With Liverpool Football Club closing in on a potential top four finish in the Premier League, Managing Director Ian Ayre has added further pressure to get over the line this season after he revealed how important qualifying for the UEFA Champions League is for Liverpool’s future success.
Liverpool, who currently sit second in the PL table seven points behind leaders Chelsea but have a game in hand, reported loses of $75 million earlier this month but on the flip side turnover shot up to over $300 million. That’s a club record.
But with the Reds aiming to expand their Anfield home in the not so distant future, something the club are working hard to push on with, they have hit somewhat of a plateau from a financial standpoint.
Delivering Champions League soccer would solve all of that, as Ayre hopes Liverpool can climb back into Deloitte’s top 10 soccer rankings in the no so distance future, after being replaced by the likes of Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus this season.
“We are not playing European football and that’s at the heart of it,” Ayre told the Liverpool Echo. “We have a stadium that doesn’t allow us the capacity that our demands dictate. So we know why, and we are doing all we can to address that. We are doing what we can in terms of European football by addressing it on the pitch and we are all hoping we can get back in the Champions League.”
With qualification to the Champions League, Liverpool could expect a cash windfall of $120 million, and change. The boost this would give the club to go out and buy expensive new signings to help Brendan Rodgers’ squad step up to the next level is crucial, and something that fans of the Reds are urging to happen this season.
Financially the club are bankrolled by the Fenway Sports Group fronted by Boston Red Sox owner John W. Henry, and despite the huge amounts of wealth which come from that, Liverpool deserve to be right up there, financially, with the biggest teams in the world.
Getting back to that level may take some time, but the process will be quicker if Liverpool can qualify for the UCL this season. No pressure…
