In the latest of our interviews with football journalists, we bring to you an interview with Chris Bascombe. Chris is the current Merseyside football reporter for The Telegraph, and was also the ghost writer for Jamie Carragher’s autobiography ‘Carra’ . You can find out more about Chris and his work by following him on Twitter @_chrisbascombe
We caught up with Chris to get his thoughts on all things Liverpool:
Q1. How would you sum up Liverpool’s 2012/13 season as it draws to a close?
Forgettable. When Liverpool are as low as seventh you can’t describe it as anything other than extremely disappointing. There have been periods of encouragement swiftly punctured by some depressing mediocrity. It’s all about building for next season (it always seems to be nowadays) but the side should have performed better on a more consistent basis. There was no excuse for all three cup exits and so many points have been squandered in the league I feel this side does have enough quality to have accumulated at least ten more points, even since Christmas. That would have been enough to mount a top four challenge. Having said all this, the style of football is more attractive and the games at Anfield have been far more entertaining. It’s been one of those seasons offering as much for the supreme optimist as it has the chronically depressed pessimist. So many Liverpool seasons do this. The significant mitigating factor, of course, is this is year one for a new manager. Some will argue he needs time, others suggest he could have hit the ground running. I think we all agree greater progress will be expected next season.
Q2. What are your thoughts on Brendan Rodgers? Have they changed since he was appointed?
There’s far more to like about Rodgers than express cynicism about. He has a plan. He has a philosophy (why is that a dirty word all of a sudden, it just reflects he knows exactly what he wants to do?) and anyone covering the club can see how he is trying to execute his ideas. Will it work? No idea, but at least Rodgers is trying to lead the club back into the Champions League by taking the scenic route. He inherited a side that was eighth, sixth and seventh in the last three years so there is nothing surprising about the inconsistency, really. His first round score is par in the context of what’s gone before him in the Premier League.
When you read some of the criticism of him it shows you what an unattainable ideal a flawless manager is. Among other things, Hodgson was damned for being hopeless with The Press (he was), Dalglish for being too prickly with the media (he was) and now Rodgers for being media friendly (he is). It’s preferable a manager presents a positive image of the club, but most supporters do not care as long as the team performs.
The whole David Brent stuff is objectionable because it’s just not particularly funny. All young managers seem to use this ‘guru speak’ they’ve developed on their UEFA courses. You could apply that to Andre Villas-Boas, Alan Pardew, Chris Coleman, even Jose Mourinho.
I’m also baffled when someone implies a manager ‘has a high opinion of himself’ – an accusation that has followed Rodgers since he was railroaded into that dreadful documentary last summer. So you make a 39-year-old manager of Liverpool Football Club and do not want him to exude self-confidence? Okay, good luck with that. Equally, if you appoint a younger manager you have to anticipate he will learn in the job rather than be the finished product on arrival.
Q3. Liverpool started the season with Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini as recognised strikers, after letting Carroll go on loan and failing to replace him. Daniel Sturridge (when fit) certainly made the squad look stronger, how big a blow was it to the manager when Liverpool failed to bring in a striker in the summer?
It was a mistake to have a striker shortage, everyone knew that at the time and the indifferent start reflected it. Rodgers had valid reasons for stalling before signing Sturridge. He wanted to meet the player before committing so much money. That’s why he favoured a loan deal last summer. Of course, we get the whole retrospective wisdom in January when Sturridge arrives and starts scoring goals, but as a club Liverpool have taken too many knee jerk recruitment decision haven’t they? It was fair enough the manager did not want to be pushed into a deal he was not sure about. As for Carroll, he ended last season well enough but was hopeless for his first 14/15 months. Even at West Ham, you play nine average games, then score a goal and the gist of the next day’s report is he should be in the England squad and how could Liverpool ever let him go. It’s a different level of attention at Anfield and Carroll was not good enough. I don’t buy the ‘get him back as a plan B’ argument because he is on a ridiculous wage and it would be a waste of resources.
Q4. FSG took over Liverpool in October 2011. Since then they’ve made two managerial changes, paid some pretty high transfer fees and look to have decided to regenerate Anfield rather than build a new stadium. How would you assess their time as owners of Liverpool and (in your opinion) are they in it for the long haul?
Well the first managerial change was inevitable and, in their defence, could they have given the job to anyone other than Kenny Dalglish in the summer of 2011?
In terms of squad rebuilding, from day one they emphasised the importance of financial fair play, although I’m not sure how much the message has sunk in when you hear or read suggestions they should provide a kitty of £50/60m every summer. Without player sales or more sponsorship deals that is not possible. They’ve made it clear they are committed to living within the club’s means.
