Andy Hunter in the Guardian says similar things to Tony Barrett
Seems a bit of a hatchet job to me. For instance:
But having slashed the wage bill and recouped roughly a third of his £29m transfer spend through transfer and loan fees, and with only Luis Suárez and Fabio Borini left as a strike force, he had reason to believe FSG would deliver a 29-year-old scorer of 23 goals last season who was desperate to join Liverpool. They responded by offering Fulham less than the fee already agreed with Aston Villa – whether it was £3m as Fulham claim or Liverpool's £4m, it was still less than Villa's £5m plus add-ons – and undermined Rodgers' judgment at a stroke. It once again raises the question of who is advising FSG?
"had reason to believe" - had Rodgers actually been given any reason to believe this? Had FSG told or given him any indication that they would give him the extra amount, or any guarantee that Dempsey would be signed? And if this was the case, why didn't wasn't everything sorted at the same time as sorting the Carroll loan, rather than that going through the day before?
Why was sending Carroll out apparently more urgent that bringing Dempsey in?
It also seems to imply that Rodgers was left completely out of the loop - that he had no knowledge of the funds available or the negotiations taking place. The use of "They responded" also seems to imply that our owners were the ones doing the negotiations directly.
Unless I'm mistaken, that was in fact Ayre wasn't it? Why is his name completely absent from that article?
Also, at one point did it become clear the Dempsey would not be joining Liverpool? How much investigation went in to alternatives?
Surely there should have been back-up options in any case, due to the possibility of Dempsey not joining for factors beyond the club's control?
Or did the club send Carroll out on loan having pinned all their hopes on a player other clubs were interested in, at club they'd already pissed off? (and that's ignoring the question of whether they had the money to even meet the asking price anyway).
I'm not saying that FSG should be absolved of all responsibility. But like Barret's article, Hunter has completely omitted Ayre and Rodger's when portioning out blame.