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Ian Ayre's time as Managing Director and Chief Motorcycle Curator at Liverpool has been somewhat tumultuous. He proven quite competent on the business side of things, but his responsibilities in terms of player recruitment--responsibilities that are admittedly a bit unclear--haven't been quite as fruitful. Whether or not it reflects what happens in reality, he's been judged harshly for a string of high-profile transfer failures, and when his name comes up in connection with a potential deal, pessimism reigns supreme.
Again, that may or may not be fair, but it never looks to have rattled a man who enjoys a drunken camel-back ride as much as anyone. Which is probably a good thing, as the amount and accuracy of the criticism has ventured into the unreasonable at times, and with a little bit of help, Ayre might even end up winning over supporters who have been skeptical of his usefulness.
That help might be coming shortly if Liverpool's form holds out, and Ayre is well aware of the impact that a top-four finish would hold:
"Brendan and the team at the club have all put a fantastic effort in to try and win us that prize and get us there. And if we got Champions League football and were enjoying Champions League revenues I think that would have put us eighth in that Deloitte league this year.
"And then if you look at our proposals and our efforts to try and stay at Anfield and improve the capacity there, then with the sort of capacities we're aiming for and the resultant revenues we think would come from that then we actually think that would end with us getting somewhere about fifth or sixth. Those two fixes, not insignificant challenges, would put us very much back at the forefront. You know our commercial revenue is almost second-to-none in that regard, we really do battle at the top end of the league in that sense. So it's about fixing those other parts."
It's all a bit too modern football is a business and etc. for me, but the simple reality is that Liverpool being good is good for Liverpool. Status and revenues--improved by Champions League and an expanded Anfield--would improve, and the obvious goal is for that to be replicated across a number of seasons rather than just this one. And as has been the case with so much of what we've discussed over the past few weeks, a good portion of these improvements, at least whether or not they're going to happen in the more immediate future, comes down to the outcome of Liverpool's next ten matches.
No pressure, then.
