30 May 2016 20:26:43
ed001 could you be good enough to give us some details about david moores time as Liverpool owner, the lack of expansion at anfield, obviously sticks out, but for fans like me growing up all we cared about was getting results which we often did but it seems know whith the benefit of hindsight we stagnated in every area possible allowing man utd to over take us on and off the pitch, he couldn't even sell us properly, you obviously know quite a bit about his time there so any info would be great. Thanks pal.

{Ed001's Note - there are so many things it is difficult to pare it down for a post on here but I will try and just simplify it.

Moores was not an owner like Abramovich, who puts money in, but an owner who took constantly money out. He would travel with the squad, first class, at the club's expense and all his food and drink and hotel rooms were also on expenses. He liked to think he was friends with the players, which was what led to the 'Spice Boys' crap, as he would undermine Roy Evans' staff constantly, whenever they tried to discipline players.

As well as doing that, he rejected the chance to expand Anfield or build a new stadium, at a time when the costs were a tiny fraction of the current costs, because it would have meant he would have had to put his money on the line. It was not so easy for football clubs to borrow money then, but his wealth was easily enough to provide surety on a loan or he could have loaned the club in the way Abramovich did, but he never wanted to put money in.

When we needed defenders, he decided to put all the money in to buying Collymore instead, against the wishes of the coaching staff once again. He was never wanted, Evans had asked for defenders. Moores didn't feel defenders were exciting enough so bought someone he had a hard on for instead.

Then there is the commercial dept, which he refused to expand, because he was completely clueless about running a business. He was one of those who inherited their wealth and never had to do any work for it. Unfortunately it meant he had little business acumen, so he never saw any reason to invest. What we were left with, when G&H bought the club, was a couple of people working above a pub to run the whole commercial department. We are still catching up on that front now.

Then there was the sale, which he took the extra money over what was best for the club. DIC (while they, like G&H, later got into trouble during the recession) had a clear plan for the club's future. G&H came in with little real plan as they were a last minute combo who jumped in together to raise the funds needed to buy it. Even knowing that G&H were tapped out raising the money to buy the club, and intending to leverage debt onto it to pay for things, while DIC had clear outside investment plans to raise the cash for a stadium etc, Moores still took the extra cash from G&H.

He was the single worst owner the club has ever had, and destroyed the club singlehandedly. When he took over we were an extremely well run football club who were top of the pile in European football. When he left we were a struggling mid-table club with an ageing stadium and no money. Other clubs had moved with the times, Moores had actually taken Liverpool backwards.}

1.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 07:42:03
Nice, good to read thanks ed1.

{Ed001's Note - thanks mate.}

2.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 07:48:48
And you read that and wonder how fsg get so much stick.

3.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 07:11:29
Great insight. I was always at a complete loss as to the marketing after winning the CL. There was hardly any merchandise after winning it, no springboard onto anything. And then the kit thing, only 5000 was it? Special replica kits if I recall, think they came out late and of course we should have been selling 5mil around the world at that point. Might recall this slightly wrong, but we won in May but by July you couldn't even buy a mug with five times or CL winners etc. Not exactly a massive amount of time after, but enough for the high to disappear a bit, missed that instant pop.

That was just one incident which I guess I was old enough to notice the commercial side was seemingly poor.

4.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 08:18:11
Have you ever had the pleasure of meeting Moores Ed01? if so, what's he like.

{Ed001's Note - not since I was young and I can't really remember him that well. Not sure it could be considered pleasure, he was a bit of a laughing stock to be honest. He honestly thought he was bezzies with the players, most of them just laughed at him behind his back. It is quite sad really. He was so desperate to be loved that he let himself be used and so lost their respect.}

5.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 11:48:21
Really do love this site, some great banter some shocker questions and really great football knowledge by the eds . cheers to those who make it worth a look every chance i get.

{Ed001's Note - cheers mate.}

6.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 11:48:49
Brilliant hope you don't mind me screenshotting it and posting it on Facebook. And Ed write a book will you.

{Ed001's Note - go for it mate. And yes I will add that back on to my to do list....}

7.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 12:46:55
Really interesting info about Moores and how he hastened the decline of Liverpool. Would make an interesting book on how his lack of any kind of acumen hastened the decline of Liverpool just when football was going hyper commercial. Well worth submitting an outline to a publisher. Ready made market for it. - As for the family saga, you should post a teaser just to let us know how 'interesting' your clan is.

{Ed091's Note - I'd like him to tell you about unfortunate cucumber incident when he turned 13

8.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 13:11:55
thanks for the info regarding moores ed001, the thing that sticks out for me was when he decided to sell he said "you only get to sell the family silver once", yet he made such a mess of it first of all he let us believe we were going to be owned by dic, then for a extra £8million he gave us laurel and hardy, without sounding naïve I have often wandered why he didn't pull the plug on both parties and then cast his net further by announcing his intention to sell Liverpool fc, I suppose we have to be grateful he did not sell it to Kenny haunge.

{Ed001's Note - it was £6m extra. Moores just wanted the cash now, that was all it was about to him, greed and the promise of being club president with free travel etc.}

9.) 31 May 2016
31 May 2016 14:07:36
you have whetted my appetite now for your book about david moores ed, no pressure mind, any time in the next 20 years will do, I know you're busy!

{Ed001's Note - probably take me that long!}

10.) 01 Jun 2016
31 May 2016 17:39:37
Ed001, My knowledge of the club ownership pre-Moores is hazy, so has it been owned by his family for a number of years, using Littlewoods Pools money, and the decline happened once Moores took over running? How was John Smith (Moore's predecessor other than a few months with Noel White) as the Chairman? Was Moore's forced on the club by his family given their ownership? Was strange that Noel White was ousted after so little time, was it because he wasn't working out?

Sorry about so many questions, but I'll use your answers to start ghost writing your book ;-)

{Ed001's Note - yes, pretty much spot on. Smith was brilliant, for that era, though it was simply a case of staying out of the way and signing cheques back then. What he did so well though, was he left the football side to football people, while Moores liked to think he knew the game and so got involved. Unfortunately Moores could barely pick his own nose without help, let alone pick a signing. White was ousted because Moores wanted to get in, it was far too soon to tell if he was working out or not to be honest.

Good idea on the ghost writing.....}