LIVERPOOL 2 Sunderland 0: Black flags before kick off. A foreboding atmosphere around Anfield. Black flags waving, banners conspicuous by their absence and a large gathering of the disaffected.
Large groups congregated in a place is one of the things history is made of. There was a heavy psychic weight, black flags flapping, minds being made up about what to do on 77 minutes. That time looming on the horizon. For some there was a big decision on the horizon, for others there was a big decision already made and the desire to see the ramifications.
Just talk. It’s all I said to everyone before kick off. Just talk and do what you feel. In this congregation more than any other, we’re all Reds here.
We’re all Reds here. That’s the point of being at home. It is how home and away works. We get to all be together. We get to do our thing. Our thing has got weird. More later…
One minute to 77 minutes:
The Reds were smart and patient and broadly good. Not great. Not really close to great. But better at the football under the psychic cloud. They probed that bit more and it was pleasing to see.
They weren’t great but they were better. And they got not just the opener but the goal which puts the game beyond doubt. The relief on their faces was magic. Absolutely magic. There we go, the Reds. Is right, the Reds. It all felt good.
77 minute- plus I was thinking: I couldn’t believe the numbers. Couldn’t believe them. Crazy stuff. Huge numbers leaving that ground.
For two million pounds Liverpool Football Club has done this. Severed the last remaining tolerance. Not the good will because that ship has sailed. But the tolerance of what the game has become.
This is where I am. I am broadly fine with TV moves for kick offs. Because TV will mean ticket prices can be reduced. I am fine with sponsorships. Because sponsorships will mean ticket prices can be reduced. I am broadly fine with kits and all the ephemera. Because the ephemera will mean ticket prices can be reduced.
No, mate. We’re going to do all that and take two million quid more from the tickets. Swallow it.
Over 10,000 people decided they weren’t swallowing it and trust me that is an enormous underestimate. Where Liverpool is concerned. Where football is concerned. People have had enough. You’ve had all that. Now give us our bit. Now just be nice. Now just be respectful.
Liverpool 2 Sunderland 2.
I was walking along thinking all that and the Reds were conceding two goals. Great set of lads.
The marker is down. I’m happy so many clearly feel the same way. Sad it came to this. There has to be a better way and I want Liverpool Football Club to lead on that better way. I want Liverpool Football Club to say enough is enough and to acknowledge they can’t win an arms race. I want Liverpool Football Club to be an ambassador for this magnificent mess of a city in the world with its massive upsides and mortifying downsides.
Liverpool Football Club doesn’t want to do any of that. Instead it wants to break my heart. Instead I walk out with so many others and my heart is repaired with pride.
Instead.
No-one wants this. No-one. The marvellous McKenna and his many marvellous friends don’t want this to be their life. No-one does. They just want to have their 90 minutes. But what are you meant to do? Who do you get in touch with?
Liverpool, I love you. But you are bringing me down.
One of your best, Neil. Summed up the day nicely.
Absolutely, nailed it
Excellent writing, mate.
What are you drinking in the pub post match that makes that pen flow so brilliantly?
*nods head*
Spot on Neil. Right on the spot.
Up the Fans
Needed to be done,
Fans getting fleeced for years.
Spineless, utterly spineless. You just knew that game was up the moment Sunderland pulled one goal back. No surprise who was at the scene of the crime either: the two biggest bellends in the team. I’d rest happily were Alberto Moreno and Simon Mignolet never wear the red shirt again. Thick as fuck the pair of ’em (as footballers I must stress, I’ve no axe to grind with them as human beings). Emre Can could do with learning how to pass the ball progressively too.
Too many bottlers in the side. Jurgen’s got his work cut out for him this summer, but if anyone can, Jurgen can. Good to see the supporters standing against FSG too. It caused quite the stir on the commentary I was watching in Finland, Higginbotham and co. were largely supportive arguing that the team fell off a cliff following the walkout which shows how important supporters are.
Linders, Klopps stand in was made up with the performance. Honestly. I kid you not.
“A job very well done”
Against relegation fodder, under fat man Allardyce, at home.
Fucking unbelievable.
Obviously today was a pile of utter shite
Except the protest. Boss tha.
He also said
“We have one of the best supporters groups in the world so if they want to make a statement, they have the right to,”
Get the feeling the coaching staff aren’t happy with the fleecing of fans either.
Was it Appendicitis or did Klopp boycott the game in support of the fans? Wouldn’t put it past the big mad bastard!
He knows the score and realises the importance of a raucous crowd in team performance.The fans FSG want in the ground wouldn’t say boo to a goose just bend over and take the shafting.
You’re right. Like hot Ayre said “affordability means different things to different people”
Well to the people of Anfield, the ticket prices mean only one thing. Unaffordability.
But I think the pricing is just one issue, its the blatant leaning out of the squad and maximising profit potential.
No wonder the club never publish player fees. They probably pay no where near what is speculated. The quality levels tell us that.
Lovely piece Neil. I was so angry we threw the game away, but it’s barely relevant. Today the travails of our midtable side have to take a backseat to more important things – the very soul of the club is being f***ed around with and enough is enough.
Well put Neil. Today was indeed a day of mixed emotions for me. Pride and a long lost sense of community. Of being part of a collective movement. Seeing people congratulating each other for their part in a sweet victory. It’s been a while since I felt that way leaving the ground. But, deep down, a feeling that something’s changed forever. Can’t put my finger on it quite yet, but things will never be the same again. A mix of foreboding and optimism in equal measure.
Don’t know how this ends, but something happened today. Something definitely happened.
Brilliant Neil. Just brilliant.
Time for an “open letter” from John Fucking Henry. If he can remember he owns the club.
An “open letter” John. I fucking dare him.
Fruitless protest . ticket prices just grow with demand and supposedly we have thouands wating for season tickets
Some season tickets reducing , some minor increases, some going up
anyone really concerned with prices should have made a stand years ago . horse long bolted
think it affected team today , already shot on confidence . Altough keeper should now go !
didnt see many protests at £59 a ticket for CL games against Ludogorets and Basel. And that was for your own seat if you were lucky
Another thing is , I sit in centenary and the kop is usally subduded in these games , shame they found their voice to sing before they fucked off
I understand prices are now crazy and if FSG dont spend big in the summer with all this new cash thenn we should all protest , and their previous record suggests they wont .
But give Jurgen a chance !!
Yes that extra 2 mill will make all the difference!
Seriously, to say that’s it’s too late now but that we should protest in the summer if they don’t spend big is ludicrous.
