As always great post mate! Without going too much into tubby Atkinsons content he is completely wrong that Everton need to buy 12 players. They finished with 62 points last season, added 3 lads (Wijnaldum, Matip & Mane) to the team and alongside the momentum that has been built will likely break the top 4 and almost certainly the top 6. We will likely finish above 62 points, perhaps above the 66 that would have been required last season. His assertion of what Everton need to do is not dialectical.
Everton's strength was how efficiently we spent money. Our weakness was never having enough. Now we seemingly have more (owner input as well as massively increased sponsorships/revenue streams) our challenge is to see if we can keep the prudency of spending money when the values are increased. This is why Steve Walsh remains an essential figure.
In spite of what they say though, they are not prudent with money. It's telling they compare themselves with Manchester United who seem to almost be throwing money away as evidence of their prudency. Yes when you compare yourselves to 89 million on Pogba any transfer seems sensible. In the real world though, they have spent close to 1 billion in the last 10 years to win a Carling Cup. The Everton team on Saturday was bought for 1 third of the cost of their team and paid well under half. The fact we have kept ourselves in and around them with those figures they must be thinking if we close the gap off the field there is a chance they begin to get passed, if we do it well. These are not my opinions by the way, the Financial Times did a metric test on this and found Everton to be 4th in Europe and 1st in the PL for points per spend, with Southampton and Spurs being close. Liverpool are nowhere.
For them Klopp seems to be the answer. He's the man who fronted a club like Dortmund who also over performed. FSG have been striving for value for money yet whats becoming clearer is that their model isn't suited to football. Likewise whats also clear is Klopp was as I indicated the front man for a successful operation, as opposed to the singular genuis of it. Tuchel for example and his team are not outperforming the side Klopp left behind. He was a great manager, but in a successful club.
I think FSG have lost interest. The longer it goes on without making the key breakthrough the more money they pull back. The fans are getting irritated as it's been seen the last 2 years that budgets have been gradually reduced. They are clinging to the hope that this summer will see a big spend. The defenders of FSG are now using that, in the way reformist politicians try to buy off the workers with the idea that in the future everything will be perfect.
The Klopp debate will remain one sided. He is a big name manager (not the best in thew world as they allege, in honesty probably not even in the top 10) nor are "the whole of Europe shitting their pants at the fear of Klopp and Liverpool" as some have alleged (I really don't think Real Madrid, Barcalona or Bayern are worried about Klopp or have much idea who Liverpool are) but for where they are and their project he is a long way ahead of Kenny, Hodgson and Rodgers. Given the sort of club they think they are he suits them great as well. There is certainly disgruntlement from some fans, but the overriding whipping from his fanboys to get the fans on side will continue and probably gets stronger. What will be interesting though, is how far open criticism of FSG will be contained.
The refusal to build the Anfield Road end is part of a direct provocation with sections of the fans. If they don't rebuild it there will be plenty of anger. For us that is good, if they lose interest, ah la Hicks and Gilette or Randy Lerner you can see the decline coming. Thats my hope anyway. I think you will see a lot of contradiction at this point. FSG have great PR and all happily keep LFC as an investment, happy to keep them as a EPL club and load any costs in doing this onto the debt. They may even loan the club the money themselves and cream off the interest as they have done with the new stand.
