After Liverpool’s takeover, FSG and RedBird Capital are poised for their first confrontation.
RedBird Capital Partners, a minority partner, has acquired the team that Fenway Sports Group, which is owned by Liverpool, is going up against.
John Henry and Gerry Cardinale are usually allies in the boardroom. Yet on Thursday evening, the business partners will turn from friends to foes for a couple of hours when Liverpool face Toulouse in the Europa League.
Fenway Sports Group (FSG) will go head-to-head with RedBird Capital Partners for the first time, having been in cooperation for the past two-and-a-half years.
In April 2021, FSG made the decision to sell an 11% stake in their company to RedBird for a reported £535 million.
As a result, the firm – founded by former Goldman Sachs partner Cardinale – became an indirect investor in Liverpool, as well as Major League Baseball team the Boston Red Sox.
During FSG’s ownership, Liverpool have been restored to the elite of European football. After appointing Jurgen Klopp in October 2015, the Reds have won six major trophies – including a sixth Champions League in 2019 and claiming a maiden Premier League title the following year.
Meanwhile, major investment of around £200 million has been spent to increase the capacity of Anfield to 61,000 when work on the Anfield Road stand will be complete, while £50 million was spent on the state-of-the-art AXA Training Centre.
Before purchasing a stake in FSG, RedBird had already turned their attention to football by purchasing an 85% stake in Toulouse.
At the time, Les Violets were preparing for life in the French second tier after suffering relegation, with RedBird paying a reported €20 million for the club.
RedBird, much like FSG, have adopted a data-driven approach at Toulouse. They employed former Liverpool director of football strategy Damien Comolli as president and Toulouse earned promotion back to Ligue 1 in the 2021-22 season.
And last campaign, having claimed a respectable 13th-placed finish, they also won the Coupe de France – the country’s equivalent to the FA Cup – for the first time in their history. As a result, they earned qualification to the Europa League.
However, Cardinale was forced to step down from Toulouse’s board during the summer. In August 2022, RedBird followed in FSG’s footsteps by purchasing a European powerhouse.
They splashed out a reported €1.2 billion for seven-time Champions League winners AC Milan – which was the chief reason why RedBird did not look to buy a direct stake in Liverpool when FSG were searching for fresh capital.
Cardinale is hoping to move the Rossoneri from their historic San Siro stadium they share with rivals Inter Milan and find a home of their own. Dynasty Equity became FSG’s minority partner when a deal between £100-200 million was announced last month.
With Milan playing in the Champions League and Toulouse in Europe’s secondary tournament, UEFA rules are clear when it comes to multi-club ownership.
Article 5 states that ‘no-one may simultaneously be involved, either directly or indirectly, in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in a UEFA club competition’.
Still, Cardinale will hold a vested interest in the encounter. Toulouse travel to Anfield as major underdogs as they face a Liverpool side who are favourites to win the Europa League and have shown the early signs they can challenge for the Premier League title this season.
Indeed, Cardinale has admitted that when working for Goldman Sachs that he recommended the investment bank to purchase Liverpool for $350 million in 2008 – but was shut down. The Reds are now valued at $5.3 billion by Forbes.
Speaking at the 2023 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, Cardinale said: “The advice to my 20-year-old self?
I started the YES Network with George Steinbrenner when I was 33 years old, so the advice to my 33-year-old self would have been the inkling that we had a few years later to go and buy Liverpool at a $350m valuation.
Goldman (Sachs) shut me down on that and we would have done that a lot earlier and that would have been pretty good.”
Still, if Toulouse are to pull off an unlikely upset, there may be some gentle ribbing from Cardinale to John Henry and the rest of the FSG top brass whenever they’re next together around the business table.
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ournalist drops major Liverpool takeover update involving Sheikh Jassim
Liverpool ownership update provided amid Sheikh Jassim links.
Liverpool being sold in full to Sheikh Jassim and Nine Two Foundation remains an unlikely outcome, despite the latest update from Anfield provided to GIVEMESPORT by journalist Ben Jacobs.
Rumours about Liverpool’s ownership situation have been circulating ever since the Fenway Sports Group invited investment into the club last year, but the situation appears to have changed somewhat since then.
FSG’s Anfield stay could be about to end
Was the club up for sale or wasn’t it? That was the question being asked by Liverpool supporters in the wake of news last November that FSG were seeking fresh investment into the club.
It took months for a full answer to transpire, with FSG eventually clarifying that their intention was to remain in charge of the Premier League side.
A bit of a messy situation, FSG would have their wish granted nonetheless, with a cash injection arriving in the shape of minority investment from Dynasty Equity – a New York-based sports investment fund.
It’s suggested that the deal, which was completed in September 2023, will look to help pay off debts incurred during the Covid-19 pandemic, while also contributing to transfer business and infrastructure development.
Granted, it is some way short of the full sale from FSG that was touted last year, but it does indicate a willingness by the Liverpool owners to relinquish some of their control.
And that has had some questioning whether FSG could be tempted into selling the club completely, should the finances match their demands, somewhere down the line.
Liverpool transfer news
While the chances of being taken over by Jassim are all but dead in the water, that doesn’t mean Liverpool fans won’t be treated to some big-name arrivals in the upcoming transfer windows.
It’s been claimed that Pedro Neto is a player attracting interest from Liverpool, with the Wolverhampton Wanderers star on the Reds’ list of January targets.
A report from 90min suggests Liverpool have been a fan of Neto’s for some time and even sent scouts to watch him during the recent October international break.
While he may be contracted to Wolves until the summer of 2027, there is a growing feeling that the Molineux outfit could be tempted into a sale, if a Premier League side is able to match their demands.
Journalist Neil Moxley recently told GIVEMESPORT that Neto was probably worth somewhere in the region of £70 million and Wolves would likely consider a sale if it matched their valuation.
Neto would be signed to provide cover, or perhaps even replace Mohamed Salah, who continues to attract interest from Saudi Arabia.
Despite rejecting a reported £150 million bid during the summer window, there is an expectation that Al-Ittihad will return for the Egyptian winger, either in the January or summer window.
Jacobs himself told GIVEMESPORT last month that the Reds hierarchy is now planning for life without Salah, as they expect movement on that front to come down the line, with Al-Ittihad’s efforts likely to intensify.
Salah has less than two years left to run on his £350,000-per-week contract, meaning Liverpool could be persuaded to cash in, should a deal represent good value for them.
Elsewhere, West Ham United’s Jarrod Bowen has also been mooted as a possible target for the Anfield outfit, with Liverpool said to have been ‘monitoring’ the attacker.
That’s according to transfer insider Dean Jones, who told GIVEMESPORT earlier this season that Bowen is a player who Liverpool hold an interest in, and despite a recent contract extension for the England international, could decide to launch a big-money pursuit in the coming transfer windows.
Ben Jacobs update – Liverpool and Sheikh Jassim
When asked about what might come next for Sheikh Jassim following his recent failed pursuit of Manchester United, journalist Jacobs made reference to stories linking the Qatari businessman with Liverpool.
However, unmoved by the claims, the reliable reporter rubbished any idea of Jassim purchasing the Merseyside outfit:
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