If we can't scrape into the CL this season, I think it could well be a long time until we get back in. First things first, get Sterling, Coutinho and Henderson signed up long term. Sturridge already signed an extension in October, its vital that we keep hold of the players we want to keep hold of in the event that we finish 5th or below, especially Sterling who will definitely be courted by teams in the CL.
And unlike Man Utd, we don't make enough in merchandising and sponsorship to spend big every summer until we get back in. We had our chance to cement ourselves as a CL team, and we fucking blew it with poor transfers/signings that would take time to adapt, and boneheaded tactical setups that were proven not to work.
Rodgers seems to have made great strides in fixing the latter and some of our signings are improving, but it came too late to save our CL campaign, and its probably come too late for us to salvage our league season to the extent that we're back in it next year.
And as we've seen, the longer you're out of it, the harder it is to get back in. We need to fix the holes in the squad (there are rather a lot, 2 keepers, 2 centrebacks, could do with a DM, 3 strikers) and keep our good players. That's a big ask for a team with no CL, and on the edge of failing FFP.
Think we have to assume we won't be in the CL next year, and start making transfer plans for the summer right now. But with our recent transfer record, I can easily see us fucking it up time and again, leading to us being out of the CL for a long time again. Maybe we can strike gold as we did with Suarez, that happens to clubs in 6th/7th once in a blue moon though.
We're improving generally, but our mid/long-term prospects are pretty bleak, especially relative to the trajectory we seemed to have last season. We wasted our oppurtunity to become one of the big guns, badly regressed, and now we have to steady the ship before even thinking about getting back to that standard. As to when we'll be back in the CL? Fuck knows, could be next season (need to go balls-out in the EL as well), could be in two seasons, could be in 10 seasons, we could get relegated or dissolved before it happens.
