Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has warned it is "critical" the Anfield club secures a return to Champions League football. Werner told BBC Radio 5 live Liverpool were missing out on vital revenue from the competition. "It is critical we make the Champions League because there is so much revenue associated with that," Werner said. Werner also admitted in the interview that mistakes were made in the handling of the Luis Suarez-Patrice Evra affair. Liverpool play in the Europa League under new boss Brendan Rodgers this season, having qualified via their League Cup win in February. But it is the loss of revenue from high-profile Champions League matches that worries Werner. Chelsea earned £47.3m from winning last season's competition. Liverpool last played in the Champions League in 2009 and Werner wants to see the club rub shoulders with the elite again. "We see our competitors not just as Chelsea or Manchester City and Manchester United but we see Barcelona and Real Madrid as teams that are iconic and playing good football," he said. "We know our competitors are working hard. We need to work just as hard and be just as smart." Werner said the club's management was drawing on its experience of running baseball's Boston Red Sox to try to bring more money into Liverpool, but he refused to reveal whether their plans included leaving Anfield. âOne thing is for sure, which is Liverpool stands firmly against racism and so does Luis Suarez â Tom Werner Liverpool chairman He added: "I don't want to compare too much the model of the Red Sox and the model of Liverpool. But where we have been successful with the Red Sox is in increasing revenues and pouring that into the quality of the squad. "We are in the revenue generating business because the more revenue you make the better the team can be. In that respect the two are similar. "We are also aware we are behind some of our rivals on match-day income. So we believe it is important to come up with a stadium solution. We have been careful not to announce something before we have all the t's crossed and i's dotted because we don't want to let down our supporters. "They have been let down in the past. "But let me assure everyone the present solution does not work and we have to come up with some way to increase revenues on match day, whether that is expanding seating capacity at Anfield or moving to Stanley Park." Meanwhile, Werner conceded that in retrospect Liverpool should have taken a different course of action over the Suarez case. The Uruguay striker was found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra in October 2011. Then boss Kenny Dalglish and his players wore T-shirts in support of Suarez during the FA investigation and the club continued to protest his innocence even after the guilty verdict. Suarez then compounded the issue by failing to shake Evra's hand when the two teams met at Old Trafford in February. "I think we might have handled it a little bit differently in retrospect," Werner said. "One thing is for sure, which is that Liverpool stands firmly against racism and so does Luis Suarez. "We look at this as something where Luis accepted his punishment and it is dealt with. "Some mistakes were made but I do feel the episode is over with. We have moved on and lessons have been learned."
More words and nothing we didnt already know. 'CL is important for making money' No **** Sherlock, 'Other clubs make more money on match-day cause they have bigger stadiums' again something we already knew. So far FSG have spent a lot of time talking about the big picture and done very little. A cautious approach is perhaps needed after the last two cowboys but too cautious and it just becomes procrastination.
In your opinion...? Or in the public eye...? You can't be talking about behind the scenes unless your involved in the club somehow...surely?
Fair play - they not have said anything new but at least they're communicating and have identified the mistakes and are looking to improve in the future.
Think we all knew it, and we know the only way we are going to get into it is by giving Rodgers time and hoping the FFP actually does make things fairer. Give Rodgers 2 or 3 years to get the players he wants, implement the way he wants to play and no doubt we'll be pushing 4th place every year again. We may have to go through a couple of years with 5th, 6th and 7th as the likely finish and a few cup runs but when we get there it will be worth it.
You're target is 4th? With both Manchester City and Chelsea soon to be hamstrung by the new fair play rules, and they will be. The reason is they don't have the fanbases or the global recognition to match the European elite. Manchester United will also be reeled in due to them having financial difficulties. Should we get our stadium sorted, and get back in the CL, that will increase commercial revenue. In the long term, there will not be anyone that we can't compete with. We'll be properly managed, and with our young guns maturing, we'll be an unstoppable force and one not to be taken lightly.
I'm sure I read somewhere that any contracts that were agreed prior to the summer (may have been last summer?) aren't included in the FFP, only contracts that are agreed afterwards. This would explain why clubs were trying to sign players up on long term deals.
I'm confused, this thread is over a month old. Is there news on the stadium or something? If Werner feels the same about top 4 then as a fan I wouldn't get too attached to Rodgers.
Bolded. Am I reading too much into the use of his words 'have to'? Implying, they haven't yet? If so...this is really dragging on. They must surely have at least an idea by now
The contract 'window' expired on 1st June this year. All contracts are counted now. That said, any rigour attached to FFP will only worsen Liverpool's position against the (currently) more successful clubs. And reading between the lines, Warner is paving the way for the announcement of further losses at LFC.
Losses, what losses? Manchester City incurred losses of £197 million last year. Anyway its Werner as in Carsey/Werner productions, not Warner.
