Liverpool fc to open football centre in India

[saj]

This is typical of H&G, 'oh i know, target a country with a big population..yeah, loads a money', instead of targeting a population that actually gives a **** about the game.

Although, i'm not sure how welcome or how well thought of Hicks would be in South America, after his last attempt at football ownership over there.

Exactly - targeting a country 1/100th of the size of India (in terms of population) that cares about about foobtall will generate a hell of a lot more than targetting India. I think they would be better of targeting Pakistan - I'm sure Ben Tover agrees with that .

[saj]

Juuteing TP

I had to english-fy the the word Juute. Juute-ing. That's how Bari and his boys speak. He's a proper TP even though he aint a P

[Chrono]

Imagine trying to market the Liverpool baseball team in America. Not going to happen.

I don't see how this is a bad idea. We lay early foundations in a growing country and potentially reap the rewards in the future. I have to say I always found the lack of Indian footballers a strange one and if football does become more popular in India there will be talented footballers, there is absolutely no way that there wont be and we will be in a great position on several fronts. If you think about what we spend on the academy I think this is a good idea with potentially great returns.

[saj]

Imagine trying to market the Liverpool baseball team in America. Not going to happen.

I don't see how this is a bad idea. We lay early foundations in a growing country and potentially reap the rewards in the future. I have to say I always found the lack of Indian footballers a strange one and if football does become more popular in India there will be talented footballers, there is absolutely no way that there wont be and we will be in a great position on several fronts. If you think about what we spend on the academy I think this is a good idea with potentially great returns.

Football has become big in USA in recent years. The MLS has been the sole reason why this has happened - it has promoted 'Soccer' in the correct way and more people have an interest in football in US. But yet the standard of MLS is said to be the equivalent of the 3rd Tier in England! That is below championship level. There have been a couple of players who admittedly have been OK who have come from the MLS to the premiership but the reality is, 99% of the players in the MLS probably aren't good enough for the Premiership. So how we can say India could potentially a player good enough for the premiership, India being a country that does not even acknoweledge football. This is just very unrealistic.

[powerpack]

This is typical of H&G, 'oh i know, target a country with a big population..yeah, loads a money', instead of targeting a population that actually gives a **** about the game.
Although, i'm not sure how welcome or how well thought of Hicks would be in South America, after his last attempt at football ownership over there.

Your obviously talking out your **** pipe with a comment like that. Football is very popular in India. On a typical weekend they show 3 live premiership games on a saturday and 2 on a sunday. When I was there the kids are always playing footy on their local grounds, barefoot but the enthusiasm was there. They have their own league too, shock horror! With the Salt Lake stadium reaching its 120,000 capacity (biggest footy stadium in asia) for the big matches. Get your facts right please, I'm getting bored of trying to educate the likes of you.

[dww]

It is a very long term goal but I doubt the expense will be great. On top of that it is not just about players but also growing a market.

[Chrono]

Football has become big in USA in recent years. The MLS has been the sole reason why this has happened - it has promoted 'Soccer' in the correct way and more people have an interest in football in US. But yet the standard of MLS is said to be the equivalent of the 3rd Tier in England! That is below championship level. There have been a couple of players who admittedly have been OK who have come from the MLS to the premiership but the reality is, 99% of the players in the MLS probably aren't good enough for the Premiership. So how we can say India could potentially a player good enough for the premiership, India being a country that does not even acknoweledge football. This is just very unrealistic.

Well we do have a 100 year start on both the US and India.

[carheex]

I assume you are extremely naive about your knowledge of India? Some facts for you

1. A lot of people associate India with poverty. Yes there are a lot of very poor people in India but a stupid amount of mega rich people too. Four of the top eight billionaires in the world are from India. These billionaires love to associate themselves with any thing from the West.
2. You get more live Premier League games shown on TV in India then you do in the UK
3. Its one of the fastest growing Economies in the World, there's a lot of money to be made there
4. Indian People love Football (playing and watching, not as much as Cricket but the appetite is there) - they just need some encouragement to help them make they grade.
5. There are shed loads of Liverpool fans in India. I've walked round with my reds shirt whilst over there I was surprised by how many people instantly recognised it and could reel off players, results, history.

I think this has the potential to be a very good investment/way of discovering some talent

Sounds like a complete waste of time and money to me - typical of LFCs clueless approach to marketing and commerce.

