I'm new here but have spent a few days reading posts. I'm not an FSG plant but I do want to offer a more balanced view of things because the issue at LFC is not as black and white as some here believe. There's more than enough blame to go around and it needs sorting from the top to the bottom.
The transfer deadline day saga is a distraction and cannot solely be put down to FSG's lack of funding. Rodgers was given a budget, albeit to overhaul a team in desperate need of overhauling but knowing full well that we needed a natural and proven finisher, he instead spent most of his budget on buying two Midfielders - Assaidi and Allen - and made a conscious decision to only bring in one striker. Knowing that he'd already made this decision, he then made a further decision to let Carroll go before obtaining a replacement. It's often alluded to the length of time he's been in management so he should have had enough experience to agree to the loan in principle, told West Ham yes, they can have him if we could sign a replacement in time. So as far as the actual transfer debacle goes, the blame lies squarely on Brendon Rodgers' shoulders, not Ian Ayre's, not FSG's.
However, having said this, there needs to be a separation between the two issues. What I do agree with is that Mr Henry has no bloody idea what he's talking about in that letter. His entire philosophy is based upon altruism which as we as we all know, is rarer than rocking horse sh*t in this league. No realistic fan believes we can compete with Chelsea, Man U and City for finances but that doesn't mean you don't demonstrate your commitment to being competitive within your peer group. Ours, it would seem, is Spurs, Newcastle and Arsenal. If the owners do not show the players that they're willing to invest, that their ambition and hunger for success matches their own, then those players will simply leave and go to clubs whose owners do. Without senior players the youth have no role models within the club, no one to aspire to, no one to guide them, and like those senior players, the cream of our youth crop will then be handing in transfer requests to leave for bigger clubs where their role models lie, and where, like the senior players, the owner's ambition matches their own.
This is the key thing he's not addressing. Whether we like it or not, Football is a business and like any other business, Football needs investment before you can see a return on that investment. It's frankly insulting to our intelligence to say that he bought the club without wanting a return on that investment, and knowing that he does regardless of his idiotic claims, he needs to invest in to it in a variety of areas, both on and off the field, in order to see a return on that investment. Again, I'm not suggesting that we can compete with City but we can follow the city model, albeit within our own budget. City invested in players good enough to get them in to the Champion's League. Once they where in they then invested in players good enough to compete in the Champion's League and compete for the title. Those players they originally signed became surplus to requirements and where moved on. At the same time as this investment was going on, City have been heavily investing in their youth academy system with a view to long term stability and growth so that they're not reliant upon paying exorbitant transfer fees and wages.
This is what we should be doing. Buying players who are good enough to get us to the next level alongside youth development, alongside commercial partnerships. If they haven't got the money then they need to look for investment opportunities to help fund the short term so that the long term success via the youth system works.
But the problems at LFC go back to the beginnings of the Premiership with a failure to recognise that Football was changing and becoming more business orientated. Unlike Utd, we didn't invest in commercial ventures. LFC continued to be run as a club. We didn't expand our fan base, we didn't look to penetrate new territories for bringing the LFC "brand" to, we sat on our arses and let other clubs do that, allowed them to break in to new markets, develop new fan bases, all the while they where getting richer whilst we where getting poorer. The problems at Liverpool have been going on for years and FSG at least recognise that and are attempting to change that. The summer tour of the U.S., the Fox documentary, both are with a view to raising our profile within the U.S. But all of this will be for naught unless FSG invest in the hear and now because no one is going to be interested in watching a documentary about or buying a shirt of a team that's firmly routed in mid-table obscurity. A short term fix doesn't need to be a risk, it's an investment that will bear fruit in the future and provide them with a healthy return on their £300 million investment but it is something that is very much needed right now.
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