The issue I had with your use of the UEFA coefficient was that it isn't a true reflection of where the club is at any moment in time. The coefficient lags due to how it is calculated and at best can only be used as a delayed indicator as to a club's direction of travel 2-3 years previous.
H&G (damn it's great not having to type those two letters for so long) benefited (in terms of UEFA coefficient) during their tenure from the club's results in Europe from 2005-2009, so from the club's position largely as it was before they took over.
Their mismanagement began impacting the club nearly immediately but it wasn't until at least midway through their ownership that it began to impact results on the pitch, although our results in Europe deteriorated every year in which they owned the club.
I'm still waiting to be impressed by our commercial performance and hope to see a significant increase in those revenues in the next accounts because for me we have underperformed in this area, relative to our standing, for years.
Just to clarify further, the article talks about profit of €100m, not £100m.
Yes I do appreciate the time lag in coefficient.
Sorry, I cannot agree with this. No English club has ever won 4 trophies in a season, doubles are rare and trebles even rarer so, it's a bit far fetched to even think a club can. Neither is this the 1980's, football has changed immeasurably.
To win the Champions League, you need to play almost as many games as needed to win both the FA and EFL Cups. It's an unpalatable fact but I dont see the point going all out to win either the FA Cup and especially the EFL Cup when these are competitons for virtual reserve teams. It is sad, especially so for the FA Cup but all the major European leagues have been that way for years. And these are the clubs who you have to play in the CL where their 'elite' players arent flogged to death over the season.
And as I keep saying, 30 years is a bigger embarassment than 6 years. Let's not forget that last League Cup win took a virtually full strength Liverpool team to beat 2nd tier Cardiff on pens. Yes, a trophy is a trophy but Im more than a bit jaudiced at winning a cup here and there while others are being crowned Champions of England.
I just cant get my ahead around these fans who think every last penny has to be spent on the squad. The club's infrastructure has improved enormously with the new Main Stand. Kirkby is being upgraded and the Anny Road is next. Neither am I particularly bothered that the club isnt a chequebook operation like chelsea and manchester city are. I much prefer and always have done, the approach that we spend wisely when needed and give opportunities to young players to come through the ranks. We've been doing that since the 60's.
Jurgen Klopp doesnt operate with massive squads. Im pretty sure if Jurgen decided he wanted to bring in additional fullback cover, he would have done.
I didn't say I expected us to win all four, I said I expect us to compete for them.
Competing means getting to the latter stages, not necessarily winning it. We are the only top six club that has gone out of the domestic cups in the early rounds every year since we started competing for top four again.
Every other top club manages to compete for top four, play in Europe and do better in domestic cups than we do.
We got to the League Cup final in Klopp's first season, when we finished well outside the top 4 (and top 6), but since then have gone out of the League Cup and FA Cup early each season.
We all know that to win a trophy - especially cups - you need things to go your way, but the longer you stay in each tournament the better chance you have (in fact the only chance you have).
I believe staying in domestic cups longer is helpful. It gives you a greater chance of picking up trophies, especially as the PL and CL are extremely difficult to win. It gives more players playing time, it gives the supporters a day out at Wembley and it gives the players experience of semis and finals that help them handle title run ins and CL latter stages.
That we don't get anywhere in domestic cups to me indicates that more work is necessary on the squad, both with the intent of competing on four fronts and especially as having a squad deep enough to compete on 4 fronts also means you stand a better chance in the main two trophies (PL and CL).
I can accept the situation this season, but if we have to go out of domestic cups early every year in order to compete for the title and CL, that to me is unacceptable.
Two points
1) The accounts are always misleading. Fans still have a habit of of thinking of transfer related budgets as being like in Footy Manager - a pot of money, and as soon as you pay £30m for a player, £30 disappears off your pot.
This isn’t my strong point, but I understand that in reality player contracts and fees are amortised across the duration of the contact, so for example if the total cost of Van Dijk’s contract is £100m, then this will appear on the books as a £20m outgoing for five years.
The short version of saying this is that the majority of our transfer spend, even for last season, will not appear on the books yet.
2) Whether LFC are investing every penny in the player squad is absolutely irrelevant if Klopp has no need of that additional spending. Klopp is well know for preferring to work with a small squad. He won’t spend money if there is there is another way.
You keep avoiding this because it doesn’t fit the narrative, but it would be good to address it at some point. If you think FSG don’t invest enough in the squad, what would you have them do? Instruct Edwards to buy players over Klopp’s head? Tell Klopp he has to spend more, or replace him with someone who will? Maybe just spend more on the players we do go for?
I think, looking at the way things seemed to have gone in the past, that if Klopp wants a player, the money is there for him and Edwards to get it done. Until then, FSG seem to be doing exactly what you’d want the owners to do with some spare cash. Get the key players on new improved contracts and invest in the training facilities.
Clubs that spend the most money win the most trophies over the medium term.
We can compete despite this under Klopp, but we would be more equipped to win things if the squad was stronger.
You can't coach the likes of Moreno to be any better. You can't change the fact that three centre backs are injury prone until you swap them out. There is no young player ready to play during a title challenge and CL campaign.
You don't have to pay big bucks for every signing, but you need to sign players constantly and consistently.
If Klopp doesn't want this he's limiting his own chances of success. The club should be capable of spending more and Klopp should want to.