In or out?

[Cerbie]

I thought they were “broke” - all the other Emirate states had oil but Dubai only had tourism….. didn't they run out money building the Burj and the UAE family bailed them out?

They have about 4 billion barrels of reserves apparently. They were the first emirate to embrace and exploit tourism, and were alway more Liberal than their neighbours in AD or Sharjah. They have industry in support of O&G and they also have new nuclear and coal (yes really) power plans. Think they still have a Bob or two.

[Irishnev]

They have about 4 billion barrels of reserves apparently. They were the first emirate to embrace and exploit tourism, and were alway more Liberal than their neighbours in AD or Sharjah. They have industry in support of O&G and they also have new nuclear and coal (yes really) power plans. Think they still have a Bob or two.

I did see that Maktoum’s personal wealth was circa 12 billion

[Fierce]

Yeah, I'm half out already

Haven't bought a ticket to a game in years and used to go 3/4 times a year

I'm not that arsed if I miss a game but I guess more importantly, I'm not arsed if we LOSE a game. I mean I am obviously, but not so long ago how we played on a Saturday would define my weekend. Its completely irrelevant these days

[The_weatherman]

My first reaction was that I'd be out. But it's hard, I feel like I'll have to wait to see. The Premier League has ruined global football really by allowing these state ownership's so it's gotten to the point that it's close to impossible to compete otherwise. It's a different game now, I do feel like in the coming decade though that international politics could have effect on questionable ownership like with Chelsea so hopefully we get something different.

[Pablo]

Like most of us I'm a middle-aged man now and LFC has been a massive part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can't just switch that off.

I'm definitely not as obsessed with it all as I used to be, and I think the way football has changed has been the main cause of that (as well as just getting older and having a family). But to go from "not as interested as I used to be" to giving up on football entirely is a massive ask.

I am a principled person and I fully get the reasons why some people say they will walk away if we become a sports-washing regime, but I'm just not sure how easy that will be in reality to do?

[Pablo]

Also just to add the ease/difficulty in which we can "walk away" is directly proportionate to how good/bad we will be going forwards.

If we go on to sign Bellingham, Mbappe etc. under new owners with Klopp still in charge it is going to be extremely hard for any current LFC fan to cut ties with the club and not watch us!

If we end up like we were under Hodgson (shudder) I think it will be a while lot easier to be be moralistic and walk away.

Sad but ultimately true for the majority of us I'd say.

[Irishnev]

Like most of us I'm a middle-aged man now and LFC has been a massive part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can't just switch that off.

I'm definitely not as obsessed with it all as I used to be, and I think the way football has changed has been the main cause of that (as well as just getting older and having a family). But to go from "not as interested as I used to be" to giving up on football entirely is a massive ask.

I am a principled person and I fully get the reasons why some people say they will walk away if we become a sports-washing regime, but I'm just not sure how easy that will be in reality to do?

Also just to add the ease/difficulty in which we can "walk away" is directly proportionate to how good/bad we will be going forwards.

If we go on to sign Bellingham, Mbappe etc. under new owners with Klopp still in charge it is going to be extremely hard for any current LFC fan to cut ties with the club and not watch us!

If we end up like we were under Hodgson (shudder) I think it will be a while lot easier to be be moralistic and walk away.

Sad but ultimately true for the majority of us I'd say.

This is me as well

[Cerbie]

Like most of us I'm a middle-aged man now and LFC has been a massive part of my life for as long as I can remember. I can't just switch that off.

I'm definitely not as obsessed with it all as I used to be, and I think the way football has changed has been the main cause of that (as well as just getting older and having a family). But to go from "not as interested as I used to be" to giving up on football entirely is a massive ask.

I am a principled person and I fully get the reasons why some people say they will walk away if we become a sports-washing regime, but I'm just not sure how easy that will be in reality to do?

Yep, me too.

[RedReet]

Regardless of who comes in, if we were in a position where we could match the spending of City, PSG etc, I'd fully expect FFP to be suddenly enforced and us probably the first and only team to be properly punished.

[baitman]

Regardless of who comes in, if we were in a position where we could match the spending of City, PSG etc, I'd fully expect FFP to be suddenly enforced and us probably the first and only team to be properly punished.

It's inevitable

[SB]

I’ve got too much invested historically & sentimentally to just walk away. My Dads brothers used to take him on the Kop back in the 40’s & 50’s & I’ve grown up with stories from family & friends & what it meant to them to be a part of this amazing Club. In 2013 Liverpool visited Australian shores for the first time in history & we were fortunate to have all 3 generations of my family there together at the MCG with a crowd of 96000 watching us win 2-0. I’ve since seen LFC in Oz twice more & ive taken my son to Anfield twice so while I would be gutted to see our owners sell out to human rights violators LFC will always be in my heart.

[Zapater]

To be fair our kit manufacturers are and pretty much always have been human rights violators and no one cares about that. I do think it's funny to where we draw the line.

I'm leaning towards out though. I definitely think I'd follow football a lot less closely, it's losing its overall appeal with the way it's gone. In all honesty, I already don't really follow it too much anymore outside of LFC due to the monotony, VAR, penalties and offsides all over the place etc. It's only going to get worse too.