A corner was turned today and if you don’t see that then fair enough. But the club missed a real chance to repay the support we’ve given them for so long by supporting the fans.
This doesn’t end here. Have a think about it and get on board.
We earn something like 70m more than juve in revenue, and in the order of 100m more than Dortmund, and 140m more than Tottenham. The 2mill won’t make a difference.
And this means that in our payroll we could have the same squad as juve but with another 9 150k per week players, to equal their revenue, or 13 more than Dortmund, or 18 more than Tottenham – hats a squad of 150k per week players more than Tottenham.
And yet, our team would probably be smashed by juve, beaten by Dortmund, and the odds are far to close for Tottenham.
We already have the resources and coach, we just aren’t applying them – why are they worried about a pissing 2m.
£2m keeps a private jet in the air for a year.
Or buys a cheaper investment grade Ferrari.
We are talking greed here. The greed typified by the investment bankers who own the club and brought the world economy to its knees in 2008.
The bastard Central Banking Cartels are still bringing the World to it’s Knees… 2008 was just the hors d’oeuvres. And no Political Party will change that, they’re owned by the Cartels, the Cartels pay them.
2008 was nothing compared to the Hailstorm of Misery to come.
I wish you Scousers all the Best. It’s your Manor, your Club. People like me just hitch on for the ride. I just sincerely hope your energy to fight this isn’t gathered too much under a Ideological Political Banner… cos they own the Ideological Social sphere, we end dancing to their tune.
So because supporters didn’t fight as hard as they could have when the boot first began to be put to their necks, they shouldn’t fight back now that the squeeze has gotten conspicuously worse? I don’t understand that. People don’t want their lives to be constant warfare against dickhead capitalists. They want to do their regular thing, a big part of which for Liverpool supporters involves football. People in any circumstance will tolerate a fair amount of shit if it means peace and quiet. But now match-going Liverpool supporters have been pushed too far, so again they go to war. Seems fair to me.
Craig hav u got any kids…im a season ticket holder centenary stand 35 years…can just about afford to still go the game…my dad took me the game we stood together…i take my lad when i can get a seat together …wer does it end…enough is enough!!!
Great piece Neil.
If FSG don’t spend in summer, you will no doubt decry any protest then as “fruitless”.
Because you denounce today’s protest as fruitless.
I sort of agree with your point – ticket prices probably will increase for most prem teams regardless of more TV money.
I can accept that as a paying follower of the team IF we spend large on 3 great players in the summer. Cos we fukin need some pace and creativity .
Just how I’m feeling tonight over a stupid game played by overpaid young men. I’m 51 & should know better but it seems to be getting worse as I get older.
Thanks mate & I’m not being funny at all.
Superb piece
I only go to 3-4 home games a year, and the 600 mile round trip explains that. I am an out of towner I guess, but when I do go, I do it the hard way via hospitality. This seems silly, but there’s a principle here. I refuse to pay a membership free to allow me the privilege to buy tickets at face value. This makes no economic sense to my wallet, but hey ho, I still refuse to pay, to pay again. Many blame the fans for walking out today for the final result, and I have found myself arguing with fans, our fans over this issue. They seem to treat watching football, as something similar to watching a pop concert, or some other one off show, but it’s not a one off show, it’s part of the fabric of our society, and the regular match going fans deserve better, it’s their life, their passion and they ARE Liverpool football club, irrespective of tye thoughts of others. I say this as an out of towner, and from the perspective of an irregular match goer – I fully support the actions today, and enough is enough.
well put
Now it would be something if other clubs picked up the mantle and followed suit on 77 minutes.
As for the game part of me was happy to see their 2nd go in just to wipe that smarmy grin off Lallana’s face when it 2-0 and he was laughing when a move broke down.
Not sure if what i’m feeling is the grim reality of watching the slow death of the club. Sell and let all your star players leave then replace them with overpriced mediocrity.
A team of gutless loser cunts put together by a chancer in his image. That was Sunderland, ffs. The result was a disgrace, anything else is curate’s egg obfuscation.
If you’re that bothered, don’t pay it. Walking out on 77th minute after you’ve already paid ain’t gonna bother FSG any, they still get their money. Probably distracted the players a little though, and a contributing factor to dropping 2 points.
It’s just stupid. If you go to an expensive restaurant, do you walk out before dessert while giving the management the fingers?
I do if the main course tasted like a MacDonald’s.
Football is the opium of the masses. If FSG can’t understand that, they shouldn’t be invested here. Europe isn’t America.
They should sell up.
Great article Neil, it’s funny when something you love so much rips at your insides and forces you to do things that are just alien to you, I wasn’t at the match today but I’d have walked out on 77 mins, there’s not much more reasoning I can give that the TAW lads haven’t already said on here or in the podcasts but as long as we allow this bollocks to continue the more the heart and soul will be stripped further from the club, that said, on the match I do think the walk out affected the result the players can’t look around them and not notice but once again Mignolet has a brain fart and what Moreno is doing diving in I don’t know and as for the second, Sakho was like bambi on ice once again, just not good enough…. What a strange day….
KERMIT THE FROGS VOCAL ON CONEY ISLAND
Gibbo rated my band back when LIPA trained martial artists where cool
I love the Anfield Wrap, and most of the team who clearly work so hard to make it a success. I agree with lots that is said and written, but not all – which I’m totally fine with. But what I’m not really fine with is when there’s a lack of balance on certain issues – most of them surround the owners interestingly enough. I know TAW invite people from the club on and they refuse (which you can’t seriously be surprised about btw!), but there’s absolutely no balance when discussing certain issues (Rob Gutmann playing the devil’s advocate aside). This ticketing issue recently is a perfect example.
When I listen to people like Jay McKenna about the issue I assume something outrageous with ticket prices has happened. But when I actually look at the details with my own eyes, I can honestly say that I think it represents a reasonable balance on what is a hugely complex and emotive issue. I wonder how many of the thousands of people who left on 77 minutes today have actually looked at the full ticket structure and how that compares to our peers in the Premier League? Almost two thirds of season ticket holders will see either a decrease or a freeze in their season ticket price. I wonder whether everyone who left early realises that there are actually more £9 tickets available per season than £77 tickets? I hope so; I doubt it.
Let’s face it, if the owners really did want to rinse the club for every penny, they would increase ticket prices much more. It’s interesting to note that they have never actually taken a single penny out of the club and financed the new main stand with an interest free loan. Anfield is full pretty much every game – if they were purely playing the supply and demand game, they would increase ticket prices significantly. We’re already behind the biggest clubs in terms of gate receipts – the club are trying to walk the tightrope of attempting to compete commercially with clubs that have more resources than us, whilst maintaining a fairness to supporters.
