The Owners

[little dave hedgehog]

we're not really.

[Craig_H]

we're not really.

[Arn]

we're not really.

Spill the beans. We won't tell Mr Henry.

[Riche]

These owners aint exactly what I was hoping for!

[Riche]

I was hoping for owners with a vision and a backbone clearly these FSG people have neither.

[-V-]

My initial fear with NESV was that they were only in it for a quick buck and that they would sell the club on again within 12 months. However they keep saying they are here for the long-term so I just have to believe them.

Its far far far too early to be passing judgement on them though, as fans (and the clubs main source of income) we have the role of influencing them and we have to do that every which way we can. But don't be passing judgement on them at this stage, thats just ridiculous

[Riche]

If its far to far early to judge them well maybe they shouldn't have bought a football club that expects to be the best. Maybe they should of bought a club like fulham where they expect to be fighting relegation or mid-table mediocrity with an imbecile for a manager.
I can't and won't go to games anymore with Hodgson's low grade football .. its just too awfull, I just can't. Liverpool FC was my life, It was my escape from the ****.

We were a top club until the American's thought they could make a buck or two and look what they have done so far, dragged us to the bottom, When will it end?
So far FSG have promised nothing and done nothing.

[James P]

We were a top club until the American's thought they could make a buck or two and look what they have done so far, dragged us to the bottom

But only one set of Americans have done that. Most of the criticism of NESV is ridiculous at this stage. The facts are simple:

• They inherited a club in turmoil, following three and a half years of mismanagement
• They freely admit that football isn't their area of expertise
• They've been owners for less than 3 months
• They lost the two main board members at the point at which they acquired the club
• They didn't hire Hodgson
• They didn't sanction signing PFK, Poulson, Cole or Jovanovic, or Carragher's new contract

Expecting them to wade in and start hiring and firing immediately is a bit daft. But for the current (as in last three or four games) crisis in form, they're doing exactly what I'd expect them to do - taking their time, learning about the sport and the club, and apparently planning for the long-term. In other words, they're running this as a business.

As for sacking Hodgson, if they do it now then they've done it based on proper analysis and review. Bear in mind that Hodgson is current LMA manager of the year (an accolade that looks more meaningless on a daily basis), and to non-footballing people that would probably seem pretty significant. If he keeps assuring them that he can turn it round once he gets 'his' team sorted, and they would prefer to save any management changes until the summer, then it would take something significant to change their plans. I think that the current form, Hodgson's piss-poor media skills, and the clear alienation of the fans will be sufficient to tip the balance in the next couple of weeks, thank God. But the problem still remains of who to put in place - there's no guarantee that things will improve under a caretaker manager. Plus the face-rubbing muppet gets a £3m pay-off, and after the £6m paid to Rafa in the summer, that's got to be a cause of some angst.

Make no mistake, I want Hodgson gone, and I'd happily have Rafa back (provided that he gave half of his payoff to Roy!). But people already calling the new owners c*nts and so on is just daft.

Edit: Riche - just realised that my post looks like it's directed primarily at you - it's not. Your comments are far more reasonable than a lot of the stuff posted here and elsewhere. Just thought I'd clarify that.

[SB]

But only one set of Americans have done that. Most of the criticism of NESV is ridiculous at this stage. The facts are simple:

• They inherited a club in turmoil, following three and a half years of mismanagement
• They freely admit that football isn't their area of expertise
• They've been owners for less than 3 months
• They lost the two main board members at the point at which they acquired the club
• They didn't hire Hodgson
• They didn't sanction signing PFK, Poulson, Cole or Jovanovic, or Carragher's new contract

Expecting them to wade in and start hiring and firing immediately is a bit daft. But for the current (as in last three or four games) crisis in form, they're doing exactly what I'd expect them to do - taking their time, learning about the sport and the club, and apparently planning for the long-term. In other words, they're running this as a business.

As for sacking Hodgson, if they do it now then they've done it based on proper analysis and review. Bear in mind that Hodgson is current LMA manager of the year (an accolade that looks more meaningless on a daily basis), and to non-footballing people that would probably seem pretty significant. If he keeps assuring them that he can turn it round once he gets 'his' team sorted, and they would prefer to save any management changes until the summer, then it would take something significant to change their plans. I think that the current form, Hodgson's piss-poor media skills, and the clear alienation of the fans will be sufficient to tip the balance in the next couple of weeks, thank God. But the problem still remains of who to put in place - there's no guarantee that things will improve under a caretaker manager. Plus the face-rubbing muppet gets a £3m pay-off, and after the £6m paid to Rafa in the summer, that's got to be a cause of some angst.