[Parm]

Bo juute boltaa hai.

you know he bats for the right side!

seriously though, about time we tapped into the Asian market

[SK]

I assume you are extremely naive about your knowledge of India? Some facts for you

1. A lot of people associate India with poverty. Yes there are a lot of very poor people in India but a stupid amount of mega rich people too. Four of the top eight billionaires in the world are from India. These billionaires love to associate themselves with any thing from the West.
2. You get more live Premier League games shown on TV in India then you do in the UK
3. Its one of the fastest growing Economies in the World, there's a lot of money to be made there
4. Indian People love Football (playing and watching, not as much as Cricket but the appetite is there) - they just need some encouragement to help them make they grade.
5. There are shed loads of Liverpool fans in India. I've walked round with my reds shirt whilst over there I was surprised by how many people instantly recognised it and could reel off players, results, history.

I think this has the potential to be a very good investment/way of discovering some talent

Why can't we start a football center in lets say Mali? this is not about money, or getting in for commercial reasons, we could do that in other ways...it's about getting the best players from a certain country before others do, we can do that by either signing an agreement with a local club, or starting a football academy there!

And we're of to start an academy in a country that hasn't produced a single good player in history of the game

with all do respect to India and Indian people of course..

i'm not going to argue with you about this, i just think its a silly idea.

[ronanm]

It'll cost a few hundred thousand to develop - less than a months salary for some of our players.

[saj]

Why can't we start a football center in lets say Mali? this is not about money, or getting in for commercial reasons, we could do that in other ways...it's about getting the best players from a certain country before others do, we can do that by either signing an agreement with a local club, or starting a football academy there!

And we're of to start an academy in a country that hasn't produced a single good player in history of the game

with all do respect to India and Indian people of course..

i'm not going to argue with you about this, i just think its a silly idea.

Exactly right - a man on a realistic wavelength. Mali is a country that has produced the odd half decent player and the same could said and actually done with any one of the African countries that actually have a reputable national team. But I think a football center in Brazil would be absolutely amazing - there is a lot of talented players who don't make it for one of the Brazillian teams, players who slip through the net. I'm sure these guys would be interested in joining an LFC football center.

And by the way, I thought someone had changed the title of this thread to 'Liverpool FC to open CALL centre in India' but I was actually seeing things.


Saj waits for Ben Tover to call him a racist

[m100900]

Since moving to London, I now play league football after work with predominatly English/white people and I can say that I thought I was a half decent player but I feel that English people are far stronger, head the ball and tackle a lot harder. Also, English people are far taller too which always helps. The average height of asians is probably 5ft 8".

Maradonna is 3ft 9', whereas Tony Adams is 8ft 6', so I think I've dispelled the size myth as far as 'talent versus donkey' tendencies goes.

And all those white people in London will be predominantly Australian, not English/White, so I'm surprised you think they can play. Maybe you wandered into a game of Aussie rules by mistake?

[saj]

Maradonna is 3ft 9', whereas Tony Adams is 8ft 6', so I think I've dispelled the size myth as far as 'talent versus donkey' tendencies goes.

And all those white people in London will be predominantly Australian, not English/White, so I'm surprised you think they can play. Maybe you wandered into a game of Aussie rules by mistake?

Try reading my whole post as you've gone well of the point. Most Indian/Pakistani people are skinny, short and weak as hell. Maradonna may have been short but he was built and strong. I'm not saying if you're short you'll never make it. If you're short and strong on the ball or very skillful, then yes of course you can make it. But as it happens, 95% of the English footballers are over the average height in the UK. The average height of the Liverpool squad a few years ago was 6ft 1" or something - coincidence or not? We actually only had 1 player under the height of 6ft, and that was Danny Murphy.

And all those 'white people in london' are not from Australia at all. They are definatelty predominanatly all Londoners/southerners. There's also a fair few players from Yorkshire and the North East. What makes you think they're Australian?

[peekay]

There is a lot of interest in the Premier League in India. Last year when I went back there I did see a couple of Liverpool shirts. I dont think this development center was setup to capture the local Indian talent. I think it is a way of interacting with the football fans in the subcontinent. The money from India is not going to come from shirts or from fans who will visit Anfield.

The money will come from better sponsorship deals due to increased viewer ship in the subcontinent. Thats where the BCCI makes most of its money from. If we are able to get a sizable fan following in the subcontinent we can make a lot of money through deals with companies who have an interest in marketing their products in India by associating themselves with brand liverpool fc. Thats where the Mancs have been successful in the last decade, marketing their brand in new markets. We are just catching up.