LFC in America

[Vermilion]

They are playing competitive football .. the pre season is the one ****ing time fans around the world get to see the team, usually every 3 or 4 years and even though a lot of the time its just a kick about they never complain ...

One of the guys on the Anfield Wrap were saying ... I mean its in Boston .. its not like fans in the US are going to travel to see them in a Pre Season Friendly ... actually they will if Asia is anything to go by .. people from Hong Kong followed the team all over the region the last time they came here .. from Malaysia to China ...

Its part of the game so why bother complaining .. and I think its critical for our success going forward ... its the one Area we totally wipe the floor with Man City, Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea ... not so much United but we could if we got our Act together

It's essential.

Also, it gives many fans and their families a realistic chance to see the team play, and we should never take our global fan base for granted imo.

[Daniel 7]

Transatlantic / long flights can cause muscular problems, hamstrings in particular.

We've just gone through another managerial recruitment, I can't imagine he wouldn't have liked to use the time to be at home trying to add to the squad.

I don't know if its actually critical to go every year - my point is that we have UEFA qualifiers to play early on, a squad for a manager to assess, recruitment to make the squad better, a settling in period for the manager - its hugely busy and on top of that, we need to make sure we are fresh for a push into the top four at the end of the season.

That is worth more money than a few friendlies in the States. I just feel, that for the sake of preparation for a new, hugely important season, we should have given it a miss this year.

So, lack of gene pool aside Nicey, what do you think is more important? Going long haul to pander to advertisers and a nice day out for a few thousand american fans, or making sure we are in the best possible state going into a massively important season?

One year off would have made very little difference long term.

[Vermilion]

These things are planned in ignorance of managerial changes though, so we would have had to cancel and already arranged tour.

[Nicey]

Transatlantic / long flights can cause muscular problems, hamstrings in particular.

We've just gone through another managerial recruitment, I can't imagine he wouldn't have liked to use the time to be at home trying to add to the squad.

I don't know if its actually critical to go every year - my point is that we have UEFA qualifiers to play early on, a squad for a manager to assess, recruitment to make the squad better, a settling in period for the manager - its hugely busy and on top of that, we need to make sure we are fresh for a push into the top four at the end of the season.

That is worth more money than a few friendlies in the States. I just feel, that for the sake of preparation for a new, hugely important season, we should have given it a miss this year.

So, lack of gene pool aside Nicey, what do you think is more important? Going long haul to pander to advertisers and a nice day out for a few thousand american fans, or making sure we are in the best possible state going into a massively important season?

One year off would have made very little difference long term.

Mate

We have medical professionals on staff who have dedicated there lifes to understanding sports science, we all know long haul flights can cause hammys .. thats why people are encouraged to get up and walk about every now and again .... not just sports people all passengers ... there would have been very little training the following day, just media commitments... its a wonderful opportunity for the team to bond ...like it or not, our commercial success is going to be critical to our on field success the two feed into each other. Its utterly rare you see a global football side stick to its own country during pre season.

And one year off would make little difference ... mate with honest respect you dont understand the power of marketing, branding etc ... FSG are very cleverly trying to tap into the red sox fan base ...there is no "Big" English team in the US yet ... we can be that Big Team and if we succeed regardless of how many people seat in Anfield each week we will have the money to buy whoever we want ..

That and you have appreciate we are a Global team and fans abroad deserve to see there team in the pre season if you ask me. Most of us are just as passionate if not more than game going fans and whilst we may not spend the same ammount of money, we are all getting up a ****ing Ridiculous O' Clock just to watch the Pre Seasons let alone us playing Wigan away ...

I take you point and to an extent you are correct but you have to be realistic ... we were never going to stay in England Pre Seaon ... its all about USA and China and rightly so from a business perspective ... More people watch Liverpool Play in China on an average weekend than there are ****ing people in the UK mate .... we need a bigger slice of that action and we need to get people in the US more into our team .. thats the game in 2012 .. might as well be the best at it

[Fredo]

If we're doing that well commercially I'm yet to see us splashing the money on great players.

[Daniel 7]

Mate

We have medical professionals on staff who have dedicated there lifes to understanding sports science, we all know long haul flights can cause hammys .. thats why people are encouraged to get up and walk about every now and again .... not just sports people all passengers ... there would have been very little training the following day, just media commitments... its a wonderful opportunity for the team to bond ...like it or not, our commercial success is going to be critical to our on field success the two feed into each other. Its utterly rare you see a global football side stick to its own country during pre season.

And one year off would make little difference ... mate with honest respect you dont understand the power of marketing, branding etc ... FSG are very cleverly trying to tap into the red sox fan base ...there is no "Big" English team in the US yet ... we can be that Big Team and if we succeed regardless of how many people seat in Anfield each week we will have the money to buy whoever we want ..

