NESV/Fenway Sports Group: Owners of LFC

Forget what you or I thought about those appointments mate; that doesn't matter. What matters is that they [FSG] initially thought they had gotten each one right only to 'admit' [by sacking] that they got them wrong.

Fair enough but this is no different to any other owner in football.

Its hardly an 'FSG' thing to hire a manager on good intentions only to have to change because it doesn't work out.

I get that by sacking a manager ultimately its admitting things didn't go as planned but I think its being made out that we are alone in that in the football world.

Not sure what you mean but if you mean appointing Brendan after Kenny I don't recall them 'admitting mistakes' just that they wanted to go in a different direction with a young progressive coach.

''Mistakes have been made'' was the statement made around the time KD was reappointed by the owners after he and Comolli were sacked.
The ''mistakes'' admission was none specific but is generally thought to be a referral to the abominable manner in which KD was treated at that time.
A ''different direction with a young progressive coach'' coincidentally is a far cheaper option than going for a manager with acknowledged credibility who would require the appropriate finance to maintain his status, those false economies are responsible for the appointment now of a credible replacement for BR.
Part of the deal must include realistic support for Klopp from the owners, if it is not forthcoming JWH & Co have nowhere to hide.

He was in place for a matter of months. Hardly 'quite some time'.

Considering he should have been relieved of duties with the arrival of FSG the ''matter of months'' was months too long.

He lasted 6 months in the job and half that time wasn't even under FSG's ownership.

Just stop embarrassing yourself in this thread. Many people have come in and put some reasonable and engaging arguments together against FSG. You do nothing but list off all the arguments you would see in a Facebook comment section.

Back to the personal remarks to take the edge off getting fu**ed off entirely.

Bringing Facebook into the discussion is also par for the coarse with your infantile comment.

Considering he should have been relieved of duties with the arrival of FSG the ''matter of months'' was months too long.

It wasn't.

There is no way they were going to come in after buying the club and fire the manager within weeks.

Ridiculous statement mate.

I didn't miss anything. I answered in the first line:

I missed that Crouchy - not because I didn't read it but 1: because I hadn't realised that backing their choices, with club money, in the transfer market was anyway exceptional and 2: It actually got us nowhere in those five years and I'm not sure it warranted praise [in the good footballing decisions category] so I didn't think you did either.

Still... each to their own and like I said - I'm not trying to win an argument - it's nice to get some insight to how others think. There's no right or wrong answer. You believe that they have made good footballing decisions before now; I don't but to be honest - I don't believe they do either.

As the yanks say - "Third time's a charm."

Back to the personal remarks to take the edge off getting fu**ed off entirely.

Bringing Facebook into the discussion is also par for the coarse with your infantile comment.

How am i fu**ed off? I keep giving some sort of evidence or information to support what i say.

You are fully loaded with hearsay, hyperbole and personal opinion.

I'm not the one calling a 6-month leadership position "quite some time" after all.

Fair enough but this is no different to any other owner in football.

Don't take this wrong Si but I genuinely couldn't give two, flying, fucks about any other owners. 

I'm not the one calling a 6-month leadership position "quite some time" after all.

It wasn't even 6 months. FSG came in early October and fired Roy shortly after the New Year.

Three months.

Don't take this wrong Si but I genuinely couldn't give two, flying, fucks about any other owners. 

In case you need one mate:

http://www.gadgetsandgear.com/flying-F**k.html

 

Don't take this wrong Si but I genuinely couldn't give two, flying, fucks about any other owners. 

 

Fair point buddy.

I missed that Crouchy - not because I didn't read it but 1: because I hadn't realised that backing their choices, with club money, in the transfer market was anyway exceptional and 2: It actually got us nowhere in those five years and I'm not sure it warranted praise so I didn't think you did either.

Still... each to their own and like I said - I'm not trying to win an argument - it's nice to get some insight to how others think. There's no right or wrong answer. You believe that they have made good footballing decisions before now; I don't but to be honest - I don't believe they do either.

As the yanks say - "Third time's a charm."

I'm only suggesting they have done as much as they can do regarding that aspect of footballing decisions.

As odd as it sounds, even by purchasing some complete crap at well over the amount they are worth, it shows they are good owners to pay the price if a manager wants a player so much.

Was paying £35m for Carroll too much? Obviously. But Kenny wanted him and FSG gave him the money to get him.

Was £20m for Lovren too much? Yes. Again, though, Rodgers wanted him and identified him as first choice so they went out and got him.

