It’s why I do feel we have had issues in CM, it’s the area where two of our biggest acquisitions have been injured and become issues.
You can point elsewhere like defence but Matip was free and Gomez is a youth recruit (small cost youngster who potentially could generate funds if you feel his story has ended here).
Trent again is youth and Robbo (was nothing) so the outlay has solely been on Konate and VVD.
Where we haven’t really had any CM come through until Bajectic (of course if Elliott and Bajectic develop to be able to do those roles in future the outlay on that CM will be a lot less).
I do think that’s the exciting part of this project, it’s probably this more sizeable outlay this summer but then followed by years of small spending.
I would like the club to go fix the situation this summer and then let it tick over and until we see what happens we don’t know what will be the situation.
We’ve got some players coming through that May develop into starters, some you’d be surprised if they don’t push on and some that you might actually get decent funds for if they don’t make it, it is ultimately why I think Klopp committed to the club and ultimately why I expect he will be here to see that fruition come through.
I’m an Englishman in Japan. Because of the location, you and I are wide awake right now when most people on here are either asleep or having their evening meal.
Of course, the handle was inspired by the Sting song and by the former poster An Englishman in Bangkok.
Oh ya you mentioned it in the past before that you are in Japan and should have taken a clue from your profile Pic. And coincidentally I am in Bangkok now!
Edit. OK not to derail discussion here. Back to FSG!
It’s like buying a family home to live in. You put a lot into buying it, probably got a mortgage as well. The house has now increased a lot in value but unless you sell the property or a significant stake in it… it doesn’t help you pay the bills. To continue investing more then, FSG are seeking outside investment which gives us hope that we will be able to spend more.
We made some sizable losses during the pandemic and unlike some other clubs (Spurs + Arsenal), Liverpool reversed their decision to furlough staff and also to apply to the Coronavirus Retention Scheme due to fan pressure. I’m sure there were financial costs related to these decisions but I’m glad the club made the right decision to reverse course when it did. If you split the investment from Redbird into the various sports clubs FSG own, that is probably where all that Redbird money went - covering our pandemic losses.
As to bankruptcy… a club can fall into trouble very quickly. You only have to look at Barcelona to see how borrowing to spend can destroy the value of a club very quickly (and force them to sell assets). It is too early to say, but my guess at this point is that Boehly will destroy the value of Chelsea very quickly too and I wouldn’t want to see us go down that route.
Quatar rumoured to be buying United before the end of the month. One less buyer for us. Don’t know whether I’m happy or sad that when FSG mooted us being for sale there weren’t multiple bidders.
I don’t follow F1 anymore but despite Lotus having the best engineers, money won….
Its very hard to buy smartly. That’s why essentially no one does. Even Man City have not done it - signings like Ake and Akandji are just bog standard players who really have no business being there.
PSG, eliminated last night in the round of 16 for the 5th time in 7 years. Their signings are horrible, no concept of squad building, no team dynamics, no culture. Just a collection of players on a fuck tonne of money.
Takes a lot of things to build a successful team, money is only one compenent (albeit an important one).
Waiting for another 5 years to win a PL or CL title is already pretty torturous.
Waiting for a decade might even see some long-time fans pass away without seeing Liverpool win another PL title or CL title, depriving them the chance of experiencing a sustained period of silverware just like in the 60s to 80s.
They can but will they? When Lampard and Tuchel got some shit going in their debut season, I thought OK maybe they will let them do their thing and actually build a team, but nope, 200mil spree each and both sacked within months. Even if the owners want, their managers want, will their plastic fans show support behind the manager like we did or will they start calling for resignation? I am sure we can agree the latter has been true for clubs like Chelsea and Manures. Only Pep has been holding his own with the pressure to win but that I will give to him, he has shown that he will only work with free spending owners but he has also shown he can actually control a team of rich egomaniac superstars. That is the reason why both us and them dominated much since Klopp came.
I can agree that throwing lots of money can be a way to win. But if Klopp has not convinced you that there is more than one way to win, then nothing will.
He’s probably fine for international football but that’s a low level. He shouldn’t be starting for a team expecting to win the PL and CL. Certainly shouldn’t have cost more than £40m.
The rocks on which our success has been based under Klopp were bought with a shit ton of cash courtesy of a certain short Brazilian with a bad back. VVD and Allisson were not cheap “smart” buys. They were really bloody expensive. Worth it, obviously but without them, I doubt we’d be quite as happy as we are now.
