Not trying to discredit them in anyway but it was evident that the marketing, merchandising and sponsorship aspects were largely untapped during Moores and Parry's time. G&H obviously made things precarious and thankfully we were saved from further trouble by FSG but the upturn in revenue isn't unexpected, esp. for our club's stature. The impact of not making it to the CL was also soften hugely by the revenues such as those from the TV deal too (as compared to when Leeds overspent + failed to qualify and went on a downward spiral).
As mentioned a couple of times in this thread, it's not the amount of money spent but how. They can make profits from the club by all means - after all, they are a company, not an individual like Roman Abramovich.
When Ian Ayre was leaving, I thought it was an opportunity to review the structure of the committee and/or its members - wishful thinking it seems. While we are privy to the details and the full authenticity is hard to verify, the various reports and even revealings were singing along the same tune.
-
Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows were FSG appointments
[article]
Fallows and Hunter, who were approached by Liverpool before Rodgers's appointment as manager, were placed on gardening leave by City and able to commence work at Anfield only after the close of the transfer window.
... ... ...
Rodgers and Hunter were at Reading together and, despite not instigating the arrivals, the manager insisted: "They were appointments I was fully aware of. I've known Barry for a long time and Dave also. Dave was already in the offing to come here. From Dave's position, he would only accept the job if someone like myself was coming in."[/article]
- Edwards was on good books of FSG (nothing wrong but makes one wonder if his promotion was based on ability and credential)
Dated Dec 2014
[article]
Edwards is the committee's other main protagonist. A former video analyst whom Damien Comolli brought with him from Tottenham Hotspur
, Edwards gained the trust of Liverpool's principal owner, John W. Henry, by presenting a statistical model for analysing potential signings.
Famously enamoured with Billy Beane's sabermetric approach to hiring baseball players, Henry believed that in the young Englishman he had a football equivalent.
Edwards was invited to spend time with Henry at the businessman's Florida mansion. His guidance was taken seriously when Henry and the rest of Fenway Sports Group sought a replacement for former Reds manager Roy Hodgson.
Aware that numbers mattered to FSG's vision for the club, Edwards appointed Ian Graham as Liverpool's director of research. Holder of a PhD in theoretical physics, Graham had developed a computer programme designed to add discriminative value to player performance statistics provided by companies such as ProZone.
When Rodgers, a scout or an agent suggested Liverpool sign a particular player, Edwards would have the player's numbers run through the Graham model. If the computer said no, the deal was off.
When Red Bull Salzburg were looking for a buyer for Sadio Mane in the summer, Liverpool were one of the clubs approached. Graham's analysis indicated the Senegal international wasn't good enough, so Mane ended up at Southampton instead (paid for with a fraction of the money Rodgers channelled to the South Coast club for Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Lambert).[/article]
Dated Dec 2014 (James Pearce interview)
[article]
Pearce says BR NEVER wanted to sign Balotelli but was forced to settle for him.
.. ....
Similar tone has been voiced by Mike Bernard, a former employee of FSG, who said BR failing to see eye-to-eye with some of the TC members and their signings, is getting a little unsavoury. Mike noted that BR wanted Eriksen and Bony but was overruled. This also goes back to previous failures to show the money and securing players early when they had interest to move to LFC.
Plenty of dragging negotiations and low-balling saw the failure of securing targets such as Willian, Salah, Mikhtaryan, Konoplyanka and more. Diego Costa was identified by BR as a transfer target when Costa was playing as a wing-forward, long before he became a star in that out-and-out striker position and caught the whole world's attention. TC thought his release clause of 20mil back then was too much. The rest is history. While
we drag our feet on targets, other clubs come into the picture, showed the money and swooped them as we watch helplessly. Even for Sanchez, Phil Thompson declared during the world cup that we had Sanchez in the bag. However too much negotiations into details and conditions in payment method allowed Arsenal to sneak in and turn his and his wife's head.[/article]
Dated Oct 2015
[article]
Michael Edwards, who is based at Liverpool's Melwood training ground, has become FSG's go-to guy in England after aligning himself with the data-driven model of the group's baseball team, the Boston Red Sox.
