Liverpool FC Forum

[kazza]

The owners are also responsible for buying too many average players, the buck stops with them at the end of the day. They need to to take it on the chin, cut their losses and start from fresh. Maybe this time they will learn and buy some quality along with the youth.

We need leaders!

[Reg]

The owners are financiers of the management of the club. The CEO and transfer committee + manager are the ones making mistakes. Believe it or not, there is a business plan.

All I want is a team as good as Rafa's.

[the return of HAS]

FSG are responsible for strategy and putting the right people in place to execute that strategy and who are capable of making tactical decisions for the club (transfers, new contracts for players, granular detail of ticket pricing, etc.). Generally the strategy is quite good. But they have failed to put the right people in place to run the club (Comolli, Jen Chang, Rodgers, transfer committee, arguably Ayre, etc).

[eds]

??? The owners are financiers of the management of the club. The CEO and transfer committee + manager are the ones making mistakes. Believe it or not, there is a business plan.

All I want is a team as good as Rafa's.

C'mon Reg let's not start spinning nonsense again.

We ALL know this whole buying players under 25yo obsession and free transfers strategy has come directly from THE OWNERS. Rodgers, the transfer committee, Ayres, etc all of them have had to do as they are told by the owners, or they simply won't sign off on a player transfer that fits outside their myopic business view of running a football club.

It's a bit hypocritical to criticise Hicks and Gillet for ruining this club because they refused to spend their own money on quality players on one hand and turn a blind eye to FSG and their inability to turn the fortunes of this club around on the field after 6 very LONG years because of a fatally flawed model we are operating under...........

[Reg]

Maybe you're right mate but I give NESV more credit because rightly or wrongly, they have provided significant transfer funds and provided 120 million for the new main stand whereas H&G were pure poison only taking cash out of the business.

[johnbarnes]

If anyone's interested...
http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/announc ... ay-31-2015

[7_Kewell]

£60m profit is great news. The owners also wrote off a similar amount in debt, which is good. given the money they're spending on expanding the ground.

[devaney]

How dare they invest £49m into the new stadium !! Disgraceful behaviour 

[Pig Catcher]

It's not an investment it's clearing up issues created by Hicks and Gillett. There was a £49mil black hole in the accounts relating to stadium development from the Hicks and Gillett era. FSG loaned the club money to cover that and some and have now written it off. You could look at it as part of the acquisition cost or simply investment they won't get back. Either way it's a fairly generous thing to do as it could have been covered by revenue generated by the club which I'm sure some/many owners would have done.

We posted £60mil of profit due to the Suarez sale but that has all been spent so will have no bearing on our summer budget as some journalists have said.

The club said we were about break even which is pretty good. It's better than the operating losses we were posting previous to last year.

[killerp]

"Liverpool owners admit they 'underestimated how poor' the squad was when completing 2010 takeover

During evidence given in former owners' legal dispute, FSG describe Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina as 'beyond their prime'

Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group 'underestimated how poor' the quality of the squad was when taking over in 2010

Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group have admitted that they 'understimated how poor' the playing squad was when they completed their takeover of the club in 2010.
Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina - who have both left the club since - were singled out as 'beyond their prime' in evidence given during legal proceedings involving Liverpool's previous co-owner George Gillett.
Gillett, along with the bank RBS, is embroiled in a dispute with American firm Mill Financial over the repayment of a £280m loan that was once secured against the club.

Liverpool's current owner John W Henry was not present but his former chief lawyer Edward Weiss made startling revelations about FSG's perception of the Liverpool squad when they took over from Gillett and Tom Hicks's disastrous reign at Anfield.
Weiss told the legal hearing in New York: 'I think we underestimated how poor the playing quality of the squad was, and frankly, we underestimated how difficult it was going to be to stabilise the asset.

'We were overconfident in assuming that many of the things that we had done in Boston at Fenway would translate naturally to the Premier League and they just didn't all translate.'
Weiss also admitted that FSG watched Liverpool match before completing their takeover and reserved special criticism for two of their most high-profile squad members at the time.

'In due diligence we attended one match,' Weiss explained. 'It was important for us to see a Liverpool match.
'Most of us had never been to a Premier League match, so it was going to be hard to recommend to our investor group that we buy a football club without ever having been to one.
'The one we saw was less than thrilling. It was a near no-match.'

'We obviously did some due diligence on the playing squad during this process before we closed on the transaction in the middle of October of 2010. What we came to know was that the playing squad was poor.
'While we had a few top players like Steven Gerrard, other players like Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina were probably beyond their primes, and Javier Mascherano was not even on the team.'
FSG's comments come less than a month after the furious ticket-pricing row with supporters, which led to a walkout in protest before the end of the home game with Sunderland and, eventually, an open letter of apology from the owners."

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/12182520/Liverpool-owners-admit-they-underestimated-how-poor-the-squad-was-when-completing-2010-takeover.html

[eds]

'We were overconfident in assuming that many of the things that we had done in Boston at Fenway would translate naturally to the Premier League and they just didn't all translate.'

This sums up FSG and the last 6 years under them.

Clueless, utterly f**king clueless when it comes to this sport....

[johnbarnes]

'We were overconfident in assuming that many of the things that we had done in Boston at Fenway would translate naturally to the Premier League and they just didn't all translate.'

This sums up FSG and the last 6 years under them.

Clueless, utterly f**king clueless when it comes to this sport....

At least they have admitted it now, which can only be good for the long haul. 
IMO they are still the best fit for LFC for the mid-long term.
NOW we should see quality investment in the playing staff, which may also lead to the disassembly of the transfer committee 

[eds]

Really hope so mate.

[johnbarnes]

Really hope so mate.

They are business people first Ed, which means they seek profit over everything else.
The new TV deal in the PL places pressure and accountability right at their door as other teams will feel they can compete. The only way we can become a top 4 team is by the correct type of investment in both team and manager. FSG have corrected the latter and will do the same with the team!
Top 4, Silverware all = profit!

[Klopptomaniac]

If those quotes were attributed to any other clubs owners I'd be p!ssing myself at them. Laughable stuff. I really hope that FSG are saying these things to indicate that they're learning from their mistakes and making an effort to educate themselves about football.