I think it was mainly noise from the right wing press that did that.
Jurgen Klopp has socialist values, sure. I never said he didnât.
âI believe the only way to live and to be truly successful is by collective effort, with everyone working for each other, everyone helping each other, and everyone having a share of the rewards at the end of the day.
âThat might be asking a lot, but itâs the way I see football and the way I see life.â
Bill Shankly.
So our best managers are all socialists, Liverpool as a city is the most Labour you will see.
Having socialists in the club or as a fanbase doesnât make it a socialist club. It was always a strictly commercial venture from the start. However, not acknowledging the views of the bulk of the clubs fanbase isnât exactly a shrewd financial move.
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Itâs semantics⌠The Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Limited is not a socialist company no, but Liverpool, defined by its fans, its city, its current and past managers, cooperative and accommodating but not trademarked, is a socialist football club.
Our owners are capitalists, but each time they try to enforce such views on the club they get smacked the fuck back down. They hopefully understand they are custodians of the club but itâs the fans who are the true club.
Paying a person ÂŁ250k per week whilst others are on a fraction of this is not exactly the shining example of socialism now is it. But often conveniently ignored. The fact that the club is owned by a business, not the collective is also a small give away.
Itâs semantics⌠The Liverpool Football Club and Athletic Grounds Limited is not a socialist company no, but Liverpool, defined by its fans, its city, its current and past managers, cooperative and accommodating but not trademarked, is a socialist football club.
Our owners are capitalists, but each time they try to enforce such views on the club they get smacked the fuck back down. They hopefully understand they are custodians of the club but itâs the fans who are the true club.
Itâs not semantics. Itâs FSG that decide whether to freeze ticket prices. Yes, they know the clubâs fanbase much better than they did at the beginning but their decision to freeze or not is not influenced by socialist values but what is in the best overall interests of the club, as a business.
Why put the price up of something if you can afford not to without impacting the club (or business if you prefer).
Anfield holds 53,000. About 27,000 are season ticket holders and something like another 7,000 is corporate hospitality leaving 19,000 ish match day tickets. Say those are an average of ÂŁ50 a ticket (I think it would be less but thatâs a nice round number). You put them up by 10% to an average of ÂŁ55. On a match day that nets you an extra ÂŁ95k a match (or to put it another way a 0.02% increase in revenue). Based on a decent season we might have 30 home games. So youâre looking at something like ÂŁ2.5m-ÂŁ3.0m increase in revenue.
Is it worth the negative press, the fan backlash and the negative emotions that will create for a less than 1% increase in revenue when you can make that up elsewhere.
It doesnât have to be black or white, socialist or capitalist. We know the club needs to make more money. Does it need to come from the match day fans pockets when it can come from elsewhere? Absolutely not.
Does anyone know what the breakdown of match-day revenue is? If I go to a match I will usually buy, as a minimum, a programme and a drink of some sort. Iâm guessing that there is more than one way of raising cash.
First off, itâs a unnecessary point of friction to insist that the club is socialist. Of course the city of Liverpool leans left, politically, and obviously we can wheel out Shanks and Klopp quotes to illustrate that they are that way inclined too. But the global fan base is all over the map politically, and I suspect that many of the people closely associated with the club - players, managers, and directors, have been all over the map politically too.
What unites Liverpool fans is our love for football, and specifically, LFC. Thatâs the core thing we have in common. To try to squeeze all LFC fans into the one political mold seems silly to me, as you are just going to cause division.
As for the owners not putting up season ticket prices⌠good move. Everyone is feeling the pinch with inflation, and this is a nice thing to be able to do for match going reds.
How are they able to do it? Well, thatâs their lookout! Why would I criticize them for freezing season ticket prices?
As an amateur sitting here in my chair, it is very obvious to say that season ticket prices are only one stream of the overall revenue. They are growing the club in every which way. A price increase for season tickets will come, at some point down the line, and when it does, most fair minded will likely swallow it, as it would be seen as reasonable enough. It wonât be liked, how could it, but the years of freezing season ticket prices will soften the blow.
The owners are clever people. Donât choke the match going fans when everyone is feeling the pinch. Itâs all reasonable enough.
It should be a business to compete with all the other ones. It is a business, to think otherwise is lunacy.
The right business move is not always to pass costs onto the customers though. Understanding the ticketed fans are not just customers but part of your product factors into that.
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One of my favourite films.
Itâs not semantics. Itâs FSG that decide whether to freeze ticket prices. Yes, they know the clubâs fanbase much better than they did at the beginning but their decision to freeze or not is not influenced by socialist values but what is in the best overall interests of the club, as a business.
Of course FSG decide what to do with ticket prices, but letâs go back to tory boyâs original post which was a question whether should FSG raise them so hard working fans âshare the burdenâ. Think about that for a second. In a country where the cost of living is sky rocketing and the current tory government is doing little to help with it, a supposed liverpool fan is questioning if our owners should add additional financial burden on liverpoool based working class people (who make up a large portion of the match going fans) who are already fucking struggling.
Why the link to socialism? Well itâs the link to the attitudes of our managers which our owners should be listening to.
I find it hard sometimes to distinguish if his posts are just a wind up personally.
I know where youâre coming from.
Fortunately the smart business decision is the one that causes least additional burden on match-going fans.
I hope it is ever thus.
Oh Jesus Christ⌠just saw this:
Really guys?
I was hoping my survey responses calling them utterly shit rich tech boy shit would have convinced them otherwise.
Ah well I think they are a fad at best, seriously corrosive on society at worst, as long as I can watch a full match without purchasing one thatâs all I need to know.