26 May 2023 21:31:24
Ed002, in your opinion, have our transfer plans/ targets changed drastically since the turn of the year or would you say they are broadly the same.
Wondering whether we’re at risk of a scattergun period like that of the Rodgers era or getting back on track to well thought out business.
{Ed002's Note - They will always be massaged a little, but that is true of every club, but I am not aware of radical changes.}
1.) 26 May 2023
26 May 2023 22:38:50
Cheers, Ed. Appreciate it.
2.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 09:02:36
New rumour is Bellingham fee is 86 mill to Real.
Surely that’s within our range.
3.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 09:19:26
JK the fee probably is, but all the other values, wages agents, jurgen tapping up tax and possibly how dortmund wanted it paid meant a deal wasn’t feasible.
We all would of loved him at Liverpool, but we are not in a position to add one player to a great midfield, we have an aging midfield and need 2 or 3 to get it back to where we need it and we couldn’t stretch that far.
4.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 09:19:42
The Klopp tax is real.
Plus, the club have already reverse ferreted now. They’ve put in the hard PR yards to remind us of how we can’t afford nice things. Would they undo all of that?
We do things differently. Say it enough times and it becomes a badge of honour.
5.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 09:54:41
I wouldn’t be suprised to see us make a late low ball bid for Bellingham so the club can be like look we tried but we can’t compete with real and the likes of .
Nothing surprises me with our club anymore so Il just wait and see what happens.
The 1 bit of solace I’ve got is I don’t think it’s hard to improve our midfield at all so whoever comes in should be an upgrade .
Bellingham is obviously the no1 I’d love but can’t cry over something we haven’t got .
Mac allister looks really promising . And I think he would flourish at our gaff
Mount I’m on the fence here with him as their is a player their but I think we are in need of a different style player over him .
Ugarte looks like the klopp had ballsed that up
Thuram looks like others are ahead of us but I’d be pushing them out the way to get this lad (politely mind)
I’ve got a feeling we will end up signing koopmeiners
Il be honest not really seen much of him but what I have seen I’d be a little underwhelmed .
Hoping for a proper left field signing like fabinho that not been spoken about and comes in and tears it up ??????????.
6.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 10:34:23
Jk23 mate depends on payment structure. If Dortmund want single payment upfront then we don't have any chance.
Our biggest problem have been not having money in the bank despite doing really well financially on the paper.
Most of our signings have come by spreading payment structure 3-5 windows except 1-2 which has really hamstrung us compare to our rivals.
FSG have done unbelievable job of balancing the books and Klopp overachieving and being our most successful manager in last 3 decades which says a lot how special he is.
But now with todd boehly spending like there's no tomorrow, arsenal City UTD even spurs and Newcastle spending more then us have really changed the scenario for us coz neither we have any assets left to supliment our transfers which has been our bedrock under FSG.
Think this transfer window will make more things clear for us which direction will be heading especially when massive rebuilding is needed.
7.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 10:53:19
I just hope now the stadium and training facilities are complete this year the increased revenue along with trimming the oversized squad (saving on wages) we can add a new 50/ 60 mill player when needed without it harming us financially and try keep ourselves ahead of the curve rather than always trying to play catch up .
No one knows the budget other than the owners and the club and I’d imagine the more we sell the more we can buy
.
But we have a wealth of youngsters that need loaning out or given chances also some of which are going to be to be top class professionals
Clubs not in as bad a shape as people make out .
We just need a little refinement in certain areas and also some quality brought in and promote some youngsters to pad the squad out and we are good to go . It’s then over to the manager and coaching staff to get the best out of what we’ve got .
Big year next year I can feel it.
8.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 12:02:18
I don’t think anyone feels that the club is unhealthy.
What rankles is we do not act with ambition when the opportunity is there to. And the club have convinced us all that it’s ok to be that way.
9.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 12:41:34
Don’t we still owe money to the owners on the stadium expansion loan?
{Ed002's Note - Yes.}
10.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 13:52:48
Fly
When you say ambition do you mean spend more money I don’t see that just spending more than a rival guarantees anything it helps il grant you that but look at Spurs for example they have spent a fortune compared to us and let’s be honest without Kane and sons goals their mid to low league .
Not saying you were on about money either mate just I see lots on here that just want to spend a fortune . I just want us to win I couldn’t care less what we spent I just want us to be the best we can be and I know spending does help that but so does many more aspects of the game aswell.
