FSG Stretching the Truth With Open Letter - by Niels Overgaard

Fenway Sports Group’s U-turn on the planned increase in ticket prices is obviously a significant moment in the history of tension between English football fans and foreign club owners. And FSG should be lauded for actually listening to the fans and rolling back the planned increases.

However, there are aspects of that open letter that are if not deceitful then at least only vaguely concerned with the actual truth. FSG made a big decision which they a lot of deserve credit for, but in the letter they are attempting to milk it for more than it is worth.

Firstly there is this statement:

“The three of us [Principal Owner John W. Henry, Chairman Tom Werner and President Mike Gordon] have been particularly troubled by the perception that we don’t care about our supporters, that we are greedy, and that we are attempting to extract personal profits at the club’s expense. Quite the opposite is true.”

Now, I am not going to try and claim that I know what is going on in the minds of the three amigos, so with regards to whether they care about the supporters and are greedy or not, we will have to take their word. But that they are injecting personal profits for the benefit of the club, as they are implying with the final sentence, simply isn’t the case.

What they seem to be getting at, and which they do explicitly further down in the letter, is that they 1) haven’t taken any money out of the club (true) and 2) that through FSG they have injected £120 million into the club as a loan to build the new stand (also true). However, that doesn’t exactly amount to the kind of selfless act that they seem to make it out to be.

Let’s take a look at what they say about themselves on their website: “Fenway Sports Group is one of the largest sports, media and entertainment companies in the world…”

They are a company. Not a charity. They are a company that may or may not be run by people who genuinely care for what fans think, but ultimately they are a company whose function is to make money. In that context, Liverpool FC is not a football club but a portfolio company.

As fans, we can be happy when the interests of the portfolio company and the football club aligns. That is the case when improving the stadium, upgrading on the commercial side and with regards to trying to become successful on the pitch. They have taken steps to all those ends, and Liverpool FC the football club is - or will hopefully be - better off for it.

But those improvements are the result of a company acting in their own narrow self-interest, not any kind of charity towards the fans.

And let’s be absolutely clear about the fact that even if they haven’t taken any money out, they have still made buckets of money from owning LFC. Since buying the club for £300million in 2010, by one estimate its value has more than doubled. So there is a huge unrealised profit for them to cash in on whenever it suits them.

I don’t think FSG are bad guys. In fact, as far as non-fan and non-gazillionaire owners go, I guess they are pretty much as good as it gets. And I actually do think that they care about the fans.

But let’s not let them kid us into believing that they are in it for the fans. They are in it if for money and prestige and a good relationship with the fans is merely a means to those ends.

If not, then why stop at not increasing the ticket prices? Why not go all the way and make a revamp of the ticket prices based on what the loyal local fans are able to pay rather than how much money the club would like to make?

Again, FSG deserves a lot of credit for their decision. But accepting the argument laid out in that letter and being actively thankful is beyond what the decision merits. Just like you don’t thank someone for not kicking you in the balls, they shouldn’t be lauded for not inflicting more pain on the fans.

Niels Overgaard