Liverpool
Liverpool news: Reds make Premier League request as widely mocked coach leaves
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Liverpool news: Reds make Premier League request as widely mocked coach leaves
The Reds have asked those at the top of the Premier League to alter the opening day of next season for Liverpool while one key coaching figure prepares to depart
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp reviews Brentford game
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has had to endure plenty of difficult periods this season, but the Anfield faithful are hopeful better days await them next term.
The hope is that the Reds boss will oversee a number of key incomings that transform the club’s fortunes and inspire a title charge. Given Manchester United’s recent defeat by West Ham, Liverpool still harbour hope of a top-four finish and Champions League qualification.
Klopp’s side sit one point behind United who occupy the much-coveted fourth spot currently, having played one game less than Liverpool who have just three fixtures left to play. What once seemed a distant target is now in the minds of the Liverpool fanbase who are dreaming of finishing inside the top four at the expense of their most fierce rivals.
Mirror Football identified three of the main headlines emerging out of Anfield on Thursday, May 11.
Liverpool make Premier League request
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have made a request for their opening game of next season to be away from home
HAVE YOUR SAY! Should Liverpool be allowed to play away from home on the opening day of next season? Comment below
The Reds are hoping to kick off the 2023/24 season away from their own fans if a surprising request made to the Premier League goes their way.
Work has long been underway to increase Anfield’s stadium capacity, but after Liverpool’s final home game on May 20 the speed of the process is set to be taken up a level.
With that in mind, August 12, the date earmaked for the start of next season is still expected to come a tad too soon for Anfield and as a result Liverpool have requested that their first game of the season is away from home.
Club representative Paul Cuttill told the Liverpool Echo : “We get asked each year and we’ve put in a request for our first game of the season to be away from home.
“We haven’t had that confirmed yet by the Premier League, I must stress.”
Find his quotes in full HERE.
Ridiculed coach set for Anfield exit
Thomas Gronnemark will be leaving his role as Liverpool’s throw-in coach at the end of the season
Liverpool’s specialist throw-in coach Thomas Gronnemark has confirmed his five-year stay at Anfield will come to an end following the conclusion of this season.
Gronnemark joined the club in 2018 after Klopp felt his side were surrendering too much possession from throw-ins, but his arrival sparked widespread backlash and ridicule from sceptical pundits.
The coach told the ECHO: “I’ll forever be thankful to Jurgen for bringing me into the club as well as the staff at Liverpool and all the fans around the world.
“Jurgen was brave enough to bring in a throw-in coach and that opened up a lot of opportunities for me.”
It remains unclear whether Liverpool will appoint a successor once Gronnemark departs.
Read the full story HERE.
Liverpool near sporting director appointment
Jorg Schmadtke is poised to take over as Liverpool’s new sporting direct
Jorg Schmadtke is expected to be confirmed as Liverpool’s new sporting director after getting Klopp’s seal of approval.
Julian Edwards is the man currently in the role, but is stepping down at the end of the season and those at the top of the Reds hierarchy are desperate to fill the vacancy before the summer transfer window opens.
The Liverpool boss is thought to be an admirer of Schmadtke, who is a well-respected figure in German football and expected to pen a deal committing his future to the Premier League giants until the summer of 2026.
READ NEXT…
Liverpool investment search not impacted by FSG plan for NBA deal
For the foreseeable future, Fenway Sports Group will be at the Liverpool helm.
The Reds owners, who acquired the club in 2010, kicked open the door to a possible sale back in November, although that swiftly turned to a search for outside investment into the club in a bid to recapitalise the business ahead of what is anticipated to be an expensive period, not least due to a necessary team rebuild.
When speaking exclusively to the ECHO back in March, FSG chief and Liverpool principal owner John Henry insisted that FSG’s commitment to the Reds remained “as strong as ever” and that potential investors had been identified, with that process set to advance in the coming months.
READ MORE: Man City owner Sheikh Mansour ploughs $750m into fund set up by key Liverpool and FSG partner
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When FSG’s intention to sell part of their stake in Liverpool was announced it led to a series of links, from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund to Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani.
Another narrative that formed early on was that the motivating factor behind the move was that FSG wanted to buy an NBA team, and in releasing value from their stake in Liverpool they would go someway to meeting the likely $3bn-plus sticker price that will come with an expansion franchise for basketball’s elite competition.
At present there are 30 NBA teams but the league’s commissioner, Adam Silver, has been open about the fact that the NBA would look toward expansion, potentially adding another two teams. Of the markets likely to get a team it is Seattle and Las Vegas that have been the frontrunners for some time.
FSG had looked at the Minnesota Timberwolves a couple of years ago, while the Phoenix Suns being on the sale block in the last 12 months would also have piqued interest. But it is Las Vegas where FSG want to pitch up a team eventually, and with FSG partner LeBron James, 38, wanting to helm that particular project when he eventually retires, it is highly likely that the Liverpool owners will be at the very front of the queue when the NBA seeks expressions of interest from would-be ownership groups.
But expansion is not imminent, nor is FSG’s desire to raise the capital that they would need for such an endeavour.
There was an idea that had been kicked around that James wanted to play his final season at an expansion team he ran, with his son, Bronny, who only last week committed to play college basketball at USC. But given the time frames involved, where the NBA needs to agree a deal for its next TV cycle next year, and the logistics involved in creating an expansion team, that is something that seems far-fetched.
According to people familiar with the matter in the US, who the ECHO has spoken to, it is highly unlikely that any new teams arrive on court and ready to compete in the next four years, although the process behind just who will be behind those teams when the do arrive will happen a lot sooner.
Sources have told the ECHO that the Liverpool investment search has no link to any interest that FSG might have in an NBA expansion franchise. FSG have made no secret of their desire to add an NBA to their portfolio, which as well as the Reds consists of the Boston Red Sox (MLB), Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL) and RFK Racing (NASCAR).
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner last year said: “(Owning an NBA team) is certainly something that we would look at. We don’t have a secret piece of paper that says, ‘let’s go acquire an NBA team’.”
It could well be that FSG gets to NBA ownership by linking up with other partners, with private equity now allowed to be involved in the NBA. One of FSG’s partners, Arctos Sports Partners, has several minority investments with teams in the NBA.
But it isn’t something that is imminent, nor is it something that is impactful on FSG’s decision to sell some of their stake in Liverpool.
The decision to seek investment and sell a piece of the club to another partner was borne from the desire to recapitalise but also to present themselves with an easier exit route in the future. By bringing on board a partner with whom they have a simpatico relationship, who can deliver the growth of the business but also possess the potential to accrete a minority stake into full ownership, allowing FSG to realise the value proposition that they feel is still to come with the Reds, it reduces the burden of risk in the here and now but also presents them with a route to a sale in the coming years.
Speaking to the Boston Sports Journal earlier this year, Henry, who ruled out a full sale of the Reds, stated that owners’ time at Liverpool would end at some point.
Henry said: “Will we be in England forever? No. Are we selling LFC? No. Are we talking with investors about LFC? Yes. Will something happen there? I believe so, but it won’t be a sale. Have we sold anything in the past 20+ years?”
FSG’s investment in Liverpool has always been something of an outlier. The Reds’ owners have the vast majority of their portfolio based in North America, with the sporting structure around US sport providing far more cost certainty given the absence of the promotion and relegation system, the existence of salary caps or luxury tax thresholds, and the absence of the Wild West that is the European football transfer market.
FSG had looked at growing their portfolio at one stage to include a number of clubs in a multi-club model, although that is something that they are not, at present, pursuing.
READ NEXT:
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