Do they, or do we just only remember the times they had big ideas that fell flat? What about staying at Anfield and renovating rather than moving? What about Kirkby/Melwood? These guys are constantly pushing for improvements in all areas of the club and the nature of that beast is some of the ideas are stinkers.
16 Likes
I am concerned here that we shoot ourselves in the foot with all this FSG out nonsense.
I personally supported the ESL idea, but not how it was managed.
I supported it strictly and unapologetically from an LFC only perspective. Why?
Because the landscape in which we have to compete is UNEVEN.
We are working on the basis of a sustainable financial model, based on the relationship between our success on the pitch and our success off the pitch.
However, we are competing with a sovereign wealth fund and Russian oligarch money. And without FFP, flawed as it is, the situation becomes even worse.
However romantic our idea of football may be, LFC under FSG is a business and unless anyone has a sugar daddy out there who is willing to shell out millions without regard to losses, what we have currently is the best of both worlds.
5 Likes
They âadmittedâ they were wrong because it was a requirement of the PR. They were backed into a corner by a section of the fan base who, led by a self appointed supporters group who over react to pretty much everything, over reacted to something they had mischaracterized. It is not proof that the original plan was a bad one. As Kopstar said about 2 ago, the outcome SOS actually âwonâ ended up being largely worse for the average fan. Yay, supporter power!
12 Likes
Its very easy to do a âstellar jobâ when your league operates on a model where you can cherry pick the best players of your opponents while paying ZERO dollars, year in year out.
You can announce that the best player in your UCL final opponent will play for you next season!!!
You can even use a rival club to âparkâ a Serge Gnabry for one season, then buy him the next for peanuts!!!
I too would love such a scenario for LFCâŚ
6 Likes
Yeah the cynic says Bayern ignored the ESL overtures because they looked at what the remaining UEFA landscape would be and felt very comfortable lording over a competition in which no one can possibly hope to compete with them.
4 Likes
Furloughing staff isnât âpushing for improvementsâ is it? Iâm talking about things they have done that will obviously inflame the fanbase, lead to huge amounts of negative PR and an inevitable climbdown. JH said today that for the ESL to get off the ground he knew that it would require the support of the fans. I canât believe that he seriously thought Liverpool fans would be anything other than outraged by it. You can see these car crashes coming a mile off. Why canât they?
6 Likes
Since that protest, which involved many thousands of Liverpool fans walking out during a match, all season and match day ticket prices have been frozen every year, including ÂŁ9 tickets for local fans at every home game, not just the three games a season as originally planned. The club have since targeted the hospitality market when raising prices so, yes, I would say it did turn out better for the average fan.
2 Likes
Cultural differences are quite significant. The average American is used to sports much more akin to the format of the ESL.
I think he expected some backlash, but I think he was taken about aback the depth of feeling about things like the closed shop and playing big teams every week.
2 Likes
Crazy to think if they had just removed this element it would have probably gone ok.
4 Likes
If theyâd removed that element then no-one would have been interested.
Isnât it interesting that Bayern and PSG were not interested - two clubs who have absolutely no worries about qualifying from their tin pot leagues.
11 Likes
Even if they had said that the founder clubs would be guaranteed a place for the first say five seasons, then it would be based on merit from there and open to all, it would have been better than what theyâd suggested. Guaranteeing them a spot in perpetuity made this a non-starter
2 Likes
The ÂŁ9 tickets are as relevant as the ÂŁ79 ones in that the numbers of them are insubstantial. They are, however, illustrative of how something relatively insignificant can drive a story.
ÂŁ79 for a ticket. OUTRAGE!
ÂŁ9 for a ticket every game. Thank you SOS!
Meanwhile more regular match going fans pay more for their tickets than under the original proposal.
10 Likes
Iâm not too sure, yes you need to qualify (like you do currently), but when you are in it you can dictate your sponsorship and TV revenue, with a portion going into a central pot (for the mafia lords and smaller clubs).
That way itâs competitive but clubs who have large fanbases can tap into the market they want if they make it.
UEFA could even have their own TV Station (or a partnership with a network) which if a club canât get itâs own deal or provide itâs own infrastructure they provide it for that year. This avoids the complications of the 1 year clubs etc.
I will take your word for that because I canât be bothered to go through all my Spirit of Shankly newslettersâŚ
But I do think itâs significant that since that protest FSG havenât touched ticket prices at all.
1 Like
Perhaps it had an affect on freezing ticket prices, although LFC were by no means alone in that, but you wonât find the truth of the pricing situation from any communications from SOS, Iâm sorry to say.
3 Likes
Also where the fuck has Tony Barrett gone? Wasnât this meant to be exactly what he was in place to help avoid?
3 Likes
A bit of a stunner here:
Probably an empty threat, but still⌠a government representative (Oliver Dowden) publicly contemplating a fanâs stake in their clubs is quite astonishing:
âThe fan-led review will look at this.â
âClearly we have got to get a balance. I want the government to do as little as it has to do. The game is rightly self-governed, but I do think it is right that we look at governance questions like that, and that will not be off the table.â
âThe German clubs didnât participate in this [Super League] proposal. One of the points that was made to me by fans when the Prime Minister and I met with them yesterday was the fact that there was that financial stake. I think we should look at it,â
âInternational investment in football has been a good thing. It has increased the quality of the game and the players and everything else.
âIâm not saying we shouldnât have foreign investment, but I do think it is right that we look at how fans can have a stake in the game.â
1 Like
Tbf, he wouldnât have been consulted at all by the sounds of it.
I was joking about the newsletter. Iâm not a member of SOS. They irritate me too.
My basic point, which is danger of getting lost in discussing the minutiae of Liverpool ticket pricing, is that the owners are tone deaf when it comes to issues like this. For an organisation that is obsessive about avoiding bad PR they bring a lot on themselves. Itâs so easy to spot which ones are going to blow up in their faces and where they are going to have to climbdown.
2 Likes
Nothing in that article referenced the 50+1 fan shareholding thatâs seen in the Bundesliga. The government absolutely wonât do that, imo.