When Fenway Sports Group, formerly NESV, took over Liverpool Football Club back in October, there was a general sense of relief that the ownership saga had ended and that the club would finally start moving forward. Initially, many Reds fans took the attitude that anyone was better than Hicks & Gillett and FSG’s PR campaign at the start of their ownership got many people on side. The signings of Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, along with the appointment of Kenny Dalglish, in January helped FSG’s reputation but the near cost neutral signings of the pair, along with the sale of Fernando Torres, means there are still doubts among some Reds. Former Liverpool manager Roy Evans said this on talkSPORT:
“People were saying the owners done fantastic when we sold Torres for £50million but we still haven’t seen any of their money yet. At the end of the season if they realise the plight and have got a real feeling for this club they’ve got to spend a decent amount of money.”
The summer will truly be the time when we see how trustworthy FSG can be. They have been saying all the right things, and it seems they have putting out the same message to Damien Comolli and Kenny Dalglish who both believed they had a substantial transfer pot in January, as well as in the summer. If they stick to their word then the first year of their ownership of the Reds would have gone swimmingly. As always money talks, and if FSG spend the cash, the majority of Reds supporters will be happy.
There has been a slight wobble in recent days however over the deal FSM have struck with LeBron James. Part of the deal entails James to a share in Liverpool FC, leading some Reds to question the wisdom of such a move. It seems that FSG are willing to sell part of the club to increase marketing revenues for the Group as the whole with the partnership with James. From a Reds fan point of view, some may feel that giving a Basketball player a share in the club goes against what the club should stand for. After all, Liverpool Football Club should not be just a toy divided up among FSG’s friends.
If we take a purely business point of view of the deal, it does make some sense. Although FSG are custodians of LFC, whether you like it or not, they are first and foremost businessman who look to make profits in all ventures they are involved in. They may proclaim that success on the pitch goes hand in hand with a successful off the pitch business, and this may well be true, but it won’t stop FSG ensuring they maximises profits out of their assets.
Such business focus can be demonstrated in the deal with James. The basketball player is absolutely hated in Boston, but as owners of the Boston Red Sox, FSG are entirely focused on the financial rewards rather than on their reputation in the city. In fact, they are not very popular at all in Boston at the moment as the Red Sox have made their worst start since 1945, losing their first six matches despite being pre season favourites to win the World Series.
In the long run however, FSG’s aim with Liverpool is to make the club entirely self-sustainable. Especially in light of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, the maximisation of commercial revenues is essential to the Reds’s long term success. Although performing well commercially, despite having one of the largest fanbases in the world, the Reds still only lie 8th on Deloitte’s Football Money League and are ranked 6th by Forbes Business Magazine for the world’s richest football clubs.
FSG are no doubt looking at ways to tap into the great support the Reds have around the world, and one of the essential emerging markets is Asia. The pre-season tour, along with the sponsorship of Asian based bank Standard Chartered, is a way of tapping into this market more effectively. In addition, I am sure there will be many other commercial ventures in the future. One of these could be said to be the partnership with LeBron James. Although the partnership may benefit FSM and James greatly, the profits that James makes through his global marketing reach will only benefit the Fenway Sports Group as a whole. The Reds will be able to promote James in country’s where they are strong, while James could help Reds make great strides in China. China’s most popular sport is football but basketball has 300million followers in the country, with James the second highest sold jersey in the country.
The same business considerations will have to made when looking at whether the Reds move to a new stadium. A redeveloped Anfield is still a big possibility as FSM Chairman Sam Kennedy states:
“I can confirm there will only be a naming rights deal if Liverpool move to a new stadium. Anfield will stay as Anfield. What we did at [Red Sox stadium] Fenway Park was we increased income from our sponsorship, so we did not need to go for a naming rights deal and preserved the stadium name there.”
But Stanley Park certainly has its positives too. Naming rights, increased corporate boxes to match United, and expansion possibilities up to 70,000 capacity are all in favour of a move away from Anfield.
As savvy PR specialists, and astute businessman however, FSG will weigh up the pros and cons, and along with their ambitions in the transfer market, this is where FSG’s popularity among Reds supporters will be determined in the coming years. That’s my opinion anyway, what do you think?
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Summer time will answer all the questions we’ve been asking.
NO
Stupid troll is stupid
I think using James is a great PR tool and do not mind what they have done.
I think the summer might give some indication though they will put their hands in their pockets.
The truth is until the time comes when they want to get out we may not know weather or not to trust them.
It’s too early to say but what they do over the summer in terms of transfers will give a clear indication as to whether or not FSG can be trusted. As for January transfers, we were pretty much on break even with the sale of Ryan Babel and Fernando Torres and the signings of Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll. I felt that maybe they could have given Kenny some more cash to provide more depth in quality. I mean who knows, maybe if we signed a couple more players back in January we’d have a much bigger chance of qualifying for Europe. Transfer activity in January for me was not entirely impressive and the fact that we had to sell to buy reminded me a bit of the previous American clowns.
