Since the 2020/21 season, this is the list of important non-footballing staff who have left Liverpool:
CEO: Peter Moore, Directors of Football: Michael Edwards and Julian Ward, Director of Research: Ian Graham, Head Doctor: Jim Moxon, Director of Partnerships: Jonathan Kane, Director of Loan Management: David Woodfine, Lead Analyst: Dom Price, Head of Fitness: Jack Ade and Head of Performance: Phil Jacobsen.
Our current sporting director Jörg Schmadtke is on a short-term trial contract and is working from his laptop in Ibiza.
This probably explains why the season starts in five days and Liverpool have signed two senior players while losing plenty in what was supposed to be the biggest rebuild in memory following the disaster of 2022/23.
Alexis Mac Allister and Dom Szoboszlai are good signings and the former especially has looked good in the summer friendlies, but the fact we haven’t signed a defensive midfielder to replace Jordan Henderson and Fabinho – both sold to Saudi Arabia – is mind-boggling.
Yesterday, it was revealed Liverpool had a third unsuccessful bid for Southampton’s 19-year-old anchorman Romeo Lavia.
Ben Jacobs says Liverpool have immediately come in with a fourth bid, but it’s all so amateur. We’ve had all summer to get this done. Jurgen Klopp has specifically said he wanted his new players in to get them acclimatised. And yet here we are…
Even Jamie Carragher turned on Liverpool owners FSG on Twitter last night, with Gary Neville following up by stating that the genius of Klopp has ‘shielded’ the Americans for years.
Do you now agree that Klopp has shielded your owners for the last 5-6 years? https://t.co/lB3BRkC61x
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) August 7, 2023
He’s spot on. Imagine where we’d be, spending what we spend, under a middle of the road manager. Erik ten Haag has been at Manchester United for one full season and has a higher net spend than Klopp, who arrived in 2015.
The man is working under ludicrously tight constraints and he should be applauded for doing so, but last season was so obviously evidence that he needs to be backed by the people whose reputation he’s saved.
Even if we go on to buy two new midfielders and two defenders (we won’t) before the end of the window, this whole thing has still been handled awfully.
Is Schmadtke really the right appointment? A friend of Klopp who won’t be here in a year’s time? It’s odd.
Are we waiting for developments in the market? Perhaps Real Madrid end up signing Kylian Mbappe, then need funds and we can take Aurelien Tchouameni off their hands. This hypothetical situation is beyond risky, especially considering the likes of Chelsea will no doubt come in and gazump any offer we make.
Why are we not in for Brighton’s Moises Caicedo? Yes, £80m-odd is a lot of money, but he’s arguably the best on the planet in his age-group at what he does, and we’ve just got a £52m payout for Hendo and Fabinho, two players who before the summer we surely planned on keeping and eventually watching leave for nothing.
It’s clear we took the money for both without a contingency plan. I was pleased to see Fabinho go, but only under the assumption someone else would arrive in his place.
Last night’s friendly against Darmstadt was worrying. Yes, the attackers are excellent, but the defensive setup has shown zero improvement whatsoever. It is so easy to score against us. Hit a hoofed ball forward and let your attacker run into the space we leave.
We’re going to have to score three or four goals to win matches. Maybe it’ll provide some fun, but it won’t win you anything.
And the biggest problem I have with this is that we’re wasting the best years of Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson’s careers. Those world-class legends won’t be around forever. In the next two seasons, we’ll have to replace them. How on earth can we be expected to do that under the current model?
It feels haphazard, unplanned and random. FSG are sleeping on us and their time to go passed a while back. Sell up. It’s gone on too long.
Yes, that is the question: for how long Klopp!s aura and charm would keep us dreaming?