Make no mistake, I want Hodgson gone, and I'd happily have Rafa back (provided that he gave half of his payoff to Roy!). But people already calling the new owners c*nts and so on is just daft.

Edit: Riche - just realised that my post looks like it's directed primarily at you - it's not. Your comments are far more reasonable than a lot of the stuff posted here and elsewhere. Just thought I'd clarify that.

[malg]

But only one set of Americans have done that. Most of the criticism of NESV is ridiculous at this stage. The facts are simple:

• They inherited a club in turmoil, following three and a half years of mismanagement
• They freely admit that football isn't their area of expertise
• They've been owners for less than 3 months
• They lost the two main board members at the point at which they acquired the club
• They didn't hire Hodgson
• They didn't sanction signing PFK, Poulson, Cole or Jovanovic, or Carragher's new contract

Stop making excuses for them, they have done nothing yet.

Expecting them to wade in and start hiring and firing immediately is a bit daft. But for the current (as in last three or four games) crisis in form, they're doing exactly what I'd expect them to do - taking their time, learning about the sport and the club, and apparently planning for the long-term. In other words, they're running this as a business.

As for sacking Hodgson, if they do it now then they've done it based on proper analysis and review. Bear in mind that Hodgson is current LMA manager of the year (an accolade that looks more meaningless on a daily basis), and to non-footballing people that would probably seem pretty significant. If he keeps assuring them that he can turn it round once he gets 'his' team sorted, and they would prefer to save any management changes until the summer, then it would take something significant to change their plans. I think that the current form, Hodgson's piss-poor media skills, and the clear alienation of the fans will be sufficient to tip the balance in the next couple of weeks, thank God. But the problem still remains of who to put in place - there's no guarantee that things will improve under a caretaker manager. Plus the face-rubbing muppet gets a £3m pay-off, and after the £6m paid to Rafa in the summer, that's got to be a cause of some angst.

Make no mistake, I want Hodgson gone, and I'd happily have Rafa back (provided that he gave half of his payoff to Roy!). But people already calling the new owners c*nts and so on is just daft.

Edit: Riche - just realised that my post looks like it's directed primarily at you - it's not. Your comments are far more reasonable than a lot of the stuff posted here and elsewhere. Just thought I'd clarify that.

[Molby]

But only one set of Americans have done that. Most of the criticism of NESV is ridiculous at this stage. The facts are simple:

• They inherited a club in turmoil, following three and a half years of mismanagement
• They freely admit that football isn't their area of expertise
• They've been owners for less than 3 months
• They lost the two main board members at the point at which they acquired the club
• They didn't hire Hodgson
• They didn't sanction signing PFK, Poulson, Cole or Jovanovic, or Carragher's new contract

Expecting them to wade in and start hiring and firing immediately is a bit daft. But for the current (as in last three or four games) crisis in form, they're doing exactly what I'd expect them to do - taking their time, learning about the sport and the club, and apparently planning for the long-term. In other words, they're running this as a business.

As for sacking Hodgson, if they do it now then they've done it based on proper analysis and review. Bear in mind that Hodgson is current LMA manager of the year (an accolade that looks more meaningless on a daily basis), and to non-footballing people that would probably seem pretty significant. If he keeps assuring them that he can turn it round once he gets 'his' team sorted, and they would prefer to save any management changes until the summer, then it would take something significant to change their plans. I think that the current form, Hodgson's piss-poor media skills, and the clear alienation of the fans will be sufficient to tip the balance in the next couple of weeks, thank God. But the problem still remains of who to put in place - there's no guarantee that things will improve under a caretaker manager. Plus the face-rubbing muppet gets a £3m pay-off, and after the £6m paid to Rafa in the summer, that's got to be a cause of some angst.

Make no mistake, I want Hodgson gone, and I'd happily have Rafa back (provided that he gave half of his payoff to Roy!). But people already calling the new owners c*nts and so on is just daft.

Edit: Riche - just realised that my post looks like it's directed primarily at you - it's not. Your comments are far more reasonable than a lot of the stuff posted here and elsewhere. Just thought I'd clarify that.

I wonder, is any of the top brass of NESV going to be at Anfield today?

