Little more than a year ago, FSG were talking about selling the club. The phrase "monetize the asset" had replaced "win the league," but Klopp reignited the owners' enthusiasm. The Boston-based group have dismissed a number of recent approaches from potential investors with contempt. They have simply ignored any advances. The problem is that FSG have no clear plan as to how to take the club forward apart from placing their trust in the manager.
The lack of strong leadership on Merseyside has been a feature of FSG's six years of ownership, a time in which the club have won just one trophy and qualified for the Champions League just once. Wild mood swings have become a feature of life at Anfield: boundless optimism one week, angry negativity the next
The academy is a mess. It has been hit badly by two years' worth of cost-cutting. There has been no coherent policy on signing players. Power has swung between the manager and the statistics-led recruitment represented by a risible transfer committee. This summer, the final say on buying and selling rests with Klopp
[Klopp] turning to the Liverpool end in an attempt to rouse the crowd -- was embarrassing. It should have provoked a reprimand, not a pay rise, but that will never happen.
It is not going too far to say the owners are infatuated with the manager. Being in love with the German is fine on the Kop; in the boardroom, it's more dangerous. Liverpool's era of success was built on hard-eyed -- sometimes brutal -- footballing Darwinism. The new contract offer suggests accountability is no longer in vogue at Anfield.