Chewie

You see I reckon we're now in a world where, to all intents and purposes, the second of these (lamentably) is more achievable. Whoever owns the very top sides, ourselves included, are going to be billionaire owners of a sports company. There are no 'families' in England / UK with the sort of wealth that enables some of the billionaire types in the states who own a franchise from the region they come from, or who have the franchise passed down the generations. Local fan groups probably need to engage as constructively as possible with an independent fan regulator on ticketing - availability and pricing, supporter engagement, sustainability, community impact. Local supporter groups won't really achieve this by themselves. If the super corporates have to operate within at least some parameters that guide the league/brand as a whole, then fans can hopefully still enjoy the club and game and retain their identity. We've jumped the shark in terms of a DNA that connects everyone from supporter to owner, almost irrespective of who owns us. The case for an independent regulator grows stronger and stronger.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of a guy like Steve Morgan, it was only 20 years ago when it was just about possible for a local businessman/woman to actually compete to own a club the size of Liverpool. Those days are over so I guess it comes down to what you really want out of the whole thing. It's difficult to even be perennially 4th - 6th without being valued as a billion dollar club. I guess the best we can hope for if we want to compete for the PL and the EPL is going to be a global giant is that a regulator concentrates on value for fans, sustainability, and some sort of ethical framework for football club ownership.

Yup.. And a lot of American owners brings that collective bargaining structure that markets the league as much as any individual team within it. The downside is that they split broadcasting across multiple providers, most of which are free to air but with massive advertising. So you can see how we've got to the stage where the Premier league has 3 broadcasters (if the deal with prime still exists) but subscriber fees mitigate against loss of advertising revenue without time outs, natural game breaks, sponsored segments... You could, in theory, move towards more free to air games, but you'd have to accept hydration breaks etc.. And that snowball will keep in rolling..

Any chance the posturing between us and PSG about all parties saying negotiations going smoothly but differences on valuations are cover for psg getting their players in and this will all come together quickly now? Any chance... Even a Lloyd Christmas chance?

Getting the job done right first time... Job efficiency Taking several goes... Job security

It probably never will. Or if it does, it will be some sort of alchemy that comes along once in a generation, 77-84 was a heck of a time... 87-88 was an almost mythical but magical season. So the proof is there that it can happen again.... But the odds are heavily stacked against it being that good. Klopp created something so beautiful, powerful, seductive, and thrilling that I just want to be thankful for even whilst realising he made something so good it's unlikely to ever be repeated... And we can celebrate the good as we go (last years title win was immense)

This is just weird now isn't it. Club seems up for sale. The commander in chief of global football has announced he's off to run another planet as he didn't do the one thing he was appointed to do. The sporting director appointed to bring stability to all operations seems about to leave having brought in his mate who he brought in to his previous club before doing a runner. The new boss remains a coach but not a manager but we seem to be without management. There's serious deficiencies in squad depth and first team quality and the balance of home grown and overseas players, and once again we seem to be obsessed with buying a new shiny thing to the seeming detriment of improving the team as a whole. The season is a couple of weeks away and we've only signed a centre half who is unfit, and a lad who hasn't even trained yet cos he's on leave from not playing in the world cup due to injury. The local lad in the team is burning everyone's heads out and probably needs to go, and the senior leaders ain't really back yet. Meanwhile the transfer market hyper inflation seems to have caught us off guard despite our activity in 2025 being a likely contributor to over priced insanity... Apart from that......

It's an interesting development but currently I've decided to just monitor the situation before working on preparing a post. Here we wait..

The whole wonderful time in life blurs into one, so had to do some digging to try and make a decent comparison 2018 Madrid final team Starting XI: Loris Karius, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Dejan Lovren, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané. Substitutes: Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Ragnar Klavan, Alberto Moreno, Adam Lallana, Emre Can, Dominic Solanke. 2019 Spurs Final Team Starting XI: Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joël Matip, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané. Substitutes: Simon Mignolet, Dejan Lovren, James Milner, Joe Gomez, Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xherdan Shaqiri, Rhian Brewster, Divock Origi, Caoimhín Kelleher. 2020 season Starting XI (mainly) : Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané. Substitutes: Adrián, Dejan Lovren, Joël Matip, Neco Williams, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keïta, Adam Lallana, Curtis Jones, Xherdan Shaqiri, Takumi Minamino, Divock Origi. 2021-2022 Starting XI: Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konaté, Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcântara, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Luis Díaz. Substitutes: Caoimhín Kelleher, James Milner, Naby Keïta, Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones, Takumi Minamino, Diogo Jota, Konstantinos Tsimikas, Joël Matip, Harvey Elliott. I think from best to least best I'd go 2020 - peak Bobby, Mo, mane - first league in 30 years 2022 - those 3 but also Jota, Diaz, Thiago 2019 - champions league winners 2018 - pointed the way to all that was to come

