FSG are approaching critical period in Liverpool ownership - we can't become the new Man United
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The first part of John Aldridge's ECHO column assesses a huge period for Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group and touches on Mohamed Salah's social media statementFirst off, you have to say that Fenway Sports Group have been superb owners in the main for Liverpool Football Club.They took over a distressed asset that was losing its appeal in October 2010 and, in the years that followed, restored the club to where it rightly belongs - at the very top of English football.Of course, there have been occasional mistakes along the way, many of them well-publicised, but on the whole, the general consensus is that FSG have been the right sort of custodians for Liverpool.But FSG are nearing a big moment in their tenure at Liverpool because there are some huge decisions on the horizon that they cannot afford to get wrong.It's been a dreadful season for Liverpool and 20 defeats across all competitions, which includes the Community Shield, is enough to indicate that. He's done it in front of the smallest crowds in the Premier League and he is a Basque man through and through.I know what the Basque people are like from my time at Real Sociedad and they work hard and fight for what they believe in and Iraola has demonstrated that at Bournemouth.
He has done a great job on the south coast.Salah spoke from the heartWhatever you think of Mohamed Salah's decision to go public with his grievances over the weekend, you cannot deny it came from the heart.Salah spoke out about the style of football played by Liverpool this season in a statement that was widely viewed as a dig at Arne Slot. It was liked by several team-mates on social media too.It was very cryptic, as Salah tends to be with this sort of stuff, but it's clear that he isn't happy with what has happened at Liverpool this season.But he's not alone in that regard because who is?
I know I certainly am not.People will have their opinions on whether Salah was right or wrong to go online with his frustrations but he is at least telling us how he feels about the situation. Let's not forget, only Roger Hunt and Ian Rush have scored more than Salah in a Liverpool shirt, so he will rightly go down as a club legend.But Liverpool might need a result this weekend and it cannot become a testimonial atmosphere if that is the case for Salah and Andy Robertson, who is also leaving.As for Robertson, I call him the modern-day Joey Jones, and he will run through brick walls for his team.