I am disappointed by the way the club managed the transfer window this summer. Not because – as Klopp would say – everyone of us want that player or that player and everyone of us have a fantasy about the perfect LFC team. No! I am disappointed because I really feel the lack of profesionalism and determination and realistic planning in what the club named so emphatically at the end of last season – ”reconstruction”
I agree. Over the past few years the transfer policy has been hailed as being great… Rubbish. We have held on to injury prone players for far too long letting them milk the club in big wages.
Now we get this idiot running the show. How can 5 MF go 2 come in 1 week before the season starts. Add the fact that Matip, Gomez, Phillips need replacing (Have been for the past few years) what is happening. Where is the money? Over the past few years 3 CL Finals, 2 x Domestic cup wins, Super cup etc New Kit deal with Nike and 300+ml investment from Redbird, yet hardly any spending on the team. New training ground / new stands are good if you can fill them. More focus on trying to sell the club than invest in the team i think….Thanks for everything FSG, but it is time to go.
You’re right word for word. We don’t understand why FSG is holding onto money, even in business spend money to make money.. FSG should go as well…they are a bunch of clowns
Stop thinking about Tchouameni. He won!t leave Real. He is part of Real reconstruction plan along with Bellingham, Mbappe, Vini and others. Young players that would change the old guard – Modric, Kroos etc. Apparently, Real has a plan of reconstruction, determination to follow it and to spend (of course!) to make it happen. A big plan requires consistent spending. I am afraid that we have a vague plan of reconstruction and no real intention to spend accordingly. Fishing for players here and there, if we hook them is fine, if not we fish in another pond – doesn!t look like a plan to me. All of us saw last season how poorly we defend. If we keep defending poorly this season it means only one thing: the management failed. To me is not so important if the management or the ownership is to be blamed. To me it matters that we keep making the same mistakes we all (fans, players, Klopp himself) acknowledged last season and that is shameful.
More clickbait. Can be nothing else when you are quoting Gary Neville as a valuable independent source of information on Liverpool. Caicedo is now priced at £105m not £80m, if we spent that you would write another piece saying it was too much and a bad investment just for the all important clicks. Let’s wait till the window closes and then judge the owners and Klopp on the squad.
I agree with you. To spend on a right future players.
Fsg are getting away with it they should have built a new stadium but done cheap option the new stands are paid for by lfc they don’t put any money in .local fans can’t get tickets I’ve had a membership for 2 years, I’ve had 1 ticket bourmouth at home just been told I’m 42900 in the queue for home games for the first 6 this is why they should have built a stadium . They are never going to splash the cash they need to be gone only klopp is keeping us with a chance once he goes and fsg are still in charge it will crumble the signs are already there
Spot on. For years FSG have been, sporting wise, a disgrace, by far the worst owners in the league. To be clear, anyone who dreamed of them being the passionate, engaged, aggressive types clearly didn’t do their homework on them. They have zero personal interest in sports, less so in football. They are strictly financial investors solely focused on increasing market value of their asset, nothing more. Any true investment went strictly into infrastructure which is a solid asset sure to get value for when they eventually sell the club.
They perceive money spent on players as cost the same way you see a new car devaluation once you drive it off the car lot. How many times has JWH attended games?
In this age there are only two path for a big club to become great: either you spent big in handful of top, proven players and make sure you keep the squad fresh by selling them when they still have value (City) and immediately buy the replacement, or, invest heavily in young talented less known players in larger numbers and hope some become stars, before their value explodes. Liverpool doesn’t do either instead is afraid or unable to get in lots of young players for 10-15 mil, nor is it willing to spend the 80-100 mil for 2-3 players every couple of years. So we go middle road always, with now limited success. Have become a nice to watch, attractive going forward but deeply flawed defensively team, who simply doesn’t have the balance, the squad size and resources to challenge at the highest level anymore! We can still beat anyone on the day but can’t maintain it long term.
