Monday Morning Coffee: Liverpool Has Lost Its Heart

20/10/2025 17:23:00 esportapi

In 1959, after turning Liverpool from a second-tier team into English champions, the legendary coach Bill Shankly said: "There is a sacred triangle at a football club – the players, the coach, and the fans. The management has nothing to do with it; they are just here to sign the checks."

1. This belief influenced the perceptions of supporters and players for years: Liverpool was operated more by emotion than logic. It was a sacred club, not a business entity.

However, on October 15, 2010, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), then known as New England Sports Ventures, completed the acquisition of Liverpool for £300 million.

The Premier League giant, heavily burdened by debt, was rescued from the brink of bankruptcy after the disastrous era of Tom Hicks and George Gillett. "I am very proud and humbled to be here," new owner John W Henry told reporters. "I cannot express how happy I am. We are here to win."

Since then, Liverpool no longer operates emotionally, though the instincts of coaches and players, as well as the tremendous pressure from fans in the stands, remain respected. But the American owners decided the club would primarily be managed based on something highly objective: data.

In September 2012, the summer transfer window had closed but Liverpool had not yet found a replacement for striker Andy Carroll. Coach Brendan Rodgers wanted to sign Clint Dempsey from Fulham, but FSG intervened: they only wanted to spend heavily on players under 24, so the £6 million price for 29-year-old Dempsey was considered expensive and inefficient.

Liverpool fans were so outraged that owner Henry had to write an open letter to reassure them, while also funding the purchase of three energetic newcomers — Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin, Fabio Borini — along with young talents Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi. He stressed that this was a future-building strategy, not cost-cutting. Transfers had to balance fair-play financial rules (FFP), investments had to be sensible, and excessive borrowing avoided.

FSG has upheld this principle, even though it has sometimes been criticized for lacking ambition, especially when competing with state-backed or billionaire-supported rivals like Man City and Chelsea.

2. Nevertheless, last summer, with record spending following the previous season’s championship, Henry’s commitment was proven right: increased revenue allowed them to invest in real stars rather than just emerging talents.

Owner John Henry and FSG have transformed Liverpool over 15 years. Photo: Getty

They broke transfer records twice in a row: £116 million for Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, then £125 million (a UK record) for Alexander Isak from Newcastle United. Additionally, £79 million was spent on Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt. Liverpool’s total summer spending reached £449 million, the highest in Premier League transfer history. In return, they earned about £260 million from player sales.

During the first 5-6 years, FSG invested £170 million to stabilize finances and rebuild Anfield’s main stand but avoided reckless spending. They aimed for Liverpool to be financially self-sufficient and have achieved this.

This change is even more impressive given they compete with clubs that have much larger resources. Recently, Ed Woodward, former vice-chairman of Man United, said club finances did not align with on-pitch success. But FSG and Liverpool proved that wrong: as the team improved on the field, their commercial finances surpassed Man United’s for the first time.

After the initial £170 million investment over six years, Liverpool hardly made major investments until the 2023/24 season, when they sold 1.9-3.8% of shares to Dynasty Equity (a US sports investment fund), raising £127.3 million. Most of this money was reinvested in infrastructure, such as renovating Anfield. Although this disappointed some fans, it is a more sustainable approach than spending hundreds of millions on transfers and player wages.

3. After Liverpool lost three consecutive matches across all competitions, the pressure on coach Arne Slot was intense. However, he calmly told the media: "We still create the highest expected goals (xG) and shots on target, but we have conceded nine goals in the league, four from set pieces. Of the remaining five, two came from quick counterattacks and three from open play. I think we concede too many aerial balls during open play, which is an area for improvement."

These comments were calm and unemotional, exactly how Liverpool has been built to rise from the ruins to the present day. Under FSG’s leadership, this is a business run with professionalism, rationality, data, and decisions made through coordinated teamwork.

This approach may cause Liverpool to lack some of the wild intuition, but when it comes to stability, no one surpasses them.

Pham An

Comment (0)