The Owners - FSG

Right, but whatever their situation, the Red Sox can afford it - even if they need to take on debt. The problem in Boston is not a shortage of equity capital.

1 Like

If only that were true.

But it doesn’t matter what they do.

Even if they spend £300m this summer and we splutter the way Chelsea have, you’ll use that as a reason why they are shit.

If we buy two more players for 30m each and win the league and the Europa league then you’ll still think they are shit because we didn’t spend £300m

4 Likes

They aren’t going take debt on and it wasn’t my major point anyhow.

Boston will try I assume to rebuild through the draft pick system anyhow what Liverpool need is investment I think that will arrive in some form just don’t expect it to be war chests.

You don’t just do it here then.

Red Sox aren’t even that bad. Lots of talk in April about them being the worst Red Sox team in X years and suddenly that all went away because they started winning. They’re 34-35 right now but have lost a lot of games by 1 run.

Their pitching just isn’t very good.

For all the talk about “spend money” to get good the big contract the Red Sox gave to Chris Sale has proved to be a complete waste. You have to be able to build teams beyond just chucking money at it.

I’m no expert on how minor league farm systems transition to the MLB but I know their AA team are top of the league - with their number 1 and 2 prospects on the team.

1 Like

Sports with a draft system tend to have a memory effect, where a top team that has been near the top for a long time can seem to almost collapse - because they have spent so long drafting so late that the talent in the the organization is all in the aging stars at the top level. A rich team can do a lot with free agency to address that, but the deficit piles up. A team simply can’t spend their way out of that dynamic. FSG’s entire paradigm is focused on how to beat the Yankees, the team in their division that is richer than them, and the richest in the sport. Right now, both are trailing young, deep teams that are much cheaper.

Different problem set in football. No drafts, and player power means you can spend your way to top talent year in and year out. Fundamentally, FSG are more willing to accept the Red Sox need to go through a trough of a couple of years to restock talent than they are to just go toe to toe with Abu Dhabi.

2 Likes

With Trent showing up at the euro qualifiers last night, does this mean we need not sign a DM/CM and instead get a RB???

I don’t think the club are paying any serious attention to games against Malta.

If he moves in CM in a more traditional sense it will because of what he does in a Liverpool shirt this pre-season.

8 Likes

I like the way we are doing it, with Trent moving into midfield as a playmaker, from the fullback role. It gives us an extra man in midfield, and with the overload the attacking possibilities expand.

The downside is the vulnerability when you lose the ball. This is mitigated by winning it back quickly - and we saw that side of the game coming back in the last ten games of the season or so, where we hunted and pressed in packs, and won the ball back, often still high up the pitch, and Jurgen celebrated like it was a goal.

The other way to mitigate the tactical weakness is to have a pacy defender getting across, which Kone did with aplomb, and also another midfielder who is athletic and can cover the ground and the gaps, as needed. I expect our recruitment this summer to address this aspect, with at least one more midfielder to be signed.

I said the possible downside to the system, but the upside makes it well worth it. Trent has great vision, and such a range of passing. If we can get him on the ball in the middle of the park it will do a lot of damage to the opposition, as we were starting to see. If we extrapolate that out over a season, it will be a sight to behold, and he will set assist records and weigh in with a few goals too.

When he stepped into midfield for England it was only against Malta. He did well, but I don’t expect the same level of success with England, as Southgate is too cowardly to play the overload system, so against a better side Trent will go man to man with someone from the opposition on him in midfield, to try to nullify his threat.

If I wanted to defend Southgate (I’m feeling charitable) then I would want to make sure I had a fullback in position alongside Harry Maguire, as he is a cart horse.

Trent can do well for England in midfield, but not as well as he will do for Liverpool, for all these reasons and more.

1 Like

Exactly, they are only 4 games behind the Yankees, which is pretty good for a season treated with this doom and gloom. The issue is a 500 season, a record good enough for first place in a few other divisions, is good enough only for last place in the AL East when you have a rejuvenated Orioles and a historically streaking Rays. Incidentally the teams with the second and third lowest payroll in MLB.

1 Like

Happy Joel Mchale GIF by ABC Network

1 Like

Yes, I mean both! Lol

https://twitter.com/gregorypcordell/status/1670205593351602177?s=20
https://twitter.com/gregorypcordell/status/1670205594832183298?s=20
https://twitter.com/gregorypcordell/status/1670205596384067584?s=20

And amazingly the teams that were also doing this, happened to come 1st & 2nd

I wonder if this is a factor in Red Bird not having greater interest in us.

https://twitter.com/footballitalia/status/1671115989721792513?t=8mzE1gyLHA2wS9LSBFycEQ&s=19

1 Like

Meanwhile city owns 13 clubs worldwide and all is good

5 Likes

The key point there is that most of those are outside UEFA, and none of the others are in the top division of a UEFA league. Toulouse got promoted to Ligue 1.

1 Like

Where’s the redbird Toulouse promotion cut money John?

1 Like

Girona are in Spain’s top division. But I think the issue is these investigations are not being done with a view to any intervention being imposed. UEFA got caught with their pants down with Leipzig’s qualification for the CL having just sat and watched the situation develop for years without doing anything about it. They then had one mad summer where everyone had to scramble to figure out what needed to be done to make sure both teams were eligible. My understanding of these investigations is now just UEFA being more proactive in understanding the relationship so they can provide a sort of pre-clearance to the sides should they qualify, or identify the reasons that the second side would be barred, so everyone knows where they stand well ahead of time.

Note the article cites multiple investigations being done, not just with RedBird. Which suggests that CFG have already been put through theirs with respect to Girona and Troyes, who were briefly in France’s top division.

1 Like

Ah right, Girona got promoted too.

So far none of them are likely to be in UEFA qualification, but as you say, UEFA did not address the Red Bull situation proactively.