If ever there was a headline to cause debate this is it. No doubt many will read the title of this piece and either strongly agree or disagree without reading the bloody article.
In the last few years I have strongly defended FSG and also given them heavy criticism. There are things they have done very well and things they have done very poorly. Let’s begin with the positives.
On 15th October 2010, much to all our relief, FSG, then known as NESV, completed the takeover of Liverpool Football Club. Prior to the takeover the club was in a financial mess.
We were in a position where we had to sell to buy rather than add to the quality. Out went world class talent like Alonso and Mascherano. The annual net spend on transfers had gone from £40m in 2007/08 to -£8.6m in 2009/10. Have a look at the pattern below.
You can see how the financial mismanagement caught up with the club and started to impact results on the pitch.
FSG’s number one priority would have been to get the club out of the financial pickle it was in. The following needed to be achieved.
Since the takeover, turnover has been increased by 61% and it’s not just down to the increased TV rights deal. Matchday revenue has increased by 37% and Commercial revenue has increased by a very impressive 87%.
Despite what you might hear about wages, they have not being reduced, on the contrary it has increased by 45% but importantly, the proportion of wages to turnover has been reduced from 62% to 55%. Football finance experts (of which I am not) have said that 50% is about where you want to be.
Net debt has been reduced by 82% coming down from £533m to £95m. The £95m is made up of bank loans (£50m) which have a repayment structure of £9m (repayment) + £3m (interest payments) per year and an interest free loan from FSG (£45m) which is funding the stadium development and will be repaid when FSG sell the club.
There’s a lot more detailed elements to LFC’s finances than is shown above (for a more detailed look you can check out the source I got the info from http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/liverpool-over-wall.html ) but to the layman (like me) it looks like the club is in a very healthy financial situation.
If you were Liverpool’s bank manager you’d be pleased. But how is the club doing against its rivals? Increasing our revenue by 61% is great but not if our rivals increased theirs by more.
Let’s have a look.
The good news is that we’ve significantly increased our financial advantage over Spurs (though you wouldn’t think it, more on this later) and we’ve reigned in Arsenal by 9 million quid (we’re now just a Christian Benteke transfer fee away from them). We have cut into the deficit to United and Chelsea by £3m and £2m respectively. (Every little helps!)
From next season the new main stand will be open and according to reports the club is expecting to match Chelsea’s matchday revenue. So that’s an additional £12m and would close the gap to Chelsea and Arsenal even more. (Though Arsenal are just beginning to flex their muscles commercially).
The bad news is that we’re still almost £100m behind Manchester United and now £55m behind Manchester City (though City’s commercial revenue figures should come with an asterisk). Not to mention the sugar daddies that we don’t benefit from whereas Chelsea and City do.
When looking at football finances the one thing I assume most fans want to know is what it means in terms of being able to buy players and pay wages. “Ok the numbers look alright. But can we buy Lacazette?” Would be my question.
What has the spending been like under FSG compared to our rivals?
Interestingly Liverpool, in terms of net spend, have spent £61m more than Arsenal in the last five years. But currently spend £26m less in wages.
In the 5 full seasons under FSG the club has spent £220m more than Spurs in net spend and currently paying £66m more in wages.
Manchester City have the biggest net spend here. They’ve spent £147m more than Liverpool, a smaller difference than that between the Reds and Spurs.
In terms of wages it’s Chelsea that top the table with £216m. That’s £50m more than Liverpool. Again a smaller gap in wage spend than between the Reds than Spurs.
When looking at the spending table it’s quite reasonable to expect the club to struggle to compete with Chelsea, City and United. You would expect them to have squads with more depth and quality. But by the same notion you’d expect Liverpool to be competing with Arsenal and you’d expect the Reds to be far ahead of Spurs.
The reality is that in the last five years we’ve finished above Arsenal just once and above Spurs just once.
The next page looks at the money spent and sporting structure at Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, BVB, Southampton and Leicester City.
I believe a club’s sporting achievements is determined by two main areas.
In a letter to the Spirit of Shankly group, the club’s principle owner was talking about what it would take to be competitive, to challenge for the big prizes. He spoke of the importance of increasing revenues. With commercial revenue being the main focus at the time. He also wrote something I have repeated a million times since….
“We must have the best football operation in the world”.
These words excited me. At the time I thought we’d struggle to be competitive for the big prizes due to resources but if we were better and smarter with our academy, coaching, recruitment and fitness then we’d have a real chance. This guy might new to football, but he got it. He understood what it took to win.
This letter was written in January 2011. Five and a half years later and I’m not sure if we have the best football operation on Merseyside, let alone the world.
I’m no expert on how football club’s should be run, if I was I could probably get a job as a football club consultant, charging fees that might make Jorge Mendes blush. No, what I’ve tended to do is look at which clubs are consistently punching above their weight.
A couple years of over achievement can be put down to luck or exceptional circumstances, a magnificent player or manager making the difference. But multiple years of over achievement suggests an efficient structure is in place, there are good people in key positions and some sound fundamentals are being adhered to.
So who does have a world class football operation? Well the following clubs come to my mind: Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, Southampton and Leicester City.
On the next page I’ll look at each of the clubs mentioned above…
In the last few years I have strongly defended FSG and also given them heavy criticism. There are things they have done very well and things they have done very poorly. Let’s begin with the positives.