[Doc_Piptorious]

To be fair our kit manufacturers are and pretty much always have been human rights violators and no one cares about that. I do think it's funny to where we draw the line.

I'm leaning towards out though. I definitely think I'd follow football a lot less closely, it's losing its overall appeal with the way it's gone. In all honesty, I already don't really follow it too much anymore outside of LFC due to the monotony, VAR, penalties and offsides all over the place etc. It's only going to get worse too.

Think there is a difference where and why people draw their lines though.

Yes our kit manufactuer has a shady underbelly, but so does a massive amount of the everyday products in every shop that has a manufactured in China/India/Pakistan/Turkey etc etc on it.

So does a hell of a lot of the produce in your local supermarket. So does the fuel you put in your car.

It would be close to impossible to boycott each and every single company whose ethics are less than steller and but would hope that people where possible would vote with their wallets so to speak. Buy from the companies with the better track records, buy from the ones that do less damage to the planet and to people and so on.


However if the club was bought by a state whose laws are archaic and brutal, a country whose belief and legal systems actively and openly opress people based on their sexuality, their gender, their creed (or lack of such) and who kill people for things that the leaders of those countries indulge in themselves.

Well then the club simply becomes an extension of that state, it becomes that state's mask, that State's attempt at slight of hand. It becomes what Manchester City and Newcastle United have become and it becomes everything we mock about those clubs.

Look at Qatar right now. They are bleating on again about how being gay is a sign of mental illness. Sexuality is a mental illness!! How being gay is against some haram and that people need to respect Qatar and it's right to enforce haram. Then in the same breath they try to say how advanced they are and how tolerant their state is.

Funny how marking one's own body, say with tattoos, is also against a haram in Qatar. Yet they are not going to stop players with tattoos from enetring the country and playing in front of their citizens. They are happy to have gimps like David Beckham and other high profile names who have plenty of obvious visible tattoos to be the sports washing faces of their **** tournament.

Liverpool Football club being associated with companies like Nike who do not always have good ethical practises is a bad thing and it would be better if there was a global manufacturer/distributer abvailable that they could use instead.

However Liverpool Football Club being an active part of a State that enforces oppression, murder, gender inequality, discrimination based on sexuality, slave labour etc etc makes the club a very different entity to what it would have been before being potentially owned by such a state imo.


Sorry for the meandering reply. I am pretty much a type and post guy on forums as I can indulge my lazier side, rather than one who types then tweaks before sending as one is in the real world.

[Angryred]

To be fair our kit manufacturers are and pretty much always have been human rights violators and no one cares about that. I do think it's funny to where we draw the line.

I'm leaning towards out though. I definitely think I'd follow football a lot less closely, it's losing its overall appeal with the way it's gone. In all honesty, I already don't really follow it too much anymore outside of LFC due to the monotony, VAR, penalties and offsides all over the place etc. It's only going to get worse too.

Fair points...Looks like most of us will not be able to walk away on a whim regardless of what the issues are, we will be still looking out for latest score or who they signed etc...it's like your religion, doesn't get away from you.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Fair points...Looks like most of us will not be able to walk away on a whim regardless of what the issues are, we will be still looking out for latest score or who they signed etc...it's like your religion, doesn't get away from you.

Do not think anyone is saying they would walk away from supporting/following the team easily or that it would be on a whim were the club to be sold to a state looking to use it's new purchase as a sports washing "asset".


But, and this is just a personal opinion, the club as it was would not be the same thing as what it would then be if owned by a sports washing state.

The great memories, the sad ones, the highs and lows, they would all still be there in hearts and minds.

We, as a fanbase, have been quick to condemn Chelsea under their russian owner and even under their current owner.

We have been quick to condemn, rightfully so imo, what has happened at Manchester City, Newcastle United, and PSG and call it out as those clubs becoming little more than PR machines for states looking to create a better image of themselves to the Western world.


We have been very quick to call out and slag off the fanbases that embraced some owners.

A walk away from Liverpool Football club if it became the play toy of an oppressive state would not be an easy thing to do given the emotional attachment to all that has happened whilst supporting the club. It would not be a pleasant thing to turn backs on the club.

But a lot of the time the right thing is not the easiest thing to do in life. We, as a fanbase, could stick to our morals and what we said about City etc and their fanbases, or we could just become what we complained about, become what we said was all that is wrong in the game and just become part of killing the sport (at the highest level hat is) as it used to be.

Me, I will be hoping we get an investor in rather than selling to a State. A lesser evil if you will because I want to keep following the club and supporting the team. I do not want to have to not go to the Dubai International Anfield stadium in the future. But if it comes to it I will not. I will never not have the memories of going to my first match. Of getting early up that morning and waiting hours for my uncle to come to our house in Netherton Village and then all of us heading off to the ground. Those sort of memories will always be mine to keep and cherish no matter who owns the club.


We get bought by a sports wash State then the club just becomes another club. It stops being special. It is just another club that turned on the limitless funds cheat mode and becomes just another shiny toy to be the acceptable face of barbaric regimes.


EDIT: Should really add that anything I say is pretty much my own take and what I hope to do, and that I am not throwing shade at anybody else for their own POVs and most certainly not trying to prejudge folk or say that they are wrong if they disagree etc.