From The Guardian Tom Werner, the Liverpool chairman, has said Fenway Sports Group will continue to invest in restoring "the lustre" of the club but that Uefa's financial fair play rules must be enforced to enhance the competitiveness of the Premier League. Liverpool are close to taking their summer spending to £54m with the £6m purchase of José Enrique from Newcastle United and, having paid £57.8m for Andy Carroll and Luis Suárez in January, FSG has sanctioned the biggest spending spree in the club's history. Not surprisingly John W Henry, the club's principal owner, has admitted it would be a major disappointment should Liverpool fail to qualify for the Champions League this season. Werner has refused to set defined targets but said FSG's investment in the club is far from over. "I don't want to promise so much," the Liverpool chairman said. "I know John has said we're going to be top four and Kenny [Dalglish] says well why can't we win. But we just want to move forward â we want to be better this year than last year and just keep going on the right track." Werner added: "I think the most important thing, and it may seem obvious, is put on a quality product for your fans. These are people who spend their hard earned pounds to come to see the club, and we've got supporters all around the world, who expect a quality product, and so it's been our goal to try to improve our position on the pitch and to try and create an environment for players to say they want to play in Liverpool, and to bring some of the lustre that all the fans know back to the club." Liverpool's chairman has echoed Henry's view on financial fair play, however. The club's principal owner recently backed Arsène Wenger's suspicion of Manchester City's £400m naming-rights deal with Etihad Airways, tweeting: "A club's best player has to be worth at least 10% of your naming rights. Mr Wenger says boldly what everyone thinks." Werner said: "I hope there's some teeth in it because I think it's healthy for the sport. It will make the sport more competitive. Part of our assumption when we came in last year was that financial fair play was coming into existence and that we'd hope it would have some teeth. It will make the performance on the pitch more competitive." In an interview with LFC TV, entitled "Tom Werner: Up Close and Personal", which airs on Friday at 7.30pm, the club chairman also backed Dalglish to continue his dramatic overhaul of the team's performances this season. Werner added: "I can't think of somebody who embodies the relentlessness and the drive and the attitude of excellence better than Kenny. Obviously we knew of him before we met him. I think he is a natural leader; I've had the privilege to watch him as he trains the men at Melwood. And I just think he's so charismatic and I think he's been able to instil a sense of purpose into the club; and when he says something, I think people listen." ---------------- Thought's?
Another encouraging statement from the owners. They continue to impress me each time they talk and it's evident that they really want the club to succeed and they will do what it takes. The relationship between Kenny and the owners seems to be really strong which is crucial at any club.
I look at what Mr Henry and Mr Werner said when they bought the club. They made no big promises, no big speech's. Just got down to the hard work and started restoring the club. All along they've taken time to listen, time to understand and are looking to build a long term success. The policy of buying young, proven players is the right step. The appointment of Dalglish was a masterstroke. The way they are exploring the options with the ground and the fact they have so far invested wisely shows there long term commitment. The club has been to long in the doldrums's, poorly run by those in charge. Poor decisions on purchases, poorly marketed. These problems can't be got rid of in a stroke of a magic wand. But for the first time in years, i think any reds fan can see we are slowly but surely moving forward.
The thing I like about these two is they are ''actions speak louder than words'' people. They have the means and the resources to turn their aims into actions. They don't talk the talk, they go about their business without any fuss. Kenny told them what he wanted, and they delivered. And I've got a feeling this is only the beginning. The more successful Kenny and the players are, the more Kenny will be backed. After a couple years of waiting, Liverpool are flexing their muscles. If it takes us to remove Arsenal from the top four, then so be it. Its a competition, its dog eat dog. If you stand still, you get left behind. They benefitted and rightly so from our struggles, so in a way its pay-back time. ''What goes around comes around''. Do I have any sympathy for Arsenal fans? Sorry, I don't. They didn't have any sympathy for us when we struggled and weren't expected to.
Tom's got a full-on robot chubby for Kenny. I dunno about the City naming rights thing - surely Tevez or Aguero are worth £40m, i.e. 10% of £400m? This is the kind of vagueness that'll have lawyers battling FIFA.
i think the whole finanical fair play thing is not the most important thing. the most important thing is these guys know they have to deliver on the pitch... not trophies but the style of play and effrot put into trying to win things.
I believe the most important thing is Liverpools overall aim and thats destroying Alex Ferguson and Manchester United.
Its not that I don't like Man United, that would be putting it very mildly, I hate them with a passion. I want more than anything to see Liverpool send them back where they belong and inflict 10 fold every year they have lorded over us until they've stopped, if it takes 3 more years and we're ruling the roost. Then it will be 240 years worth of pain we have to inflict on them. In other words make their and Fergusons life a living nightmare.
Nope, sorry KPR I'm still not quite sure of your feelings towards the Mancs? Tell us what you rally think man - stop sitting on the fence!
I hate the Skank scum with a passion, I hate their players,manager, ex players ,mascot, stadium. I even hate Skanks that played for the Republic of Ireland ie Dennis Irwin and Roy Keane.
I think KPR is a secret Manc and that he is just taking us on the biggest, greatest wum ever conceived by man
Bozz thats blasphemy. I'm as much a Liverpool fan as you lot are. Ask me a question and I gaurantee I can answer it( and I promise not to google the answers)
