Not very plausible at all, in my opinion. Approaching zero. As long as they’re getting paid, boardroom and C-suite machinations matter very little, if at all, to any of the players. When a deal of this nature is being contemplated or done, it’s usually on a need to know basis, lest anyone leaks and prices/interested parties etc. change. There’s zero reason, say, Henderson would have needed to know and it’s doubtful that Klopp would have been involved in any initial discussions. He might have been brought into the loop a lot later (which I doubt), but what would he add in terms of financing, class B or class C shares and their distribution initially? Would Henderson or Milner have an insight into which finance house was best positioned to do a value audit? Or how to market a minority stake sale in an asset very dependent on market forces? Deals of this ilk are nearly always kept as small as possible (numbers-wise) and the only people involved are those who directly add value due to knowledge or position. If Klopp had been informed, usually speaking it would only be in the vaguest of terms, “we’re working on something that might free up some capital for transfers”; to reveal anything more or to bring him inside the tent would be bordering on negligence and mismanagement.
Add to that - anyone brought into the "need to know" circle would have to sign NDAs before being told anything. So even if Klopp was given a heads up he couldn't have a team mtg to chat about it.
Yep. But as I say, no one below C-suite adds the slightest value at this formative stage and whatever about the fiduciary mismanagement in telling any such as Henderson or Elliott, there’s the very real risk of one of them leaking, even unintentionally, and scuppering or completely changing the facets of the deal. My guess on the FSG end you had Henry, Werner, Gordon and maybe one other. Maybe. That would have been it. Even their PAs would have been in the dark with the deal referred to in code, as in “Project Oak” or some such, in diaries and correspondence.
It does seem to me that FSG have done a very good job for both us and themselves, and with current valuations they can walk away with a shedload of money. Plus, its hard to ignore the fact that the oil state clubs are in a different game than the rest of us and trophies will be very hard to come by without some serious investment infusion. I'll be sorry to see them go if they do sell, as they'll be taking this club asset with them.
If / when FSG do sell - I predict they'll be many LFC fans who will regret wanting them to leave. For me, they've been as good as we could've hoped and they've not only rescued the club, but helped us thrive. The worst thing about state-owned clubs (sports-washing aside) is that the new baseline and context has shifted fan expectations. I've been slowly trying to distance myself from football b/c I can plainly read the tea leaves and so tired of the hypocrisy and corruption. At some point, I fully expect I'll leave the game for good. Sad really.
I'd say nope - as we haven't actually been playing that badly. The "form" isn't really as bad as people have been positing. I think its primarily been the injuries have been the main cause of the dip in what we would normally call sustained "form". More this than the actual play, I really think. ( I just watched Leeds and Everton games again. We dominated those games and just couldn;t effin' score. Forest was similar. Two really bad performances (Man Utd and Napoli) aside the team's playing standard has been stamped much higher than those bad ames. Let's then take out a sluggish opening day v Fulham and that draw with (I think it was Brentford) as the kind of averages on bad Days at the office that even City have had (they've scraped one or two of 'em) and that we would normally have. That leaves really Without a sending off we were playing well enough at Palace to win. Everton, Forest and Leeds we dominated the games. (At Arsenal we got fvcked out of at least a point.) Factoring in the unavailability of top substitution quality due to injury and suspension as the vehicle for instead winning those games and we have a reasonable playing form year. The absence of Keita and Jones as midfield cover for that bunch of games and the effective absence of nearly continually 2 out of 5 key forwards may well be the main diagnostic for the present. We'll have to wait till Jan /Feb to really see if this is the case.
British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos has ruled itself out of the running to buy Liverpool as the business empire no longer sees value in buying a top Premier League team.
Dubai International Capital are interested in a move to buy Liverpool despite failing to finalise a deal in 2007.
Agreed to a certain degree. If we're bought by another set of sport-washing sheikhs or kleptocrats, I'm not sure I'll carry on my LFC association.
