Depressed from Dublin writes...

Now this hasn't stopped me from logging onto the website at every opportunity, as it is still an invaluable source of information as well as making for some excellent and interesting reading. However, over the course of the close season to date, all that has been written about has been either about potential players coming in, the new stadium saga or the reasons as to why Moyes has not yet signed his contract . And to be honest, it has all made for very depressing reading.

I know I should know better than to take any heed whatsoever of transfer speculation but a recent piece in The Times about what each club in the Premier League has to spend over the summer made me look at the speculation in a different way to before. The Times reckoned we had £20M to spend, which was roughly the amount that a couple of the newly promoted clubs had, as well as the likes of Fulham and Bolton. City were expected to have something like £40M, Spurs and Newcastle something in the region of £30M. (It's been a couple of weeks since I read the figures so by all means correct me on some of them but I think they are more or less correct.)

Now, I know that the offer of European football counts for something, and I think that we would all hope that the club has more status and appeal than the likes of Fulham, but money to a player and his agent count for as much if not more in this day and age. Man City might be turning into as big a circus as Newcastle, but if they can offer more cash where would your average player go?

I know that this arguement is nothing new but when I think about how we are still being linked with a certain level of player at this stage of the summer, especially with our success over the last two seasons, I start to get very depressed. How do the press and the media view us? How do players and their agents view us? Has our stock not risen at all despite the apparent progress we have made on the pitch in recent seasons?

Now this leads on to next the main topic of debate, the proposed new stadium. With every new article I read on this, there seems to be some other reason as to why I should think that the club off the pitch is becoming every bit as much of a joke as Newcastle and City. It would genuinely appear that, while Bill Kenwright means well, the Board, with Wyness in tow, are incompetent liars who have handled a very serious and emotional issue very very badly.

With the fact that Bellefield has been refused planning permission being the latest fiasco to appear on the website, what I would presume was the keystone fundraiser for our share of the stadium money has fallen away. All I can think about after reading this is the fact that, while the fabled exclusivity deal has screwed up any other option and back-up plan we could have developed along the way, including any kind of working relationship with other local councils in Liverpool, we certainly would not have had the financial clout to have made a proper go of any other options anyway. If the Board can screw up something as important as a new stadium, what else has it messed up?

Now the third major point for discussion has been the fact that Moyes has not yet signed his new contract. I don't think I really need to elaborate here. To me Moyes is the most positive thing about the club at the moment and if he was to leave, all that he has done would soon follow. Simple as.

And there you have it. The reasons for my depression at the moment, and the reason why I hate the close season with a passion. Too little football to keep me distracted. And if it's not also keeping me preoccupied then also too much time on my hands to sulk.

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