Liverpool FC

No probs mate.

Liverpool Football Club's principal owner John W Henry has written the following open letter to supporters:


' I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window, but that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved. They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in.

But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future - Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi - could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future.

Nor should anyone minimise the importance of keeping our best players during this window. We successfully retained Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez. We greatly appreciate their faith and belief in the club. And we successfully negotiated new, long-term contracts with Luis and with Martin.

No one should doubt our commitment to the club. In Brendan Rodgers we have a talented young manager and we have valued highly his judgement about the make-up of the squad. This is a work in progress. It will take time for Brendan to instill his philosophy into the squad and build exactly what he needs for the long term.

The transfer policy was not about cutting costs. It was - and will be in the future - about getting maximum value for what is spent so that we can build quality and depth. We are avowed proponents of EUFA's Financial Fair Play agenda that was this week reiterated by Mr Platini - something we heartily applaud. We must comply with Financial Fair Play guidelines that ensure spending is tied to income. We have been successful in improving the commercial side of the club and the monies generated going forward will give us greater spending power in the coming years.

We are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes. It will not happen overnight. It has been compounded by our own mistakes in a difficult first two years of ownership. It has been a harsh education, but make no mistake, the club is healthier today than when we took over.

Spending is not merely about buying talent. Our ambitions do not lie in cementing a mid-table place with expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years. Our emphasis will be on developing our own players using the skills of an increasingly impressive coaching team. Much thought and investment already have gone into developing a self-sustaining pool of youngsters imbued in the club's traditions.

That ethos is to win. We will invest to succeed. But we will not mortgage the future with risky spending.

After almost two years at Anfield, we are close to having the system we need in place. The transfer window may not have been perfect but we are not just looking at the next 16 weeks until we can buy again: we are looking at the next 16 years and beyond. These are the first steps in restoring one of the world's great clubs to its proper status.

It will not be easy, it will not be perfect, but there is a clear vision at work.

We will build and grow from within, buy prudently and cleverly and never again waste resources on inflated transfer fees and unrealistic wages. We have no fear of spending and competing with the very best but we will not overpay for players.

We will never place this club in the precarious position that we found it in when we took over at Anfield. This club should never again run up debts that threaten its existence.

Most of all, we want to win. That ambition drives every decision. It is the Liverpool way. We can and will generate the revenues to achieve that aim. There will be short-term setbacks from time to time, but we believe we have the right people in place to bring more glory to Anfield.

Finally, I can say with authority that our ownership is not about profit. Contrary to popular opinion, owners rarely get involved in sports in order to generate cash. They generally get involved with a club in order to compete and work for the benefit of their club. It's often difficult. In our case we work every day in order to generate revenues to improve the club. We have only one driving ambition at Liverpool and that is the quest to win the Premier League playing the kind of football our supporters want to see. That will only occur if we do absolutely the right things to build the club in a way that makes sense for supporters, for us and for those who will follow us. We will deliver what every long-term supporter of Liverpool Football Club aches for. '


I'm loving what he says about never running up our debts and risking our future.

As far as im concerned John Henry can shove his letter up his old american arse!! We are a laughing stock and as far as Rodgers is concerned I am less than impressed. We have no strikers, we are trying to play a style that we do not have the players for and we are leaking in goals game after game. Top 4? We will be lucky to get out of the bottom 4 unless there is drastic change in performance by both team and manager. We are a weaker squad than we were prior to rodgers coming. The sacking of Kenny was a disgrace and the actions of the owners since have been, well, a fuckin joke!!

We hit the woodwork over 30 times last year, suarez had over 60 wides and we missed nearly all our penos. If half them had of gone in we would of had top 4. We had terrible luck. Not to mention Carrolls return to form, who we have now given to West Ham, on another day a different ref wud of given his second goal in the FA cup final and we could of had a cup double. There wasnt much wrong last year, there is a whole lot fuckin wrong now.

I have a sour taste in my mouth with Fenway and Rodgers.Now talk of Michael Owen?? This is a disgrace.

As a liverpool fan i can't agree with you, fair enough we were unlucky hitting the post that many times, but you also must remember if we didnt get a dubious pen against richards and cardiff could have scored there pens we wouldn't have even won the carling cup. My main problem tho is our league form, arsenal had there worse start in many years chelsea had a awful league season, the owners backed daglish with plenty money and he had an amazing chance to get us back in champions league an we got nowhere near.

No Assaidi in reserve match

I'm not a Liverpool fan guys, but I think there is something going on at the club that smells disctinctly fishy. I get the feeling that the American owners all of a sudden aren't showing enough passion for the club. I mean how the hell do they expect to get back the £35m for Carroll?

(03-09-2012 15:25 )ToeJoe Wrote:  As far as im concerned John Henry can shove his letter up his old american arse!! We are a laughing stock and as far as Rodgers is concerned I am less than impressed. We have no strikers, we are trying to play a style that we do not have the players for and we are leaking in goals game after game. Top 4? We will be lucky to get out of the bottom 4 unless there is drastic change in performance by both team and manager. We are a weaker squad than we were prior to rodgers coming. The sacking of Kenny was a disgrace and the actions of the owners since have been, well, a fuckin joke!!

We hit the woodwork over 30 times last year, suarez had over 60 wides and we missed nearly all our penos. If half them had of gone in we would of had top 4. We had terrible luck. Not to mention Carrolls return to form, who we have now given to West Ham, on another day a different ref wud of given his second goal in the FA cup final and we could of had a cup double. There wasnt much wrong last year, there is a whole lot fuckin wrong now.

I have a sour taste in my mouth with Fenway and Rodgers.Now talk of Michael Owen?? This is a disgrace.

I get the feeling that the ownwrs & Rodgers expect Suarez & Gerrard & co to get the goals betwween them!!

I was listening to the radio on the way home from work & a Manc Liverpool fan was saying Michael Owen kissed the scum badge after scoring the winner against City (I think). I didn't want him back anyway but if this is ture then he can go fuck one of his horses the fucking Kent resident!

My opinions:
BR: Not to blame for deadline day blunders,Bad handling of Andy Carroll,Good footballing philosophy,Will come good and turn things around.(Have faith)

KD:Entered three torments,2 cup finals,1 cup victory,turned over the Tofffees in the semi's (Yes) qualified for europa league (Not the best but still european football) 8th place finish in Premiership (unacceptable) But looking at those stats the majority of Prem league clubs would consider that a successful season.
In the end imo,Kenny's passion for the club lead to his departure,his heart ruled his head on occasions and his handling of the press was unprofessional at times.....However! He was-is and always will be a legend.

FSG:Let's face facts,whether we like it or not football is a business first and foremost for most club owners...Yes they ballsed up deadline day,there appointment of Kenny for me was an act of fan appeasement for a short term fix with no intention of long term stability.
They have however invested heavily in the squad (yes) they've brought in much needed investment to the club and seemed to have managed our debts.
They do need to now move quicker on our stadium situation (redevelopment/new stadium, just decide already) and show a bit of faith in Rodgers transfer targets in the January transfer window and the fact they sent an open letter to the fans was a good sign,even it was a "Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted" situation.

In conclusion,I'll reserve my judgment on FSG (for now) hope the team improve (surely) and have faith in Brendan Rodgers.
Just my thoughts. (No managing directors/Managers/Owners,were harmed in the making of this post)

Do you think Liverpool will do better than 8th this season?