30 Jan 2018 11:15:41
Ed001 if you have a second, What is your view on FSG as owners of the club? There is a lot of hate building towards them and I personally think they are decent. Would love to know your thoughts.

Cheers!
JT.

{Ed001's Note - mixed up is the quick answer.

Pros: have put in money, done brilliant things on the commercial side and always looked to back the managers they picked.

Cons: made a lot of bad choices in terms of personnel they have appointed, constantly want to fleece the fans over tickets.

I am sure there are other things for both pros and cons I just can't think of off the top of my head.}

1.) 30 Jan 2018
30 Jan 2018 11:33:16
Thanks Ed!

{Ed001's Note - welcome mate, sorry I haven't got time to do a more comprehensive answer right now.}

2.) 30 Jan 2018
30 Jan 2018 11:59:15
I would agree that their biggest mistake has been experimenting and taking unnecessary risks on footballing side of the business. They started out wanting a sporting director and a progressive young coach but got that muddled up with the Comolli/ Dalglish experiment. They then bowed to Rodgers' insistence that he would not work under a sporting director and ended up with dysfunctional transfer committee. Now we've promoted an analysis guy in Edwards into a sporting director role that perhaps isn't strong enough to match the personality of the current coach. So I would say not getting this side of the business right has been their biggest mistake. Edwards does seem to be FSGs guy so this side of the business depends on his evolution as a top sporting director - whether we like it or not.

{Ed001's Note - I agree on that.}

3.) 30 Jan 2018
30 Jan 2018 12:38:01
I think the nitty gritty of transfers has eluded them up until this point, whether that's our inability to attract, the clubs reticence to pay (up until Nabby and VVD), and a basic lack of understanding around the complexity of transfer negotiations, I am not sure but it's certainly not good. I am sure klipperty has to take some responsibility for these issues as well but it seems we need to change the current process.

Commercially we are strong but we also need to make further inroads to the big growth markets in Asia and South Asia, our guys have done great in building revenue from traditional means but it's a massive untapped market.

The youth and loan systems have also been poor with players either not playing, not making the cut, or making poor loan decisions, again it seems no accountability exists for this a no real inroads to build networks like Chealsea have with partner clubs.

Finally our "intra-club" relations are poor with other clubs reticent to do business with us and our reputation being at a pretty low ebb.

4.) 30 Jan 2018
30 Jan 2018 12:52:35
Personally, I don't mind people making mistakes provided their hearts are in the right place and are willing to learn from them and grow. I think FSG are on the right track here. We shall see what happens and hopefully, they continue improving the club.

5.) 30 Jan 2018
30 Jan 2018 12:36:02
Thanks Ed. I have always wondered whether Xabi Alonso will end up being a better sporting director than a team coach. Whilst I am sure he will try his hand at coaching first and will find success I get the feeling he has the vision and personality to do a lot more than that for a footballing institution that he has an affinity with.

{Ed001's Note - I have no idea. That does often work in Germany though, so it might be worth a go.}

6.) 30 Jan 2018
30 Jan 2018 21:10:44
I won't go over old ground as to why I despise these owners just as much as the last lot, but if you read comments made in torres's book then it tells you all you need to know about these owners and why our top players want out continuously.