LFC - Time for Peace?

Damn it! I said I wasn't doing another football related post. This isn't an LFC blog and I'm pretty sure I must have other interesting things to write about. But here's how it works. Yesterday I'm driving wondering what my next blog post might be about - politics, business, drugs, celebrity and I can't think of anything. Then today something triggers in my mind and my head goes 'that's a good blog entry' and well... here we are!

I have come across a bit of an enigma. Last week I posted on the site www.liverpool-kop.com about a point of view expressed which was similar to my own first LFC post. I commented and linked to my own story saying I was going to write about LFC's debts.

The site is run by Jaimie Kanwar someone I have never met and our total correspondence comprises of a few emails and tweets. After writing my post Jaimie asked if he could re-post it to his own site. I agreed and managed to get an insight into what it's like to run a site like his. I have had to respond numerous times to criticism, questions etc. and read comments which were not too flattering about my work.

This led me to reviewing more of Jaimie and his other writers' work and I think it would be fair to say that he does not shy away from controversy. On reading some of the responses it was becoming clear to me that he may actually be 'The Stig'. Between some valid points, some rantings and responses you can almost hear Jezza Clarkson "some say he's actually a Manchester United fan, some say he's in it for the advertising money while some would say he's a wannabe editor for the daily sport. We all know him as the Stig!"

There are some who accuse Jaimie of just finding the latest big LFC news and then purposefully putting forward or posting the 'view of the few' to promote a reaction. How true this is I guess only he knows. One thing is sure - with headlines like the following, criticism is always going to be forthcoming:

• Crouch for sale as Rafa's irrational vendetta continues
• Manchester United debacle once again exposes Steven Gerrard's lack of leadership ability
• Why Liverpool cannont and should not sign David Villa
• Rafa suffering from Houllieresque delusion of blandeur

However it is fair to say that there are often positive posts on the site. In the stories I have read an attempt is also made to back up the views with some form of rationalisation, even if it is not always accepted. He does not shy away from 'flip flopping' either and is happy to change his view point at a later date. Does this suggest an open mind or back up the 'sensationalist seeking' point of view?

If he is indeed The Stig then I guess his Richard Brunstrom would be SoS (Spirit of Shankly) who oppose the current ownership of the club. SoS is the Liverpool supporters union which was formed in January 2008. They are opposed to the current ownership of the football club and have the stated aim of holding the owners of the club to account.

Now, I will state again that I am Hicks and Gillett (H&G) neutral. But at the same time I am a realist and the realism of the situation is where SoS' biggest weakness lies in my opinion. They may well have some valid concerns, some of which have been shared amongst the majority of Liverpool fans, but their options and powers are limited. The most valid of concerns is the level of debts leveraged against the club. As per my last post I don't believe we are in as bad a position as painted by the media and I personally am relaxed about the club's finances. However, it has to be accepted that an additional c.£300m of debt is around the clubs neck post H&G. This is big money and concern is therefore understandable.

But the owners are financially accountable to their backers (the banks) and cannot be forcefully deposed by anyone else. So when it comes to the fans well, what can we do? Most of the actions available to us (stop going to the games, stop buying from the club shop, arrange demonstrations) in some way will damage the financial and / or commercial success of the club. This is as unpalatable as finding another club, so we end up in stalemate.

Stalemate is also where Jaimie ends up in most of his 'comment wars' following his posts. Sometimes we just have to accept that we're not going to agree. While all the trying to 'grind each other down' to accept another point of view simply serves to further damage the unity of the club as a whole.

Let's get personal. Last week I smiled at my girlfriend (an Everton fan by the way) and she didn't like it so a short argument took place. Obvioulsy there is a bit more to it than that but you'll be bored. Anyway I went to play squash while she stewed at home. I came home to a lady fixed in her belief that she deserved an apology. It wasn't forthcoming. I sent out a warning shot that 'we're not just going to agree on this so we should just forget about it'. Not good enough. So she shouted, I shouted, she called me several names not befitting her 'lady' title, I threw some things, broke some things and then she ended up in tears. Five minutes of silence were followed by me 'breaking the ice' and we agreed that we weren't going to agree (like I said at the start). Life is like that sometimes. You just have to get on with things accepting that damage can be avoided if you 'agree to disagree'.

