NESV/Fenway Sports Group: Owners of LFC

If they were to give us a budget of 20m next year i would not be surprised to be honest and i don't think Kenny or anyone else for that matter can have ago, because they have already showed faith in Kenny by providing the funds for his three big signings, Carroll, Henderson & Downing who haven't set our team by storm yet, so i could understand why they would be apprehensive in giving Kenny that much money again.

Can see Kenny having to get rid of a couple players if he is to acquire a couple quality signings.

Not wanting to look like I'm coming back to just you on this mate because I've heard it floated by others.. But it's an argument I don't understand..

Because.

If they want to move forward as a club which they surely do then whatever they put aside for transfers should be handed to the manager.. Not say well you would have had this figure but now your only having this figure.. That will never move us forward.. They either trust the manager and give him their full financial backing or they move the manager on.. There can't be any halfway house on it..

I still believe they trust Kenny so they will give him the money.. They spoke about a 5 year plan.. We are a year into it.

This patience thing is admirable but unless FSG provide money for players, it will be a long time before we are competing for titles

This patience thing is admirable but unless FSG provide money for players, it will be a long time before we are competing for titles

I don't see what choice we have? No point expecting something that is unlikely to happen.

It's patience and realism.

Hmm going by the big money signings Kenny has made in the past , I would think the new owners would be apprehensive of giving him too much of their own money to spend this time round. 

Although it is sorely needed. 

Who said they were Kenny's signings COmolli had a lot to do with it.I dont like having a policy of buying young players ,English players etc just buy the right ones regardless of age or nationality

Who said they were Kenny's signings COmolli had a lot to do with it.I dont like having a policy of buying young players ,English players etc just buy the right ones regardless of age or nationality

Me either, I also don't like any policy's especially 5 year ones. We had one of those under Houllier and that just brought pressure in the end.

Your either good enough to play for Liverpool or not, Think NESV  have openly said their fans of what Arsenal have done with their policy's over the years by making money on players over the years. I think you'll see Liverpool regret and move away from last summers policy of English/prem experienced players and be forced to look for European bargains instead.

Liverpool count the cost of failing to make Premier League top four and missing Champions League bonanza

Twelve points adrift of the final Champions League spot, Liverpool are already coming to terms with ‘plan B’ this summer.



By Chris Bascombe

11:00PM GMT 22 Mar 2012



A potential £20 million dividend from Uefa has been lost and, for all the beating away of its significance as the Merseyside club increasingly rely on their enduring fame and esteem to attract players, another year outside the European elite is a damaging blow.

Not only will a large chunk of European transfer funds go somewhere other than Anfield for a third consecutive season, enticing players away from Champions League participating clubs becomes increasingly problematic the longer the club are outside the top tier.

The League Cup has saved the season and the FA Cup may elevate it to heroic status, but failure to finish in the top four has made attaining the goal of Champions League qualification next season even harder.


The answer, many anticipate, is for the owners, Fenway Sports Group, to provide another £50 million on seven new players this summer.


But anyone expecting such a response without revenue that has not been generated by player sales or commercial deals has not been paying enough attention to the model favoured by club owners FSG.
   

Principal owner John W. Henry and chairman Tom Werner could not have made their insistence on Liverpool being self-sufficient any clearer since they bought the club, which is why they coveted the top four so much.


They knew it would strengthen their hand in future player recruitment and also make sponsorship deals more attractive, especially as they continue to pursue naming rights for the increasingly elusive new stadium.

John W. Henry’s most recent statement underlined the pragmatism which pervades the ownership of the club.

“Tom and I were attending the European Club Association meetings,” said Henry.

“There are a number of critical issues such as Financial Fair Play and economic problems of clubs large and small that need to be addressed.

"Just as the countries of Europe need a sound financial landscape, so, too, does football as a sport.”

These are the not the words of a man who bought into English football because of an admiration for the economic hedonism of Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich.

Manager Kenny Dalglish will have funds to strengthen the squad, but not as much as he would had he led a late surge into fourth.