Summer will be a good time to see whether or not FSG are really committed in their project and whether or not they’re willing to invest in the squad and stadium. If we have to adopt a sell-then-buy policy again then I would really doubt their commitment. Cost neutral signings will get us nowhere and I think it’s quite clear that we need to invest massively in the squad. Of course, there will players sold and players coming in but if at the end of the day, it’s break even again and we lack the quality in depth that is essential for the club moving forward then I would not think FSG are the right people but at this stage it’s too early to say whether or not they can be trusted although what Tom Werner and John W Henry had to say is quite convincing.
We did not sell to buy in Jan… We had already signed Suarez before the traitor was sold, at his request. Even then Torres was not allowed to leave until Carroll had been secured.
At the least it showed that the owners were willing to stump up £22m+.
The reason for the drawn out saga of signing Suarez was all down to Comolli, trying to get him cheaper.
As supporters we have definitely become pesimistic, always looking for the down side to everything red.
We have seen their money already – they stumped up the Suarez millions before Torres handed in his transfer request.
We could not agree a fee for Suarez with Ajax until they knew Torres was on his way to Chelsea which provided the club with more funds. Carroll’s transfer obviously was also made possible only by the sale of Fernando Torres. Spending 10 million more on a winger we’ve been crying out loud for would have done us no harm.
See my reply above you are mixing up Suarez (bought before Torres final request) and Caroroll bought before we allowed Torres to leave.
i thrust them i think they will give king kenny da job as manager and back him with wat ever he needs 2 make us prem l winners i think they should get a chance 1st if they dont back kenny then we no wat they r
So how would the doubters explain the £20M richards bid? from whose sale was that money going to come from? And we DID signed suarez before traitor decided to jump ship.
The fans need to be more open minded, we got burnt in the past , but that is the past now.The club need to get out of cycle of the blame game. Everything that FSG have done so far has been on point. They haven’t come out with big statements, they have been patient with their actions. The news that has come out this week about buying Asian players( I’d take Lee from Bolton or Hondafor sure) and the James move is great news because it shows that they are thinking of Liverpool on a global scale. I don’t think it means that we are going to buy any old token Asian player at all. And with the James move, I rather have him promoting the club to new fields than Spurs wasting the their time on getting Beckham on loan just so he can wear the shirt (It’s no surprise that their season has gone down hill since then). In his time a owner the only right thing that Hicks came out with was that Liverpool had been light years behind in selling them-selfs a world wide brand. Now FSG have come in are improving that area. The only thing that FSG have to watch out is that they don’t lose the essence of the club when marketing them out to the world. Another thing that the fans have to think about is that Kenny Dalglish is just here for the end of the season. Kenny’s job was to stabilize the club where he has done a magnificent job. But what happens if we get some bad results in our final fixtures would they still want him? New owners bring in their own man, Kenny was the fans choice. i’m happy to wait until the end of the season but i’m sure that we will produce a couple more big performances for the king to get the job for keeps.
That’s probably what you said when the clowns Hicks and Gillett arrived. They promised us great things but just look at what they did to us. Just a few months ago, FSG spent 150 million on the Red Sox for two players while we were on break even in January. It’s just too early to say whether or not FSG can be trusted. Just wait and see. What happens in the summer I’m sure will be a good indication.
When Hicks and Gillett took over the only case study we had to compare it to was the Chelsea take over so most fans were optimistic about the ownership at the beginning. Now that were have that awful experience behind us Liverpool fans are more clued up on the off field matters. It’s now clear to see that they were salesmen who got together just to make some money out of the club even before Hicks and Gillett took over Liverpool fc wasn’t being run to it’s full potential Ever since Kenny left in 91, different people at the club have made hasty decisions which have set Liverpool back. Souness getting rid of older players too quickly which put pressure on his new signings. Daivd Moores and Rick Parry not doing their homework on Hicks and Gillett are at the top of that list. I thought that FSG handled the January transfer period very well considering the whole Torres affair. Spending £35 million on Carroll shows me that the club mean business. They didn’t have to buy him then.. they could of waited until the summer and got him cheaper. Our youth set up will be the key just like Man U had in the 90s. Fans have just to be patient and back the whole club now and in time we will be at the top of the tree.
First of all I agree we will need to spend this summer. At least 4 new players this summer too many will be a bad thing since academy players will have too much trouble getting in the future and too many new players will make it harder to gel (man city). I also think too many want the PL title next year, way too soon maybe the next year after that aim for top four instead. That and a stadium plan in motion this summer and I will be happy, Rome was not built in a day.
I have been a Red Sox fan since 1980 and a LFC fan since 1990. FSG will support LFC with money for players. They like home grown to come thru the system and then will go out and spend the money to fill the holes they need like they did this off-season with the Red Sox by signing Crawford and trading for Gonzalez. Crawford was signed for over $120M and Gonzalez will be signed this month to a similar contract, if not richer. FSG may not spend big on a bunch of players for LFC this summer, but they will sign 1-3 expensive players and another 2-4 for around 6-8 Million pounds. They are committed to winning, and we will see it specially if Man U win the title. The Red Sox over the last 10 years or so have consistently had one of the top 5 highest payrolls in baseball because FSG is committed to winnning, and we will see the same with LFC.
I don’t trust them at all 16m for henderson they have spent and now they are moaning that we have got to sell players to fund for more players, we are competing with stoke and sunderland not man utd or chelsea.
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