Liverpool FC Forum

[redshade]

Spurs will definitely get top 4 and potentially even 2nd if they keep consistent. Arsenal have got Spurs next and to be honest I can't see them getting a win. They've played well against other teams but imo will struggle with top 6.
Top 4 will be a battle this season, we really need to get our act together.

The way last season ended was demoralising enough and adding how we've started this season, isn't going to well.

However, we still can kick in gear and get the machine moving, we've got enough talent to do it.

[woof woof !]

Said it before, our midfield is now a pick and mix of questionable quality. Depending on who's available, sometimes good at at other times "meh".

I know we've got some younger players coming through (Elliot, Jones etc) but they're still learning their trade and I don't see any future mid field generals in there.

Right now the midfield needs urgent attention . We need the addition of one or two seasoned talented players.

I'll continue to bang the drum for us to sign Ruben Neves. Great player at Wolves, who is now beginning to attract the attention of many major clubs here and abroad as they recognise his talent.

I'm convinced under Klopp this fella would be absolutely mint in our midfield.

Currently valued at under £50 mill the longer we leave it before going in for him, given the interest in this fella , the price is going to dramatically increase.

[woof woof !]

As the season progresses I'm becoming even more concerned than I was when starting this thread 

We've lost our "sparkle" and what worries me now is that top shelf or potential top shelf players may think more than twice before joining us.

Loads of talk about Jude Bellingham coming in and even my preferred signing of Ruben Neves from Wolves are having their heads turned by major interest from other clubs both here in the Prem and elsewhere in Europe.

Failure to finish in the top four this season with it's CL football will seriously cripple our attempts to sign the best that's out there.

Will try to stay positive but as things stand we seem to be going backwards.   

[electrum]

The biggest concern for me is the owners recent non-interest in pushing on from a position of strength. We won the CL and PL and have been in final after final. And what do they do ? Sit on their backsides while all around us have strengthened in multiple positions.

If it wasn't for Klopp we would have won nothing of note under their tenure. They won the golden ticket when he agreed to join.

Pep would not have achieved what Klopp did with the same starting point and spending restraints which is why I don't see him as close to Klopp when it comes to actually improving individuals and more importantly the XI being greater than the sum of their parts.

FSG need to be replaced. There , I said it.
They have done a great job in stabilizing us financially and setting us up for the future in that regard.
The reason we need new owners is simple - spending is the new norm. It used to be doing a "Chelsea" then doing and "Abu Dhabi" ..next iit will be doing a "Barcodes" etc etc.

FSG will never get us competing for the PL and CL once Klopp goes - you don't win the lottery twice in life and find another generational talent in management. The future post Klopp looks mediocre at best.

So, do I want to be state owned? NO
I DO want uber wealthy owners who preferably are big football fans and without other sports interests taking precedence over their custodianship of this GREAT club.

If we don't make top 4 God help us as FSG will pull the purse strings closed even tighter and which world class midfielder would even consider coming here when they could go to clubs that will pay at least as much as us if not more? Then they have the attraction of giving them a genuine shot at the Holy Grail of Champions League.

I fear for us under FSG now I really do. Thanks very much guys - you have done your part - now kindly sell up and go. See below for context- no Oil baron/ State owned clubs listed and look where we are (take from RAWK)
In the last 4 years when we have had major success:-

Spurs £325mil net spend
West Ham £280mil net spend
Wolves £166mil net spend
Man Utd £501mil net spend

Notts FOREST £130mil net spend
Fulham £91mil net spend
Crystal Palace £106mil net spend
Leeds £120mil net spend
Everton £105mil net spend
Aston Villa £255mil net spend
Arsenal £375mil net spend
Liverpool £90mil net spend

None of the above are oil state owned and considering new stands,new Stadiums No champions league for most of the above clubs they all manage to outspend us.

[Reg]

We hung on to the deadwood and failed to bring in top talent. We've brought this upon ourselves and I'm extremely disappointed, so unnecessary.

