21 Apr 2021 08:58:23
Morning All,

First of all thanks in particular to ED002 for his work in what's been a rollercoaster few days.

Secondly, a take that probably won't go down as well, I'm not 100% behind the idea of FSG out.

Personally I think a lot of fans, and I include myself in this (I'm not trying to take a moral high ground) need to be more realistic and are part of the problem.

Despite being the owners that saved us from H&G, the ones who have paid millions in fees for some amazing players, brought in a world class manager, bankrolled a world class new stand (with another in the pipeline) and training facilities, we constantly want more from them.

We seemingly expect them to spend whatever it takes on transfers whilst spending ridiculous amounts on wages to keep our best players. Some will say "But look at the net spend", but that doesn't take in to account wages, agents fees etc. that ED002 repeatedly tells us that we spend a hell of a lot on.

We want them to spend all this money to be able to compete with the nation state owners and Oligarchs, yet slag off those clubs for their morality. Yet who do you think can honestly afford to buy the club and the plough in the endless amounts of money us fans expect to be spent? Oh and whilst spending all this money, please can you make it more affordable for fans?

They are businessmen after all. Yes they've bought our club, but do you honestly expect them or any other business to bankroll everything without making money back?

And who buys them out? Who has a spare couple of billion that won't have the same interests? Or as ED said are so desperate for an Arabian Prince to come in and bankroll us? And we'll just ignore everything else in the background?

I'm not saying FSG are saints, I'm not saying I want them unequivocally to stay, I just think it's also negligible to want them out regardless.

21 Apr 2021 10:02:32
One of the Ed’s made a great analogy. Just because your partner buys you nice shiny things doesn’t mean a relationship can’t be toxic. They have shown time and time again that despite their bluster they don’t share the values of the club. The constant tapping up, the furlough, the raising of ticket prices, project Bigfoot, being the ringleaders of the ESL etc. When do we say enough is enough stop dragging our club through the mud? Or will we just look the other way the next time they sign a world class player?

{Ed001's Note - now is the time.} Become a Patron!

21 Apr 2021 10:08:56
Summed up my earlier point, just did it with more time and thought. Cheers. That's what happens when you've finished work for the day down under and are sitting on the beach with a nice crap Sauv blanc and don't put the effort into your post 😁.

21 Apr 2021 10:13:10
Not with you on that, they need to sell up, we are being run on the cusp every season, time for all these pundits, players etc to start pushing for caps if they care that much, but as if that will happen, they take as much out the game so are to take some responsibility for this too.

21 Apr 2021 10:20:50
Nobody is perfect. They're just greedy buggers but that's how they're rich, this is nothing new and not surprising. End of the day I go on the overall picture and overall, they've worked wonders for us. We need to be careful what we wish for. I'm open to them selling but we all know it's not going to happen anytime soon, we move on.

21 Apr 2021 10:40:06
I’d agree with that smp. I’ve lost count of the amount of times somebody on here has asked if we are signing Mbappe or Haaland. People on here constantly complain that the owners aren’t spending enough on players and we have to sell to buy etc.
I’ve never done it myself but it must be a very difficult job to run a football club. There must be loads of work that needs to go in to generate revenues whilst keeping costs at a sustainable level whilst maintaining competitiveness at all levels whilst developing your own talent etc. etc.
Yet we expect them to do all of things whilst putting their hands in their own pockets to give us success on a Saturday (well it could be any day of the week these days! ) . It’s just not realistic.
I own a business and during C.V. it’s been very difficult to keep it going and I haven’t lost anywhere near the revenue that a football club has lost.
I think whoever the owners are in future we as fans have to have a much more realistic expectation of where we are and what we can realistically sustain. The owners don’t exist to spend their own money on making the club successful. The club itself has to be able to financially maintain that.

21 Apr 2021 10:46:08
I totally understand your point Bledd85 mate I really do. I’m not for one minute apologising for FSG or condoning this recent act of stupidity/ greed.

But I think to just force them out because “no one could be worse” (not your quote, but the general response) is a dangerous line to take.

At the end of the day, it could be worse. In an ideal world, FSG sell up and we find a buyer that can fund the club and not take too much out of it in return, but realistically how many of those are around? Surely the only people/ businesses with enough funds to pay for LFC are going to be money-orientated themselves and will look for ways to make profits whilst meeting the fans constant demands of signing the best players to keep up with other clubs’ spending?

21 Apr 2021 11:22:47
Absolutely smp just demanding they sell to anyone simply because they won’t be FSG is a stupid and dangerous strategy. However I do think enough is enough they have dragged us through the mud too many times. The Ed’s are privy to more information than us but what I gather the respect we have within the game is rock bottom. This ESL is an example why. The wheels should be in motion to now move on and find the right owners. Easier said than done obviously.

21 Apr 2021 09:48:17
Every Liverpool fan should join Spirit of Shankly, simple as that.
Fan ownership of the clubs is the ideal.
If the Germans can do, so can we.

{Ed002's Note - The club will not become fan owned.}

21 Apr 2021 09:52:10
I think I agree, it was an awful idea but I get the feeling it was made by people who were ill informed and who are, for the most part, too far removed from football and the fan base to understand the impact of the ESL.

FSG are not in a great position at the moment and they'll need to do some real groveling to get most LFC fans back on side!

21 Apr 2021 09:54:55
Their position is completely untenable, the cat is out of the bag. The total distain they and the Glazers in particular have shown for the fans is completely abhorrent. They were not only willing, but happy and self satisfied to play chicken with the loyalty of the fans and the history of this football club, and had the others not backed out and forced their hand, they were willing to destroy this club and everything that it is.

The curtain has been pulled back and behind it is a most ugly, monstrous truth, not just for football but western socio-political issues as a whole. Now is not the time for us to breathe a sigh of relief and sit back. The organisations who started this mess, UEFA and FIFA, have to look within themselves to improve, otherwise this will start again. Laws and reforms must be brought in to give fans a seat at the table. Most important of all, venture capitalists who are not fit and proper owners should leave this sport and never return.

For so long i thought that our goals were aligned with FSG, but no longer. The cat is out of the bag. There are absolutely no limits to what they will do to make more money, no amount of fan backlash they care about. We are simply customers to them, and if we don’t like it, they’ll just go and find some more. We can’t stop now, we have to keep pushing. Let these people know that the status quo is not acceptable. Let FSG know that we don’t want their kind here, not in our sport, not in our city.