11.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 15:17:04
Hello ed2 hope u well. On above question from jk23 as regards loan on stadium, I had ast similar question a while back about loan and you said loan was from a credit facility fsg have. Did u mean we taking loan directly from fsg or from a lending company/ bank that fsg have a working relationship with?
Thanks for your time.
{Ed002's Note - There are loans from the owners and from banks that Liverpool owe.}
12.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 18:22:39
Dhfc - we have clear needs - a new midfield and to derisk Gomez/ Matip injury records.
I’d expect a club that wants to be successful and features in the top three of the revenue league to be able to recruit in top tier players in the positions needed.
We might not be able to spend like PSG, City and Real but we can compete with the rest.
This embarrassing poverty dance we do is just, well, embarrassing.
13.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 23:21:57
kopforever, City might spend, but the amounts of money they generate from internal sales for players who've played minimally for them, if at all (Lavia, Bazunu making 2 senior appearence between them) means their net spend won't be horrific, we're replacing 2 highly important squad players (Milner and Bobby) which will raise our summer expenditure (likely £60-100m which is part of the midfield revamp), and it's been mentioned here that we've priced our fringe players too high to generate much in the way of funds, so I don't know where the summer funds are coming from if we're still in a 'sell to buy' model.
14.) 27 May 2023
27 May 2023 23:47:26
@FPF - how do you ‘derisk …. Injury records’? Have to say that’s the best way of saying sign someone that I’ve seen since the last transfer window.
15.) 28 May 2023
28 May 2023 08:58:16
Digger the annul accounts release in Feb this year stated we owe FSG 71 mill still (down from 110) and other lenders 88 mill.
Which on the grand scheme of things makes me feel a lot better about my debt with my mortgage and car finance.
16.) 28 May 2023
28 May 2023 09:11:02
Fly
Totally agree on needing them positions and agree about the poverty cries from the club but also the club have been upgrading their infrastructure aswell and as much as I hate to say it the yanks are doing ok by us in some ways With the stadium and training facilities. Now I just hope we can trim the squad down and get rid of loads of fringe players we need to be ruthless this summer .
Nat Phillips
Rhys Williams
Matip
Kelleher
Pitaluga
Tsimikas
Could easily fetch 50 mill in transfers on top of the wages saved say another 10-15 million for the season and we could easily replace them players with youngsters from within the club .
Maybe this is why jorg has been brought in.
17.) 28 May 2023
28 May 2023 09:55:31
The interpretation of the annual accounts is not quite correct. The club owns $71.4mil to FSG (intercompan loan) and $88mil via the holding companies bank facility ($200mil available and matures in 2025).
The bank facility was amortised by $40mil in 2022 (the balance was $128mil in 2021), one would assume this will be cleared by the end of next season all things being equal (I am not sure if further funds are required to complete the stadium expansion)
Importantly, it seems the $71.4mil intercompany loan has not been paid down (i. e. the club has not yet paid this back) nor is any interest being charged on this facility. One can assume the club will pay back this facility once the interest bearing bank loans are extinguished.
The club actually generated $110mil in free cashflow in 2022 and $80mil when increase/ decrease of debtors and creditors is netted out, prior to player registration purchases and sales.
18.) 28 May 2023
28 May 2023 10:43:25
If we generated £110m cashflow why can’t we buy Bellingham?
Sorry couldn’t help it.
Being serious, great explanation / insight Peeps. Thanks for that ?.
19.) 28 May 2023
28 May 2023 11:26:27
Dhfc - we do need to be better at selling. Problem is that we’ve left ourselves with little to sell and now little choice but to invest in a market that has been distorted by Chelsea’s actions in January. Players like Kone Thuram Lavia Ugarte are twice the price now.
It was the Neymar to Barcelona move that last distorted the market this way.
With Newcastle reaching Champions League ahead of schedule and United possibly getting their hands on Gulf State money - there’s a good chance the top end of the market will only head in one direction.
The other owners can see this happening and have already moved to multi-club ownership.
FSG need to rubbish or get off the pot.
20.) 28 May 2023
28 May 2023 12:02:30
@WDW2 remember this relates to financial year 22 (the picture may look different now) and is also before the $40mil debt repayment plus any amounts owing for player registrations which may have been spread over a number of years (again I am assuming this is how the accounts are prepared, standards may differ as compared to here in Australia)
Also apologies for my use of ‘$’ instead of ‘£’ - force of habit being an Aussie.