Yes I mean it strikes me as an organisation that can't acknowledge they have done wrong.
Forget what their fans say, this will have been driven by corporate pressure. They have enormous sponsorships, and even a 10% hit on those would render the money they get from the government irrelevant. They just need the story to go away, as it flies in the face of the very effective marketing campaign they have done. Trying to insinuate sabotage is quite dangerous thing to do and keeps the issue alive. The old fashioned "we messed up, we've learnt from it, look at the good we do" position is much better.
Interesting though, that FSG have also stated that the money will have to be made up in other ways. What hits me from this, is that the big numbers they are posting tell rather an illusionary story about the general health of the club. I have said for some time, with the spiralling costs and essentially blowing out manchester City in a spending (on wages) arms race leads them very exposed if anything were to happen. It's speculation, but I do wonder if they moved onto the furlough scheme so early, as cashflow is already presenting a problem?
The other factor is, at no point are FSG saying they will make good the salaries. They are not going to step in to save them. If they are not going to step in to save them at a couple of million a year, what happens if big sponsorships start to be lost, or downgraded? You do wonder what the "other ways" to pay this money will be (and I would suggest they will try to sell an asset). I also wonder if their portfolio in America is going to come under real pressure given how the virus is affecting the US stock exchange and with the erratic USA president governing it. Most sports investments and worth ar paper money at the best of times, and they could quite quickly find themselves in trouble.
Given Mane is soon to turn 28, as is Salah, Firmino will be 29, and the head of Germany football has said he expects the transfer market to "collapse". It will not be a good summer to have to rely on sale(s) to have to help cover big wage commitment you have made.
In truth, I think FSG may try to play the long game with this, but if they are hit hard, that may not be an option. I have mentioned Leeds united and I know people go "oh they'll be bought out". Well I can assure you, nobody is throwing money into football in it's current phase. I'd also say, they will have ensured they worded the contracts in a way to ensure they get their money back first. They will not allow Liverpool to escape the impending bankrupcy by shifting it onto them as they did H & G if it comes to that point.
So yes, there's a lot to run in this story.
