It was 12 years ago that the Fenway Sports Group took over Liverpool Football Club in hopes of leading the mid-table club back to its glory days and the rest is history.
During the FSG era, Merseyside tasted Champions League glory once again in 2019 and clinched the prestigious Premier League trophy after 30 years of wait.
Not only that, the team won every major trophy, establishing one of the most dominant and decorated spells in the modern Liverpool era. Alas, all good things eventually come to an end, as is the case with the FSG-Liverpool saga.
The club has been put up for sale by the owners and there are a lot of potential buyers. One of the most prominent potential buyers is Steve Pagliuca, co-chairman of Bain Capital, which has a massive $155 billion worth of assets under management.
Although nothing is confirmed yet, the American business tycoon is considered a potential suitor because of his connection to some of the members of the FSG Group and his interest to own a premier league club.
The news of him being a potential owner did not go well with Liverpool fans, as they took to Twitter to express their disapproval of the American investor taking over the helm of the club.
Using the hashtag #PagliucaOut, many fans tweeted that they should be terrified if Pagliuca takes over the club while others labelled him as just another American investor out to line his own pockets.
The scousers aren’t the first fanbase to show dislike for American businessmen being owners of their clubs, notably, Manchester United fans have also raised concerns over the Glazer family leadership.
The main reason behind this disapproval of American investors is due to the popular belief among the supporters that they are just in it for the money and not for the love of the sport and the club.
And Steve Pagliuca, a textbook private equity businessman represents exactly who they don’t want at their club.
Many also don’t see Pagliuca as an improvement from their current owner John W Henry.
If Pagliuca takes over Liverpool we are done. Less money than FSG and another American out to line his pockets.
As per reports, Pagliuca has a hefty net worth of $3.87 billion and is a major figure in American basketball as he is the co-owner of one of the most successful teams in the NBA, the Boston Celtics.
More importantly, he is not a new figure in the football world considering his 55% stake in the Italian Serie A club,Atalanta.
In addition to that, he was also in the race of buying Chelsea FC, when the previous owner, Roman Abramovich was forced to put the club for sale earlier this year due to the sanctions imposed on him. However, Todd Boehly eventually took over the reins of the West London club.
Sports is not the only expertise of the 67-year-old businessman, as he was also the former director of fast food giant Burger King and played an integral part in getting the company back to profitability.
Before his rise to the top, he was a prominent international tax expert and also worked as a senior accountant.
Middle Eastern investors were keen to take ownership of Liverpool back in May but FSG refused their offer and made it clear that they would consider new shareholders if it was in the best interests of the club.
Although Pagliuca has not submitted an official bid to take over the Merseyside club, he remains one of the frontrunners to become the new owner of the Premier League giant.
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