Both he and director of football, Damien Comolli, are going to have to be at their most diligent and persuasive to find the bargains.

They should get their first installment of £6 million this weekend when Alberto Aquilani is scheduled to play his 25th game of the season for AC Milan.

In doing so, the Italian will trigger a sales clause in his agreement with the Serie A club, enabling Liverpool to offload him in a permanent deal in May.

Although Liverpool will have to accept a staggering £14 million loss on the 27-year-old - for whom Rafa Benitez paid £20 million in 2009 - Dalglish will still be grateful for every extra penny as he works out where the majority of his transfer kitty will come from.

Qualifying for the Europa League can also be worth around £6 million if a side makes decent progress, while there may be some profit if Lille decide to retain Joe Cole - another on-loan midfielder - in a permanent deal.

Either way, there will not be megabucks around for Dalglish to resolve lingering problems such as how to get his team’s chances to goal ratio moving in the right direction.

Dalglish’s own position has escaped major scrutiny, despite the distance between the pre-season Premier League target and the reality.

But while Chelsea were ravaged by internal division and had to replace their manager, the opposite is true at Anfield. The memories of the latter days of Benitez’s reign and Roy Hodgson’s brief tenure when just about every level of Liverpool Football Club was prone to squabbling remain fresh.

Dalglish’s restoration of a sense of camaraderie across the ranks is not underestimated when his broader contribution over 18 months is reviewed.

Although his appeal for assessments beyond Liverpool’s league position and points tally is vulnerable to mocking, for those debilitated by the years of discord that preceded him, it explains why there is so much internal support for him to have another go at the top four next season.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9161533/Liverpool-count-the-cost-of-failing-to-make-Premier-League-top-four-and-missing-Champions-League-bonanza.html

Does my head in when you can drop 20 mill on Aquilani   and 35 on Carroll

Liverpool count the cost of failing to make Premier League top four and missing Champions League bonanza

Twelve points adrift of the final Champions League spot, Liverpool are already coming to terms with ‘plan B’ this summer.



By Chris Bascombe

11:00PM GMT 22 Mar 2012



A potential £20 million dividend from Uefa has been lost and, for all the beating away of its significance as the Merseyside club increasingly rely on their enduring fame and esteem to attract players, another year outside the European elite is a damaging blow.

Not only will a large chunk of European transfer funds go somewhere other than Anfield for a third consecutive season, enticing players away from Champions League participating clubs becomes increasingly problematic the longer the club are outside the top tier.

The League Cup has saved the season and the FA Cup may elevate it to heroic status, but failure to finish in the top four has made attaining the goal of Champions League qualification next season even harder.


The answer, many anticipate, is for the owners, Fenway Sports Group, to provide another £50 million on seven new players this summer.


But anyone expecting such a response without revenue that has not been generated by player sales or commercial deals has not been paying enough attention to the model favoured by club owners FSG.
   

Principal owner John W. Henry and chairman Tom Werner could not have made their insistence on Liverpool being self-sufficient any clearer since they bought the club, which is why they coveted the top four so much.


They knew it would strengthen their hand in future player recruitment and also make sponsorship deals more attractive, especially as they continue to pursue naming rights for the increasingly elusive new stadium.

John W. Henry’s most recent statement underlined the pragmatism which pervades the ownership of the club.

“Tom and I were attending the European Club Association meetings,” said Henry.

“There are a number of critical issues such as Financial Fair Play and economic problems of clubs large and small that need to be addressed.

"Just as the countries of Europe need a sound financial landscape, so, too, does football as a sport.”

These are the not the words of a man who bought into English football because of an admiration for the economic hedonism of Sheikh Mansour and Roman Abramovich.

Manager Kenny Dalglish will have funds to strengthen the squad, but not as much as he would had he led a late surge into fourth.

Both he and director of football, Damien Comolli, are going to have to be at their most diligent and persuasive to find the bargains.

They should get their first installment of £6 million this weekend when Alberto Aquilani is scheduled to play his 25th game of the season for AC Milan.

