Your Liverpool morning digest for Wednesday, March 23.
FA urged to make Liverpool and Man City decision as politicians release statement
Liverpool metro mayor Steve Rotheram has co-written a letter to the FA with his Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham over the decision to host the cup semi-final between Liverpool and Manchester City at Wembley.
The call so far to keep the game in London has caused controversy due to scheduled railway works effectively denying both sets of supporters in the north west the option to travel to Wembley via train. The matter has also been raised by respective supporters' groups from both clubs.
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It has since been reported that the FA were made aware of the plans in 2019 . This has led to Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham accusing the FA of having “failed to give due thought and consideration to the interests of supporters” in their joint-letter, addressed to FA chair Debbie Hewitt.
Read the full story from Jake Bayliss here.
FSG stance changes after Luis Diaz move has knock-on effect with $140m USA deal
On both sides of the Atlantic, Fenway Sports Group have had a lack of willingness to invest in the on-field product levelled at them at times.
The way that FSG operate Liverpool and the Boston Red Sox means that investment into infrastructure has long been the means to beef up revenue streams that, ultimately, creates greater revenues for the teams themselves to invest in their own success and operate self sustainably. For some it is a model to be lauded, with running sports teams as both profitable and successful businesses having been seen as an exercise in futility for some years, for others it places an emphasis on bottom line over trophies.
But without the bottom line being healthy there is little chance of trophies in such a model, where debt loading via banks or owner financing isn't on the agenda. FSG have managed to ride out the impact of the pandemic better than a lot, particularly at Liverpool, with the Reds' combined two-year Covid losses of £50.8m making up just 6.5 per cent of the overall losses incurred by the six English Premier League clubs that were agitating for the formation of a European Super League almost a year ago.