On 15th October 2010, much to all our relief, FSG, then known as NESV, completed the takeover of Liverpool Football Club. Prior to the takeover the club was in a financial mess.

We were in a position where we had to sell to buy rather than add to the quality. Out went world class talent like Alonso and Mascherano. The annual net spend on transfers had gone from £40m in 2007/08 to -£8.6m in 2009/10. Have a look at the pattern below.

You can see how the financial mismanagement caught up with the club and started to impact results on the pitch.
FSG’s number one priority would have been to get the club out of the financial pickle it was in. The following needed to be achieved.
- Grow turnover
- Reduce proportion of expenses to turnover
- Reduce bad debt

Since the takeover, turnover has been increased by 61% and it’s not just down to the increased TV rights deal. Matchday revenue has increased by 37% and Commercial revenue has increased by a very impressive 87%.
Despite what you might hear about wages, they have not being reduced, on the contrary it has increased by 45% but importantly, the proportion of wages to turnover has been reduced from 62% to 55%. Football finance experts (of which I am not) have said that 50% is about where you want to be.
Net debt has been reduced by 82% coming down from £533m to £95m. The £95m is made up of bank loans (£50m) which have a repayment structure of £9m (repayment) + £3m (interest payments) per year and an interest free loan from FSG (£45m) which is funding the stadium development and will be repaid when FSG sell the club.
There’s a lot more detailed elements to LFC’s finances than is shown above (for a more detailed look you can check out the source I got the info from http://swissramble.blogspot.co.uk/2016/03/liverpool-over-wall.html ) but to the layman (like me) it looks like the club is in a very healthy financial situation.
If you were Liverpool’s bank manager you’d be pleased. But how is the club doing against its rivals? Increasing our revenue by 61% is great but not if our rivals increased theirs by more.
Let’s have a look.

The good news is that we’ve significantly increased our financial advantage over Spurs (though you wouldn’t think it, more on this later) and we’ve reigned in Arsenal by 9 million quid (we’re now just a Christian Benteke transfer fee away from them). We have cut into the deficit to United and Chelsea by £3m and £2m respectively. (Every little helps!)
From next season the new main stand will be open and according to reports the club is expecting to match Chelsea’s matchday revenue. So that’s an additional £12m and would close the gap to Chelsea and Arsenal even more. (Though Arsenal are just beginning to flex their muscles commercially).
The bad news is that we’re still almost £100m behind Manchester United and now £55m behind Manchester City (though City’s commercial revenue figures should come with an asterisk). Not to mention the sugar daddies that we don’t benefit from whereas Chelsea and City do.
When looking at football finances the one thing I assume most fans want to know is what it means in terms of being able to buy players and pay wages. “Ok the numbers look alright. But can we buy Lacazette?” Would be my question.
What has the spending been like under FSG compared to our rivals?

Interestingly Liverpool, in terms of net spend, have spent £61m more than Arsenal in the last five years. But currently spend £26m less in wages.
In the 5 full seasons under FSG the club has spent £220m more than Spurs in net spend and currently paying £66m more in wages.
Manchester City have the biggest net spend here. They’ve spent £147m more than Liverpool, a smaller difference than that between the Reds and Spurs.
In terms of wages it’s Chelsea that top the table with £216m. That’s £50m more than Liverpool. Again a smaller gap in wage spend than between the Reds than Spurs.
When looking at the spending table it’s quite reasonable to expect the club to struggle to compete with Chelsea, City and United. You would expect them to have squads with more depth and quality. But by the same notion you’d expect Liverpool to be competing with Arsenal and you’d expect the Reds to be far ahead of Spurs.
The reality is that in the last five years we’ve finished above Arsenal just once and above Spurs just once.
The next page looks at the money spent and sporting structure at Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, BVB, Southampton and Leicester City.
I believe a club’s sporting achievements is determined by two main areas.
- Money (which I’ve covered and think FSG have done a fine job)
- Sporting infrastructure.
In a letter to the Spirit of Shankly group, the club’s principle owner was talking about what it would take to be competitive, to challenge for the big prizes. He spoke of the importance of increasing revenues. With commercial revenue being the main focus at the time. He also wrote something I have repeated a million times since….
“We must have the best football operation in the world”.
These words excited me. At the time I thought we’d struggle to be competitive for the big prizes due to resources but if we were better and smarter with our academy, coaching, recruitment and fitness then we’d have a real chance. This guy might new to football, but he got it. He understood what it took to win.
This letter was written in January 2011. Five and a half years later and I’m not sure if we have the best football operation on Merseyside, let alone the world.
I’m no expert on how football club’s should be run, if I was I could probably get a job as a football club consultant, charging fees that might make Jorge Mendes blush. No, what I’ve tended to do is look at which clubs are consistently punching above their weight.
A couple years of over achievement can be put down to luck or exceptional circumstances, a magnificent player or manager making the difference. But multiple years of over achievement suggests an efficient structure is in place, there are good people in key positions and some sound fundamentals are being adhered to.
So who does have a world class football operation? Well the following clubs come to my mind: Atletico Madrid, Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund, Southampton and Leicester City.
On the next page I’ll look at each of the clubs mentioned above…
http://anfieldindex.com/22995/fsg-failed-deliver.html