It was fascinating to see the section of Liverpool’s online support most in favour of recent ticket price rises so keen to blame fans protesting against that move for Thursday evening’s 3-0 defeat to Atalanta.
According to their line of thinking, the absence of flags on the Kop in the buildup to kickoff set a tone that was the key factor in a shock victory for the Italians.
In fact, according to some, it outstripped even an impressive performance from the visitors or Jurgen Klopp’s decision to make six changes in terms of decisiveness.
Of course, if those who so readily dismissed concerns over rising ticket prices truly believe that, then they might now wonder whether their fellow fans actually play a far bigger role than that of a simple ‘customer’.
Perhaps Thursday night proved that every Liverpool manager and player throughout history – and countless opponents, too – weren’t just leaning on platitudes in talking about the power of Anfield.
And if that is indeed the case, then maybe those who generate that famous, clearly influential atmosphere deserve better than to be squeezed for cash when the business case to do so is flimsy at best.
Over the last week, increased operating costs at Anfield have repeatedly been cited as a factor, despite these being cancelled out by constantly ballooning broadcast revenues.
Meanwhile, those who claim Liverpool are being kind in not mirroring inflation might wish to show consistency in their belief that this rate should be tracked.
In reality, a Liverpool season ticket for the 1980/81 season cost £63 and can now cost anywhere between £713 and £904 – an increase of up to 1,400 percent that suggests that a cut in prices should actually be due.
Cash cows
With that in mind, you have to wonder what the club’s motivation is, other than a fear that bigger recent rises across the Premier League create a threat of being left behind.
Yet the latest changes will raise roughly £1 million extra per season, either enough to pay a new player a measly £20,000 a week or cover just six percent of Mohamed Salah’s wages.
Clearly, this is hardly a sum that will shift the dial for the Reds, particularly when matchday income will already be bumped next season by extra Champions League games.
Bayern Munich’s former defender and general manager Uli Hoeness once famously summed up the madness of chasing such marginal financial gains through shaking down supporters in this way.
He said: “We could charge more than £104. Let’s say we charged £300. We’d get £2 million more in income, but what’s £2 million to us?
“In a transfer discussion you argue about that sum for five minutes. But the difference between £104 and £300 is huge for the fan. We do not think the fans are like cows, who you milk.”
‘This Means More’?
That is even more true when talking about a club for whom it is alleged ‘This Means More’, and who lean heavily on Anfield and images of The Kop in full flow in their commercial pursuits.
Clearly, the fans that fill the ground are as much a selling point for Liverpool as their countless great teams down the years and, as many ex-players will tell you, just as key to the trophies won.
The hope is that, in watching a painful defeat being inflicted at an unusually subdued Anfield on Thursday, Liverpool chairman Tom Werner was also given a timely reminder of that fact.
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