No to no. 9 at anfield

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Andy Carroll is a man with the Midas Touch. Except, instead of turning to gold, everything he is involved in becomes a can of worms. You feel sorrier for the tall, long-haired Geordie considering he very rarely does anything wrong. The responsibility for Liverpool’s problems lies with the people who paid £35 million for him.

It all started in January last year when American “Moneyball” expert John W. Henry arrived at Merseyside to rescue Liverpool from bankruptcy. Liverpudlians rejoiced, and Mr Henry wasted no time in emphasising his presence.
Roy Hodgson was kicked to the curb and Kenny Dalglish, or as he is known by the Kop — King Kenny, was put in charge. Luis Suarez was brought in from Ajax. So far so good.
Then Fernando Torres submitted a transfer request, and everyone associated with the management of Liverpool Football Club went collectively bonkers. Torres eventually left on deadline day to Chelsea for £50 million and in came Carroll for £35 million.
Fast-forward to July this year. New boss Brendan Rodgers took over from Kenny Dalglish who had led Liverpool to their worst league position in over a decade.
Rodgers came with a reputation of playing “sexy football”, and he made his opinion extremely clear on his new club’s record transfer, “Any offer for him will have to be looked at.”
And immediately any hope that Liverpool had of recovering any of the £35 million disappeared into thin air.
All interested clubs knew that Carroll didn’t fit into Rodgers scheme of things and started lowballing Liverpool. Newcastle United were the only club interested in spending a substantial amount in getting back their former prodigy.
However, in order to save face, Liverpool refused to negotiate. This left Sam Allardyce’s West Ham as the only interested party and they subsequently lowered their initial offer from a £18 million permanent transfer to a loan agreement with an option to buy. Forced into a corner, Liverpool attempted to play tough.
Instead of settling the matter immediately and scouting for other targets, Liverpool stretched the matter till two days before the deadline before allowing the loan to West Ham.
Due to this delay, Tottenham were able to swoop in on Clint Dempsey. Thus, Liverpool are left with only two recognised forwards in Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini, neither of whom look capable of producing goals consistently.
Responding to the fan backlash, Henry issued an open letter in which he claimed that Liverpool would no longer pay over the top for any player. Once bitten twice shy. Maybe Mr Henry should have stuck with baseball. Moneyball works there.