That was genuinely weird, he really went from one extreme to the other.
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I think they do understand, they just donāt want to pay it, perhaps have some belief they can be smarter and better run. Their hope has to be that the PSGs/Citehs etc are all somehow brought crashing down, and/or someone will buy them out at a significant premium soon. Toon would suggest the first angle isnāt likely anytime soon, and they donāt see to be rushing to sell either. At the most basic level, I donāt understand their game plan anymore, where I had a high degree of confidence that I did until around 2019.
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I donāt give a shit about our billionaire owners being criticised but I do stand up for the people who plan our club strategy - put in place and allowed to go about their business by FSG.
We arenāt a ārichā team (weāre extremely rich by any normal measure but not in the Man City/Real Madrid etc level) and we arenāt rhe most attractive team (I think Liverpool is the best city in the country but most people from outside of it either donāt know a lot or have preconcieved notions). We also donāt have the biggest stadium, highest ticket prices, best training facilitiesā¦ basically its not 1970 anymore. We were allowed to rot as a club for about 20 straight years between 1992 and 2012
Despite a few minor setbacks we from that point weāve won every trophy available to us because of a measured and controlled approach. Its a method favoured by our manager and works well for him. Weāve been successful because of the genius of that manager. Weāve managed to invest heavily in new talent and have a strong young side developing.
This team is at the start of the journey that our previous team took from around 2017. Are we perfectly set up? No. We have areas to improve and by all accounts we are still looking for more pieces to help but frankly the days of expecting a league win are long gone.
Iām proud of what the team and club have achieved over the past 5 years and Iām excited to see what the next chapter holds.
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The only option is to try and be the smartest people in the room. Trying to go toe-to-toe with Man City on spending power is madness (unless youāre Chelsea, PSG etc)
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We probably would get him for 45 with add ons but we have to drag every thing out Klopp wanted new players in for preseason.
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Yeah, but frankly, Iād sell. You cannot count on always being smarter. The big bucks hire away your smart guys at some point.
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Thatās a very good point actually.
I had a client whoās son worked as a fitness or strength and conditioning coach for the first team. High enough up to be on the sidelines at the final whistle in Madrid. From what I gathered he was making less money in that job than I was in mine and Iām not exactly raking it in.
Left to set up his own fitness business.
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Itās understandable they done the club proud early years but now they not good enough.
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Oh I see, I thought you meant you didnāt understand their strategy for winning but you meant you didnāt understand their strategy for holding onto the club.
Maybe its just an ego thing, or something that they feel makes their portfolio really strong for investors.
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If youāre going to be truthful and not try twist its not what he fully said. He said he would like players in early but itās not always possible it may go to the last minute.
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I agree with this. With regard to selling, if they are after the optimal financial return, do you see them selling to the Middle East? Either a nation state, or a nation state behind some other investment group as a cover?
If they are exiting, at some point in the not too distant future, and the optimal financial return is the objective, they wonāt care what the fans think.
And as for fan protest, I think we have more about us than other fan groups, but I think we are possibly witnessing a softening up, maybe as a precursor to a Middle East sale, with the sales of Hendo and Fabinho, as well as seeing other reds there like Firmino, Mane, and Iām sure more to come.
In your opinion.
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The two are sort of connected anyway. I think they saw a pathway to producing a winning club, that would build value. FFP would make for a level playing field, etc. Chelsea was colouring inside the lines having frontloaded damn near a billion of talent as a headstart. Just City that was problematic.
The other aspect is that they would have been quietly delighted at what a shitshow LFC was when they bought it. it is pretty damned easy to improve a top 6 side that is playing the likes of Konchesky at fullback. It is now so much harder to improve the club or the team because the low-hanging fruit is long gone.
I think they arenāt rushing because of the enormous ābrand valueā, but I donāt see their vision now.
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Thatās what a forum is supposed to be about peopleās opinions or do you want only your opinion to be heard again.
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I think a very substantial percentage of the fan base is more envious of Toon than critical, even if they have misgivings. I would not expect FSG to wring their hands over whom they sell to in an atmosphere where they are being criticized for their financial discipline.
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The thing I always try and push back on is the fear that fans have. Fear that signings from other clubs are going to leave us so far behind and that we have to go into an Arms Race to catch up.
Iām sorry but we arenāt the winners in the Premier Leagueās version of the Cold War.
Chelsea are a prime example of a club who spend money to consistently get worse. Spurs too. Man Utd are dropping Ā£80m on a guy most people had never heard of three days ago. Yet here we go again with the screeches of panic despite the fact we have already secured our two primary targets in midfield and are strongly linked to get at least one more player in before the window shuts.
All of Chelseaās signings will be fucking shite - we all know that. We arenāt going to rebuild our midfield on one summer and come from 5th to win the league against Man City - we all know that. Man Utd are still fucking shite - we all know that. Arsenal are trying copy us and have had one good season but often young teams fall away again in their second go around - we all know that.
Last season was abysmal by our recent standards largely (but not entirely) because of the play of two midfielders who happen to not be at the club anymore. Despite that we had a slight change of shape and smashed the shit out of people in the last 10 games barely missing out on 4th to Man Utd and Newcastle who everyone seems desperate to pour with praise.
We are fine. We probably wonāt win the league. We can have a fun season though. Its ok to just sit back and enjoy watching the team grow for a year.
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I think they arenāt rushing because of the enormous ābrand valueā, but I donāt see their vision now.
This ^ā¦I honesty think they are waiting to see what the premier league will do with the charges against city/ legislature against middle east nation states in general, in form of what action will uefa /FIFA will take if anyā¦
Because if the champions league is destroyed in its current format etc I think the super League comes back into the spotlight if certain measures arenāt taken.
If city get off , and no steps are taken in the coming months to protect the premier league/ European cup competitionsā¦I think they will be off before the decline genuinely starts.
You do
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I think this viewpoint has merit.
FSG have been good for us. They assembled a great team, with Klopp the diamond, and at all levels it pulled together to win everything in sight. Only a cheating Man City side deprived us of more, and Kloppās trophy haul should rightly be much higher.
They improved and expanded the stadium, which had been all but impossible to do for many years due to myriad issues, but FSG got it done, along with improving the training facilities.
Lots of good things to like and when fans go after them without at least acknowledging what has been good, the possibility of reasonable debate evaporates.
So anyway, the post Iām quoting is fair enough!
More latterly, the FSG project and vision seems harder to see. We are sort of existing, and Klopp is building his next great side, 2.0, but the signals from the owners are that they are open to investment, or a sale, or they are just sort of in limbo at the momentā¦ when Klopp looks eager to charge up the hill again.
I hope he gets what he needs.
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Read my first posts tonight and you might understand. You need to let others have different opinions to you.