Come the summer transfer window when we invariably refuse to spend another £5-10m, or offer ‘whatever it takes,’ to sign a top name ahead of another European giant, I hope there’s more understanding about our financial prudence. It’s really easy to comment on things in isolation: ‘we should have made Suarez/Sanchez/Sterling/Mkhitaryan an offer they couldn’t refuse’; ‘we should build a new 90,000 seater stadium’; ‘we should invest in the Academy’; ‘we should have offered the asking price for Teixeira/Willian/Salah’; ‘we should reduce ticket prices for fans’. But the club actually have to ensure we live within our financial means and balance the books. Remember, not doing those things nearly led the club into oblivion not very long ago.
As a club we should be rightly proud of our socialist roots and how these roots have helped to shape the uniqueness of the club we all love. We’ve got a lot to be grateful about for the actions of those who rose up against Hicks and Gillette when the very existence of the club was threatened. Our socialist roots surely playing a big part in proving what a united fanbase can achieve. But there’s two key factors here; 1) the existence of the club was threatened, and 2) the fanbase was unequivocally united. That should have been a blueprint for what we can achieve as a collective, and when the club is united. It should not have been seen as the way to change and bend everything about the club according to a relative few. Such militant action should only be taken at the utmost need – and only then when the fanbase is united.
You guys on TAW, and organisations like SOS, do not represent the whole fanbase. You do have (and to be fair, have earned) a loud and respected voice to a lot of fans. A lot of fans’ opinions and judgments will be influenced by what they hear from TAW and SOS; hell, a lot of mainstream media is influenced by you guys! I think you have a responsibility to be balanced, or at least represent a balanced argument – even if you all voice the same opinions at the end of the day.
What we don’t need is a fanbase which is split; or fans who feel pressured into supporting political agendas and ideals that they don’t care about or understand properly. What we don’t need is division between the club and the fans.
What happens from here? The club cow-tow and reduce the price of tickets? A ‘win’ for the fans! I wonder what else we can change about our club…
What happens from here? The club hold firm on their ticketing plans? What have we got to do to get their attention – what shall we try next…
I’m not saying the price of tickets is right or fair – I honestly have no clue what ‘right’ or ‘fair’ would look like. But in going militant on this I can only see division in the future.
Excellent response Bobby. Well articulated and exactly in line with the thoughts I tried to express earlier in this thread but you did much much better. TAW guys. Love all your work but balance in opinion pieces is crucial.
No has ever said the English Premier league represents a good investment opportunity. FSG don’t have a right to profit, just because thier background and other franchises generate profit.
Few if any, of the top 4 clubs generate profits. I do not generate profits by going to the game.
Supporters want the club to be competing in Europe with owners who can afford to compete. Supporters want to be proud of thier club and its sporting achievements.
I personally don’t give a shit about FSG profits. Football is big enough to survive on this city whatever happens.
I do give a shit about a shower of American investment bankers buying my club, leaning out the squad to mid table mediocrity and taking a profit after 5 years. Customers walk with thier feet when the quality of the service does not justify its price.
FSG should sell now. Their business model is untenable. There are no profits to be made competing in English and European football.
Brilliant, brilliant comment, Bobby. Thank you.
Sounds like Ian Ayre speak mate.
I don’t want to see divisions in the fanbase on this or even what it is to be a Liverpool fan but I have to say I was horrified reading this.
Actually, a lot of your argument was nonsense and if I may I’d like to address some of it.
How many have actually looked at the pricing structure, the not to steep hikes and the £9 ticket etc.
This is where you miss the point completely. Forget the Ayre speak, forget the £77 ticket. What does it mean to the average fan? Well for most it’s a small increase. So to summarise that our tickets are going up. Overall by £2m.
Go back even 5 years and ticket prices were still overpriced and in many cases unaffordable but football was booming. We had all the best stars coming to the league and there was a price to pay. Then the tv money went through the roof because the whole world wants to watch our league. It’s not just about the stars though. Some of it was down to the full stadiums and atmosphere of English football. Make no mistake, the Kop sells.
Next year the rise in tv money could be 50% for some clubs taking the figure for Liverpool to potentially £150m. The whole matchday revenue for the club is only around £40m annually so it’s dwarfed by the tv money. When this colossal deal was announced for the UK rights (£5.1b) the Premier League realised it was unprecedented and recommended that some of it be put towards making football cheaper for fans. I suspect they know they’re on to a good thing and without the fans they won’t be. That was before the announcement of the foreign deal (£3b). So, I suppose on this backdrop fans of LFC started talking to the club about how it could be done at Liverpool. I don’t know the details except for snippets I’ve read but I believe the fan groups asked for about £2m off ticket prices. A drop in the ocean to the club (apparently Enrique will earn that in wages in 6 months). Yet, no only did they not agree (after going through over a year of meetings) but they put them up £2m.
It’s like they’ve said, how much can we squeeze out of the fans extra? It shows an absolute lack of regard for us. We’ve been here all our lives, they’ve just arrived as custodians. It’s a cash cow to them. I get that and I’m ok with it. They’ve basically said, you’re only consumers. You’re only another form of revenue. Well, we disagree mate. If that’s how you see yourself then fine but you can’t speak for others.
So, all this nonsense about competing, buying top players blah blah blah, we’re talking about £2m. Benteke was £32m. Think about that. If £2m were given back then I could afford to go. As it is, I can’t. Make no mistake, my posts on here complaining I can’t afford to go go back years. This isn’t down to the new prices. I’d probably say the lack of a pay rise whilst inflation has gone up has brought it more into focus but that’s the reality of 2016 in the Uk. I can’t afford to go. Simple. I’ve gone all my life. That small gesture could have enabled me to go and even take my son. The Liverpool fans I know grew up with a tradition of taking their son to the match. Lip service from the club hasn’t prevented that from being a dying tradition.
How would you feel if you had a friend who you went drinking with. Often being skint, you bought him more drinks than he’s bought but you’re ok with it. He’s a friend. Then he wins half a mill on the Lotto and you go out for a drink. This time he says, I’m pretty flush, I’ll get mine but doesn’t buy for you. I’d think he’d was a cunt. The tv money / ticket price rise feels a bit like this. We’re a part of this. If we don’t go they lose their tv money at the next negotiations. We’re part of the package they’re paying for – Spion Kop 1906 particularly. Like our mate in the pub though they’ve said fuck you. This is ours and in fact, you can my round in too ya prick.
