2 Sept 2009

Is Liverpool FC missing an obvious financial trick?

With Liverpool's well documented financial woes causing major problems, has every avenue of revenue generation been explored and implemented by the club? David Clarke doesn't think so.

It could just be my age, but I know that throughout my time as a football fan, I have always dreamed of playing for Liverpool and pulling on one of the club's prestigious shirts, like the number ‘7’, ‘9’ or’10’. Somehow pulling on the number 43 doesn’t have the same appeal! With this in mind, why are some senior players at Liverpool not rewarded with ‘high profile’ squad numbers?

When a new signing receives their shirt at Real Madrid, there is a huge fanfare at the player's unveiling, which includes a ‘history of the shirt’ event.

With so many wonderful players to have graced the first 11 numbers for Liverpool, why more isn’t made out of a player being rewarded with the famous all-red strip?

This summer when we all basically knew that there would be very few new names through the door, and I believe that Liverpool missed a trick by not ‘promoting’ some of the senior players to more high profile numbers.

I was really looking forward to Martin Skrtel, Dirk Kuyt, Javier Mascherano and Yossi Benayoun, for example, being promoted higher profile numbers, although I know that the latter did wear number 11 until he vacated it for the inbound Albert Riera.

I waited and waited throughout the summer months for some announcements on the squad numbers only to get impatient and not have any number on my back for fear of having a ‘SKRTEL 37’ only for him to be handed the number ‘6’.

I wonder how many other fans have been in this predicament. I wonder how much revenue has been lost or could have been gained if Liverpool were to follow the lead of Real Madrid and really focus on the mass selling of their shirts.

I’m not saying that Dirk Kuyt would sell as many as Kaka, but I truly believe that it would generate more revenue for the club if some more established senior pros had prestigious shirts.

Currently only Torres and Gerrard are holding onto shirts of any stature, mainly because they made a big deal out of wanting them. Voronin is wasting the lucrative number ‘10’ that could be worn by more deserving players like the aforementioned Kuyt or the inbound Aquilani, who has been given the number ‘4’, which is traditionally a defender’s number.

In fact, does anybody know anyone who owns a ‘VORONIN 10’?

I just think it is a shame that we have some good squad numbers that are either vacant or taken up by wasters.

We saw last season with Robbie Keane how giving someone a high-profile number can be beneficial - shirts were flying off the shelves in massive numbers. Now we don’t even have a number ‘7’ shirt to sell.

If the club needs income and revenue, why hasn’t our marketing/PR team or Christian Purslow thought of this method of generating money?


11 comments:

  1. The other side of the coin is clubs ripping fans off by constantly changing numbers, so you have to buy new kits all the time.  At that point the cry of "robbin' b*****ds!" and how the club doesn't care about the fans. So yes it would make them more money, but the club decided to not rip the fans off.  Besides so many peoplea are boycotting anything other than ticket fees to force the yanks out.

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  2. I don't think David is advocating wholesale number changes, just the promotion of good players to high-profile numbers.  The number 10 shirt for example is being completely wasted.  John Barnes wore that shirt; surely someone more desrving the Voronin should be wearing it now?

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  3. Excellent post, who would want the number 10 shirt now voronin has stained it.

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  4. Voronin scored 11 goals in Hertha last year in 20 games why all the negative noise. If anything we have learned that Benitez cannot manage strikers properly.

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  5. I wouldn't call it an obvious financial trick - are people really that bothered about numbers any more?  I mean if a player did change numbers, does the previous shirt then become a sought after collectors item? 

    I guess it could work better for kids I don't know.  Personally, I wouldn't be seen dead in a football shirt and jeans, but that's just me.

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  6. - skrtel has no. 37 because he likes no. 7 and favourite no. his girlfriend is 3 - in fact it was compromise
    - benayoun always wanted no. 15, when crouch left, he took it
    - different example is kuyt .. his favourite number is 7, but he still has 18, the same number like in holland national team .. actually it is his number, that´s all
    - 4 is in italy national squad typically midfielder number
    - maybe mascherano could take 6, there are the other thing - fans know el jeffe in number 20

    other expample - carra has many years no. 23, and is´s ok, because it´s only shirt number .. more important are love to club & performance

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  7. lfcway.  are you some sort of stalker.  get a life loser

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  8. LFC have the WORST marketing team in the EPL. Period!

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  9. I kinda Agree a good post on the shirts, i think if they get a number that has a special meaning like the famous King Kenny wore or Kegan and do the marketing like the mancs do  then maybe the player would feel more obligated to go out and prove he is worth it.. of late Liverpool have been pretty ugly to watch Ive been a fan and a supporter for 40 yrs, but at the start of the season i have felt the ugly nerves come rolling back in the belly as they kick off knowing that its going to be avery nevey night or day.. as they have in yrs gone by. so for me make the boys step up to the line and give the fans what they deserve!!!  if you are going to pull on a red shirt no matter what number it is... be proud to wear it.. bottom line..

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  10. Funny you mention this, when there was an article just a few days ago stating that Torres number 9 shirt is now the most sold shirt in the world ahead of Ronaldo and StevenG's shirt is the 3rd most sold.
    It's a very valid point you make, giving the number 10 to someone else than Voronin and maybe start having a squad with shirt's 1 through 11?

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  11. Yeah United have done a terrific job of marketing their famous shirts this summer eh? Ronaldo leaves and the iconic number 7 goes to someone who is bound to shift loads of shirts. Michael Owen..... I doubt the Michael Owen shirts orders have reached 3 figures.

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