This
cosy relationship with FSG, dropping the owners emails throughout the day and increasing his power at the club, led to a strained relationship with former manager Brendan Rodgers.
...
Edwards fell perfectly into place with FSG's Moneyball strategy, the statistical model designed to extract maximum value in the transfer market.
...
Despite a lack of playing experience at any relevant level, Edwards, who earns £300,000 a year,
has a big say on Liverpool's notorious transfer committee. He would arrive for meetings with Rodgers, managing director Ian Ayre, chief scout Barry Hunter and head of recruitment Dave Fallows armed with the latest data on potential targets.
...
After each Liverpool game Edwards emails analysis and data to the club's owners in America, detailing where the match was won and lost. It has made for grim reading this season.
...
Edwards has used his relationship with FSG to strengthen his hand at the club, becoming a trusted source of information to a group of people who are obsessed with statistical analysis. There is a relationship with Bill James, the American stats guru who is employed by the Red Sox to provide Henry and Gordon with data for their baseball team.
...
The increasing influence of analysts, young men who have no experience of scouting or recruiting players, has meant the end of the road for good football men such as Mel Johnson. He was the scout who recommended Liverpool sign talented young winger Jordon Ibe from Wycombe but was sacked, shamefully, in November 2014. Former academy director Frank McParland has also left.
Instead a new breed sits in air-conditioned offices, cutting up videos from matches all over the world and burying their heads in the stats.
Edwards, along with his vast team of analysts, constantly monitors the opposition, providing detail about playing positions, style, routines, set-pieces and other important matchday information.
...
Since then he has emerged as a senior figure at Liverpool, empowered by FSG to make the call on big transfer targets after gaining their trust since his arrival in 2011.
His relationship with Rodgers deteriorated shortly after the former Liverpool manager signed a contract worth £6m a year just a week after Liverpool finished within two points of claiming the Barclays Premier League title.
They clashed over transfer strategy, although Rodgers went on record to insist that he always had the final say over the recruitment of players earmarked for the first-team squad.
[/article]
Dated Jan 2016
[article]“We played AC Milan in a friendly in America because what we needed was a replacement for a player who could press from the top end of the field,” he said. “It wasn't just a goalscorer we were after, Luis Suarez was giving so much more than that – the press and how we wanted to work.
“After the AC Milan game I was asked a question and he wasn't someone I felt was suited or fitted the profile of what we were after.”
Despite personal reservations, Rodgers claimed it was FSG who believed Balotelli would be a good investment.
Speaking to Goals on Sunday, he added:
“Come the end of summer, when we were struggling to get in the type of player we wanted for that role, the ownership thought this was a player I could maybe develop.
“He's had issues Mario, he's a wonderful talent and make no mistake. You see him on the training field every day, he's six foot three, he's fast, strong, has the touch.
“They thought this is a £50m player that they can bring in for £16m, and I can maybe develop him how I developed a few of the other players.
“When the owners want you to go down that route and there are no other options, you give it a go.”[/article]
Dated Feb 2017
[article]"When I was at Liverpool I asked about Van Dijk and he was at Groningen and then at Celtic. But
I was told he wouldn't be for us at the time."[/article]
Then there were apparently rules such as "
a limited spending budget per player of €10 million and we could only sign players who were under 21" and interference like "
regarded to be just a promising Under-21 prospect and were going to pay him accordingly — about £4,000 a week" (perhaps they were advised via the use of statistics, as usual?) despite their lack of expertise/experience in this field doesn't seem smart .
Who knows? Klopp might have wanted to make additions in Jan transfer window but 1. the committee couldn't get the deals he wanted across the line 2. the committee vetoed his choices 3. he didn't agree with the committee's suggested options/backups so decided not to sign any of them instead of have them forced on him.