This was a chance to acknowledge the fans are important. As it is, we’ve learned we’re just a revenue stream and it’ll continue to go up providing enough well off keep going. If the unprecedented tv money hasn’t stopped them exploiting our passion then nothing will. It’ll go up and up till we don’t go. The bubble will burst though and then they’ll need us to fill their grounds.
So, stop this ‘going militant’ shit. If you’re ok with being bummed I’m happy for you. It’s not my scene though. Stop this ‘competing’ argument, bollocks too. It shows a lack of understanding and finally – if you don’t go to games (as I’m convinced you don’t from your comment) then try and be a bit more understanding of the one who do but soon won’t be able too.
Thanks for putting the time into that. Well in Neil too. Weird day yesterday. I watched the match and it was just a backdrop to that moment. I hope something good comes out of this. The people of Liverpool own that club, it’s their right, it’s their blood, their stories, their history. That’s the starting point for FSG and for everyone else in my opinion.
Good points made, and beautifully written. Bravo!!
I meant both Bobby and Robin. A debate rather than an argument. I don’t know how an ordinary family man with commitments can afford to go to the matches anyway…increases or no.
Looking forward to seeing the other reds, the real reds, play on Tuesday. Don’t wanna see most of this bunch of tit bags in a red shirt again.
I’m awful at working within Twitter’s character limits, so I can’t really pursue arguments from there that I’d like to–which is a shame, because some of the shit people are coming out with is ludicrous.
One guy was comparing the NFL to the EPL. May professional English football never become any more like professional American football. American football is a game with an hour-long clock that typically takes more than three hours to play. The overwhelming majority of that time is given over to television commercials, meathead commentary “breaking down” two-yard running plays, and guys standing around in huddles or bent over at a line. The parts of each game where the EPL and the NFL already overlap–routinely extortionate ticket prices, routinely extortionate beer prices, excessive punditry carried out by moron ex-players, hero worship of obscenely rich players and overblown outrage when the “heroes” slip up, and so on–are basically the worst, most degraded parts of English football. As an American who loves the club, the sport, and the city, I’d warn you not to let the rot spread, but thankfully you’re already alert to the danger.
And that dickhead who compared TAW taking a subscription fee to the club pricing out match-going supporters–Christ. Someone pointed out how unlike the two things were to each other, and he tried to claim they were “in principle” similar. What fucking principle is that? There is nothing in life so tedious as someone who’s read Freakeconomics or done an MBA and who thinks that, on the basis of that qualification, they “get it” and everyone else is just a naive peasant. (I’m not trying to ridicule MBAs, for what it’s worth, only the curious arrogance of some I’ve encountered.)
It’s ugly the way this sort of thing turns supporters from all over against each other, but what’s even uglier is the thing we all support–whether by birthright or otherwise–being gutted by profit-maximizers.
(As an aside, do our profit-maximizers not realize how much profit might be had in LFC genuinely having and maintaining a unique identity? The point’s been made elsewhere, but I suspect FSG don’t get it.)
Bring back terraces. Make them safe. Get more people into the grounds. Terrace ticket prices will stabilize over time. They’ll be affordable for the great local fans that you have. Let the open market dictate the prices for the other seats. Safe terraces will be a better atmosphere than Anfield has seen in years and you’ll still make bank. I’d love to hear some thoughts on this?
Would love it mate but Anfield is the least likely to get safe standing in due to the HFSG stance on it. Whole other debate that and one thats like a minefield when thinking who you may be offending.
I don’t like watching football sitting down, but the Kop in its heyday with upwards of 25,000 in it, was sporadically tertifying. The surging forward needed great agility to avoid the crush barriers. Missed many a goal by watching the barriers.
brilliant Neil
I wonder how many would have walked out were Liverpool top of the league not sitting ugly in 9th. Top tier football has been out of reach for many people for a long time. Protest is often admirable rarely forces change. Toys and prams.
I think the TAW lads should start charging you £77 per post. I’m sure you’ll agree that’s more than fair, given they currently sit top of the podcast of the year table. And I don’t want to hear you complain when it’s increased to £95 next year, either. Having established protesting doesn’t change anything, I’ll be expecting you to wither quietly into the night in search of a more affordable third division forum. Of course, there’s always the option of reading the thread from home and foregoing any meaningful interaction. It’ll save you a few quid and you can still claim to be part of the TAW family.
I don’t get your point but I know mine. When you’ve protested against war with over 1 million people and nothing changes it’s easy to become cynical. I fully support protest and the right to do so but I am dubious about it’s ability to cause social change in our country as it is. As for the owners, they couldn’t give a fuck what people think about the prices. To change that there needs to be a major shift, not a half hearted walk out. Then again, the revolution has to start somewhere.
Strange example mate. I too was on the march in London over the Iraq war on a student union bus. It went ahead as expected though. Yet just over a decade later the people of this country stopped us intervening in the Syrian civil war and even stood up against the Govt when they probably wrongly argued we shouldn’t bomb IS in Syria. It’s a huge shift from the Iraq march and that feeling that the govt would do what it wanted anyway.
And in this case it also looks like protest will lead to change. The hope tonight is that FSG will rethink the prices in light of the protest. They’re certainly discussing it. So protest has been seen to have an effect in both instances where you claim it forlorn.
Cynicism is best avoided
“Protest rarely forces change”. Tell that to H&G.
As someone said at the time, “If you fuck with the people in this city you’d better come prepared for a fight”.
Scrap ALL season tickets I say . Makes no sense for a stadium which sells out all league games.
Then allocate at least 10,000 tickets to be sold on day of game (with 50% reduction for under 18’s) . Real fans will go and get in ground early .
Just a idea ?!
Something did change today, and here’s how it might play out.
FSG and LFC have already proven more than once they won’t be blackmailed or held to ransom. They won’t reduce prices. They MAY try to offer small olive-branch incentives to make up for the price hikes. Fans won’t be diverted.
Protests continue. A large group that believes it is empowered grows increasingly emboldened. The fans become more divided as tensions build. Bitterness grows and spills over onto the pitch and eventually toward the manager. We’ve been there before.
Jürgen Klopp looks for ways to extricate himself and his staff for an early exit out of their contracts. He’s 2 for 2 so far knowing when he can no longer make a difference at a club. Only in Liverpool for 4 months, but the bile quickly built up in his appendix and sent him to hospital for urgent surgery. German life, food, beer, and football match-day culture is so much more appealing to him.
