Liverpool Football Brand

I have a good friend Robert, who as a teenager growing up in Liverpool in the seventies and eighties lived and breathed the unfolding brilliance and tragedy of the Anfield era from Paisley to Dalglish.

Then his life changed dramatically and he moved to Michigan USA, where he's been for the last twenty years.

Suddenly, his teenage son loves "soccer" and NBC have brought the Premier League to Rob's TV screen. So he wrote to me for a "read in" on his old club. 

"Could Liverpool finish in the top three? Do they have a strong attack, average midfield and good defence? Is the fixture schedule flattering to their current third place league position?", he asked with renewed zeal.

Rob's understanding of LFC from childhood is so deep, I thought he'd appreciate my historical long view here. This is what I replied to him:

Liverpool have two world-class players and a dozen competent ones. 

One of their world class players stands as a legacy to the city's fifty years of elite football culture, socialized from birth. The other is a legacy to Liverpool's decade-long flirtations with the Champions League, now firmly over.  

This dated badge conveys too many messages

Liverpool FC is a top brand, not a top club. The flowery, over sentimental design of the current badge conveys heritage, suffering and possibly a hint of blasphemy as the club moves into areas of pseudo-religious worship which the city's churches used to house. 

In the era of slick, stripped-down imagery, the badge is far too complicated with messages of memorial and Bill Shankly which fade into past history with every month that passes.

There'd be much of modern Liverpool Shankly wouldn't give a fig for even if he's the single biggest influence on their brand values.

Truth is Liverpool is able to leverage its brand communication around the globe more effectively than its brand of football can.

With 13 official Twitter accounts, @LFC now tweets in more languages than any other club in the world and has seven more accounts than Barcelona and eight more than any other club in England. Everyday, fans around the world can read tweets from the club in English, Arabic, Spanish, French, Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Portuguese and Turkish.

If football is in the business of selling dreams to supporters, Liverpool is better than most at doing that. 

I don't begrudge Fenway selling more style than substance. In fact, they're to be applauded for embracing the new media age like no other.

But it does create a conflict of interest at the heart of the business model which needs addressing if they keep failing to qualify for Europe or winning anything:

Future success on-field may not matter as much if the club continues to build a global fanbase and new revenue from telling a great story to sponsors and investors via electronic media.

A team photo with any old trophy will do (even a preseason one) for iinternational fans content with chanting surnames and buying merchandise. 

But it's most important fanbase here in the UK won't stand for it. 

Sporting public ambivalent to USA's improving soccer team

Heartbreak for the USA; the Confederations Cup trophy was dangled enticingly before them like a popstar's baby. They surrendered a two-goal half-time lead to mighty Brazil, who successfully retained the title by winning 3-2 inside normal time. Fitting that the five-times World Cup winners should become the first nation to win this tournament three-times, but America coulda shoulda!

Having seen off European Champions, Spain in the semis, the US got stronger during the tournament despite their unlikely path to the final. Let's not forget Brazil took them apart earlier in the tournament, three-nil.

I watched the final in a Miami Beach bar. There was scant cheering; certainly insufficient to warrant the magnitude of their progression to, and performance in the final. Baseball and the other American sports are just too established. Their culture stands firm.

For the Americans can take tremendous credit from their first-half show. They simply ran out of steam and lacked depth against the Brazilians, who punched the wind out of their sails with an early second-half goal. At 2-1, the tide turned South America's way.

The US are perennial qualifiers for the World Cup Finals, and many of their big players star in Europe's top leagues. They've a reputation for professionalism and discipline, and deservedly so.

But put a couple of quid on Brazil to win the World Cup next year. They're the only nation to win the tournament outside their continent, and they've done that thrice. As an Englishman, I daren't tempt fate by commenting on our chances (carpe diem, Fabio!)

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Victory over Spain wasted on the Yanks

It's arguably the greatest victory for the USA since the 1950 World Cup.

Goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey gave the US a 2-0 victory over Spain in the Confederations Cup.

Back in the day, the Yanks recorded a famous 1-0 win over England, starring Billy Wright, Tom Finney and Stan Mortensen.

Putting this into context, the Spaniards are European champions having won 15 straight matches and undefeated since November 2006. Both are world records.

And they were at close to full strength: Fernando Torres partnered David Villa up front together with a star-spangled lineup featuring the cream of the Premier League and Barcelona.

The US, who reached the semis thanks to a dramatic six-goal swing in the last round of the group stage, seemingly used that as a confidence fillip.

Imagine if England had just beaten Spain; not just in the scoreline, but in the manner of the Americans win. Their discipline, organisation, workrate and belief has echoes of the Greeks sensational victory at Euro 2004.

This morning's tabloids would be larging it. The Sun'ld dig up eighties nearly-men and get ten-word quotes from each like, "We can definitely end 44 years of hurt in South Africa!", then pop 'em in a highlighted box in the middle of the page.

Do you remember when we beat Argentina 3-2 in Geneva ahead of the last World Cup? Two late Michael Owen goals turned the game on its head. The press talked of our Golden Generation: Terry, Ferdinand, Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard; not forgetting the blend of more senior players like Owen and Beckham. The hacks were hysterical!

They're not doing that in the Miami Herald or the Archbold Buckeye this morning, I can tell you!

The magnitude of the American victory is totally wasted on their sporting public.

The USA are perennial World Cup qualifiers - but not even their Latino emigres can trigger a football culture, with baseball, basketball and football so embedded in their collective consciences.

The Americans truly arrived on the world football stage with this win. And though the scoreline in raw print is an eye-raiser, they utterly deserved it.

Shame it won't move them, like it's moved me.

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