Back to the football and I may be about to offer a simplistic view but while other clubs are limited to arguing over who they should buy, yesterday's result and the referee's mistakes we're collectively adding major arguments about our ownership and the financial structuring of the club. To our sponsors and prospective commercial partners it must appear like their is dis-harmony throughout every level of our football club. Not appealing is it?

I will say again that H&G's public outbursts played out in the media were stupid. However, they appear to have learnt and are at least displaying some sort of harmony for the world. The fans are not.

In relation to the club itself there is a significant weakness which exacerbates the problems. They do not, in my opinion, communicate effectively with the fans about their intentions or plans. They shouldn't need to justify their actions or endanger any competitive advantage they are looking for. However the amount of misinformation could, in my opinion, be reduced if we knew the high level strategies of the company direct from the club. Fans need to know 'from the horses mouth' that our debts can be managed and that the club is progressing towards the global football powerhouse it should be. Pre H&G our accounts and business overview were available from the club website. They are not anymore. They can be downloaded from companies house but why do we have to go looking for them and how many people know that? Little things like this promote the idea of a club trying to hide something.

One of the questions I asked myself as I was posting responses to my last blog entry was 'why am I having to justify our debts?' I didn't have all of the information required and was making judgements which were weakened because of this.

So, my opinions for you to shout at this time....

• Should the fans have an opportunity to hold the football clubs owners to account? Yes, we do hold the ultimate power over the club and company as we are their consumers. LFC need to recognise this and work with SoS - I have noted that Christian Purslow has met with SoS and intends to do so again.
• Is the current situation damaging our club? Yes, disharmony within the fanbase is always going to cause questions to be asked. Whether the future commercial success of our club will be hampered is still to be determined. I am confident it is not helping our prospects though.
• Could LFC communicate with us better? Yes, I believe they can. We don't need to know everything. But it strikes me that a lot of the speculation and misinformation could be dealt with if the club opened up a bit more. In the same way that Rafa is the focal point for the team Christian Purslow should push himself forward as the focal point for the company. He appears to have the support of most LFC fans.
• Should everyone have the opportunity to have their say and put their opinions out there? Yes, of course - we do live in a democratic country.
• Are the constant 'comment wars', speculation and media intensity doing us any good? No, we're not getting anywhere. We're having the same conversation over and over again. Go and look at Jaimie's posts in relation to H&G. In some cases they are as near to being repeated verbatim as you can get!

What would I suggest? Well I think the fans need to come together as one and agree that we are going to have 12 months of 'peace time'. During the next 12 months we come together in unity behind our great football club. God knows after yesterday's result we need it!

That is not to say we forget about things. But consider this. We agree 12 months of harmony throughout the club. In 12 months' time if the debt situation has worsened without clear justification from the club, or, other detrimental things have happened SoS or whoever else will have gained the moral high ground. They will then be in a much stronger position to convince a larger number of fans, thus having a larger influence over the club. Looking through posts on many LFC sites and forums there is evidence of a softening towards H&G and a hardening towards SoS. I could be wrong about it but on some of the posts I see I believe a wind of change is underway.

For clarity, my position -

• I don't care who owns our club.
• I care very much who runs it and that it is run well with an overall target of turning LFC into a 'global football powerhouse'.
• I am pro Rafa and believe if he can be given the tools he needs he is the right man
• I am realistic that without equity investment we need to borrow money to grow and achieve our targets. This is for the good of the club longer term.
• I believe our debts (as per my last post) are not as bad as the other 'top 4'clubs.
• I believe the press have a tendency to pick up on LFC stories. Why shouldn't they? We are a globally recognised football club, the most successful football club in history. We're going to be a target. While there isn't general unity at every level of the organisation, including the fans, we'll keep feeding them stories.

Finally and critically I believe we should have 12 months of 'peace time'. No demonstrations, quiet on the forum front, no shouting at our owners when they appear. In 12 months things will have improved or have worsened. Either way things will have 'crinkled out' and we the fans won't have damaged our club's future prospects.