Longer term, the stadium is the issue we can’t ignore and FSG still have so much work to do on that front. I found the backslapping for announcing the plan to stay at Anfield bizarre. All the club did was say they were going back to the idea the Moores regime had pre-1999, investigating how to renovate. Where was (or is) the architects drawings? Where was (or is) the planning application? How many more years is this going to go on? You’re not seriously swallowing the idea staying at Anfield is preferable to building Liverpool’s version of the Allianz Arena on Stanley Park are you? If you believe that you really have swallowed the corporate line. These are the facts. Liverpool desperately needs a new stadium with a higher capacity and more corporate facilities and FSG can not afford to build it. The cheaper option, they’ve decided, is to stay put but we’re not sure whether the money is there to do that yet, either. It’s not an emotional decision to stay at Anfield, it’s a financial one. Do you think if Budweiser called and said they’d offer £500m to sponsor a new stadium they’d still be arguing staying at Anfield was the best option?
Regarding the ‘news’ last September, I might as well have called a Press conference to say I have a plan to extend my back garden into the size of a small village. When am I going to do it? No idea. How will I pay for it? Not worked it out yet. Have you asked the council for planning permission? Not at the moment. When are you going to? I won’t be rushed into telling you. Until we see some tangible evidence it’s going to happen in the near future, you can understand the scepticism about how Liverpool are ever going to compete with Manchester United and Manchester City again.
Overall, FSG said they their aim was to under-promise and over-deliver. At the moment, even they would accept we’re still waiting for the over-delivery.
Q5. Looking at the Liverpool squad as a whole, is there anything missing in your opinion?
I’m not convinced about the left back. They need another centre-half. A marauding, athletic central midfielder would be welcome (Liverpool are too easy to counter-attack when they chase a game) and an attacking midfielder to ease the strain on Gerrard who can’t play every week next season. Another striker would not go amiss, either. And a decent back-up goalkeeper to keep Pepe on his toes. Not much to ask all this is it?
Q6. Jamie Carragher is retiring at the end of the season. How would you describe Jamie’s career, how do you see Liverpool doing without him and are the players linked as his replacements – i.e. Toby Alderweireld, Stefan De Vrij and Ashley Williams good enough to ease the loss of a legend?
I can only direct you to my article in The Telegraph when he announced he was retiring.
Not much to add to that. Nobody can replace Jamie Carragher. On and off the pitch. He epitomes everything that has been good about Liverpool FC since the day he made his debut. You could see how much he was missed when he spent the first half of the season on the bench. At the time of writing, Liverpool have lost one league game since he was recalled (the other Premier League game they lost was at Southampton when he was injured).
Q7. Keeping on the theme of the defence, Liverpool could potentially lose not only Carragher, but Martin Skrtel and Sebastian Coates as well. Do you see any scenario where Liverpool are looking for three new centre halves come the summer, or can you see Rodgers relying on Andre Wisdom and Martin Kelly to play there?
Kelly is obviously an established player already so he will be an option when he is recovered from injury. We’ll see how Wisdom develops. I suspect it will be two centre-halves signed. One to go straight into the side, another as back-up with an eye on the longer-term. Skrtel is available for transfer at the right price and it hasn’t worked out for Coates. If they could raise a combined fee of approaching £20 million for those two – and get rid of a few others – it will swell the transfer kitty quite significantly.
Q8. This year we have seen some of our young players get a chance in the first team. If the squad size does increase in the summer, do you see some of these players get the chance to go out on loan or will Rodgers look to keep them in and around the squad?
It’s inevitable many will go on loan, particularly since the Europa League does not look likely at this stage of the season. The likes of Suso would benefit from a year in The Championship. See if he develops by playing week in, week out. Same applies to those emerging in the Under 21s. Apart from the really special talents, there are likely to be fewer opportunities for the youngsters next season apart from the League Cup.
Q9. Luis Suarez is a world class player and he’ll be wanted by numerous clubs. Can you realistically see Liverpool being able to keep him for a long period of time?
No, but I believe he will stay for one more season. If Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League next year, no-one will blame him for looking elsewhere. The positive news is you get no sense from Suarez he is eager to go. Of course, if Real Madrid or Barcelona make a move you can’t expect him to ignore it. Beyond those two clubs, I’m not convinced he’d entertain an offer this summer. Apart from that he has three years left so Liverpool could resist this summer, demanding the kind of club fee which – even if Suarez did go – would at least offer an opportunity to spend huge on a replacement.
Q10. What would your expectations be for Liverpool’s 2013/14 season?
A top four challenge is essential, but much depends on the summer transfer activity. Liverpool must keep Luis Suarez and the players recruited have to be finished products. I do expect Liverpool to go a lot closer to the top four next season. To be brutal about it, they have to or the summer of 2014 will probably end up being the next ‘year zero’. I can’t believe anyone associated with Liverpool has the appetite for another managerial change any time soon. It’s getting debilitating starting from scratch every couple of years.
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