Just seen this: Liverpool's owners have been challenged to publicly explain their strategy for the club by a leading fans' group. Spirit of Shankly, who led the protests against the despised former regime of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, have written to principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner. The group have asked for some clear direction and communication from Fenway Sports Group to dispel the growing perception among some fans that the club is "in disarray". As the Reds' search for a manager continues, the SOS said: "Confusion and chaos seems to reign and no one is coming out of this with much credit, particularly the football club's image and brand." Their letter continued: "We need clear and pro-active communication, a confident message about the club's plans that breeds confidence amongst supporters that we are moving in the right direction. "Instead, we have silence and a lack of information or understanding on decisions being made." The letter makes reference to the worst days of Hicks and Gillett's tenure when fans felt they had no voice as decisions were taken by American owners who had no representative based at the club on a local level. "As supporters we have seen all too clearly what a lack of communication from absentee owners leads to," it added. "Ultimately supporters remain in the dark once again about the plans for this football club moving forward. "We find ourselves experiencing deja vu, where boardroom decisions lead to more questions than they answer. "We ask that you speak with supporters - engage with a true representative cross section of supporters and work with supporters to provide solutions to our current problems." http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/22052012/58/premier-league-liverpool-fans-demand-answers.html
I suppose it's good that a group of fans represent us and ask for some clear communication. However, a bit of patience is needed I was expecting news throughout the Summer regarding a new manager, new players and the stadium if it was mid July and none of the above had been resolved then I would be worried. I suppose we all have timescales and expectations in our head. I don't see any harm in SoS asking questions and hopefully some answers will be forthcoming.
What a joke! FSG are no mugs and they didn't make their fortune by making quick, rash, brash decisions. As you say, patience is needed to find the RIGHT man for the job. And fans are funny - one minute, they're unhappy that we were doing our laundry in public, and then now we actually have a set of owners who are keeping quiet until there is news to report - they're still not happy!!
i am actually surprised at the level of backing fsg seem to be getting. I mean genuinely i see differences between FSG and G&H but there are similarities and honestly i am not suprised that SoS has taken the opportunity to re-establish itself as the supporters group. We has the supporters being elected and such and for a while the club were communicating well. It would seem its all gone by the way side. there is avacuum like it or not and SoS (a group i don't really like btw) will jump at the chance to grab the ground. IMO their actions can only be judged by what they do and so far they've sacked a lot of people without immediate replacements and this is creating the vacuum that they are not filling with thier own stuff... even i think one interview on lfc tv in a very controlled fashion would fill the void.... I'll await the results but i am not going to expect miracles.
I dont see how they could have handled the managerial situation much differently However The dallying with the stadium is becoming VERY worrying
I agree. They are being patient with what is prob the most important decision the club has made in a long time.
I think there are many aspects to it and its not very simple. the cumulative effect of so many departures without one single appointment is hard to explain just by saying the summer is the natural time for it. We all know scouting and any DoF role they intend requires 3-4 months to make any sort of plan to sign players. ergo...... this is a wasted summer. sacking kenny gives a big opening to SoS and the media are in feeding franzy mode finding peopel to say no to us when we don't even know whos on the short list.
FSG have removed debt from the club, which in effect allowed us to buy Downing,Hendo,Adam in the summer This wasnt THERE money, it was LFCs operating profit whicg pre FSg would have been comsumed by H & G loans
I'm no expert on these matters, I prefer to just enjoy the footy, but didn't FSG clear our debt and get some really good investment into the club? They need to step it up now and allow the new manager funds to improve the squad and to give a clear way forward with the stadium.
actually... ermm FSG didn't pay off any debt. they bought the club for 200mil from royal bank of Scotland who effectively seized us to clear thier loans to G&H. In short FSG paid for us, and some small debt came over on the stadia that was the clubs specifically. just to be clear. They did i think back kenny when i think last year they may not have wanted to. It is not the removal of peoplethats good its the people they now put in and so i eagerly await their actions. In the end if they get it right thats good, if they simply piss about and waste time and end up not solving it then thats another story. SoS can't lose by coming out now. if FSG do well for us then they can play that card and if they do badly then SoS can go into over drive.
