Are we entering a new phase of FSG ownership?
For a number of years now, FSG have polarised the fan base. Some believe them to be way too tight with the purse strings and use our minimal net spend as a stick to beat them with. Others remember how perilous the very future of the club was in the dark days of Hicks and Gillett and have appreciated them safeguarding the club with financial prudence.
I would fall into the latter category but must admit to being left frustrated at times myself over the years, from missing out on Salah the first time around as we haggled over a few hundred grand, to not bringing in a stop gap CB option the season we suffered all the injuries, having gone into the season with just three CB’s. I’ve even accused us of acting like the smallest big club in the world at times. For the most part however, I’ve been a staunch defender of FSG.
We shouldn’t have been surprised by their financial prudence. John Henry set the tone upon his arrival by saying he didn’t have Sheikh in front of his name and the club would have to do things differently, bemoaning how much clubs like United had left us behind in the commercial aspect of running a club.
I said when they arrived that they’ll have a 10 year plan. The first 5 years concentrated on driving the commercial growth of the club. Week after week, new partners were announced, from Malaysian airlines to Dunkin Donuts and everyone in between. The other main ambition was to increase stadium capacity, again an area of revenue where we were badly left behind by the likes of United and Arsenal.
That’s not to say money wasn’t made available, there was heavy investment in the team under Kenny, although the big money signings of Carroll and Downing flopped badly, as did Adam and it would be another couple of years before Hendo would start to show his true colours.
Stung by this, the approach changed. Back to Plan A – the data driven model and a young manager with a reputation for developing young players. Again though, for every Coutinho and Sturridge, there was a Borini and Benteke. Truth be told, Rodgers didn’t embrace the (much maligned at the time) transfer committee, he played politics with players and ultimately came unstuck. In truth, the job probably came too soon for Rodgers.
It was only with the arrival of Klopp that the FSG model truly came together. The manager and transfer committee both pulling in the same direction and now a manager who genuinely does take supposed lesser players and turns them into superstars. Champions league football is absolutely essential to the FSG finance model and Klopp has delivered that in each of his full seasons at the club, along with winning everything there is to win along the way.
If anything, Klopp arguably brought us to the top table ahead of schedule. It’s a fallacy to suggest FSG haven’t backed him too, we’ve seen big money spent on the likes of Van Dijk and Alisson, although again, people use the Coutinho money to offset that and somehow turn good business into a criticism. They could have used the money to cover the new main stand however but they didn’t.
The pandemic threw a spanner in everyone’s works and all big plans were put on hold due to the uncertainty of the future but with an investment deal with Red Bird to offset the losses, that blip is now out the way and I believe we’re moving into a new phase of FSG ownership.
The completion of the new main stand and the increased revenues it will have brought, coupled with our success on the pitch and exponential commercial growth off it during their time at the club, it seems to me that all ducks are now in a row.
We’ve seen a shift in mentality from the owners in the past couple of seasons. The signing of Thiago for example, a player who will have no resale value and will command big wages would never have been considered by FSG a few years back. Likewise £85 million for a striker who’s only really had one breakout season in a lesser league? Unthinkable a few years back. That brings us to Salah’s new contract. If reports are to be believed, he is earning 350k a week, which will exceed 400k should he mange the incentives. This puts him in the top 5 earners in the Premier league and expels another myth that you can’t make top dollar at Liverpool.
FSG have used the last 10 years to turn us into an absolute powerhouse of a club once more and with the final pieces of the plan all coming together, we’re starting to see the club wield that power once more and they’ve done it organically and through the strength of the club’s own back, turning us into arguably Europe’s best run club.
With the completion of the Anfield road redevelopment, the final piece of the vision will be in place and with the new training facility, the club is ready to spend the next ten years firmly at the top table of European football. Now bring on the glory years… Walk on!
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