How did we fall so far behind the Mancs in Business
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I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of Moores & parry, along with a little bit of lady luck.
Parry took us into the new age with great initial success, then he stalled exactly as the football we produced did. Moores should have found a replacement, parry should've seen us dropping behind & arrested the decline.
Parry took us into the new age with great initial success, then he stalled exactly as the football we produced did. Moores should have found a replacement, parry should've seen us dropping behind & arrested the decline.
Manchester United's timing of coming good in the early 90's was absolutely perfect. Sky was simultaneously ruining football and making football more accessible to a wider audience at the same time. The money in football was about to absolutely explode and the gap between rich and poor clubs was about to widen greatly when Manchester United won a few leagues in the early nineties. They had vast appeal as a successful club and as had handsome young players like Giggs and Sharpe, followed obviously by Beckham that had massive marketability. In addition to this their board, PR people marketing people etc. were fantastic in promoting Manchester United as a brand and it took off from there. Having more mony than other clubs helped to aid (not make) future successes and continued success brought in more and more money. They've always been rich as fuck. Who else could've afforded 28 million for a fucking centre back in 2001 (2002).
On our side, we'd been run farily ineptly for years. I know people don't want to see the Liverpool crest hawked about on everything from plates to socks, as it takes away what's so great about the club, but this is what has to be done in this day and age to keep up financially and Parry and Moores never promoted the club or ran the commercial side well enough. Stories of club shops being out of jerseys were common, the marketing of products "commemerating" the CL win in 2005 was extremely low and we were locked into a fairly low paying sponsorship deal with Carslberg for a long time. In addition to this when TV money, sponsorships etc. were going crazy in the 90's we were fairly shit, so weren't going to do as well on the commercial side of things.
Also our stadium is fucking tiny.
On our side, we'd been run farily ineptly for years. I know people don't want to see the Liverpool crest hawked about on everything from plates to socks, as it takes away what's so great about the club, but this is what has to be done in this day and age to keep up financially and Parry and Moores never promoted the club or ran the commercial side well enough. Stories of club shops being out of jerseys were common, the marketing of products "commemerating" the CL win in 2005 was extremely low and we were locked into a fairly low paying sponsorship deal with Carslberg for a long time. In addition to this when TV money, sponsorships etc. were going crazy in the 90's we were fairly shit, so weren't going to do as well on the commercial side of things.
Also our stadium is fucking tiny.
Moore's just wanted to smoke a few ciggies, and hang around the players. He wasn't driven by any burning desires, and the culture and business of the club reflected that. We sat on our hands, thought we knew it all, with no real business sense of the changing world. That's what I see. Until 2006, we still had a club shop @ Anfield, that couldn't sell online, and were frequently out of stock. And more often closed. That's 10 years after the online world had exploded.
Moores' predecessor Sir John Smith was a successful self-made businessman and top sports executive (at various times a member of the FA Council and the chairman of a Govt.enquiry into the state of lawn tennis). His successor Moores was and is an amiable nobody who had tried and failed to make it in business (including his family's own business - how hopeless would you have to be not to succeed even there?) and, on his own admission years later when he was under pressure to sell the club, needed the chairmanship to keep him occupied. Small wonder we began to slide when he took the chair.
Parry's a qualified accountant and had done well in charge of the Premier League, but was never the man to take this club into a new era. For one thing, being in charge of the Prem.League was much more of a bureaucratic job than that of CEO of a major business concern. It doesn't necessarily follow, and certainly didn't in this case, that somebody who can perform well in the former type of environment will be able to do so in the latter as well. For another, Parry concentrated all the power at the club in his own hands and tried to make himself indispensable, a dangerous approach at the best of times, never mind if your suitability for the role is questionable in the first place. Last but not least, the boss who appointed him (Moores) was too incompetent to notice the need for change and too weak to do anything about it even if he had noticed.
Parry's a qualified accountant and had done well in charge of the Premier League, but was never the man to take this club into a new era. For one thing, being in charge of the Prem.League was much more of a bureaucratic job than that of CEO of a major business concern. It doesn't necessarily follow, and certainly didn't in this case, that somebody who can perform well in the former type of environment will be able to do so in the latter as well. For another, Parry concentrated all the power at the club in his own hands and tried to make himself indispensable, a dangerous approach at the best of times, never mind if your suitability for the role is questionable in the first place. Last but not least, the boss who appointed him (Moores) was too incompetent to notice the need for change and too weak to do anything about it even if he had noticed.
Qualified in 2002 for the first time was it? Didn't qualify in 92/93/94/95/96/97/98/99/00/01/ BUT we did in 2002/3/4/5/6/7/8/9/ but not 10/11/12 or 13. So Imagine United have been in this almost every year.
With the new FFP rules we fought so hard to enforce on the premiership we actually committing suicide. The gap will now forever be to big to bridge and even if we get a Richie rich sugar-dad he wont be able to inject cash which isn't from commercial earnings of the club.
All of which explains why the most important thing these current owners can do is expand the stadium (in a financially sustainable and viable way) so that we begin to catch up with our rivals in an area they (owners, manager and team) can then have a lot of influence over, match-day revenue.
Our global commercial performance seems to be improving (Ross to confirm?) so all is not yet lost if we get the stadium right. I place the stadium issue as equal to, or more important than, our league season once we get to October and realise we are in for another year of shite. I'd rather sit and watch a council planning meeting than some of our performances.
Our global commercial performance seems to be improving (Ross to confirm?) so all is not yet lost if we get the stadium right. I place the stadium issue as equal to, or more important than, our league season once we get to October and realise we are in for another year of shite. I'd rather sit and watch a council planning meeting than some of our performances.
Arthur Lowe's (ex-LFC chief accountant) memoirs are quite informative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Keys-Ba...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360865065&sr=1-2
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Man-Keys-Ba...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360865065&sr=1-2
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