That and you have appreciate we are a Global team and fans abroad deserve to see there team in the pre season if you ask me. Most of us are just as passionate if not more than game going fans and whilst we may not spend the same ammount of money, we are all getting up a ****ing Ridiculous O' Clock just to watch the Pre Seasons let alone us playing Wigan away ...

I take you point and to an extent you are correct but you have to be realistic ... we were never going to stay in England Pre Seaon ... its all about USA and China and rightly so from a business perspective ... More people watch Liverpool Play in China on an average weekend than there are ****ing people in the UK mate .... we need a bigger slice of that action and we need to get people in the US more into our team .. thats the game in 2012 .. might as well be the best at it

Yeah good post Nicey, I take your point. I am aware of the value of advertising and marketing, but I'm also aware of the need for the club to get on a competitive level after three years out of the Champions League.

If Liverpool aren't winning or competing, it doesn't matter what level of ambassadorial visitation we do to untapped markets, we'll be losing the next generation of fans coming through in Europe, (as an aside, what is massively striking here in Liverpool is the lack of kids wearing Everton shirts. They're all wearing the new Warrior shirts and outnumbering the Everton kids by about 10 to 1 in the parks and playgrounds - its never been that bad in the time I've been here, and can only be put down to their lack of competitiveness over a prolonged period), we'll be losing competition revenue, we'll be missing out on the best players and we'll be heading further down the path of great history, no future.

I'd have preferred a consolidation pre-season, focus wholly on the season ahead and get back to where we need to be - Champions League.

[kop-al-74]

Load of ****e people who complain about Pre Season friendlies need to do the Gene pool a favor

[Nicey]

If we're doing that well commercially I'm yet to see us splashing the money on great players.

Its fair to say with the exception of Uncle Woys time ... LFC has spent a bob or two on players over the past 15 years .. unfortunately we have bought too much ****e and failed to capitalized on fleeting positions of real dominance ..

[Imy]

For the last few seasons, pre season has been poor, not enough goals and not enough wins. Imo this has led to a poor league start. It's essential the team go in to the first game fit but with confidence.

The traveling is disruptive, start at home thump some lower league teams, a couple of glamour friendlies and bobs your uncle.

[Nicey]

For the last few seasons, pre season has been poor, not enough goals and not enough wins. Imo this has led to a poor league start. It's essential the team go in to the first game fit but with confidence.

The traveling is disruptive, start at home thump some lower league teams, a couple of glamour friendlies and bobs your uncle.

Is that how you roll in FM I usually let my assistant sort them out

[Fredo]

Its fair to say with the exception of Uncle Woys time ... LFC has spent a bob or two on players over the past 15 years .. unfortunately we have bought too much ****e and failed to capitalized on fleeting positions of real dominance ..

We paid £20m on Downing instead of paying that extra bit more for Mata for example. Mata was £24m and probably higher wages but we wouldn't go that extra bit. That kind of reasoning is still plaguing us it seems.

[Kenneth]

We paid £20m on Downing instead of paying that extra bit more for Mata for example. Mata was £24m and probably higher wages but we wouldn't go that extra bit. That kind of reasoning is still plaguing us it seems.

So does that kind of reasoning. He joined Chelsea, he wouldn't have joined us so the price and wages paid by Chelsea are irrelevant to us.

[Fredo]

So does that kind of reasoning. He joined Chelsea, he wouldn't have joined us so the price and wages paid by Chelsea are irrelevant to us.

How do you know he wouldn't have joined us? Maybe if we tried to be more competitive in offering the same terms he would've. All a bit hypothetical but if you look at the players we seemingly are after, it all seems to boil down to money and being prudent.

The owners are all for bringing success on a more economical budget but I'm afraid, unless the sport levels up things we're going to struggle to catch up. I wish Sky never took over the sport the way it has to be honest. We were kings before that period.

[Nicey]

We paid £20m on Downing instead of paying that extra bit more for Mata for example. Mata was £24m and probably higher wages but we wouldn't go that extra bit. That kind of reasoning is still plaguing us it seems.

Man get with the program ...Chelsea pay the most wages in the EPL and probally the world ... its not about how much he costs ...Sweet Jesus surely you know this and if you do why would you even mention the Downing Mata comparision

Go that extra bit ... try and extra 480,000 pounds a month on wages on one player ... now extrapolate that out but a further 6 players

[Nicey]

How do you know he wouldn't have joined us? Maybe if we tried to be more competitive in offering the same terms he would've. All a bit hypothetical but if you look at the players we seemingly are after, it all seems to boil down to money and being prudent.

The owners are all for bringing success on a more economical budget but I'm afraid, unless the sport levels up things we're going to struggle to catch up. I wish Sky never took over the sport the way it has to be honest. We were kings before that period.

I hear what you are driving at though its actually all about wage structure ... how much you pay is were you will finish in the table 9 times out of 10