The Owners - FSG

They certainly got catfished then…

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fantastic analogy. they played the “long game” for sure.

It was the Mbappe “loan” as well from PSG imo, £365m for two players (in 2 months?), that screws up and market. I believe the next big two were the panic buys from Barca (thanks for giving us ~65% of the Neymar money), that put the “nail” in the transfer coffin.

Except, of course, every club then knew Barcelona had a shit load of cash and took the opportunity to rinse them accordingly, with perhaps a little help from some coordination between Liverpool and Dortmund.

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We regret nothing.

No one has said they did. What Mascot said was that one of their motives was to distort the market. Obviously that involves multiple actors.

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PSG have played a blinder, abused FFP… Got their CEO as the most powerful man in world football… Got away with abusing FFP… Distorted the market to completely fuck the “old guard”… Got the world cup…

Qatar are the winners.

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Sorry mate, but that’s ridiculous. Barca exist since more than hundred years and have done extremely well during that time. Their current plight won’t change anything to them staying one of the main clubs in Europe, and their ownership model has a lot to do with it.

Sonos good stuff. Have a sounder and subwoofer and it is excellent. I can add more stuff and make it multi room too, if I want.

In the grand scheme of things, it is upper mid. I compared to Bose and I like Sonos better.

Naim gear is much better, British too. Devialet better too. And lots more, as the audiophiles will know.

Oh, and our owners?

Just fine. Head screwed on.

The problem is the oil clubs who are backed by nation states on a money-no-object basis. They have flouted the rules and subdued those in authority, bending them to their will.

The next evolution will be a new attempt at ESL, better thought out, better PR, and with more sporting integrity added. UEFA are not fit for purpose. They will threaten all sorts, but as a new jurisdiction is set up, the participating clubs won’t recognize UEFA any more.

Ultimately PSG and Man City should play each other every week, to be champions of the galaxy or something, while the true big clubs get on with a new venture.

Saw this today which is very interesting.

Also we spend 66% of our turnover on wages, again at the top end of the scale.

I’m unapologetic for supporting FSG, I accept their faults and mistakes, and more importantly don’t want the alternative.

This is why transfer fees need to stop being used to say “we don’t spend”… We do, we just direct our money at retention above recruitment. We spend at the very highest levels.

My worry is when Klopp leaves and if we don’t recruit a manager who can coach players to the final tier, but for now we operate very very well.

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Yeah, I posted the SwissRamble twitter thread in the FFP thread. Good read.

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Have a look at the Liverpool fans on Twitter and Facebook. Listen to the phone ins, or lads like Kev Walsh on the Anfield Wrap. Under a fan ownership model similar to Barca we’d be fucked.

Barca might get away with it in La Liga, with its three good teams for four Champions League spots, and all the natural advantages they enjoy from their broadcasting model, but they wouldn’t get away with their batshit ownership model in the Premier League. When Barca were building the core of their teams with players through their academy they were a model club, but they’ve moved away from that in favour of trying to keep up with the spending of PSG and City, largely egged on by an increasingly hysterical supporter base.

Whether we like it or not, over the last decade something has changed in football regarding the patience of fans, the culture of money worship, and the need to live vicariously through signings and spending money. That, I think, means fan ownership has had its time. I’m going to remain deeply sceptical of any proposal around Liverpool FC that involves fan representation in decision making and strategy, for the simple reason that I think on the whole fans are bloody nuts.

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Bah, who needs money anyway. The Kop knows.

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Nope, I don’t buy that. Irresponsible owners and club presidents have always been there. Some clubs have gone bust, but always, it was clubs where fans had no say at all. Barca have never gone bust, and never will, because of their fans ownership structure. The current problem at Barca has a name, and that’s Laporta. Yes, with hindsight, a majority of their fans were nuts to hand him the keys of the club, but remember that they have the might to also remove him from his position.

This discussion is interesting I think, because at the end of the day, it’s about what degree of trust you place in democracy. It’s the same as if we said: ‘Johnson is in charge in England, it’s proof that democracy doesn’t work, lets bin it off completely.’ All very fine, but for what?

Same with fans ownership: ‘Laporta is a ©°~† who has done much harm to Barca’s traditional ways and values. Well then, lets terminate fans ownership.’ But again, with what do you replace it? A billionaire from the States, a Russian oligarch, a Middle East state? All of these are worse in my book. Barca will do better when the fans will have remembered what their DNA is, and elect someone who leads them back to it.

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I’m pretty worried about our wage bill.

I wouldn’t be, particularly if we continue challenging for league and CL honours. FSG run a pretty tight ship in that regard. It’s popped over 60% of revenues only because of Covid depressing revenues and the club paying out bonuses following the league win.

Assuming they don’t earn new ones, Origi and Milner are out of contract which will free up some space along with any other players who leave between now and then.

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Given that our wage bill fluctuates according to our success on the pitch I’d be worried if it started to go down.

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I know what you mean. :+1:

I think with our low revenue and high wages, there’s little wriggling room. Specially with all these contracts extensions.

We have to improve our commercial revenue, it’s pretty small compared to that of United.

To be fair, we have the 5th highest revenue in the world according to Deloitte.

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Aslong I don’t have to pay it I’m not worried. :sunglasses: