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Are FSG Showing A Worrying Lack Of Consistency?

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AT times being a Liverpool fan can be painful. In recent years we’ve all been affected by the horror show that became Hicks & Gillett. The season 09/10 was heart breaking for all to watch, Rafa seemingly burned out, frustrated on and off the pitch, fighting battles inside Melwood on a daily basis, the club free falling from 2nd in the League the previous season to 7th.

Not to mention a poor run of results in all cup competitions, and the team no doubt affected by two major stars in Xabi Alonso & Sammi Hyypia leaving at the end in 08/09.

When FSG bought the club, ousted Roy Hodgson and brought the King back there was a sense amongst the fans that these owners understood the Liverpool way. Unfortunately, what was to follow can be described in two ways depending on your views: 1) a complete farce 2) a necessary painful operation and a period of difficult healing and recuperation.

The new owners have found owning a football team difficult. This should be no surprise; they have no experience in the business. They initially tried to buy Champions League football, unfortunately sanctioning singings which have proved to be somewhat farcical. Seeing this hasn’t worked, they’ve now moved to the moneyball/soccernomic approach. Austerity, value buys, longevity and sustainability are the new buzzwords in the corridors of Melwood.

Yet the lack of presence from FSG in Liverpool or indeed even the UK is a worrying fact; the owners viewing results from afar, leaving the running of the club to Ian Ayre. He said recently, ‘they set the budget, I run the club’.

So the question is can we trust FSG or indeed Ian Ayre to run Liverpool as a football club? They do have their credentials in business of which there can be no denying. Yet the feeling the club is being run like a hedge funded operation, rather than a football business is very worrying.

To analyse them further, we should look at what FSG and Liverpool say regarding transfers.

Back in November, the Chairman of Liverpool, Tom Werner, said: “Our intention is to strengthen but actions will speak louder than words”.

He went on to say: “We’re playing better each week. Obviously we have made some mistakes in the past but our intention is to deliver, strengthen the squad and move forward”.
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At the time, most of us reading the statement felt relieved that we’d put the disaster of the summer transfer window behind us. FSG, without saying it, directly held up their hands and were crying ‘mea culpa’.

Daniel Sturridge’s arrival has massively lifted the squad and the fans. With Fabio Borini coming back to training next week, it’s hoped that within a few weeks Liverpool will have three recognised senior strikers. Borini has a record as a 1-in-3, similar to Sturridge, with Luis Suarez in the form of his life. Things are definitely looking up for the club and the fans. Goals should hopefully no longer prove to be too much of an issue. Andy Carroll is for many now a distant memory.

Yet at the pre Mansfield press conference Rodgers said: “We’re not going to have a lot of money to do anything else in the window…we won’t have that in January. There might be another but there is not much more business to be done”.

So it seems then consistency from the club then still far from sight; the chairman saying one thing, the manager another. As much as I have faith in the business model, I feel there’s a worrying breakdown in communications from board to the boot-room; something that is a serious issue for the club.

The owners need to realise quality in football is rarely cheap; the longer the delay in the investment, the harder player retention and acquisition become. The global brand of Liverpool also suffers; you run the risk of becoming a mid-table side that was once a great club. Liverpool have been here before in the pre-Houllier years and it feels like we’re here again. This is an urgent problem for FSG. Without success domestically in the league and qualification in Europe, the business model does not make sense.

As for me, I’m a believer in the ‘model’. I think we’re in a position of healing both on and off the pitch. Time will tell whether the skill of the surgeon both in the management at board level and on the pitch will be good enough to reverse the decline.

However without getting the basics of communication right and having almost no presence in the UK, the fan-base will start to feel like the old days all over again and that leaves the board walking on a tight rope. Win and we’ll all be happy, fail and we’ll ask them to go.

Follow me on twitter @JohnRitchie84
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Lifelong LFC fan from Edinburgh, now living in Wales. I fell in love with Liverpool seeing the amazing team of the late 80's. My favorite player is a strong tie between Sammi Hyypia & Xabi Alonso with Dietmar Hamman coming a close third. Senior marketer by day, father and husband by night. A passion for booze, boats and all things good in life. My proudest achievement is somehow convincing my wife to marry me and creating my beautiful daughter.

15 comments

  • Dale says:

    This situation is really not that unusual. The fact is that Ian Ayre runs the business, end of.

    As fpr cpmments from BR about not much more money. I’m glad to hear it, the alternative is to send a message that we are ready to spend the result of which is that you get the likes of Blackpool trying to up the price of a player not good enough to play at Anfield.

    Sturridge is sound business. The approach of buying quality youth players has been highlighted with the progress of Suso, Wisdom, Sterling and Shelvey. We have recently bought Ngoo, Sinclair, Texeria, Pelosi and Ibe.

    We are not (and should not be) in the market to buy Falcao, Benzema, etc. The Liverpool way is to have 11 players playing for each other running their socks of to get the ball back and looking out for their team mates. If other clubs want to short circuit the process by spending tens of millions of “stars” good luck to them, it means all the more when we beat them.

    YNWA

    • wesker says:

      problem is …. we DONT beat them anymore , do we ?
      we haven’t beat 1 good team all season

    • simon says:

      Your talking bull , you dont want top players ? Go support Everton then .

      The Liverpool way has always been to win trophies and be successful – quite the opposite of the Rodgers era

  • stan howard says:

    what a relief, ive been banging on about it for months hoping someone who matters would read it – We have finally realised that we have a star in Texiera, I thought they were all wearing blinkers.

  • kirbyking says:

    No doubt in my mind , Henry &co have pulled the wool over our eyes and are here to milk the cash cow

    depressing times for LFC

  • John says:

    We need Alonso 15m,Ince 6m and Villa/Torres 15m this jan to finish 4th and win the prem next year!

    • deane fitzpatrick says:

      Small bit optimistic lad,maybe Alonso and Torres is saying he wishes he was back wit us.we aren’t missing much else,d young lads are proving Der worth,an exciting winger also cos sterling is stil only 18.its starting to come together for us,jus wish d money we wasted on borini an Allen had bn used a bit more wisely.by the way we are gna do d manc’s sunday

  • Bill says:

    I see the doom and gloom merchants have have woken from their Christmas after lunch sleep.

    I believe FSG are to be trusted, but unfortunately they don’t have access to the funds required to bring success to our club.

    I don’t think they had any realization of the kind of funds that were required to rebuild our failing squad, they also sought advice from a certain German who then recommended Damian Comolli for the post of director of football, we then spent a fortune on poor players. Unless they can bring in more investment we will just have to hope our youngsters can continue to come through for us. Given the fact we have only had Suarez up front we have done well.

    Finally I do hope Sturridge lives up to BRs expectations.

  • Derek says:

    Trust FSG ? No

    I do agree with your 2nd point – fsg dont have the cash to bring us success . so we should put pressure on them to sell up . There is no point waiting 3 or 4 years b4 they finally realise u cant get success without spending big

    • Matt says:

      So spending 120m on players last season shows they don’t have the money? They are successful wealthy billionaires but they aren’t prepared to take the risk again and end up being like Hicks and Gillett.

  • Hal says:

    Pool have been sufferin at hands of dirty yanks for nearly 10 year now , they dont understand footie and should all be sent home

  • wesker says:

    FSG WONT put up the cash we need to compete with ‘big’ clubs . These yankees dont serve are interests , its time us fans gave them the vold shoulder and tell them to get lost

    We were promised money that would make us competitive in transfer market with anyone . LIES – who did we get ? One chelski reserve that no other big club wanted

    with every transfer window , our squad is gettin weaker

  • Finn says:

    FSG out or its 10 years of midtable rubbish

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