working on a 4-2-3-1 basis and assuming Jones is gone and Barcola is signing GK: Ali, Marma, Woodman RB: Bradley, Frimpong, Ramsey ? LB: Kerkez, greek scouser, Chambers? CB: Virgil, Jacquet, Leoni, Joe, Chambers? Mid 2: Grav, Dom, Macca, Nyoni, Endo Attack 3: Munoz, Elliott, Wirtz, Gakpo, Rio, Barcola, Chiesa, maybe Dom Forward: Isak, Hugo (but not this season really) that's 28 names but it's very thin in terms of strength in depth with question marks over Macca and Gakpo even being here

Who's making the decisions? Is Iraola expected to sort this?

Thanks for this.. Who's making the judgements in all this, both in evaluating what we have and acting to make the changes? Wonder what Andoni really makes of it all?

All this nonsense about Jones is a distraction from what should be the primary area of concern. Line-up for last night Players in bold are likely starting 11 Players underlined are strong squad options Rio is a bit of both We don't know what Elliott is yet, or Nyoni That's only 7 players Liverpool: Mamardashvili, Kerkez, Szoboszlai, Elliott, Abe, Nyoni, Chambers, Ramsay, Scanlon, Koumas, Ndukwe. Subs: Woodman, Davies, Jones, Tsimikas, Frimpong, McConnell, Morrison, Ngumoha, Ndiaye, Wright, Sonni-Lambie. We'll Add Allisson, (Bradley), Jacquet, (Leoni), Virgil Macca, Grav, (Endo?) Wirtz, Isak, Gakpo, (Ekitike) could have missed someone there, but by my reckoning that's 8 extra players with big doubts over injury, usefulness, or sale of lads in (brackets) And right now there's serious chat about Gakpo, maybe Macca, maybe Jones leaving. The cupboard is threadbare. We could sign 4 players without any leaving and we'd just about be at an acceptable level of squad size.

Football support believes what it wants to believe. Iraola joins on a short contract and all the chat is about how good it is he wants to earn his money and not presume on it yada yada... If he had joined on a 5 year deal it would be a sign of commitment by him and show of strength by the club etc etc.. If xabi had joined we'd all have been gushing. And ya know what... That's all ok... The game is daft. It'll forever make fools of us..

How will I know..? Whitney

Yup.. There is that too! In general I don't think there's ever been any messaging other than we can spend what we earn from sales plus transfer budget, so don't think much has changed. What I reckon is also true is.. - they definitely have periods when they go large and times when they go quiet. I reckon that both financially and in US sports pysche they're more than willing to view these things in cycles. The difference with football is that not qualifying for the CL is a live possibility that creates jeapordy - the cycle now seems to be more focused on the big big picture of overall ownership, outside investment, FSG future proofing and they're quite prepared to just keep the playing side ticking over until they sort out the longer term ownership / direction of travel -the market is just plain daft right now. It always is when it makes sudden giant leaps. No one is worth the fees being paid now, but seems to be the going rates. I reckon most fans have a moment when, even though every sudden giant leap in the costs of football is equally unjustifiable, there is a breaking point when they just don't care for it anymore. I'll only know if I'm at that point when it gets to November and maybe I'll have just embraced (turned a blind eye to) the insanity.. Right now.. Struggling to care about whether we sign another 100m+ player

I'd say it's better than briefing the press that money's no object and we'll pay whatever any selling club wants just to show we've got loadsamoney

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And they would get away with it if it wasn't for us pesky ynwaforum kids

I agree with Murdoch when he agreed that the previous posters were right!

Who's told us anything?

Maybe this is the standard level of noise for transfers but in the absence of a dominant competing narrative the journos and itk'ers fill the normal with nonsense to drive interest and clicks. Post WC the transfer noise will probably grow

Fitting game for the end of football...

Quansah doesnt seem robust enough