Ian Ayre travels to Asia, and when the Main Stand is opened and operating smoothly, he announces his work for Liverpool Football Club is done and he’s returning to the commercial sector. Bye, bye, blackbird.
Meanwhile, FSG begins quietly devising an exit strategy. They’re honourable businessmen and don’t want negative tax implications to harm their investors’ reputations, so they’ll make sure the books are clean to their best advantage. With extraordinary discretion and operating under signed Non-Disclosure Agreements with all stakeholders, they open conversations with potential bidders. They’ll down-select to 2 candidates (if necessary) and begin formal competitive negotiations.
The Club is sold to the highest bidder — probably from Asia, the Middle East, possibly China — after all, oil revenue is on the decline, while China is flexing its football muscles. Liverpool is a perfect way into PL ownership for a Chinese billionaire looking for name recognition and credibility in Western Europe. FSG walks away with more than half a Billion ££ profit. The deal contains no provisions for the new Owner to respect anything about the Club’s culture (what’s left of it) or its historical legacy. Why would it when Western Europe is seen as being so undisciplined about controlling its people and environment, and Western history means nothing to them anyway.
The new Owner replaces all top-level personnel with family connections and known business associates lusting after a move to England, and works to put its own ‘face’ and stamp on Liverpool’s global brand. The hallowed ground of Anfield becomes nothing more than a sport ‘venue’ with a shop, museum and match-day eateries. Voice of Anfield retires graciously. Dual-language signs appear in/around the ground as Chinese tourists are seen in the thousands at every home game, gobbling up the seats people walked out to preserve for the local lads. Announcements over the tannoy are also dual language.
A clash of cultures ensues. In less than 5 years the Club is unrecognisable. Even if the squad’s form improves the victories feel hollow and soulless.
This is obviously a less-than-pleasant scenario — in fact my nightmare. But if we’re honest it could certainly happen.
I’m going back to being an optimist now.
Jesus Ellie. Fair play, you’ve talked some shit today.
There is another way. FSG think, we don’t want to sour our brand as it could cost us millions. We’d be better giving £2m back to the fans and keeping them happy. People would be less negative at the match. More of the people who’ve had the passion for LFC all their life but now loan their season ticket out for the season or sell them for individual matches could go more. The atmosphere improves. Therefore the team improves. Klopp starts buzzing because he’s winning his biggest challenge yet. There’s harmony all round and flags on the Kop. The brand sells better than ever and the club make a fortune and in fairness to them invested it back into the team which starts winning and makes the fans even happier and the club even more money and everyone lived happily ever after. All for the sake of £2m a year. Just saying.
Jesus, Robin, fair play. I said outright it was my NIGHTMARE. But what happened today did cross a line. I saw the look on Ayre’s face. And there are many other signs that it’s pushed people over a certain limit.
I understand more than you may know about the mentality within a management company like FSG. With the Main Stand completed and the stadium looking gorgeously new and glistening on the Anfield skyline; the squad in a shambles; and rumbles afoot that our only world-class player may want to make a fresh start elsewhere, I can see FSG viewing the start of next season as never a better time and opportunity to get out while they can pull a huge profit before asset amortisation takes a cut — and let someone else mop up the mess. It will be seen as FSG bravely attempting an international expansion that failed on one level but still netted a huge profit, and they cut and ran at the right time — which would be applauded in American sports circles, just as a similar gamble would be in the U.S. stock market.
And I can also very much see Jürgen Klopp shaking his head and saying “This is not what I left my beloved homeland and my friends and extended family for.” He may be willing to cut his losses to get back to a place where he can love the football again, which is what he lives and breathes for.
The look on Ian Ayre’s face was probably worry because his bosses won’t be happy with him.
People like Klopp relish the challenge. It’s why he took the job in the first place. It’s highly unlikely he’ll have any negative thoughts about the walkout. I think it’d be right up his street and he certainly won’t run away because the team aren’t winning. People like don’t do that.
If FSG want to walk away then so be it and more fool them. There aren’t many investments than guarantee the amounts of millions LFC can over the next 5 years. The new stand will make £20m a year. Once their loan is recouped in 5 years their asset (the club) will be worth £120m extra plus the money that will generate as a going concern when they sell. The tv money makes their asset even more valuable. If they can improve the fortunes of the team then they’ll make a fortune. Even without success it’s a £50m profit a year in the sense that the valuation of the club today /next year will absolutely be at least £250m lower than it will be in 5 years but more likely closer to £400m.
I say that because I wonder if you’re losing sight of the deal. It was simple. FSG buy the club. They get us sustainable going forward. They increase capacity and market the brand. The money they make goes back into players. The club gets stronger. The fans have success and FSG sell in roughly 12 years and make an absolute fortune. It was always a mutually beneficial plan. A lot of us accepted the need for change and the fact that ultimately football is a business, bearing in mind the billions involved. It was never supposed to be at our expense though. The business was supposed to be generated from the ‘brand’. Sponsors would want to pay us to be associated with us. Now we’re the ones being asked to pay to be associated with it. It’s our club, don’t ever forget that. They’re custodians. My point is, don’t feel sorry for them like they’ve really tried to help us out and we’ve let them down. They’ve let us down. My guess is, if they want to take the fans on then good luck to them. It’ll cost them far more than £2m a year.
No idea where you get the idea I feel sorry for them. You said it, not me. And I don’t even know what to say in response to “they let us down” after they’ve taken the Club onto a stable financial footing for the first time in years, invested gigantic sums interest free and without taking a penny out, and gotten us one of the best managers in the world.
Bad recruitment decisions and managers and players that don’t work out happen at all clubs. We’ve just had a perfect storm of it, combined with a huge number of injuries over 2 seasons. Fan frustration and anger has boiled over into hatred desperate to find a target. John Henry is a genteel man but he’s got nerves of steel. He cut his huge losses without a blink when he stopped managing client assets in his hedge fund in 2012 and shut it down.
His several other highly respected and lucrative U.S. ventures now put his personal worth by Forbes in November 2015 at $2.2b. He won’t hesitate to sell off LFC if it suits him, and if the Board of FSG investors want to cash out. They may simply come to think of LFC as too much of an overseas pain in the ass to devote time and energy to, when there are other places in U.S. sports where they can put their money, as their New England Sports Network (NESN) recently did by throwing in funding for the first U.S. women’s national ice hockey team.