[UvS xR4GEx]

No wonder the owners love Klopp. The man provides miracles on a tight budget and will defend them no matter what.

We are now valued at £2.6bn so if FSG sold up they'll have made a unbelievable profit. But why would they sell up?

With the new stand and more sponsorships coming in they're just gonna be making more and more off of the "Liverpool Brand"

People defend them saying they are building a future here.. but they have been here 12 years now and we're still saying the same things. So when do we benefit from this future that they're building?

I might be abit naive in terms of buisness.. but I see FSG using the brand to make as much money as they can year in, year out. They then spend as little as they can on the team. They then increase the capacity, and we still see no increase on the money we spend on the team.

They'll just keep making 75-100m a year profit until people wake up and see what's happening and then they'll eventually sell up.

They're not building a future for us to benefit from, they are building a future for themselves to make money.


That's the harsh reality.

[damjan193]

That's the nature of things though, is it not? Why would you own a business if not to make as much money as possible from it? Unless you're a personal toy for a sheik, that's how things work, that's the harsh reality.

I agree with everything said above, our owners comfortably sat on their asses while they could have made us a footballing giant had they invested in the team from a position of strength, but from their point of view, they're earning money either way, so why should they spend? They've profited so much from this club that they can afford to not invest and risk having the Liverpool brand lose some value, and still sell for a huge profit if need be.

It's not something the supporters want to hear but that's how it is from the owner's point of view. Best us fans can hope for are some more miracles from Klopp, the one guy who actually gives a Sh*t.

[Reg]

Klopp made 16 million quid last year, does he really listen to the fans, or his paymasters. I know who I'd listen to for 16 million...

[kazza]

To be fair they did make us a football giant, and we have been buying expensive players. The only thing is we cannot compete with the mega rich clubs because those few teams are in a league of their own. City, PSG basically have open cheques that are paid for by oil rich governments. The money has no accountability as those are not democratic countries, how can anyone compete with that, they have a nations public funds. We have been breaking our own record for money spent on players consistently. I get what people are complaining about the owners but the deck is stacked in their favor and the fact we have pushed city all the way is an incredible achievement in itself.

It is a business but there are much worse owners out there than ours.

[redshade]

To be fair they did make us a football giant, and we have been buying expensive players. The only thing is we cannot compete with the mega rich clubs because those few teams are in a league of their own. City, PSG basically have open cheques that are paid for by oil rich governments. The money has no accountability as those are not democratic countries, how can anyone compete with that, they have a nations public funds. We have been breaking our own record for money spent on players consistently. I get what people are complaining about the owners but the deck is stacked in their favor and the fact we have pushed city all the way is an incredible achievement in itself.

It is a business but there are much worse owners out there than ours.

Post by electrum mate.


"In the last 4 years when we have had major success:-

Spurs £325mil net spend
West Ham £280mil net spend
Wolves £166mil net spend
Man Utd £501mil net spend

Notts FOREST £130mil net spend
Fulham £91mil net spend
Crystal Palace £106mil net spend
Leeds £120mil net spend
Everton £105mil net spend
Aston Villa £255mil net spend
Arsenal £375mil net spend
Liverpool £90mil net spend

None of the above are oil state owned and considering new stands,new Stadiums No champions league for most of the above clubs they all manage to outspend us."

[kazza]

To be fair they did make us a football giant, and we have been buying expensive players. The only thing is we cannot compete with the mega rich clubs because those few teams are in a league of their own. City, PSG basically have open cheques that are paid for by oil rich governments. The money has no accountability as those are not democratic countries, how can anyone compete with that, they have a nations public funds. We have been breaking our own record for money spent on players consistently. I get what people are complaining about the owners but the deck is stacked in their favor and the fact we have pushed city all the way is an incredible achievement in itself.

It is a business but there are much worse owners out there than ours.

Post by electrum mate.


