KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum What do the owners bring

I am conducting research for my dissertation. The subject of the dissertation is foreign owners in football, what i am looking to find is ways in which owners have either benefited or negatively affected different clubs. I have consent from the koptalk support team and i state that all names will be kept confidential, all im interested in are the opinions not the names.

My final discussion point i would like people to discuss is: the owners have come from America with plenty of other businesses and interests but have they brought anything with them from these other businesses such as sponsorship, or links with other clubs to help enhand Liverpool FC?

Thanks

Nothing. Unless you count another false dawn and believe their lies about being able to compete with anyone then leaving our manager with 16 outfield players to fight for a 4th place spot and cup runs.

Ben what they have brought is professionalism ad corporate structure Liverpool was not professionally run under moores.

On the negative side there is no connection with the fanbase and a perception that the club is run for the personal gain of a remote billionaire who never even enters the country never mind attends games.

Generically there have been good and bad aspects to foreign ovenership but in the case of Liverpool it is negative the club is not moving forward and losing connection with its core fanbase.

I think FSG helped to prevent LFC to go into administration which was however caused by other American owners. They want to run the club as a business as they only invested to have a decent return, evntually. They have improved the revenue drivers definitely (sponsorship and match day) and it looks like they are trying hard to reduce cost (we'll know more at the end of this financial year). If I was a shareholder, I would probably be happy, however, fans are not happy because dividend is not our objective, I would have definitely prefered a sugar daddy who would be passionate about the club just as fans are.

Vish

"If I was a shareholder I would be happy"

Who are the shareholders?

John Henry and a tiny number of cronies. Under Moores the shareholding was much wider but the small shareholders were all bought when moores sold.

Agree, in fact none of them are fans and this is what I meant. As a fan, even if I was a shareholder I don't think I would be happy. I don't think that Barca fan owners expect dividends at the end of the season, they would prefer all revenue generated invested in the team.

In my opinion the current owners have brought mostly negative influences to bear on the club.
1. Their financial probity impacts negatively on player investment and as a club and football fan I am more interested in competing on the transfer market than I am in book keeping and profiteering.

2. Their stats approach towards identifying and signing new players is unsuited to football and as such it has not and will not produce satisfactory results

3. Their moneyball approach to signing new players is flawed as in football only a small proportion of 'young promising potentials' ever come good and this is wasteful of resources and time, allowing other clubs to get ahead of us and/or extend their lead over us.

4. Their penny pinching approach to the Stadium issue if they persist with redeveloping Anfield to a capacity of 60,000 will permanently leave us at a disadvantage to our main competitors who mostly have significantly greater seat capacity and therefore earning/purchasing capacity.

5. Their lack of knowledge, and apparent lack of interest in acquiring it. impacts negatively on their ability to successfully manage and run a football club and compete in the very competitive environment that is the PL.

6. their absentee landlord approach towards the club and the City is counter productive and must be a morale blow to everyone working and playing at the club including the fans. A football club can be a business entity, but it also has to be more than a business entity, because of it's roots in the community and the fellowship of it's fans, Owners need to realize this distinction between a football club and other types of commercial or industrial ventures.

Hard to say, we've spent a massive amount of money since they came in but it was spent badly.

Big mistakes made early on in appointment of Comolli and allowing some of the insane transfer fee's for Carroll, Henderson, Downing and Allen so I would say lack of football knowledge has really been a problem.

I'm also not convinced they aren't stalling on the stadium issue. I don't think we will see any work begin until we make it back into champions league so we have the extra income to pay for it.

So on the whole I would say they've put their money where their mouths are when it comes to transfers but simply don't know enough to successfully run a football club