Liverpool fans don't seem to be able to understand that, with the passing of time, a club's status within the game will undergo change. 20 years ago top level players wouldn't have looked twice at City, whereas they'd have been all too happy to rock up at Anfield to sign on the dotted line. However, it isn't 20 years ago, it's 2015. City's place in World football has changed dramatically, we're now a perennial challenger for top honours, with a future which looks extremely bright. Liverpool, however, have taken significant steps backwards. They are highly unlikely to win any major honour (only 2 trophies in the last decade, both domestic cup competitions) and, more often than not of late, fail to qualify for Europe's top competition.
People, rightly, talk about Liverpool's title challenge of 2014, however what Liverpool fans fail to notice is that, whilst it's being talked about, the subtext is always one of "shocking title challenge", "How the hell did plucky little Liverpool nearly win the league?" etc. That should tell them al they need to know about how the rest of football (i.e. those who don't log into RAWK, or spout baseless platitudes in the media having spent some time playing in a red shirt) view their club. It is no longer seen as a club within the highest echelons of World football. Yes, the name carries some weight still, they will always have the trophy laden years of the 1970's and 1980's to associate themselves with, but they are no longer viewed, by fans and potential signings alike, in the same bracket as Manchester United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Manchester City for that matter. Current standing is based solely around current expectations, current chances for success. All of the aforementioned clubs currently have the potential to win trophies, and by trophies I mean league titles, and European glories. Liverpool simply don't.
When your typical Liverpool fans talks about their past successes they don't seem to realise that, Istanbul 2005 aside, these successes were a long, long time ago. They haven't won the domestic title for a quarter of a century!!! Think about it. A quarter of a century. When a potential signing is considering Liverpool, is he really looking at them and thinking of their past successes? My first real footballing memories were of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, I was 9. Even if I'm being generous and assume I got into football late, and my memories aren't as vivid as others, that means you're probably looking at footballing memories starting from about age 7. Liverpool last won the league title in 1990, so 25 years ago. For a professional footballer to remember Liverpool as a league champion they'd need to be 25 + 7 years, so 32 years old. That means that the vast majority of players Liverpool would be looking to sign will have no living memory of Liverpool as a league champion.
THAT is why they struggle to attract the World's best at this stage. Liverpool's fans, and for that matter their hierarchy, seem to still think Liverpool are a huge pull for players, that their "istree" carries some real weight. It really doesn't carry that much at all these days, it's so long ago footballers don't remember it, and in a vast number of cases, their successes actually pre-date the players birth! When you combine a diminishing attractiveness with a lack of willingness to pay top whack for players and their wages, and with the clear indication that their best players are looking for the exit door (Suarez last season, Sterling this), is it any surprise to see Liverpool on the outside of the top 4 looking in enviously? Their fans (and blinkered ex-professionals) seem to be the only ones who can't see Liverpool's current position as one outside the footballing elite.
