The business of football is a different beast.
Plenty of football club owners down the years have realised that the principles applied to building a successful business in everyday life cannot be applied to the beautiful game, and certainly not when you are trying to remain competitive at the very top.
The Premier League is littered with cautionary tales of ownership gone wrong, where the true nature of what it takes, and costs, to succeed in the world's toughest league has been exposed on numerous occasions.
For the richest league on the planet, the rewards for success are bountiful but the punishment for failure can be catastrophic, just ask the likes of Sunderland, Leeds United and Portsmouth.
One of those cautionary tales of bad ownership is, of course, the Tom Hicks and George Gillett era at Liverpool, an era that saw the Reds rack up huge debt and limited success. It was a house of cards.
It was FSG who rescued the club from unspeakable disaster in 2010, their willingness to get the deal done seeing them fight their case in the High Court, a case they would win that sparked a new dawn at Anfield.
The process has been steady and sensible. The building blocks have been put in place over a number of seasons and the changes made at the right time culminating in Champions League glory and the first Premier League title in 30 years to round off what has largely been an era of great success for both club and ownership.
There have been missteps, the initial decision to furlough staff at the onset of the pandemic and the hiking of season ticket prices before that both resulting in embarrassing climb downs and the need for contrition from the very top. Those experiences have certainly provided the American owners with a lesson in understanding the city of the club they are custodians of and football fandom itself more deeply.
But understanding that fandom must now extend to them making a serious call on whether they stick or twist in this January transfer window.
John W. Henry and FSG have operated a very clear model at Liverpool thus far, buying players with room to grow for a lower market price and being able to realise big profits if and when those players depart. Philippe Coutinho's signing from Inter Milan and subsequent transfer to Barcelona an obvious example.
That sale paved the way for big ticket deals for two players, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, who have been instrumental in turning Liverpool from the Premier League's nearly men under Jurgen Klopp into the team to topple at the summit of English football, a position that they haven't occupied since the glorious 1980s.
The weeks after van Dijk's ACL injury sustained against Everton at the start of the season seemed to paper over the cracks that were growing, as Liverpool continued to put teams to the sword, albeit without the panache that they had done the previous campaign.
But more injuries followed and the deployment of makeshift centre backs and drafting in of young, talented but ultimately inexperienced players was sticking a plaster on a badly sprained ankle. Broken leg territory hasn't been reached just yet.
Putting things into perspective, Liverpool are six points off the summit of the Premier League with a game in hand, although the 0-0 home draw with league leaders Manchester United was certainly an opportunity missed.
United's resurgence, which is more attributed to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer managing to get a tune at last out of a squad that was for so long unbalanced than any vindication of the Glazer approach, is particularly galling, and with Manchester City now looking like the Manchester City of two or three years ago again there is genuine cause for concern.
Another runaway success this term was never going to be on the cards, it was always going to be a huge ask without the loss of the likes of van Dijk. A team so relentless last season who thrived on atmosphere was always going to see a drop off in intensity in the cavernous empty stadiums that COVID-19 has created.
The summer additions were wise, though, and in £45m Diogo Jota, Klopp looked to have found the key to reinvigorating the front line, to keep that energy and intensity at incredibly high levels. His absence through injury over the last month has been felt just as keenly as the loss of key men in defence has.
FSG face a delicate time in the final weeks of January.
On one hand they are grappling with significant financial effects of the coronavirus pandemic, effects that have been so visible through European football so far, with clubs posting enormous losses leading to some estimates of a £4.5bn hit to the football economy across the continent.
Liverpool are likely to reveal their financial accounts for the year ending May 2020 in the coming weeks, accounts that will likely not look as rosy as they did 12 months previous when the club posted a £42m profit. It is anticipated that the operating revenue, the revenue before day to day running costs of the club are deducted, will fall by that same figure year on year.
It won't just be this financial year that sees the impact of COVID-19, with the 2021/22 accounts for clubs likely to lay bare the true damage caused by football without fans.
Liverpool, next year, will have the boost of their Nike kit deal come into play, while an uplift in other commercial partnerships will also be most welcome. The transfer of Jota will also be coming out in instalments over the coming seasons after the deal with Wolves was spread.
But there is a risky game in FSG holding off on providing funds for Klopp to sign a replacement for van Dijk.
Replacing arguably the best central defender in world football is a near impossible task, certainly without spending recklessly in the midst of a pandemic and with financial uncertainty that comes with that.
Michael Edwards has worked his magic on a number of occasions, and he would need to do so again if Liverpool were to identify a target, pay a price that they are happy with and sign a player that fits into the model that the Reds adhere to, where there is room for growth.
There are a number of interesting dynamics at play.
Clubs know Liverpool play hard ball over transfer fees and will drop a deal if it means paying what they perceive to be over the odds. Jamal Lewis is a prime example of that, the Reds parking their interest in the then Norwich City full back after baulking at the Canaries' asking price.
But clubs also know that Liverpool, if they enter the hunt for a defender, will be desperate and the room to haggle, and the time frame to do so, will be limited.
The collapse of the Mediapro TV deal in French football does offer some hope in getting a bargain, with many Ligue 1 clubs facing the prospect of a fire sale and losing their best talent in order to keep the lights on after being left in a major financial hole after the money they were expecting, and had budgeted for from Mediapro, was not forthcoming.
There has been suggestion that Liverpool will wait until the summer to spend big in the transfer market, but there are questions over whether that is a risky move.
After managing to get to the top of English football once again there is an onus on Klopp, his side and FSG to ensure that they stay there and not let last season's Premier League title be the exception as opposed to becoming the norm.
Liverpool sit fourth, but there are no guarantees on anything given the cluster of clubs around them all believing they can make the Champions League. United being back on the scene, as well as Leicester City now being bonafide challengers, adds to Spurs, Man City, Everton and Chelsea in thinking that they have a shot at making the top four.
The financial rewards for the Champions League are enormous. FC Porto's inability to make the Champions League last season after losing in the qualifying stages saw them take the biggest financial hit of any European football club, a hit of close on £50m.
Now, Liverpool's aim is the title, not simply Champions League qualification. But the worrying lack of depth and the loss in form means that it won't take long for doubt to creep in, for other clubs to no longer think them a bridge too far. The cloak of invincibility has been removed, at least for the moment.
FSG's biggest two mistakes since taking over at Liverpool have both come about through not understanding the thought process of fans. Not making a move and addressing their clear defensive issues in this transfer window runs the risk of doing something similar.
The proposed FSG reverse merger with RedBall Acquisition Corp had sought to take the company public, with the sale of shares expected to capitalise the business to the tune of some £450m, money that had been earmarked for making the Reds and the Boston Red Sox stay competitive despite the precarious financial landscape.
That deal is on hold and clubs in Major League Baseball will have to vote on whether to accept it later this year. It is a lifeboat that isn't coming to the rescue any time soon.
Financial prudence in a pandemic is vital, but FSG may have to swallow some of their pride in order to keep Liverpool on track on the field, or risk the fallout and a financial hit that would have seemed unthinkable at the end of last season. Succeeding on the pitch has never been more valuable.