In doing so, the Italian will trigger a sales clause in his agreement with the Serie A club, enabling Liverpool to offload him in a permanent deal in May.

Although Liverpool will have to accept a staggering £14 million loss on the 27-year-old - for whom Rafa Benitez paid £20 million in 2009 - Dalglish will still be grateful for every extra penny as he works out where the majority of his transfer kitty will come from.

Qualifying for the Europa League can also be worth around £6 million if a side makes decent progress, while there may be some profit if Lille decide to retain Joe Cole - another on-loan midfielder - in a permanent deal.

Either way, there will not be megabucks around for Dalglish to resolve lingering problems such as how to get his team’s chances to goal ratio moving in the right direction.

Dalglish’s own position has escaped major scrutiny, despite the distance between the pre-season Premier League target and the reality.

But while Chelsea were ravaged by internal division and had to replace their manager, the opposite is true at Anfield. The memories of the latter days of Benitez’s reign and Roy Hodgson’s brief tenure when just about every level of Liverpool Football Club was prone to squabbling remain fresh.

Dalglish’s restoration of a sense of camaraderie across the ranks is not underestimated when his broader contribution over 18 months is reviewed.

Although his appeal for assessments beyond Liverpool’s league position and points tally is vulnerable to mocking, for those debilitated by the years of discord that preceded him, it explains why there is so much internal support for him to have another go at the top four next season.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/9161533/Liverpool-count-the-cost-of-failing-to-make-Premier-League-top-four-and-missing-Champions-League-bonanza.html

Does my head in when you can drop 20 mill on Aquilani   and 35 on Carroll

Pretty poor piece of journalism, taking sound-bites, innuendos and speculations and coming assumptions. Fact of the matter is nobody knows though I would venuture a guess in the 30-40m range myself.

If true would be worrying and make next season even harder in qualifying for the champs league. With out investment for Fsg it isn't happening.

Disagree with the spend big comments. We could splash out on Cavani, Lavezzi and co. and still not challenge. It's not a short term plan, it's going to take more than a season to fix what H&G did to the club.

I reckon with a few additions during the summer we could be competing, I also reckon bringing a few of the promising youngsters up into the senior squad will help. We are a work in progress at the moment whether you like it or not. The finished product will hopefully be on display come August this year but who knows.

Disagree with the spend big comments. We could splash out on Cavani, Lavezzi and co. and still not challenge. It's not a short term plan, it's going to take more than a season to fix what H&G did to the club.

I reckon with a few additions during the summer we could be competing, I also reckon bringing a few of the promising youngsters up into the senior squad will help. We are a work in progress at the moment whether you like it or not. The finished product will hopefully be on display come August this year but who knows.

I presume when people say spend, they mean you normally have to spend big to get the players that we desperately need to get back to where we want to be. Whilst I do not think we go massive on every signing, it is painfully obvious that we need players such as the quality of a Cavani to gt there.

I don't see us spending much this summer. First reason being Henry and Werner's own words basically saying the club needs to be fiscally responsible, secondly, Kenny himself has made mention of how he likes the squad and doesn't think it needs improving. I feel like that's a statement on his part to keep expectations from fans realistic because he's possibly getting the vibe from Henry and Werner that the money isn't going to flow freely.

Just how I see it but I have a feeling we are in for a thrifty summer.

Disagree with the spend big comments. We could splash out on Cavani, Lavezzi and co. and still not challenge. It's not a short term plan, it's going to take more than a season to fix what H&G did to the club.

I reckon with a few additions during the summer we could be competing, I also reckon bringing a few of the promising youngsters up into the senior squad will help. We are a work in progress at the moment whether you like it or not. The finished product will hopefully be on display come August this year but who knows.

It sure is but when you make a substantial investment you expect improvement, not instant glory and success but improvement. So far in the league we have not seen this.

Not sure how much free cash LFC has right now, but John and Linda probably swim nekkid in a pool full of money from the baseball team.   