The idea you feel sorry for them was my interpretation because you list all the positive things they’ve done. It feels to me like you’re saying don’t question the prices they’re gonna charge because they’ve done x, y and z.
You mention he cut his ties with his hedge fund. If I remember rightly he lost a few billion dollars. Lfc (eventually) makes him millions of dollars. There’s a big difference between pulling a venture making millions and one losing billions. They’re welcome to pull the plug anyway. Their choice.
Let me just ask you though Ellie. Forget all these other things and let’s talk solely about ticket prices. Are you ok with a policy where going to watch Liverpool is linked to how well off you are? What are your views on people like me not being able to afford to watch us anymore? Surely a very small gesture could put all this right.
Have you sent the script for this drama to anyone?
Bile goes straight down the common bile duct in to the duodenum,Ellie. Why you imagine it collects in the vermiform appendix only you will know. I suspect Klopp is suffering from gastric ulcers and with this team it is not surprising
LOL! What a great comment. I am not a doctor. I was using the word ‘bile’ as a snide reference to bitter frustration, which as you say is no surprise with this team.
A clash of cultures? Are you serious?
Have you even been to Liverpool recently?
There are Chinese language only supermarkets on Bold Street!
Football has lost its soul in this country. I watched Leverkusen v Bayern Munich on tv earlier and the ground was shaking-every single fan behind one end was bouncing and singing. The atmosphere was just electric. Those Germans have got it spot on. They have the cheapest tickets yet their clubs don’t receive any where near the tv money that British clubs get. I just wished that more people had left on 77 today. I might switch to supporting Leverkusen actually. The scene I described above was very similar to scenes of a vibrant, passionate and wild swaying kop that attracted me to LFC from the outset, when I were a boy. I want to rediscover that type of passion. It’s a thing of the past in this country but you can get it for £20 a ticket in Leverkusen.
The Bundeslige is certainly a great role model. Less dirty play, too.
Germany’s not a bad role model in general. We could learn a lot from them. Which, given our respective histories, is a just a little bit sad (this is a reflection on Britain, rather than Germany).
Sadly I think Ellie makes a depressingly valid point. Ever since the Club was relinquished into American ownership, this writing was on the wall in massive Banksy style grafart.
The only route to a happy harmonious LFC which decides its own fate is a global fan based buyout. The supporters have the power to deliberately devalue our great Club and force an American exodus, and replaced by a Barca/Madrid style Fan Club. I currently live in Western Australia but any such enterprise would have my financial support in whatever way I can afford, for example selling/buying Fan shares in 1000 pound blocks. HAVE IT!!
“It can be done, thy shall be done, on earth as it is in heaven, hallowed be thy name”. Our Club our Anfield our Team, for many is a living shrine and sanctity. Good Lord do we need a saviour!?
YNWA. COME ON YOU REEEDZ!!!!!
*Captain Mainwaring appears from stage left.
“Stupid boy!”
City, Chelsea, Spurs next home league games, could be disastrous few weeks for the club.
All high profile games, all on TV and if the 77min idea catches on and ignites protests at games prior to these or at other clubs then will be an interesting few weeks.
The TV deal just highlights how pointless this is. £2m is nothing and will make no difference to the club in a world where bottom half teams can drop £20m on a player and match LFC wages. The cash from TV is making the league more even and you need to buy smarter, not pay more.
Rob Gutman in today’s Observer says “I’ve never seen a crowd finish a football team like that. The match was won, Liverpool 2 Sunderland 0. Then the 77th-minute protest began. About half the Kop walked, and a significant portion of the rest voted with their feet too. The dissenting mass totally sucked the life out of their team, Sunderland seized the moment, and the win was stolen. ”
So it was the walk out that caused Moreno to foul unnecessarily and for the hapless Mingolet to wave the ball in? Toure’s lack of movement and Sakho’s pitiful ‘defending’ were caused by me and the rest not being in the ground? What a load of stupid newspaper talk. To blame the walk out on what happened afterwards flies in the face of what we’ve been witnessing for far too long – shit football, nothing else.
For what it’s worth I agree with Rob. There was absolutely no chance of them getting back into the game before the walkout. They were fucking shit. It would deny human nature for the walkout NOT to have affected the players in some way. At the elite level, even a 5% drop off in concentration levels would be sufficient to make a tangible difference in outcome.
Ok, yesterday was different but we’ve already established people leave early every game. Most professional players play in front of half empty stadiums every week. If yesterday did have an impact on the players then they’re worse than we thought. It’s not on paying £50 to watch elite players who can’t concentrate for 90 mins. I watch kids football a lot and they concentrate for 70 mins regardless of circumstance. I watched them in driving hailstone recently and they got a late winner. No sense in this argument the crowd affected the players because if it did its a player problem not a fan one.
Are you serious Robin? Of course the crowd has a big impact on how the players perform. They’re elite players, but they’re also just people striving to stay relevant in an incredibly brutal profession. The “12th man”, the “holy trinity” resonated with so many people for a reason.
Wrong mate. The players knew why it happened. They’d be even indifferent or supportive of the walkout but certainly not angry or perplexed. They’d be able to play for 13 mins without them. To suggest otherwise is absolute nonsense. The real reason is clear and why we see it week in week out. Mignolet error. What the fuck was Moreno doing. Centre halves were poor there. Sound familiar or are these buzzwords from yesterday only. No. It might be convenient to suggest this or that happened because of x y and z but it’s sensationalist. Conversely, if in the future local people are not in the ground then it will have an effect but 13 mins. Nah. Not having it.
Really? So you’ve missed the persistent and consistent error – strewn performances from our goalkeeper and defence that has been the sole reason why we have lost and drawn so many games that we maybe should’ve drawn or won? Sorry, but both of those goals and the way we’re cheaply conceded were depressingly typical of this season’s LFC.
Exactly! These are professional players at the top of their game and they couldn’t hang on never mind play well because half the ground emptied? Pep said it loud and clear after the game, it had nothing to do with the protest. If, and a big if, they were so affected that they turned to jelly then we have some mentally weak players. £100,000 a week and “Oh dear some of the crowd is leaving, I just can’t play” Do me a favour, they were just not good enough – again.
No, it’s much more subtle than that. Look at it from the other angle. How many times has a crowd really getting behind a team drawn out that extra 5% to get the late goal? Do we then say they’re shit because they only did it because of the crowd?
Yes, we do have some mentally fragile players who aren’t good enough but in my opinion, and no one will ever prove either way, we’d have won that game with no walk out.
