For anyone interested, here's my view of Liverpool Football Club's owners FSG now the dust has settled on the ESL carnage-
The
'Legacy Fan' insult has triggered myself and everyone I know more than anything through the last few days. And make
NO mistake we were all severely P by the jaw-dropping audacity of what unfolded on Sunday. And the complete, underhand way they went about it behind everyone's backs.
My main issue with Fenway has always been their absolutely abysmal attitude to fan relations. From every other standpoint, the good
FAR outweighs the bad.
Now don't get me wrong, I've been as P as the next man at the bad. To pick out just two of their
mistakes that really struck at the very fibre of all I believe in .....
The hardest thing I've ever been asked to do as a supporter was walk out on my team the Sunderland game over the proposed £77 ticket hike. But I did for the greater good of football fans everywhere. And as much as many in the ground abused us that day for walking out past them (which I got as it's such an emotive topic when it comes to support), it ultimately was the
'right thing to do.' Something this City prides itself on and is drummed into you at an early age to stand up and do what you believe is right. Something which Fenway are showing on one too many occasions now they just
don't get.
And then the furlough disgrace last year. I get why they tried that stunt from a business standpoint. The Government left the loophole open. They weren't the only ones to try it. But yet again, by even trying to go down that road to start with, they failed to realise the inherent moral wrong in trying to exploit something that wasn't intended for big corporations. And yet again, they failed to understand the ethos of the City. What makes it tick and what we believe in.
But each time, to their credit, on those and other highly insulting moves, they were quick to realise/ accept their mistakes, hold their hands up, and rectify them. To be contrite and humble enough to self-reflect and accept when you've messed up, and quickly move to set things right, is a very admirable trait and all you can ask of someone. So you forgave them and moved on knowing all the inherent good they were continuing to do here.
On and off the pitch, the football club has
never been in better shape.
Even before the recent Redbird investment, we were positioned as one of the
very few football clubs not backed by an Oligarch or a whole state, to come out of the other side of the pandemic on a sound financial footing to give us a major head start over our rivals going forward. To their credit, they've turned us into a totally self-sustaining football club. There's been some twaddle posted the past days online about profits lining their pockets. When in truth, every penny we earn has been reinvested back into the football club. It's what investors do. They continually invest to grow their product. Now that may not have been in ways many wanted to see with mega-money signings. But it has in club infrastructure, new contracts/ bonus payments et al.
When was the last time in the PL era we went into summers
not worried about one of our major players leaving? Which we don't now at all as they are all tied down long term. Which all takes major investment on a wage bill that is the second-highest in the PL. And at that, is massively incentive-based as L'pool player contracts have been for decades. As much as we've reaped the financial rewards from our on-pitch exploits over the last few years, the bonus payments the players, staff, and others at the club have rightfully earned have been plentiful. Along with the bricks and mortar developments like the new club superstore and the world-class training facility we now have. For all the decades of lip service paid to redevelop Anfield, and the main stand, in particular, these are the
only owners to stand true to their word on that with the Main Stand behemoth we now have and Anny Road to follow as the next project. We have vastly improved our medical, fitness, nutritional, and sports science departments into World leaders. Taking experts in their field from top corporations and other top clubs. We pay more in agents fees than any other club. You could go on and on but all that takes
serious reinvestment that people don't seem to appreciate when it's not in the form of a shiny new signing.
And, most importantly of all, tying all that together, they realised and learned from their early year's mistakes and went out and brought Jürgen to the football club when there were
FAR more attractive and prosperous clubs vying for his affection. Shanks aside, the single most significant hire in the history of our storied club for me. People forget that once they went all-in on Klopp, we roll how
he wants to roll. If he wasn't happy with the
perceived lack of squad investment/ was working with one hand tied behind his back et al. he would no longer be here to start with. They have always been a unified team in that regard.
But for all the good, they continually shoot themselves in the foot. And this time, from this
'Legacy Fan', was one mistake and insult too many.
I could maybe have started to forgive them if they'd have been contrite and sincerely apologised and explained their scandalous actions on Sunday and the underhand, deceptive weeks leading up to it. But to turn around with the lamest of lame statements that flat out refused to acknowledge their massive faux pas, whilst offering up absolutely
NO apology, was the furthest thing from that. And to then compound it with a completely insincere apology from the owner, patently after someone within the club had
finally realised that they needed a PR job ASAP to quell the masses, just compounded this line they've now crossed for me. One mistake too many where all my trust in them, which was
SEVERELY tested through the furlough disgrace, is now inherently damaged forever.
But that was just the cherry on a horribly insulting cake as the 'Legacy Fan' line is about as insulting a thing as I could
EVER wish to be branded.
I first got my seasonie 7 years into my match-going support in 1987. (Man those 41/ 34-years make you feel old when you look at it in black and white. But I digress .....). And I've spent my entire life living and breathing our mutual shared passion. Making sacrifices to follow this club all over World, personal, financial, and professional, therein that
any sane human being would have you locked up for to make sure I got to the game. All for the love of the club that represents our City better than anything else we've ever sent out in the World. And man have we been World leaders in many fields over the years from our little corner of the North West. Without us, there is
NO Liverpool Football Club! Heck, there's
NO football period!!!!! Something the billionaire playboys patently still fail to understand. To flippantly dismiss us as 'Legacy Fans' who would accept any **** they put down and they could walk all over us for nottin' more than pure greed ..... that insult will
NEVER be forgotten in this City. Just proving definitively that they really don't have
ZERO comprehension of Liverpool Football Club or the community it serves. And everything we stand for and believe in as a City.
Now, I am not naive enough to think they are going anytime soon. And the horrible rub in all this is that if they were to sell, with the level of finances at play, the type of character who'd replace them is liable to be far, FAR worse than Fenway. And the very last thing I want the club to do is to sell its soul to a real Evil **** just to see the back of FSG. So it's a proper Catch-22 situation going forward that we can only make the best of whilst they are here. I've lived through Hicks and Gillet. And the very
LAST thing I want is to go back to those times where it was as ugly at the game as it's
EVER been. With fan-against-fan in the ground in some really ugly clashes. All the wearing marches. The stay-behind protests after games until the Police finally kicked us out. We thankfully aren't
anywhere near going down that road as they aren't
anywhere near as bad as what those two charlatans were. And I wouldn't wish to go through all that again to either end up with the same, or some Oligarch or very questionable Sheik in control who have blood on their hands.
Make
NO mistake I want them gone! But in reality, that's just not happening for the foreseeable.
So we can only hope, until we find our own version of 'Jack Walker', they continue to do more good than bad and continue improving the club at the rate they have to date on and off the field.
But
NO amount of climbdown and attempt to repair fan relations will silence the death knell I now have toward them after the ultimate insult they've slandered every last one of us with.
'Legacy Fan' indeed.