"In the last 4 years when we have had major success:-

Spurs £325mil net spend
West Ham £280mil net spend
Wolves £166mil net spend
Man Utd £501mil net spend

Notts FOREST £130mil net spend
Fulham £91mil net spend
Crystal Palace £106mil net spend
Leeds £120mil net spend
Everton £105mil net spend
Aston Villa £255mil net spend
Arsenal £375mil net spend
Liverpool £90mil net spend

None of the above are oil state owned and considering new stands,new Stadiums No champions league for most of the above clubs they all manage to outspend us."

I’m not saying they are the best owners, I’m just saying they are not the worst. We have come along way since they came, especially on infrastructure and how the club is run and most importantly with no significant debt, how many teams on that list can say the same. Next season we will have 60k+ watching matches and we didn’t leave Anfield, when they came the capacity was 43k and moving to an Emirates style bowl stadium seemed the only option.

They have been bidding on good players but refuse to get pulled into bidding wars, we actually bid on a number of players. I don’t think they are shy spending 100million on a single player. In any case our success came from finding gems, we never got to where we are by buying the best players. All the players we bought we were told we over spent. VVD, Allison, Salah, Mane were bought with opposing fans saying we got ripped off as they were unproven. As it happened they were all undervalued.

I don’t want to be their biggest supporter, I just feel like we should recognize what they have done, rather than focus on what they haven’t done since we are lacking form as a team. Last year we were one of the best teams in the world and almost got the quadruple, we are still the same team just for some reason have lost our way.

[UvS xR4GEx]

We've stood still for too long that's the problem. Look at the team from 2018 and now and it's the same team apart from Gini/Thiago and Mane/Diaz.

City have added Haaland, Grealish, Dias, Ake, Cancelo, Rodri..

Arsenal have added Gabriel, Jesus, Odegard, Partey, Saliba, Tierney, Ben White

United have added Ronaldo, Antony, Casemero, Varane, Sancho..

We have dreadful transfer window after transfer window just praying next year will change.. but nothings gonna change.

We'll sign a couple of cheap CMs next summer and will once again hope Klopp can turn them into superstars.

[7_Kewell]

Serious problems. Hard truths...

Gomez- not good enough
TAA- WTF?
Thiago- luxury player we can't afford to carry
Henderson- great servant but past his best
Milner- shouldn't be anywhere near the first team
Jones- not good enough
Eliott- good prospect but should not be starting
Nunez- not a worth what we paid by a long shot

[electrum]

The complete lack of ambition and interest in staying at the top from FSG is now reaping its (non) rewards. They have been static in the transfer market for 3 years and hope that a one off signing every now and again whilst recouping as much as they can (see net spend) is enough to placate the fan base.

Sadly many reds still think they are the best thing since sliced bread. The truth they have been the luckiest owners in living memory - Klopp joins Liverpool and we get 140m for Coutinho. Without these two events we would have already been also rans (top half of the table) and won nothing.

Once Klopp goes we will be mid-table for a generation/ until we get lucky again (not likely). On the seasons showing so far we may well already be a top 6 team at best.

FSG are not here to win things they, are here to reap as much profit as possible whilst staying in/ flirting with the top 4- anything else for them is a bonus.

It's time for them to sell up and go.

[UvS xR4GEx]

The complete lack of ambition and interest in staying at the top from FSG is now reaping its (non) rewards. They have been static in the transfer market for 3 years and hope that a one off signing every now and again whilst recouping as much as they can (see net spend) is enough to placate the fan base.

Sadly many reds still think they are the best thing since sliced bread. The truth they have been the luckiest owners in living memory - Klopp joins Liverpool and we get 140m for Coutinho. Without these two events we would have already been also rans (top half of the table) and won nothing.

Once Klopp goes we will be mid-table for a generation/ until we get lucky again (not likely). On the seasons showing so far we may well already be a top 6 team at best.

FSG are not here to win things they, are here to reap as much profit as possible whilst staying in/ flirting with the top 4- anything else for them is a bonus.

It's time for them to sell up and go.

The fact that they're talking about expanding the stadium instead of improving the team shows you exactly what's going wrong at the club.