Interesting in Hendo’s post match interview on MOD that he mentioned how the walkout should not be sn excuse and then went on to say something along the lines of (I don’t remember the exact words) “we need to take responsibility as individuals…”. Telling that he never said “team” – came across as a bit of a finger pointing at the defence, I think.
Klopp has made comments a few times that include references to ‘needing to keep our concentration’. I think this is a huge problem within the team. And it is not at all unreasonable to think that a massive walkout would break the players’ concentration. How many other times this season and last have we seen lesser things break their concentration and send them into disarray? It is also not at all unreasonable to think that Sunderland was coached to watch for it and take advantage of it in the late minutes of the game. Liverpool dominated more or less to that point, but Sunderland felt the opportunity and took advantage of it.
Movement of 10,000 people stepping over and around others in narrow aisles with little leg room creates a massive wave of distraction. And many people who stayed spent those last minutes thinking about the walkout and whether or not they did the right thing. The air was completely sucked out. It most certainly had an impact.
Aargh, the poor bleeders. All that shuffling about in the aisles. We shouldn’t underestimate how bad that must have been for them. Awful.
What fucking garbage.
Mignolet would still miss that shot if the entire Ataturk ’05 was cheering him on.
He’s a fucking disaster who needs axing ASAP.
And ‘cult hero’ Sakho can go with him. PSG are still laughing their heads off for the 16 mill they fleeced us for.
Totally understand the walkout, but am also convinced we’d have won that game without it. Sure, the players ought not to have been spineless and talentless enough to have let them affect them and make basic Sunday pub league errors. But as we all know.
Yet another one for the Klopp portfolio in discovering who’s got the mentality to succeed, so I guess it wasn’t all in vain.
Ayre’s comments read like.
“All that new TV money will be kept in house lads. The multi million pounds players will want a pay rise, The millionaire agents will want their cut and the clubs around the globe will want extra for their average players”
Henry didn’t save us from H and G neith did he save us from bankruptcy. Much of the so called debt was hypothetical and could never be called in. What he did do was buy one of the biggest names in world football for a fire sale price. Epic Swindle doesn’t even cover it.
Please. Let’s have some balance. FSG aren’t anywhere near the level of the previous cowboys. They’ve done tons of good.
They’ve also cocked up – as is to be expected as they knew/know very little about football. The personnel on the transfer committee should have been sacked 18 months ago.
Good things: The main stand / reduction in some obscene salaries on the playing staff / hundreds of millions being made available for transfer fees.
Less good things: These savings have largely been squandered. There doesn’t seem to be a coherent and focussed transfer policy – and is down to poor selection of committee members. FSG need to take full stock of that.
Ticket prices: obviously needs addressing seriously now. But this needs balance too. I wonder what percentage of fans truly know the main details of the latest proposals. “Walk out on £77” is a 2016 byte-size piece of information, and one which resonated strongly. Clearly Ayre et al have severely underestimated local sentiment and left a gaping PR vacuum these last 72 hours which have harmed their case severely. But, as Bobby McP and Ellie have stated on here, TAW, SoS etc could do us all a favour by giving out all the main facts. I know they are on the LFC site. But again – how many fans locally and worldwide have bothered to read them? 5-10% is my guess. Help educate the rest by stating the club’s position – then by all means argue strongly against it if you wish.
What we cannot have, must NOT have – and it’s started already – is the all-too-familiar fragmentation of the supporter base, name-calling and vitriol – at a time when we desperately need some togetherness and belief. The team are a shambles, with mediocrity littered throughout the squad. If things are handled well the next 6 months we could be ok. If we throw the baby out then as Ellie says, why the hell would JK want to stay at a toxic club when his job is already difficult enough?
Suggestion – maybe a piece on the site setting out the main points regarding ticketing. or better still, add a special TAW with a devil’s advocate (for the club – JG has often been this deliberately dissenting voice with matters regarding players / tactics just to make things interesting, you could appoint him as counsel for the defence just for that one show even though of course we all know he’s dead against the hikes) and then we could all take a balanced view. As Reds. Reds who want just one thing – for LFC to be successful and great again, as soon as possible.
The REAL reasons we are all so angry are masterfully elucidated in Chris Bascombe’s Sunday piece in the Telegraph: “Ticket price scandal – enough is enough, English football should hang its head in shame”.
Unfortunately, our fans have no place in their sphere of influence to tangibly target their bitterness and anger except at and within their own Club. My biggest worry — my true nightmare — is that the hatred and division being stirred up within our fanbase will lead to catastrophic changes that will truly alter Liverpool Football Club forever.
I have challenged Jay McKenna to publish all the Minutes from all the meetings of the Ticket Working Group that took place over 13 months. I don’t like when an extreme angle is taken and used to whip people up into a frenzy. Very, very dangerous things result when this happens politically and socially. We have a right to know what each side proposed and how it was all negotiated. I am as desperate as anyone else for a fair and reasonable ticket pricing structure and fair and equitable access to tickets for anyone who passionately loves our Club and wants to come and actually behave like a genuine supporter.
I also want and believe we have a right to receive a detailed explanation of how the funding streams from ticket sales, match-day revenue, and especially TV windfalls are used by the Club. If the Club has nothing to hide (and I can be reasonable and acknowledge that some financial detail may be competition sensitive), there should be complete transparency of how the money is actually budgeted and spent. If there are restrictions on using a funding stream to subsidise tickets, show and tell us how and why. People who are left in ignorance — either because they had no access to the facts or they chose not to learn the facts or simply to ignore them — will always make uneducated and potentially destructive decisions that can lead to damaging counterproductive actions.
Your piece may be well meant but its incredibly condescending of you to suggest that only 5-10% have read up on this. Your piece also shows some ignorance of the point(s) at issue here.
£77 is just part of the problem. In the last week despite the vast riches coming to the Premier League the clubs have blocked the suggested £30 ceiling on tickets for away fans (by the way, cant stand the bitters but good on them for voting for the ceiling). Also, the monumental balls up by FSG boasting to have turned ‘fans in to customers’ has really upset FANS who live and breathe LFC. Sorry mate, you may think that I and people like me are sad or delicate but we love OUR club.
As far as Jurgen is concerned he was in favour of the Dortmund fans protest on the issue of prices.
