People do like to slag off FSG with absolute certainty that they know what’s going on. I think we have little to no clue what’s going on.
The club should have had two centre backs in on 1st Jan.
I’ve seen reports that Liverpool went for Kabak in December but Shalke quoted a stupid price thinking they could wring a desperation tax out of us. We only got him on the terms we wanted because by the end of the window Shalke were desperate.
So I am pretty sure that if the deals we wanted were available at the start of the window, we’d have done them then.
Do you have a link to Arsenal’s 2020 accounts. I’ve been trawling through Companies House data and I can only find the 2019 results for Arsenal Holdings Ltd and Arsenal Football Club Plc.
We weren’t sure on Kabak we refused to offer a fee or accept a commitment to buy on the loan he was not our first target.
We made £20+m offers on Caleta-Car (accepted in principle), Botman (involved Origi going the other way, accepted in principle) and Carmo (rejected outright). These were all higher than Kabak in the wish list but couldn’t be completed in such short time especially with them needing replacements.
Klopp said before the Matip injury we weren’t getting a CB, it wasn’t his decision, it was against his recommendation and when asked directly if it was because there was no money “yes”!
The journalists close to the club don’t get prior knowledge but do get the in depth scoop afterwards. They universally have gone with the story we were not going to bring a senior, established, CB in till Matip got injured and then more funds were made available to Klopp and the recruitment team.
Sometimes the most obvious and logical answer is the right one. I’m not sure why you refuse to accept what all the evidence points to. FSG get nearly everything right but this is one thing they got horrifically wrong and may hurt us a lot.
I don’t understand why the suggestion that a bunch of very capable people who have done very well in general sat around scratching their arses until deadline day is the logical answer.
Surely logic dictates that as our need for a centre back was screamingly obvious to everyone, everyone tried to take the piss with us early in the window.
Because, as everyone with any kind of source at the club has said, we didn’t have the funds made available to pursue a CB signing till Matip got injured the Thursday night before the window shut. As you’ve just pointed out, relying on Matip was always going to cost us. We are actually lucky his injury wasn’t a week later.
I’m guessing that the £50mill loss Arsenal are posting isn’t including the £120mill loan from the Bank Of England they took out a few months back,there is no way on earth Arsenal have only lost £50mill throughout this covid pandemic,i call BS on those accounts,they must have a good chef cooking those books.
The books are for 2019/20 season so wouldn’t include that. The effects on the 2019/20 season have been hyped up to death from the start. The decrease to the TV packages were voted to be spread out over the next few years of payments so was never a big thing. Some commercial deals may have clauses about fans in grounds but aren’t likely to have been that affected. A third of the seasons TV revenue won’t show up in that seasons accounts (but will in the following year, a blessing in disguise in the end) and a third of match day revenue was lost (about £100m for us, no idea for Arsenal). We were probably set to be declaring a profit, possibly a big one, for that season before the pandemic hit. With the losses in revenue we might still declare a small profit, break even or declare a loss. But if the loss is as big or bigger than theirs there’s something not right at LFC.
Ahh ok i miss-read the account dates,i guess it’s possible seeing as only around 4 home games would have lost match day revenue,plus the tv rights money.
I think we need to put spending into context of other clubs/COVID/Club position.
Just 70M got spend in January by PL clubs. Just three players accounted for 58M. Of which two of these were already pre-agreed from the summer. (Amad Diallo for £18.7m and Said Benrahma into a £25m). The only major deal was Morgan Sanson.
Clubs are taking out large loans, big decreases in income. It was not that long ago the club was nearly furloughing staff.
1st of January despite injuries we were top of the league. We had lost just one game. Few antcipated the collapse.
Under normal circumstances I think its fair to criticise the club. However the financial situation, difficulties attracting players during COVID, the unknown risk of when things will return to normal, our apparent ability to cope (until recent collapse). My feeling is criticism is harsh.
It was obvious we needed a CB. But its also obvious that we needed to operate under a cautious mantra.
Saw an article that it might be years before we see £100m transfers in football. Some speculate it may never happen again. The entire football economics is resetting.