Thats embarrassing. FSG have my full trust. I believe they are working for the good of the club and they are working to make us winners
Last year FSG were lauded as the club's saviours. Now, in response to some poor results, they have committed one deeply unpopular act, and suddenly they're the antichrist. Give them time to get their plan into place, and then judge them on that.
well i don't have that faith in FSG at all but i can see SoS are posturing too... I think i might just be in the silent majority here. FSG have a lot of question to answer, more are cropping up than they have resolved since i last saw them interviewed... the stadium is not even i nthat cos they said the were not promising anything. I heard specificalyy 2 weeks out of ayre so i'm happy to wait that long, this is the first week of that.
As long as there is no " blow me ****face" then I think we can all get along! Seems a little early this letter, I thought we wanted our business done behind closed doors?
FSG have done NOTHING but say all the right things. That's not to say they are not well-intentioned, but certainly we shouldn't be trusting of them just yet. -They have dallied around with stadium decision for ages, surely after over a year and a half they should know the ins and outs of the situation and the best course of action, if not then I severely question their decision-making ability - They have yet to invest properlly, 23m£ net spend is all they've put in so far which could easily have been offset (and probably has been) be reduced wage bill - Again, club was bought way too cheaply tbh as a result of the bank taking ownership. 200£m is a steal and don't see why the owners couldn't have seen it as a 300m£ purchase with the extra 100£m on the much needed investment - current situation, again, is this another example of dallying around and poor decision making? Why has it taken so long for them to get a Dof? I sincerely doubt they are waiting for any new manager to decide who to hire! - Naivety, sacking Kenny for not coming close to top4 is understandable, but supplying a new manager with 30m£ to do the same seems barmy, what is it FSG - short term success means we need more money than 30 bloody million, and long term success requires patience if that's your strategy! Not impressed so far and this summer will make or break our club and be the decider for how the next 10 years unfolds imho
Well done SOS Let's clear something up straight away for anyone who can't get their heads round it....FSG DID NOT clear the debt out of the generosity of their own hearts. It was part of the price of the club. In fact had there been no debt they would have had to pay a whole lot more than they did. Its a matter of personal opinion whether you have total faith in them or not, I think I've made my feelings clear on this one...I for one am glad that someone is raising concerns as from where I'm standing the club appears to be lurching from one blunder to another. This is not a demand to sell up...it is raising concerns about where the hell FSG intend to take LFC. If they answer those questions AND make good on those answers then all will be fine with the fans. Nobody wants another massive upheaval but what we do want is for them to lead from the front and make us successful as possible. I can't believe the attitude that these are a bunch of whiners just looking to feel self-important. What an absolute crock of ****e. These are people who put their spare time into looking out for our club. Its a ****ing good job we had these "whiny super-fans" when H&G were around eh. And no I'm not saying getting the cowboys out was solely down to them as we know it wasn't but it certainly did no harm...just as this letter does absolutely no harm as long as clear and honest answers are given. On the subject of keeping things behind closed doors etc...that's all well and good but FSG can't have it both ways. They sack KK for not being media savvy enough (undoubtedly part of the reason) and yet they themselves have overseen 18 monthjs of chaos without any sort of positive actions on their own behalf. Granted we can't have it both ways as fans...but then neither can they.
They've certainly put their money where their mouth is so far. We can't compete with Chelsea and Man Citys buying power but we seem to have spent as much as any other proper club lately and if the £30m (net spend) is right we'll probably be next highest after Man City and Chelsea this summer. Sacking Dalglish, although has split opinions wasn't really that controvertial given the amount of money he wasted and atrocious results in the league, if it was anybody else I doubt the manager being sacked would have been questioned by many people. The stadium situation I'm not surprised at all. I dont think we'll see the start of work until we qualify for champions league and I completely understand that aswell. Its going to be bloody expensive, so how can we pay for it and still compete in the transfer market without champions league income? The thing that dissapoints me is the figure of 60k capacity keeps being mentioned by the club (Ian Ayre). I really dont see the point in building a new stadium for such a small increase in seats. If its less than 70k I'll be dissapointed, we need a stadium that players will really want to come and play in every week and says to everyone, look we are still one of the biggest clubs in Europe with one of the best stadiums. That would be worth our wait. Overall, I have to say so far so good from the owners though