But the important thing is that lessons have been learnt - as evidenced by the managers eventually paying for these mistakes by getting sacked.

It wasn't even 6 months. FSG came in early October and fired Roy shortly after the New Year.

Three months.

That's what i mean though mate, Stuey says he was "in situ" for quite some time. Regardless of if he means before FSG took over, or after, or the whole tie he was there - it is only 6 months in total. Hardly "in situ for quite some time" as you and i are both saying.

It wasn't even 6 months. FSG came in early October and fired Roy shortly after the New Year.

Three months.

And those three months cost Liverpool millions. Hodgson could have left Liverpool within 30 days of them taking over the club for nothing but we ended up having to pay him a fortune because they kept him on.

Good decision?

Their policy on wages has meant we have struggled to attract top quality players, instead of which we have been paying over the odds for the likes of Lallana and Lovren, or taking gambles on players like Balotelli, or bringing in prospects like Markovic. Might have been cheaper to pay decent wages looking back. John Henry said "never again waste resources on inflated transfer fees and unrealistic wages." he may as well have finished off by saying "instead we will just buy crap and loan it out"

Good decision?

There is a reason why we are on our 4th manager in 5 years, down in 10th place and only qualified for the CL once in the last five years after qualifying 4 times in the previous five years and why our best players have left and it's not because FSG have been making the right decisions.

But I like to think I am a balanced poster so they have done some things well. They increased shirt sales... what more could you want

And those three months cost Liverpool millions. Hodgson could have left Liverpool within 30 days of them taking over the club for nothing but we ended up having to pay him a fortune because they kept him on.

Good decision?

Their policy on wages has meant we have struggled to attract top quality players, instead of which we have been paying over the odds for the likes of Lallana and Lovren, or taking gambles on players like Balotelli, or bringing in prospects like Markovic. Might have been cheaper to pay decent wages looking back. John Henry said "never again waste resources on inflated transfer fees and unrealistic wages." he may as well have finished off by saying "instead we will just buy crap and loan it out"

Good decision?

There is a reason why we are on our 4th manager in 5 years, down in 10th place and only qualified for the CL once in the last five years after qualifying 4 times in the previous five years and why our best players have left and it's not because FSG have been making the right decisions.

But I like to think I am a balanced poster so they have done some things well. They increased shirt sales... what more could you want

Like I said Saint they haven't done everything well but on Hodgson I don't think it was realistic to fire him within weeks of taking over a football club and in a sport they had never operated in before. Even if they were to have hired a DoF back then the manager would have been in place for at least as long as Dodgson was.

On wages that has been my biggest criticism of them so far as I don't think they have been flexible enough and always wanting to 'spread the cost' in terms of wages has meant we have missed out on that really top bracket player.

Also the beak down in communications, or apparent to us anyway, when we are trying to negotiate for a target bthst has been put forward has been a fault. We have stalled or taken too long because of the policy on wages and how we spread them that has let us down in the market.

Ben Smith (of BBC Sport so pretty reliable) said on The Anfield Wrap podcast that: "LFC signed 31 players for £291 million, FSG will now look to spend £291 million on 15 players".

So that suggests quality over quantity under Klopp.

Which is good. In fairness to Rodgers, his first season - and even second season - there was not much depth. Even in the title challenge season, he had poor players like Moses and Cissokho to call upon who were taken for their comparatively low cost, and Flanagan - who was in the reserves - was only called up after a couple of injuries before his immense form.

That was rectified last season with depth, depth and more depth, and yet again this summer, many players were brought in. It was obvious some should never have been bought in - as opposed to buying Lambert and Balotelli, we could have pooled that altogether for a very good player at least. I criticised this massive overhaul as it was obvious it just caused instability and I can't believe that Rodgers didn't notice this summer with another overhaul BUT, aside from duds, we still actually have depth and there are promising signs from our academy, and now we can chase that quality. And many players signed under Rodgers still have plenty of potential.

That means offering a bigger fee for a top player, and pooling the wage budget towards a select few players as opposed to spreading it across the squad for merely decent players. A couple of marquee players would do wonders for us I think.

Ben Smith (of BBC Sport so pretty reliable) said on The Anfield Wrap podcast that: "LFC signed 31 players for £291 million, FSG will now look to spend £291 million on 15 players".

So that suggests quality over quantity under Klopp.