It was well intentioned. And no condescension intended whatsoever. Yes, the rejection of the £30 cap is the biggest disgrace of all and all Prem clubs should be ashamed, not just FSG. However it’s not wrong at all to suggest that a balanced view be put out here rather than assume FSG are the worst greediest f***rs in the EPL, because they’re not. They got us JK so they’re doing something right. And no I don’t think you’re delicate. Am in favour of the protests. Let’s sort this ticket issue out without the poison.: that’s all.
You need to look at it in isolation mate. I’ve disagreed too about the FSG must leave bile but getting us Klopp is good for them. They want success because success makes you worth more. It’s good for us too. The ticket issue needs to be judged on its own merits though.
” fruitless protest ” is the reply.
Not in those numbers. Ayre might try to fob this off but the size of the protest signifies there’s more to come, more fan unrest and if the team continues to under perform then the next one will be half the ground.
Great piece, Neil, and massive respect to all those who walked out. It cannot and should not have been easy. Well in.
I have no issue with the walkout. As an OOT fan who very rarely goes, my opinion on the matter probably isn’t hugely relevant, but I can see good points on both sides of the argument (although Ian Ayre – that’s kind of unfortunate).
However I have to say, and this is in no way blaming those who walked as had I been in their shoes I might have done the same, I think it would have been a factor in Sunderland’s late comeback and the players crumbling, even at merely a subconscious level. The players look round and see the ground emptying with quarter of an hour still to play. Even knowing about it beforehand, they would still be thinking ‘this is bloody strange’ at the very least.
I’ve definite sympathy with the protests, and there are more factors to consider of course (sheer defensive incompetence being one of them). But I’d be surprised if the walkout had absolutely no effect. The players are professionals – not robots.
Spot on that Neil – every word !
Some lad on Redcafe summed it up fairly well, although most United fans on there seem full of admiration for the walkout…
“So they are protesting not by refusing to buy a ticket, but by buying a ticket and then leaving early?
That’s like protesting Tesco by going in, paying for a trolley full of shopping and then leaving without taking the stuff to your car.”
If Liverpool fans cannot protest wholeheartedly about ticket prices, then I doubt any other sets of fans will manage it.
Age and wealth has skewed supporter demographics since the Premier League was founded, but Liverpool fans represent the hard-left of what remains.
As with the current Labour Party, the hard-left is most comfortable when it is protesting. This is a protest that carries no real threat though, as the owners only care about revenue.
Stop going t the match. Stop buying tickets. Accept that you would have to get on a 20-year waiting-list to secure another season ticket. It isn’t worth the money and the season ticket is something you can do without, when prices are so high and the football is so poor.
Alternatively, accept that FSG can (and will) do whatever they want.
I am always impressed by the quality of comments made by The Lady In The Van.
It’s true that FSG will do whatever they want, and sadly that after the sound and fury dies down the protests will probably have little effect. But in fairness it’s a misrepresentation to say that FSG cares only about revenue. If you study their American ventures over time, it’s clear that they have stepped up to save and preserve very important things that people in the affected communities cared about profoundly.
They went completely against the grain to prevent The Boston Globe — a great New England journalistic institution — from going under when everyone involved in print media was walking away and pulling money away from print, as the Internet exploded and newspaper circulations plummeted. This was a PROFOUND contribution in that arena.
They also kept Fenway Park when all other baseball clubs across America were selling out to giant corporations who tore down beloved grounds that fathers had taken their sons and daughters to for generations. Fenway Park is now the only remaining original major baseball club ground still standing in America. People travel from all over the world to visit it as a shrine.
Absolutely judge FSG harshly for creating the perception that they have a predominantly business focus, for not flying over often enough, for not communicating openly enough, for not making good decisions in the transfer market, for maybe not hiring the right people who can bring us the players and success we long for. But it is unfair to accuse them of not having any sensitivity for what Anfield represents and means to supporters, or for Liverpool’s history and legacy.
There’s no ‘Reply’ link at the bottom of Robin’s last comment in a thread up above, so I can’t respond in the thread. I hope Robin sees my answer here.
John W Henry’s hedge fund was managing clients’ money. The catastrophic financial downturn in 2008 in the U.S. and that spread subsequently across the globe drastically impacted those client investments. No doubt JWH was taking a profit in the prior good times, but he had stopped actively (personally) running the company years before his decision to close it in 2012. While his clients lost massively, his personal losses were probably not huge, certainly not Billions as Robin suggests. His decision to shutter the fund resulted from the acknowledgement that the drop in client investments no longer made it viable to continue operating the firm.
Please don’t post links. Thanks.
My point was only that his firm had £2bn in client money. They found themselves with £70m. So they closed it down. Ok it wasn’t all lost but a fall like that suggests it wasn’t going well. Lfc is going up in valuation each year. Point being every investor in the world would ditch the hedge fund and keep lfc. You don’t have to worry about them leaving us or us pleasing them enough so they stay. They know what they’re doing. This is about the ticket prices. Actually, by backtracking and considering the hardships the fans induce by the need to go to the match they could come out of this much stronger. It’d be daft if they missed this opportunity.
Sorry, Robin, it’s not accurate to say ‘suggests it wasn’t going well’. It certainly wasn’t but not primarily because of anything the fund did in their management of their investors’ capital. The U.S. stock market dropped more than about 44% between 2008 and 2009/10. It doesn’t matter how people were invested. It was a broad downturn, and nobody who had money in the markets got off without taking a huge hit. Businesses all across the nation folded, especially in the financial sector. It was a shocking haircut, trillions were lost, and it swept across the globe. Britain is still coming out of it in some ways.
JWH was very wise to have diversified before the crash. He came out relatively unscathed *personally* and went on to succeed at building up and strengthening his other ventures. That’s why FSG was in a position to buy LFC in 2010, while others were still staggering from the crash. Personally, I think that’s why he takes a value investing approach — look for bargains, buy potential, seek to develop it. Some unfortunate purchase mistakes have been made though, which may or may not have been decided by him directly.
It’s great someone is making a stand on the ticket price issue, I’m glad it’s Liverpool and I hope it starts a shift in policy througout the game.
However I hear a lot about FSG and Ian Ayre being the money grabbing protagonists in this, but who is getting the money? Players and agents – wages, transfer fees, that’s why football is so expensive. I don’t hear anyone giving the players stick for demanding ever higher wages and bonuses – but that’s where the a huge majority of money goes – from tickets, TV, sponsorship… and are they really earning it? Not recently.
1) LFC should scale back the amount of season tickets
2) The more times you go the cheaper the ticket.
3) Sit anywhere in the Kop policy.
4) ‘Non corporate ticket’ price cap.
5) Charge away fans what ever they charge us.
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