So you’ll take a stance that’s against the people who have more information instead of accepting what those people say? I used to get accused of being an FSG plant for nowhere near this level of stubborn support for them.
I dont know. The two clubs that have driven price historically have been Barca and Madrid. Both of them are seriously close to bankruptcy. United are now 500M in debt having taken out loans in the summer and recently. Spurs were struggling with debt before covid hit with their new stadium.
Those likely to come out OK are those with sugar daddy owners (City, PSG, Chelsea) but its far from a forgone conclusion that sport is a high priority for them in coming years.
Then there are the bumper TV deals. The rights for 2022-25 years are yet to be negotiated. SKY/BT have already been making noises that viewing figures are not what they hope. We could see a significantly slimmed down version of what PL had in the past.
It’s exactly this type of point that is making me feel something’s not right.
It’s factually correct. Can’t argue with that. It almost looks like a positive and a reason not to go to the market… but infact, it’s actially the opposite
Anyone that was even near a person that was near a person that was near a person who was aware there was a club called liverpool football club in the English premier league would be aware of the monumental effort of klopp and the lads to get us to that point and have to be aware the squad and klopp was running on the fumes of the rag that wiped the bottom of the fuel tank.
I understand the need for debate, but I honestly don’t get the slack afforded FSG when it comes to our transfer dealings.
We’ve even seen the old faithful ‘ just accept we don’t know everything’ line trotted out.
That moment in time at jan 1 the horse had bolted but the gate wasn’t closed.
The time to spend was in previouswindows, Barrie the summer just gone we’d been motoring along with minimal spends.
But when the club had to pull out a monumental effort to match that of the lads on the park… we ended up with with two deadline day signings that at the very best are long term prospects.
My feeling is that the squad and klopp was mentally done
Jan 1 was a bit like that war movie that the ground troops somehow managed to get to the checkout point only for the air recon to not land and fly away.
All this is opinion only.
I really feel, when the club had to pull out a few rabbits from various hats, it was only the playing division that ended up producing.
I fully agree the the sentiment. In normal years. It was plain to everyone ever since football returned (end part of season we won the league). We have been running of fumes. What I am saying though, is that has coincided with crap timing.
Its a bit like having a car on its last legs. You know you should take it to the mechanic, but money is a bit tight and your job is uncertain so you put it off. If you can get the car to get through another few month you will be great. But sods law the car has broken down and its now impacting your ability to do your job.
Whilst lots of people will be making lots of money, others are losing billions. Its industry specific. Football is one of the most exposed industries. A luxury. Be it fans attending the match, buying merchandise, TV subscription or the indulgence of sugar daddies. A bit like airlines and hospitality those that come out in a healthy situation will be ripe to exploit the competition.
I think we will see a new order established. Would not be surprised to see City and PSG poach players from the big Spanish clubs. I think FSG has us in a fairly healthy position. But it will be tough. What should have been a dominant period cut short.
FSG have taken a conservative approach. Short term its a big problem. But long term I tend to believe it might be the right choice. A lot depends on if we maintain a top 4 position.
Hindsight would be a wondefull thing but nobody saw this covid coming,which you can’t really blame FSG for not having.
As far as i’m aware or would be led to believe,judging by our previous plans in the transfer market,we plan ahead,play the transfer market and strike when the times right,buying the right players at the right prices for us,seeing as we are run on a tight budget,which enables us to build a team that can compete at the highest levels,against competitors with almost unlimited funds.
The money we suposedly saved and didn’t spend was probably going to go into a big push to strengthen our first 11/squad either last summer or this one coming,then covid kicked in,all the money saved by FSG was then used up to keep our heads above water,instad of taking out bank loans and loading debt onto the club,we know they are businessmen and run the club off its own income,they weren’t about to dip into their own pockets to over spend millions on players in january,with the uncertainty of not knowing when or if finances would ever be the same again in football,they’ve never worked like that in the past 10 years of owning the club and i didn’t think they’d start gambling with huge sums of their own cash now.
As for big spending on players,you can guarantee the likes of Man City and PSG will carry on distorting the transfer market,to safeguard their positions at he top of the tree and make it harder for clubs to compete with them.It’s always happened in football and i’m sure these 2 clubs will carry it on.