PARRY: IT'S NOT ALL DOOM AND GLOOM
Paul Eaton 01 September 2005
Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry today insisted there are plenty of reasons to be positive about the season despite no new faces arriving on deadline day.
Parry admits he was disappointed not to be able to strengthen the squad yesterday but ultimately the club weren't prepared to pay inflated prices for the sake of it.
A deal for Benfica winger Simao had been agreed before the Portuguese champions had a change of heart, demonstrating that it was circumstances and not finances which led to a day of frustration at Anfield.
"We don't believe it should be all doom and gloom. There isn't a club which hasn't suffered disappointments in the transfer market, so we're no different," said Parry.
"The big danger, particularly when you're approaching the deadline, is you get desperate and do the wrong deal. You have to hold your nerve and we decided not to pursue certain targets in the end yesterday. We have a lot of faith in the players we have.
"We have brought in most of the players we wanted. Let's not forget we've spent £20m to bring in Pepe Reina, Momo Sissoko, Peter Crouch and Bolo Zenden. They are four top players.
"We have spent the same amount we spent in 2002 when we bought just three players, so lack of money has not been an issue here. We also had a deal for Simao which would have taken us well beyond what we'd spent then.
"We've enjoyed a pretty good summer in the transfer market. There's been a substantial outlay.
"If you compare last August to this, we have spent heavily on strikers, as Jamie Carragher has pointed out today.
"We didn't leave things too late because the deals we wanted were completed early during the summer and at that stage we were content we'd achieved four out of four on our list of targets. That left us looking for a right midfielder and cover for Jamie Carragher and Sami Hyypia at centre-half.
"I think our problem finding a right midfielder began when Luis Figo decided not to come. Things were progressing well with that deal and we were hopeful. Had he joined us, we wouldn't have been in the situation we were."
He added: "It's never ideal trying to do business on the last day because things can go wrong and then there's no room to manoeuvre.
"Yesterday was a strange day. We had an agreement with Benfica but when the story leaked there was such a strong reaction they felt they couldn't sell. Simao was sitting on a plane waiting to come for his medical, but Benfica called it off. In a way, it was similar to the Steven Gerrard situation here when Chelsea were interested.
"It was disappointing but there is nothing we could do. Had the deal broken down on June 30, perhaps there wouldn't be such doom and gloom because you know there's time to find someone else. That's not the case on deadline day.
"Rafa is philosophical about the situation. He insisted we didn't pay for players who weren't worth the money. We could have signed centre-halves yesterday, but there was no point wasting money for the sake of it.
"He is sure we are better placed to challenge for the top places this season. We want to push on from last season and we are still confident we have the players to do it.
"We haven't got 100 per cent of our targets, but which top club in the world ever gets everything it wants. We've done pretty well. It was a strange contrast between European success and disappointment in the Premiership.
"Have we got a better squad to do well in all competitions this season? Rafa's answer to this is yes."
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