The Future's Bright

As the large, grey cloud of underachievement continues to loom ominously overhead, I thought I'd try to locate that elusive silver lining in an attempt to bring some light to your lives after what has so far been, by our own very high standards, a complete car crash of a season.

For a number of reasons, which I really don't have the will to go into, we find ourselves facing a gargantuan challenge to end the season on a high. No matter what fashion we finish up in, though, the future of this club is as bright as it's ever been.

Cast your mind back, if you will, to the Houllier days. After a succession of big money flop signings, Liverpool were teetering on the brink of losing their status as an established top 4 side. As fond as we all were of Houllier, we knew that if the club was to move forwards then a fresh approach was needed.

I remember the excitement I felt when Rafa took over. This was the man responsible for smashing through the Real Madrid / Barcelona stronghold in La Liga with his all crushing Valencia side. This was a man in demand and it was we, Liverpool, who were getting him. In my opinion, Rafa is probably the best signing this club has made in the last ten years.

Now every pundit, journalist, blogger and bin man seems to have their opinion on Rafa's transfer record. Figures are plucked out of the sky and regurgitated in pubs all across the country. Luckily, however, there are a few people with half a brain of their own who are charged with the responsibility of educating these would-be football managers on the real facts of the matter.

I'm not going to go into the stats and figures but let's just look at the difference between the team Rafa was to inherit when Houllier departed.

Liverpool squad 2003-04

Goalkeepers

Jerzy Dudek, Chris Kirkland, Patrice Luzi

Defenders

Carl Medjani, Stephane Henchoz, Jon Otsemobor, Steve Finnan, John Welsh, Djimi Traore, Sami Hyypia, Salif Diao, Jamie Carragher

Midfielders

Dietmar Hamann, John Arne Riise, Danny Murphy,  Bruno Cheyrou, Steven Gerrard, Igor Biscan, Vladimir Smicer

Forwards

Michael Owen, El Hadji Diouf, Anthony Le Tallec, Milan Baros, Florent Sinama Pongolle, Harry Kewell, Emile Heskey, Richie Partridge 

And here's what the current 2009-10 squad looks like:

Goalkeepers

Jose Manuel Reina, Diego Cavalieri, Martin Hansen, Peter Gulacsi, Dean Bouzanis

Defenders

Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, Fabio Aurelio, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Emiliano Insua, Jamie Carragher, Philipp Degen, Stephen Darby, Martin Kelly, Steven Irwin, Martin Skrtel, Andrea Dossena, Daniel Sanchez Ayala

Midfielders

Alberto Aquilani, Steven Gerrard, Albert Riera, Yossi Benayoun, Javier Mascherano, Lucas Leiva, Jay Spearing, Damien Plessis, Nabil El Zhar

Forwards

Fernando Torres, Andriy Voronin, Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, David N'Gog, Nathan Eccleston

So say what you will about the mans transfers, but he has got rid of a hell of a lot of deadwood and replaced it with true quality.

It's easy to forget amidst the current injury crisis that we now have an exceptionally strong squad in comparison to what it was 5 years ago. The exciting thing for us is that a lot of our best players are still relatively young.

Reina, Agger, Mascherano, Aquilani and Torres in particular look like they could form the spine of the team in years to come and looking at that, you can't help but think that the future is safe in their hands.

Rafa has been given big money on 4 occasions quite recently, and has used it to bring in Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and Alberto Aquilani. If these are the kind of players he brings in for around £20m, then there are few managers I'd trust more with Chelsea and Man City style backing.

Then there's the matter of the way he operates on a budget.

Pepe Reina, Daniel Agger, Emiliano Insua, Yossi Benayoun, Dirk Kuyt and David N'Gog are just a few examples of players that Rafa has brought in relatively cheaply and got them performing way above most peoples expectations. I would of liked to of added Xabi Alonso to that list but unfortunately he's moved on. Still, getting £30m for him is fantastic business if nothing else.

Benitez, then, has an uncanny ability to pluck players from mediocrity, throw them in at the highest level and get them performing. If they don't prove their worth he is also ruthelessly efficient in shipping them off right away. This is a far cry from the Houllier days where even the biggest of flops were continually entrusted with our fate as the manager let his stubborn ways get in the way of what was best for the team.

In the time he has been here, then, Rafa has taken a Liverpool squad with gaping holes throughout, and plugged them with world class talent that will ensure that the future of this club is safe for years to come. The man has already proved he can operate on a budget and given the recent big money signings has also proved he can be trusted with more significant sums.

The manager is under contract here until 2014 and I have absolute faith that he will bring home the Premier League title in that time, with many more trophies along the way. Granted, there are better squads out there than our own but that is just something a club in our financial situation has to deal with. In my opinion, our emphatic title charge last term just goes to prove that Rafa has done just about as well as anyone could do in his position, and will undoubtedly continue to do so.

The simple facts of the matter are that we have a world class manager nurturing a world class team. With a little bit of luck, we might soon get some world class investment. Whatever the outcome of this season, though, if we look at the bigger picture there is no doubt that progress is continually being made.

Today, then, I am choosing not to be overshadowed by the gloomy clouds. Today I'm letting a little sunshine into my life and I hope you will all do the same. After all, the future's bright. The future's red. Sorry, couldn't resist.