishman or an academy player in the starting line-up.
Bear in mind, that’s BEFORE they lump their shiny new £125 million striker into the mix and relegate a £69m striker to the bench. If any other club in the league was about to do that, they’d be crying foul enough to flood the Mersey.
The sort of gigantic spend needed to be able to field a team with a combined value of over £550m doesn’t happen overnight. The trend has been masked by the Coutinho and Suarez sales for long enough at this stage. They’ve shifted steadily from “doing things differently” and snarkily dismissing clubs for splashing the cash, to being a model of doing exactly that.
None of that is to say that Liverpool have achieved their current position through anything untoward. Their decision-making at the top level has been consistently good over that same period. Smart decisions have strengthened their hand repeatedly. But selling better than other clubs doesn’t make you a selling club, and it shouldn’t disguise the fact that this summer’s spree hasn’t magically seen them join the table with the big spenders. They were already there, they were just ordering 2 or 3 tapas instead of one steak.
Anon+
Everyone’s favourite subject: net spend
Had a conversation with my bank the other day which for some reason seemed familiar
Me- I’ve been having a few problems with my bank balance. It’s only showing what I’ve spent, but not any incoming. Which of course makes no sense and is not how any person or business in the world operates.
Cashier- Ohhhh you’re one of those net spend nerds?
Me- If you mean I like to see my actual balance, as in, what I brought in minus what went out, then yes.
Cashier- LOLZ ok Rafa. Bet you’re jealous of my new Ferrari too!!
Me- What? What does you buying a Ferrari have to do with anything?
Cashier- Hahahaha! You can’t stop talking about it can you? You’re obsessed mate!!
Me- I’m not obsessed, you brought it up. I just want to know my bank balance.
Cashier- Yeah keep talking about it your tears are delicious!!
Me- What tears? What are you talking about? I just want my balance. Although yeah it is a little weird that you can afford a Ferrari.
Cashier- Not weird, not weird at ALL, super not weird, idiot. Have you ever heard of a concept called AMORITIZATIONZZS?? See how it works is, sold my old car to DogCo…
Me- Sorry, Dog Co?
Cashier- Yeah, a company I own, that I made in my dogs name with my dog as CEO. DogCo bought my old car for a tidy bundle, and it’s nothing but profit, so that, plus the 99 year lease my wife took out from me on our garage means I”m rolling in it mate!! All totally legal!!
Me- I’m not sure that makes any sense, but OK can we get back to my bank balance? I’m pretty sure I made about as much as I spent last month so I should be showing as even but instead the balance is displayed as massively overdrawn, which once again, is not how anyone in the world views things.
Cashier- LOLZZZ get out of here stupid nerd, you spent a crazy amount of money on your house last month, END OF!! hahaha idiot!! Look, it’s way too complicated to show one number minus another number, who are we, Good Will Hunting?? Forever it will be total spent, that’s it and that’s all.
Me- Thanks, that was all very helpful. I now see why we should only ever talk about the total spent, and that should be the topline number everyone uses to express financial success or failure. It also doesn’t matter how you came across the money to spend, all that matters is, you spent it. Simple!
Drew, LA
Net spend
I only bring up net spend because Liverpool fans are obsessed with it.
I knew it’d get you all frothing at the mouth in rage and eager to tell us all about how Liverpool are the absolutely best in the world at net spend.
You have a weird obsession with it, fellas. It was used to justify not winning the league (the next year is our year era) and now you’re annoyed that you might no longer be net spend world champions?
Nobody else really cares about net spend. Ultimately you’ve still spent money. Why don’t you enjoy the real trophies your club has won.
As I’ve said previously, 99% of my mails to F365 are to wind up fans of other clubs. Don’t take it all so seriously.
P.S. that includes you lot in the comments section.
Chris
NUFC
…The last few mailboxes have actually been quite rational and refreshing, save for Stewie and some scouse maths and still a few people just repeating the unsubstantiated nonsense they hear a high profile pundit peddle. We had a pretty rational take on the Liverpool Arsenal game, helpfully prompted by the opening lines of 16 conclusions and Slot’s conclusion on the game – I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of hyperbole compared to the clickbait headlines which followed the match.
We’ve also had some sense on players, loyalty and pushing for transfers with the realisation that we’re all massively bias and accuse selling clubs of holding players to ransom when they want to join our team but curse the ground the players walk on when they want to leave our team. We even had some Liverpool fans admit they are quite reliant on some key players staying fit as they’re are a bit short of cover for Van Dijk and Gravenberch rather than having the greatest set of players to walk the earth. All very sensible guys.
That said, there are a few things worth getting off my chest.
