I am drawn to the romance of the idea of fan ownership. But even when giving it just a moment of thought, it seems unworkable. Arguably, when we were in the darkest days under G&H, and the court case was being fought with light at the end of the tunnel emerging, had an organized fan bid been in play… with a world class, and clear, leadership structure sorted out and the not insignificant matter of £300M being raised, then that could possibly have been the time.
But now? I just don’t see it.
The biggest hurdle, which is the finances, won’t be overcome. Let’s imagine the owners were willing to sell. And let’s imagine the price they would sell LFC is £2Billion. And let’s imagine issues with minority stakeholders could be resolved. All big hurdles themselves. Still, let’s put the scenario in play, and the club is up for grabs.
Now let’s ask, has £2 Billion been raised, and is the fan group ready to act? The answer is of course no and no.
You can’t talk about buying things if you don’t have the money. It’s daydreaming. Should the owners wish to sell at some point, the first criteria for prospective buyers will be proof of funds, and that might get you an initial conversation.
Beyond not having the money, I also see huge issues with structure, decision making, and requisite professionalism in all departments. Whatever one might think of FSG, they are world class businessmen, connected to other world class professionals.
Anyway, I love the romanticism of the idea… but in practicality, given where we are now at, it won’t happen.
And if the British government is all of a sudden able to nationalize private industries, surely they will want to make gas and electricity cheaper for people, or do something useful like that, rather than getting into football? Not to mention the issues that would come into play if the government could start to acquire privately held businesses.