[James P]

malg - it was hard to work out what you'd posted, but I'm presuming that your only comment was:

Stop making excuses for them, they have done nothing yet.

You've pretty much countered your own argument. I'm not making excuses for them, precisely because they've done nothing yet, so there's nothing to excuse. Once they've had time to take proper action, I'll judge them on whether they took the right action, or indeed any at all.

I'm pretty sure that those people who've had the opportunity to work on the acquisition of a business would agree with me that the one thing that you don't do is jump in on day one with both feet, and rip apart the existing structure. You take a bit of time, work out what needs to be done, and then act. In the context of an acquisition of this size and importance, two and a half months is nothing.

[The_weatherman]

But only one set of Americans have done that. Most of the criticism of NESV is ridiculous at this stage. The facts are simple:

• They inherited a club in turmoil, following three and a half years of mismanagement
• They freely admit that football isn't their area of expertise
• They've been owners for less than 3 months
• They lost the two main board members at the point at which they acquired the club
• They didn't hire Hodgson
• They didn't sanction signing PFK, Poulson, Cole or Jovanovic, or Carragher's new contract

Expecting them to wade in and start hiring and firing immediately is a bit daft. But for the current (as in last three or four games) crisis in form, they're doing exactly what I'd expect them to do - taking their time, learning about the sport and the club, and apparently planning for the long-term. In other words, they're running this as a business.

As for sacking Hodgson, if they do it now then they've done it based on proper analysis and review. Bear in mind that Hodgson is current LMA manager of the year (an accolade that looks more meaningless on a daily basis), and to non-footballing people that would probably seem pretty significant. If he keeps assuring them that he can turn it round once he gets 'his' team sorted, and they would prefer to save any management changes until the summer, then it would take something significant to change their plans. I think that the current form, Hodgson's piss-poor media skills, and the clear alienation of the fans will be sufficient to tip the balance in the next couple of weeks, thank God. But the problem still remains of who to put in place - there's no guarantee that things will improve under a caretaker manager. Plus the face-rubbing muppet gets a £3m pay-off, and after the £6m paid to Rafa in the summer, that's got to be a cause of some angst.

Make no mistake, I want Hodgson gone, and I'd happily have Rafa back (provided that he gave half of his payoff to Roy!). But people already calling the new owners c*nts and so on is just daft.

Edit: Riche - just realised that my post looks like it's directed primarily at you - it's not. Your comments are far more reasonable than a lot of the stuff posted here and elsewhere. Just thought I'd clarify that.

It's a good post and even though I have been having doubts about the new owners and been pretty vocal against Hodgson I can agree with the gist of it but just two points:
I think it's healthy to have reservations about the owner, specially in light of our recent troubles.
I think replacing Hodgson with a caretaker is almost guaranteed to result in improvement, if the replacement moves the team further up the pitch and starts pressing and being pro-active half the battle is won, we don't have as bad a team as Hodgson makes out.

This is only my opinion.

[malg]

malg - it was hard to work out what you'd posted, but I'm presuming that your only comment was:

Stop making excuses for them, they have done nothing yet.

You've pretty much countered your own argument. I'm not making excuses for them, precisely because they've done nothing yet, so there's nothing to excuse. Once they've had time to take proper action, I'll judge them on whether they took the right action, or indeed any at all.

I'm pretty sure that those people who've had the opportunity to work on the acquisition of a business would agree with me that the one thing that you don't do is jump in on day one with both feet, and rip apart the existing structure. You take a bit of time, work out what needs to be done, and then act. In the context of an acquisition of this size and importance, two and a half months is nothing.

Ok apart from buying the club ( on the cheap) what have they done in the last 3 months ?. This club need major direction and quickly, these guys have not done that or look like doing it.The Transfer window is open and we have Hodgeson still in charge. This for me is a scary time. At least the need to get some bottle and sack him, and place a temp manager in. It looksd like a non manager is buying the players it's all to wishy washy, as I say no real direction.

[The_weatherman]

Ok apart from buying the club ( on the cheap) what have they done in the last 3 months ?. This club need major direction and quickly, these guys have not done that or look like doing it.The Transfer window is open and we have Hodgeson still in charge. This for me is a scary time. At least the need to get some bottle and sack him, and place a temp manager in. It looksd like a non manager is buying the players it's all to wishy washy, as I say no real direction.

Yeah, apart from buying the club, clearing the debt, hiring a DoF what have the Romans* ever done for us!?!





*NESV