The board (as shown, made of members of different fans groups, not only SoS) has no executive power of course. It’s just a structure enabling fans to talk with the owners and bring forward their needs or their concerns. fsg can chose to do what they want and ignore the fans, but it’s not what they have done since they are here.
It would be ridiculous to ignore any fan groups regardless of what they think of them. Would be suicide as owners.
I do think SOS as one of the more prominent fans groups should do more for both sides because the club can only be better if they help police both the owners and the fans. Not sure how much they have helped to clam down the subsidized tickets like the 9 pounds ones getting resold to touts. Should be easy since these tix buyers have known addresses?
Loads of season ticket holders sell their match passes in other platforms and make money , what has SoS done to combat that
Thats not really an issue for SOS to deal with, although didnt liverpool recently ban people for doing something along those lines ?
SOS came to the fore when there was a huge crisis with H&G. Obviously hundreds of thousands of fans, if not more, came together to do their bit too. It was brilliant work by so many.
These days there’s no existential crisis to get the blood pumping. You have varying perspectives on the consortium that is investing, but most people seem to be able to go with the flow on that, realizing that football has been a huge business for at least a couple of generations now.
Arguably we try out a bit of moral relativism as we adjust - at least they aren’t a human-rights abusing nation state… at least it’s not Elon Musk, etc.
There is a role for the fan board and I hope that continues, and more than that, I hope the owners - FSG or possibly others in the future - continue to listen and have constructive dialogue.
It could be precarious if it is not managed well. Financially, the supporters board is not at the races in relation to the owners. If they wanted to, bad owners could squash them, or ignore them. I’m thankful it hasn’t been like that at LFC, because good owners realize that they have nothing without the supporters, so hopefully respectful and reasonable dialogue will always be part of it.
For my personal taste, sometimes SOS feels like they presume to speak for all fans, and they can come across a bit anachronistically, almost having the feel of a shop-steward in an age and setting that has mostly moved beyond all that. But that’s just a slight preference on my part, and it might be unfair to even voice that, because I’ve nothing but respect for anyone who is trying to make sure the club is in good hands and the fans are respected.
Exactly, that’s why fsg created this board in the first place. If someone like Bezos came in, I’m not sure that there would be much constructive dialogue left. At best, he’d treat the supporters like his Amazon customers. At worst, like the Amazon workers whom he shamelessly exploits.
Not something for the short term, as fsg will remain majority stakeholders, but I’ll still be concerned if that kind of owner takes a stake into the club.
It’s a reasonable concern. If the business practices have been questionable, will that be the mindset for how he will treat supporters?
I’m adopting a wait and see policy, as we don’t know the make up of the consortium, and how much Bezos will have, both now and in the future, and the accompanying influence that will bring.
A cautiously optimistic view is that the new consortium will help expand the income streams coming into the club, and in turn that will help to keep us competitive at the top for the duration. They will install good people at all levels, and the thing will largely run itself.
I am almost sure Bezos are not interested in involving himself in any day to day operations or even running the club in a strategic level. If he had any intention to do that, or if FSG had any intention to relinquish that, Bezos can easily buy the club many times over right now. I think at least for now, he is just part of a consortium to get some returns on his spare change.
Hopefully these guys will have an eye for the multi-club model because it really feels like the way to go.
I’ve been thinking about Bezos and the possible attraction. If he is part of a consortium for a minority stake, then clearly he is only dipping his toe in the water at the moment. It might not lead to anything much.
Still, I’ve been thinking what’s in it for him?
I see two things. First, the money! I think streaming will grow and grow, and the way football will be consumed in the future will go more a la carte. Having a huge club, and the accompanying global fanbase that comes with it, will help spearhead the way that football is consumed. (Just guessing, and I could be wrong, but that feels like the main business play, along with all the other myriad ways revenue is generated in association with the name and the fans of LFC).
The second reason he might be drawn to us is vanity. We are a trophy purchase, with a story, a certain appeal, and also a global, passionate fanbase. What’s not to like about that? Who knows, maybe he has seen the Wrexham stuff and it has sparked something inside. He’s a man who lacks for nothing, but he is drawn to the excitement of it all, and given his means, he can get into the game a little higher up than Wrexham!
I could be miles off, but I’m trying to fathom why he is interested.
Your first reason is more like it, IMO
If it was a vanity thing, I think he would go for an NFL or NBA team…
Are SOS really relevant? I think the club tolerates them more than anything.
For me the list of questions about any investment is naive in the extreme. Who would release that information before any purchase. Also - none of their business.
Yeah I can see football rights going that way - if there was a club specific online service that showed all LFC games live that would be way more tempting a proposition than Sky/TNT/Prime as I don’t really want to also be paying for Sunderland Vs Leeds and Crystal Palace Vs Nottingham Forrest etc
But a euro soccer ball team is much more Gucci. ![]()
Also do salary caps and the closed quasi socialist nature of US Franchises mitigate against long term domination that is central to interesting a Bezo type mindset?
Not to mention we are currently top of the list of clubs with sponsors who have links to Israel
There is a LOT of serious discussion on whether sports broadcast rights have peaked. What is possible is the next battle is more about vested interests carve our higher %s of the existing pie for themselves. An obvious accelerator for that are groups with existing control of scalable streaming services buying the highest profile clubs who they would reasonably expect would drive subscriptions if the broadcast rights got carved up on a club by club basis.
I think Neil Atkinson was involved in setting SOS up, after the Hicks+Gillette fight. People like him have been so important in keeping some semblance of the history and roots of the club
Which is why this one hit so hard ![]()
https://x.com/Knox_Harrington/status/2087161076362129571?s=20
With TV rights I expect the next Football League deal will end the blackout.
At that point none live games will be available for the club to sell.
Probably one or two rounds until it becomes detached. I would happily play for a PL TV station to be fair.
Though I do like watching the FL.
