Football News: Just wanted to have a moan about Liverpool FC Owners FSG

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Just wanted to have a little moan about Fenway Sports Group (FSG) to get my point across. Open to disagreement, I'm not the oracle - however this is how I view things.

I don't know if anyone else spends a lot of time on twitter looking at Liverpool F.C. news, but if you do - you'll have noticed all the FSG propaganda being spouted for the last few years by the likes of the Echo, Redmen TV, Melissa Reddy, James Pearce to name a few, detailing all the wonderful investments FSG has made in the club and why this has made us unable to afford new players, building extensions to the ground, training complexes etc.

Guess what, other clubs invest that too and still have money left over for the playing squad. We all know about how our net spend in the transfer market compares to other clubs in the same bracket, so I'm not going to go into that, nor am I going to go into all of the prize money and TV money we have garnered and not reinvested.

We are the champions of Europe and arguably the most attractive club in European football to join at the moment, we have an excellent opportunity to really try and overtake Manchester City. Does it really make sense to waste it? Man City have strengthened the one area where they lacked (a defensive midfielder as good as Fernandinho), while other clubs have made signings to allow them to bridge the gap between them and us, we're standing still. Does it really make sense?

From a business point of view, it actually makes perfect sense. What people need to realise is FSG have packaged our club up and moved it away from a club for Liverpool the city (before anyone comments I'm not disrespecting the loyal supporters we have from all round the world), the whole trademark fiasco proves that point.

We've become a global brand with the main income coming from casual fans from different corners of the globe, as a result immediate success on the pitch is not AS paramount - especially given we have just won the Champions League, as a global brand we can live off this Champions League win for at least 5/10 years, constantly re-issuing and re-distributing merchandise displaying that Barcelona comeback, for evidence - see how long we went on about Istanbul for, borderline embarrassing. Now we have won that we have guaranteed a global income for years to come, even if we conspired to have a disastrous season and finish 10th.

Which leads me on to my next point, this sentimental daft rhetoric of fans who claim FSG "saved our club". They did not save our club, they bought a heavily reduced product in financial ruin, with huge potential for profit with the right marketing technique. They pursued this profits immediately, if anyone remembers the "turning fans into customers" line on their website - it speaks volumes alone.

They ripped the heart out of the club, packages Anfield to day trippers and ensured the atmosphere was inconsistent at best, turned us into the global marketing machine mirroring that of Manchester United. The people of Liverpool were no longer the main focus of the club, the sale of Melwood to a housing association proves the point further, as does the constant increase in ticket prices, the attempted ban of fans who sell scarves and badges outside of the stadium for tiny profit - who have been part of the match day furniture and atmosphere for years, the poor treatment of departing heroes: Lucas Leiva, Dirk Kuyt and arguably Steven Gerrard never getting the send off they deserved. FSG has sold the fans down the river for pure greed.

Another argument from the Redmen TV brainwashed fans is - "FSG and Klopp built this great team" no, Jurgen Klopp did - not FSG, FSG have got lucky here - Jurgen Klopp's success in the transfer market is freakishly good, in fact I'd argue he's the best of any manager I've seen in recent times, Loris Karius is the only notable failure from all of his signings (many signings fans questioned for a time) some success rate. He's been able to build a fantastic team by identifying and selling deadwood, picking players who fit his system perfectly and blooding young talent. He also has an advantage in being able to attract players, because of who he is.

Again for evidence look at the debacle Brendan Rogers had to deal with, yes i know some of his signings were poor - however many of his attempted transfers fell through as a result of penny pinching from the club, and he was also limited in terms of his expenditure. There was no notable improvement before Klopp came in, the club very much stagnated in the years before his arrival under FSG - Klopp is responsible for our success, not FSG.

As a final point, this isn't something I'm hugely upset about - it's modern football - I understand.

I'm not panicking about the new season, we have a great team - I'm sure we'll be fine. I'm confident we'll be in the title race again and win another trophy, we could even win the league, why not. But my point is why waste the opportunity to increase our chances further?

Don't make the argument Klopp doesn't want to buy players, he's already stressed that it's a money issue, read between the lines.

Furthermore, I don't hate FSG - they're business owners, investors for profit. They aren't football fans and have no affiliation with Liverpool, they shouldn't be expected to care. It's modern football, many premier league teams have it worse. They aren't harming anyone. However, will people please stop spreading all the pro FSG propaganda.

Written by thomas19 August 02 2019 13:07:47