"The mandate of financial fair play in Europe is for clubs to live within their means," said John Henry in a recent interview with the Tomkins Times. "Recently I was told that half of the clubs in the top divisions within Europe are losing money and 20% are in straits of varying degrees. It’s up to LFC to invest properly in players going forward so that the club can not only be sustainable but a powerhouse."
However, with clubs in England like Manchester City and Chelsea appearing to openly flout those financial fair play regulations meant to force a more sustainable way of doing business on European football while on the continent PSG engages in an unmatched spending spree, Henry recognises that building a sustainable powerhouse is far easier said than done.
"There are a lot of clubs within the league that support financial fair play. We believe the league itself may have to adopt its own rules given that clubs seem to be ignoring UEFA’s rules, which may be porous enough to enable clubs to say that the trend of huge losses is positive and therefore be exempt from any meaningful sanctions."
The growing fear for many, Liverpool included, is that in the end financial fair play will lead only to a handful of fines being levied—little more than a minor annoyance to those breaking the rules—rather than seeing clubs barred from Europe. Though of course if it were to turn out that UEFA doesn't have the will to fully enforce FFP, one might wonder if the English and other national FAs would be any more willing or able to do so.