From this week's Forbes Magazine article "The Business of Baseball" which annually ranks the value of Major League Baseball teams:

The Boston Red Sox, whose parent, Fenway Sports Group, owns 80% of the New England Sports Network, pioneered the duel revenue cable model in baseball in the mid-1980s. We value the Red Sox, who generated $60 million from NESN in 2011, at $1 billion this year, third-most in baseball. The Red Sox averaged a 7.9 rating on NESN last season, tied with the Milwaukee Brewers for third in baseball.

Boston Red Sox
Current Value: $1B (3rd highest of 30 clubs)
Value change from last year: +10%
Debt/Value Ratio: 24% (12th lowest)
Revenue: $310M (2nd highest)
Operating Income: $25.4M (7th highest)

http://www.forbes.com/mlb-valuations/#p_3_s_a0_
 

I think we'll buy and sell again and the numbers will be distorted again. We'll have fu**ed up inaccurate reporting that blatantly disrespects and tries to laugh at King Kenny and our club. I can see us selling 15-20m worth and bringing in two or three great players and that is all we need. We are on the rise with Kenny and Steve Clarke, Comolli and NESV.

Liverpool and FSG may have spent 113.3m last year they also re-couped from player sales 77.8m, therefore their outlay is standing at 37.5m (figures from the Daily Fail by the way) so hopefully with the sales of Aquilani(6m) and Joe Cole plus the warrior money, plus the standard Charter money, Carling cup and hopefully the FA Cup money, plus the Europa money (6m if the Telegraph is to believed) we should have a few bob to spend

This has been another disaster of a league season...10 or so games to go and we have nothing to play for in the league and we're already talking about how much we'll have to spend  (again) in the summer to be a top four side. NESV whatever we say have saved our club from dept and the possibility of going under, so i cant understand the criticism that is thrown at them. I'ts not their fault that the players they have funded for have failed drastically, so i don't see them spending big either, when they also have to decide to fund a new stadium or re develop Anfield.

This has been another disaster of a league season...10 or so games to go and we have nothing to play for in the league and we're already talking about how much we'll have to spend  (again) in the summer to be a top four side. NESV whatever we say have saved our club from dept and the possibility of going under, so i cant understand the criticism that is thrown at them. I'ts not their fault that the players they have funded for have failed drastically, so i don't see them spending big either, when they also have to decide to fund a new stadium or re develop Anfield.

There was never at any time a chance that we were going to go under !

There was never at any time a chance that we were going to go under !

'Going under' is a debatable statement..

We were certainly on our knees, literally hours away from being re-possessed by the banks and administration was a distinct possibility.

Brian Reades: An Epic Swindle is an insightful read for anyone interested in how close we truely were to implosion.

There was never at any time a chance that we were going to go under !

No your right somebody would have always been there at some point to buy us.

But it's a bit easy to make light of the potential situation we could have found ourselves in and the actual position we were in at that point. We could have easily found ourselves in the situation that Rangers find themselves in now, administration, points deduction, players released/sold to reduce debt..

The situation was terrible and could have become worse but your right that we would never have gone under.

Can someone please explain;

Where have all the funds gone? Club bought on the cheap,players sold, wage bill trimmed,increase in sponsorship revenue?.

Just how much have they spent and received back?

No your right somebody would have always been there at some point to buy us.

But it's a bit easy to make light of the potential situation we could have found ourselves in and the actual position we were in at that point. We could have easily found ourselves in the situation that Rangers find themselves in now, administration, points deduction, players released/sold to reduce debt..

The situation was terrible and could have become worse but your right that we would never have gone under.

Nobody has made light of the situation we were in, but in a weired way we were fortunate that H and G were completely incompetent, if they were any good at looking after there finances they would still be here 

If H&G followed through with the then promise of a "Spade" in the ground within 60 days then they still would have been in charge today regardless of the financial turmoil we were in as the stadium was the golden ticket for them, but as Eddieo  points out the pair fair financially inept & F***ing clueless.

Tony Evans has had a hop off them said they got the club on the cheap and have invested very little says they dont appear to be a clear plan. Says at this stage there should have being movement on the  stadium.  Said he doesn't expect big spending in summer says Kenny thought they would be someone signed in January