As long as the market value of the club though keeps rising FSG is happy regardless of lack of success. Once they perceive that we have plateaued – which will soon happen after several years of no trophies and no ChL they will eventually sell and make off with a fortune. This was the game from day one, and from their perspective they executed it perfectly. If we don’t like it we can only start massive protests at every game to force them to speed up the time frame for selling as they don’t want bad PR! Otherwise we just need to adjust our expectations to what we are, a 5-6th place team with zero chances at silverware. Sad and simple.
Hendo and Fab should have been replaced last year! Salah, Robbo sjoood have been sold and replaced this year, except that the massive mess in MF made it impossible to focus on them too, Matip and Gomez and Tsimikas have no business even being in a top team squad. Elliott has been around the team for years now and still can’t break through so why is he still around? TAA? Make your mind up already? If you see him as a difference maker in MF play him there and get a proper RB to allow us to play up the field as we want. Many quality ones available yet we still dabble with him pretending to be an offensive RB and having too young deputies who can’t challenge him.
Everything at Liverpool is half backed and always a player or two short and a year late…
Imagine what Klopp would have done with the resources at United???? Am not even comparing us with the plastic money clubs…
Couldn’t have said better. No wonder there is so much employee turnover in a place where stinginess runs so deep. FSG is running the club as if it’s a plc, it will be too late when they realize that this is football and one needs to spend to be successful. No need to spend exorbitant amounts of money, just keep adding value to the squad by replacing those that have left with talent and potential. It is very worrying that with around 3 weeks left to closure of transfer window, we are still looking midfielder(s) and defender(s). The financial gap between state backed spenders and other will exponentially grow and we will be at the wrong end of it. It will be very difficult playing catch up with them in the foreseeable future. I’m afraid the season will be over before it starts if we don’t get the midfielders and defenders we need. Oh, and for God’s sake, please sell Thiago before he spends another full season at the treatment room before he leaves for nothing at the end of the season.
The 3rd richest club, making 600 million a season. One of the best managers in the game, klopp. Why are we in the Europa league and in decline.
The ownership. Sell to buy profits before success.
FSG showed what they are over the failed super league. They should have been removed then.
They are showing what they are at all the other sporting franchise’s they own.
The Boston red Sox have Never been so bad, the Pittsburgh penguins in decline, just like Liverpool.
Profits before success, that’s all they care about.
When that plane flew over Anfield last season with that banner, and the supporters booed it, that was the green light for FSG to run Liverpool into the ground. An exodus of players gone, key players not replaced. The rebuild a demolition job from FSG to cut the wage bill. No right back, no central defender, no quality no 6. Nothing new from FSG.
At the end of the day, if supporters are content with the club in mid table mediocrity then we deserve to sink.
Where’s the protests to get rid of charlatan owners FSG. It’s probably too late now anyway.
The casualty in this will be klopp.
He won’t last the season. Apathy from supporters.
Liverpool without klopp still under FSG.
God help us.
Excellent article, couldn’t agree more
I have just discovered this forum now. Wow. Sooooo refreshing to see!!! You should see the amount of delusion on “Thisisanfield”.
FSG have been NOTHING short of a disgrace.
Well said Jordan and for sticking your head above the paraphet .
What I will say is …FSG have fronted this situation out in America with a sport they love. These guys have big balls when it comes to this stuff and are good at working the narrative.
We are probably due some media statement from them if they get the vibes of supporter dissatisfaction through the media.
No doubt Klopp will be deployed soon to calm things down…and therin lies the problem and has been for several years now.
Klopp has fans trust but has he another year of spin in him…not if we only get one more player and definitely there will be a lower threshold for excuses in this circumstance if results are poor early doors.
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I really feel very sad for Klopp. The guy has invested in lots of effort and hard work to bring LFC where they are. Without him LFC would have had to struggle. He managed with what he had. Perhaps Micheal Edwards knew the situation was going to get worst with FSG policy on recruitment and that’s why he left. His departure has been a great loss for LFC and it can still be felt. If FSG don’t wake up now then I fear it will be too late.
Fsg have put a spin on everything ….pls do not trust them!!!