Oh oh, looks like u b!tches goin #Plastic On a more serious note, I've always considered Liverpool a 2nd club I follow. this is a sad day for all of Football. That sheik money, about to make this club a plaything for the princes, aristocrats, and oligarchs. Football is going to sh!t, u have toddlers running around demanding millions of dollars for kicking a football. The Reus' and Gerards' are rarer and rarer, everyone has a price these days. You know, if you assess Klopp's tenures, there seems to be a 7 year marker point where things seem to just fall apart. It was the same at Mainz, Dortmund, and now Liverpool. For all Klopps abilities, he does have the tendency to hang on to players past their sell date out of loyalty (which is commendable in a sense), but the football can be rather taxing on the body. So for instance, Firminho, sure love him to bits as a person and inspite of this being a VERY prolific season for him, is just not good enough, sorry. Klopp apprently doesn't really seem to rotate all that well, this season has been better, but that is certainly another fault of his. I think the club would do well to bring on Doak and Cannonier sooner rather than later, to afford a transition. The same to be said for Bajcetic, and Morton. I don't think the midfield crisis is anything but transitory if you consider the end game. It's strange I see people saying the club needs 4 midfielders. Morton can displace Thiago, Bajcetic can replace Henderson. at that point, your viable options are Fab, Hendo, Thiago, Jones, Elliot, Morton, and Bajcetic... from there you only need another 2 at a stretch. The second being a destroyer. And ofcourse I prefer Bellingham to go to Liverpool, the one thing that might work in your favour, is that even tho Halaand is at City, it's likely he only stays a further two seasons, as he has a release clause in his contract that allows him an out to Madrid. If you get that CL spot and and dump Real out at the next round, well... gl : )
I’ve seen Liverpool through some shit times. Even with Billy Liddell they dropped into the Second division. Spent 7 years going to places like “Stoke on a wet windy Wednesday night.“ Then the coming of Shanks bringing us out of Zombie land our first FA Cup and another League Championship. The start of the Champions League nights with the Inter Milan match on to the glory years. When Klopp came it was the same feeling as when Shanks came along. I can’t imagine how anyone talks of having a second favorite club. Or I think I’ll go and support someone else. That’s not what football is to me. Now we face the chance of becoming a plaything of some Arab sport washing gang. It won’t be the same, obviously but there is only one Liverpool so I don’t have a choice.
Well of course I will always be a supporter, I’m not going to suddenly support someone else. I’ll just have other distractions My comment was more about football (well sport) overall. I hope FSG stay, but if they do sell, I hope the makeup of the board would understand the impact it would have to the community and fan base and make the right decision. I think they will.
In what I can only describe a pure, unbridled joy, I’m so excited to read that erstwhile Manchester United fan and UFC publicity hound Conor McGregor (and in no way seeking publicity himself) has thrown his hat in the ring, thinking that buying Liverpool is a good idea. “I would love it! I requested my information on this, yes. Soon as I heard. What a turn of events! What a club!” Be still my beating heart.
I’d love to buy Liverpool as well. A bargain as one ‘writer’ put it at £5 BILLION. Maybe we could put a consortium together among us guys………
The problem is not the purchase price (well, it is for us mere mortals, but you get my point), but rather the ongoing investment. You have to invest ever increasing amounts in transfers and wages every year. So if the asking price is £5bn, you need a damn sight more in your back pocket to sponsor the purchases of Bellingham, Mbappé, etc, while also paying the wages of VVD, Salah, etc.
Yeah, but the return on your money, now that Anfield has been rebuilt will cover petty stuff like that. Maybe
Yes and I think that is a big reason why FSG were so big on Financial Fair Play being the important piece of the puzzle which would help them control costs and compete with the oil billionaire clubs. However , as we all know now it's not worth the paper it's written on.
Excellent point(s). I think this might be the nub of the reason for the complete sale or a minority thereof. I’m not a huge fan of the big 4 American sports, but say what you will, largely they neutralize any outsized effect of deep pockets by various enforced salary caps and spending. So if Bezos, or that f.ucking idiot Musk, buys the Commanders in DC, their huge wallets will only have as much effect as all other owners. Henry et al were intrigued by the idea of European football and they did buy into it literally and metaphorically on the basis, I’m presuming, that FFP would be as stringently enforced as the salary cap for the Red Sox is. As I said upthread, this sale in part or whole is an admission that they can’t compete with the oil money of City/PSG etc. They’ve done an exceptional job trying to keep up and have won a few trophies and kept things close, generally, with City, but as this season so far has shown, we’re an Aurélien Tchouaméni and another very good midfielder short of keeping up with the oil money. The FSG business model simply does not allow the signing of few, if any, £100m+ players and if we do, then it means no one else for a while. As much as Mbappé may flutter his eyelashes at us, we simply cannot afford either his transfer fee or his wages. And as I’ve said, we need to continue getting lucky in Salah/Fabinho/Robertson type signings. City can afford to sign Aké and Grealish for £46 bazillion quid and it is not a requirement that either makes it at the Ethihad. Both can be sold tomorrow, replaced in the January window by two more players costing £50 bazillion, without missing a beat. Our model and team collapses if Nunez doesn’t succeed.