Lee in yesterday’s mailbox came up with all manner of things under Liverpool net spend which I’m sure plenty will debunk. But the one I’ll pick on is the claim that Liverpool are the ONLY club to win a prem title when spending ‘next to nothing’. I’d remind you of Arsenal’s invincibles who spent a grand total of £1m on Jens Lehmann before the historic 03/04 title winning season. *bloody Arsenal fans going on about the invincibles again….argh*
You can use all sorts of metrics and timeframes to frame your argument to suit your club. I saw a table that showed the big 6 total spend on every player in their current squad. This has Liverpool 3rd and Arsenal 5th spending £75m less than Liverpool to assemble the current squad.
Also the clinging to net spend is easy but fundamentally flawed. Firstly this counts transfer in/out only. A far better indicator for success or league finish has always been the yearly wage bill. Exact figures are harder to pin down with sources varying but we’re talking in the region of £150m to £250m for the big 6 clubs EVERY YEAR. Easily as much as clubs typical net spend. So you’re only taking 50% of the biggest outlays a club has when waving your net spend willies around. So when fans boast about ‘spending nothing’ it’s not true in the slightest. If Man City consistently have a wage bill £75m more than Arsenal over the last 5 years that’s £375m more in transfer fee net spend Arsenal could spend to just break even with City.
Anyway, to move on from the above and in a dull international break how about we try to appease all those ‘games gone’ types and come up with some sensible ways to fix football. Here are some of mine for starters
1. Stop (or at least heavily police)multi club ownerships. It creates cases like the Crystal Palace Europe nonsense, but it’s also a bit of a farce of buying and selling players, or parking them at sister clubs. Chilwell must have really dreamt of that move to Strasbourg – I wonder who is covering his wages?
2. Limit loans. Maybe this is a limit for over 19/20 year old players, or you keep genuine academy players unlimited for loans. But this will help stop the hoarding of players that some big clubs do and make them feel the consequences of making bad decisions in the transfer market.
3. Var….var must stay, Pandora’s box and all that, but a bugbear of mine is when the ref gets called to the screen he’s shown and talked through a very biased and persuasive account with images and words to influence his decision. I know we bemoan the poor communication but how about var recommends a review and then shuts up. The onfield ref is then played videos so he can genuinely review his original decision without interference. If he’s happy enough with what he saw first time round then carry on. Var was only meant to be there to stop the howlers, those will still be stopped.
I’m sure others can think of more, maybe if you feel mine are targeting things your club does then you can say you’d like a ban on extinct mascots, or a perspex cage to ensure managers do not stay one inch outside their technical area, or patents and royalties to be paid on copied terrace songs….
How do we fix football?
Rich, AFC
Net spend shenanigans
Dearest Ed,
As I pondered what mix of cheeses to use this morning, I noticed a tragically misunderstood discourse unfolding across this site where net spend is casually dismissed as irrelevant, a figure supposedly for accountants or amateurs. In reality it is the clearest way to measure a club’s investment in its squad.
Net spend cuts through the noise and reveals one simple truth about how much actual money is going in versus how much is coming back out. It is not the full picture, but it shows who is gambling, who is balancing, and who is standing still. It does not predict success, but it does show intent and hints at the nature of that intent.
Some of the more persistent critics will say net spend does not include wages, bonuses, or agent fees and they are right. But they are also wrong, because it is not supposed to. No cheese dip for them. Wages are operating costs. Transfer fees are capital investments. Net spend isolates the latter to track how a squad is being built over time. That is all it is meant to do. Mixing the two is like confusing a car’s fuel bill with its purchase price. Both matter, but for different reasons. Net spend simply tells us how much real financial backing is being used to improve the team, supposedly via an improved talent pool, on the pitch.
This is why the old accusation of buying the league does indeed hold weight. But gross spend is not the way of assessing it. Net spend is the best way to measure that claim. The higher the number, the more a club is leaning on financial firepower rather than subtle adjustments or player development. In a game obsessed with margins and market value, net spend remains the clearest indicator of who is trying to buy an edge and who is trying to build one.
I went with a sharp cheddar, some gruyere, a cream cheese and mozzarella.
IJR
…Reading through your net spend article with interest.
For all the comments about Villa being badly run, being 17th in net spend table points towards a club which has massively been ahead of where the club should be.
Paul
…Anyone else read down to 2nd in the list of the Five Year Net Spend Table, and immediately think “Oh no, new Stewie mail incoming…”?
Uncle Albert
Contract additions
In amongst all the other craziness of the window – I’ve been surprised to see the amount of additional contract terms… sell on % on a large amount of deals, buy agreements based on X or Y – are we just getting more info these days, or is this a shift in the market?
Additionally – is a % sell on future based on the full price or the additional £ on top of the sale price? Pretty sure ive seen both occur, but they haven’t been specified when stated in this window…
Can anyone elaborate or explain?
Thanks!
Loseit Sanchez (LFC – and happy enough though not putting too many players in my fantasy team quite yet)
Kings of the transfer market
Some of you lot writing in really take people, you don’t actually know, spending various amounts of money, that isn’t yours, a little bit too seriously.
Nick Dent