Which is good. In fairness to Rodgers, his first season - and even second season - there was not much depth. Even in the title challenge season, he had poor players like Moses and Cissokho to call upon who were taken for their comparatively low cost, and Flanagan - who was in the reserves - was only called up after a couple of injuries before his immense form.

That was rectified last season with depth, depth and more depth, and yet again this summer, many players were brought in. It was obvious some should never have been bought in - as opposed to buying Lambert and Balotelli, we could have pooled that altogether for a very good player at least. I criticised this massive overhaul as it was obvious it just caused instability and I can't believe that Rodgers didn't notice this summer with another overhaul BUT, aside from duds, we still actually have depth and there are promising signs from our academy, and now we can chase that quality. And many players signed under Rodgers still have plenty of potential.

That means offering a bigger fee for a top player, and pooling the wage budget towards a select few players as opposed to spreading it across the squad for merely decent players. A couple of marquee players would do wonders for us I think.

We have depth in certain areas mate but there are still big gaps in a very unbalanced squad.

Who plays Right back if Clyne is injured. We only have one genuine wide player Ibe and he is both inexperienced and struggling but have paid £32million for a striker who feeds on crosses. What genuine defensive midfielder do we have if Lucas is injured.

The rest of your post about better quality players coming in is like a breath of fresh air. 

That's what i mean though mate, Stuey says he was "in situ" for quite some time. Regardless of if he means before FSG took over, or after, or the whole tie he was there - it is only 6 months in total. Hardly "in situ for quite some time" as you and i are both saying.

Considering he was appointed by H&G for the most dubious reasons possible, reasons that were to the detriment of LFC, keeping Hodgson at the helm for however long was a flawed decision.
However many months he was there translates as lost time in rebuilding LFC, he should have been given the bullet when the new owners took over.
There is no practical explanation for Hodgson being retained, whatever the time scale.

Considering he was appointed by H&G for the most dubious reasons possible, reasons that were to the detriment of LFC, keeping Hodgson at the helm for however long was a flawed decision.
However many months he was there translates as lost time in rebuilding LFC, he should have been given the bullet when the new owners took over.
There is no practical explanation for Hodgson being retained, whatever the time scale.

Do you think FSG would have appointed Kenny from the off if they were to sack Hodgson after their takeover? I doubt they would have.

Not sacking Hodgson immediately after FSG takeover is another excuse to beat the owners with & there is another rebuild that has to take place now that. Rodgers has been sacked, maybe they should have sacked Rodgers sooner?.

There is no practical explanation for Hodgson being retained, whatever the time scale.

There are a host of 'practical' explanations for him being kept on.

Considering he was appointed by H&G for the most dubious reasons possible, reasons that were to the detriment of LFC, keeping Hodgson at the helm for however long was a flawed decision.
However many months he was there translates as lost time in rebuilding LFC, he should have been given the bullet when the new owners took over.
There is no practical explanation for Hodgson being retained, whatever the time scale.

Sacking a man they have never worked with without knowing anything about what they were looking for in a replacement.

I literally can't even...

Sacking a man they have never worked with without knowing anything about what they were looking for in a replacement.

I literally can't even...

Indeed.

I think people are forgetting that we are emotionally attached to the club and back then we knew about Hodgson and his bullshit.

It's silly to think FSG will come in after buying the club km such circumstances and fire a guy they know nothing about and in a sport they only just got into in their first few weeks.

Idiotic.

There are a host of 'practical' explanations for him being kept on.

Could you expand that statement.

Could you expand that statement.

I thought I did in some of my other posts mate. But I'll have another go.

They only just bought the club in a sport they were new into.

They didn't have extensive knowledge on Hodgson as a coach.

They need some time to build up a picture of where the club they bought currently stands.

They need some time to aquire knowledge, be that themselves or from outside influences, of who they could replace him with.

Etc etc.

Indeed.

I think people are forgetting that we are emotionally attached to the club and back then we knew about Hodgson and his bullshit.

It's silly to think FSG will come in after buying the club km such circumstances and fire a guy they know nothing about and in a sport they only just got into in their first few weeks.

Idiotic.

Even more ludicrous to expect successful experienced businessmen to spend £300million on a new business without finding out all they could about the people who would be running it.

I have no doubts that they were taking professional advice, gauging supporters views as well as considering how to sell more shirts.

I personally blame bigmick, if he hadn't backed Hodgson I am sure he would have been sacked earlier. I may have given some support... but my heart was never really in it

That's mick thrown under a bus .... sorry mate !