Originally Posted by
Insidious
They aren't perfect. The flaws are well-documented.
But having listened to the fans and eventually taken the decision to stay at Anfield was an absolute winner.
They then ended up having to spend around £114m for the redevelopment of the Main Stand. Apparently the stand itself cost around £75m so I presume the remaining costs meant there were complicated infrastructure issues like areas surrounding the ground - won't pretend to know the details.
Added to that we have ended up with a state-of-the-art £50m AXA training centre, designed with a lot of thought and care to that, as well as top-class facilities, there's a close proximity between youth/Academy lads and the first-team, helping those aspiring to have careers here to get constant inspiration to take the extra step.
The Anfield Road End is scheduled to be complete for the beginning of the 22/23 season at a cost of £80m. It will help us to generate an estimated £11m-per-year in additional revenue.
When FSG came in, we were pretty poor in the sponsorship department. Now however, we have a lot of sponsors and our revenue continues to improve as a result.
When FSG arrived, Anfield's capacity was 45,276 I believe. By next season it should be approximately 61,000.
Whilst certain aspects of how we are run can rub fans up the wrong way, there is a lot to be thankful for.
- Our owners aren't linked with State beheadings or other nefarious activity.
- We didn't have to get a Generic Bowl of a stadium.
- Anfield hasn't been named "the McDonald's Whopperdrome" to accrue further sponsorship money.
- The owners don't saddle mass amounts of crippling debt onto the club to fuel further transfer activity.
- The club pursues the elite in the sports science and Data Analytics World to supplement the excellent work of our Managerial and coaching staff.
- We have dropped sponsors if they have shown themselves to do anything dodgy (*I remember one in particular, will aim to edit this in later*)
- Recruitment is done intelligently. We would all like one extra transfer each Summer window as I think we can all agree that most Summers we feel one player short, but the business we do conduct has a high success rate.
Importantly too, they listen. FSG have made a few gaffs along the way - the ticket prices issue, the...*I forget the financial term right now, during Covid, will aim to edit later too*....but they have taken these knocks on the chin, said "okay, that can't be done, we're sorry" rather than pull a Mike Ashley and say "well, I'm doing this - whaddya gonna do about it?" with every ill-judged decision.
By all means highlight the flaws under the FSG regime. They do exist and nobody should be blind to them.
But when they do eventually leave, the Club's financial health, stadium, training facilities (and with a little luck, squad) are pretty likely to be in good shape.
I'm sure there are owners out there who are an even better all-round package than ours. But I doubt the list is very long.
So think carefully before ousting these ones. Blemishes and all, we haven't had it this good for quite some time.
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