The club took out some bank debt at the start of the pandemic (presumably as a safety net) and repaid a chunk of that but no repayments were made on loans from FSG in the last accounting period. Money owed to FSG is the same today (£2m more actually) as it was in 2013 - as I mentioned, it did briefly peak at £110m at the time of the Main Stand completion but I wouldn't classify that being paid down to the same level as 2013 as them taking money out of the club. They provided some short term extra funding (on top of the funding that went before) and that returned to the same level a couple of years later.
The Liverpool Club Thread. **No Spoilers**
- Thread starter BaZ87
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The idea that it's not a viable business to keep up in football isn't really supported by the actions of other American investors into European sides. It wasn't just the queue of Americans battling to pay £2.5bn to buy a hugely loss making Chelsea that require a further £1bn+ on infrastructure work but also the £600m odd paid for Lyon and the circa £1bn paid for another hugely loss making club in AC Milan. There is clearly a belief in the US that there's big financial growth still to come from European Football. They're looking at the global viewing figures of football, particularly the PL and comparing it to that of the NFL and other US Leagues and then looking at the difference in TV revenue. The NFL earns around 3x as much from it's TV deals as the PL despite having a far smaller global audience. Whether it's through existing streaming platforms or whether the PL go it alone, TV revenue is going to explode again, increasing the values of these clubs even more.
The issue with FSG is they're made up of around 20 investors and while Henry is the biggest shareholder, there will be plenty of people with different views. If somebody offers them enough to justify selling now then they well but that's been the case for 10 years too. I suspect, in an ideal world, they want somebody to come in and pax £xm for 10-20%, allowing them to take out a huge chunk of cash (so they can invest further elsewhere) while retaining a majority position so they can take advantage of even greater profits in the future.
The issue with FSG is they're made up of around 20 investors and while Henry is the biggest shareholder, there will be plenty of people with different views. If somebody offers them enough to justify selling now then they well but that's been the case for 10 years too. I suspect, in an ideal world, they want somebody to come in and pax £xm for 10-20%, allowing them to take out a huge chunk of cash (so they can invest further elsewhere) while retaining a majority position so they can take advantage of even greater profits in the future.
Football finance is broken. I've never supported FFP and I still don't believe it's the correct solution but something has to happen to prevent football continuing this arms race of spending and spending. It's not sustainable and more and more clubs are going to go to the wall because they're being forced to spend beyond their means to compete.
Income from domestic rights are probably maxed out but the scope for increased overseas rights are huge. There's been talk on and off for the last couple of years of the PL going it alone and launching their own OTT service. It's estimated that around 200m households worldwide are subscribing to pay tv providers that are broadcasting the PL. The PL currently earn around £5.3bn over 3 years from their current overseas TV deals. At £10 per month they would only need to get around 14m of the current 200m to subscribe in order for them to generate the same revenue. If the PL could get even half that 200m that are currently paying to watch the PL, it would generate £12bn per year from overseas TV revenue.
Nothing has been confirmed but there is talk that the PL will test this service from next season in 1 or 2 overseas markets but sooner or later it'll happen and overall TV revenue for PL clubs could go from £100-150m per season to £500m+ per season.
In this instance you can't really compare with US leagues. NFL/NBA/MLB sides are happy to have salary caps and even revenue sharing because they don't have the risk of relegation. You're never going to convince one of the bigger sides to give up their financial advantage if they are going to be exposed to the same risks as every other club. If you want a salary cap and shared revenue then you need to scrap relegation too but we all know that will never happen.
The other issue is of course you're going to need these salary caps to be European wide and getting countless different Leagues to all sign up to the same thing is all but impossible. The PL tried to lead the way with closing the transfer window early, hoping other European Leagues would follow suit but nobody was willing to.
It's bad enough that you pay attention to 14 year olds on twitter re transfers but takeover/investment talk too?
You just love a bit of twitter nonsense, don't deny it Mark
I have a low tolerance for bull**** I'm afraid. This is a running battle I have with Mark where he'll post a rumour and when you ask him where it's from it's always from twitter.You got beef with Elon or something? Or still mourning Bebo?
It's being reported that Ian Graham, the guy that heads up our analytics team is also leaving at the end of the season. There's been some chat, and possibly shown in our transfers in the past 12 months, that Klopp was given greater control of transfers as part of his new contract extension and that would explain the changes behind the scenes.
No, it's in the Times articleDid you get this off twitter....
I don't think they did because if they did, they would have bought one or the other long ago. It's no coincidence that Abu Dhabi and Saudi have gone for smaller clubs who have lacked any sort of success in living memory. The purpose of these takeovers has been to sportswash and they want an army of loyal supporters that will go to war for them. Not only would taking over a club like Liverpool or Utd attract far more attention from the wider public of their humans rights records, which they wouldn't want, they'd also meet far more resistance from the two sets of supporters. The expectations at Liverpool and Utd are also far higher meaning there's more potential for them to do damage than good at either club. City and Newcastle hadn't had the success Liverpool or Utd have had, they don't have the expecations our supporters to - they're a bit like a fat bird, more grateful. Taking the Sports Direct signs down and simply not being Mike Ashley has been enough for a noisy section of Newcastle fans to go to war with any journalist that dares criticise the Saudi regime.
Anyway, this report states that interest is from private consortiums from Saudi & Qatar, not the state. I'd take the story with a massive pinch of salt because the same journalist wrote last week that Liverpool were in advanced discussions with a US group too. I wonder which region will be buying Liverpool in his piece next Sunday.
Maybe years ago but I'm not sure he's got the legs for it anymore.
Firmino has shown in the past 18 months that in many ways he's a perfect squad player. He's not played regularly but whenever he's been called upon he still does a good job and his goal return in the past 18 month is probably better than at any point in his career. He's not the high pressure, workhorse he once was though and with Gakpo's imminent arrival, can you justify keeping him around? Who knows, maybe if he was willing to take a very heavily incentivised contract then there might be a part for him to play but I'm not sure the numbers work, especially when you throw in Carvalho and Ben Doak coming through.
All the reports I've read say 2-3 weeks. Thankfully VVD should be back next week.
Talk of Firmino being given a 2 year contract seems to be picking up pace. The Gakpo signing made me think it was certain that Bobby would be off but it appears not. Assuming he's on greatly reduced terms to his current deal then I'm not too arsed about it. The other week Klopp spoke about needing a bigger squad moving forwards due to the increased number of European fixtures and internationals so maybe we need 6 senior forwards. It does add to my belief that we're moving to a 4-2-3-1 too.
There had been numerous quotes from others at FSG about this already but John Henry has confirmed that FSG aren't looking to sell the club, just to bring in an investor. I'm sure that will please many of the lunatics on twitter, dreaming of tying tea towels around their heads.
I'm not sure I've read anything about ethical values having to be in line with FSG's. What I've seen reported is that it's not simply about money but somebody that is going to add value as well.Not only is it not a sale only investment, but they've also came out on numerous occasions and said any investor would have to share the same ethical values, so anyone that still holding into an oil state pumping cash into us can kiss that dream goodbye.. stop clicking random twitter accounts you fools
Staggered that anybody can not be sold on Diaz. Imo he's been Liverpool's best outfield player since he arrived. He's averaging a goal or assist ever 140 minutes, combined with defensive work off the charts.
Konate's still a little raw but is already a top CB and is only going to get better. Like VVD he has the physical attributes to dominate pretty much any forward he comes up against.
Konate's still a little raw but is already a top CB and is only going to get better. Like VVD he has the physical attributes to dominate pretty much any forward he comes up against.