The first part of John Aldridge's ECHO column assesses a huge period for Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group and touches on Mohamed Salah's social media statement
Liverpool principal owner John W Henry
Liverpool principal owner John W Henry
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First off, you have to say that Fenway Sports Group have been superb owners in the main for Liverpool Football Club.
They took over a distressed asset that was losing its appeal in October 2010 and, in the years that followed, restored the club to where it rightly belongs - at the very top of English football.
Of course, there have been occasional mistakes along the way, many of them well-publicised, but on the whole, the general consensus is that FSG have been the right sort of custodians for Liverpool.
But FSG are nearing a big moment in their tenure at Liverpool because there are some huge decisions on the horizon that they cannot afford to get wrong.
It's been a dreadful season for Liverpool and 20 defeats across all competitions, which includes the Community Shield, is enough to indicate that. There's nothing more than can be said on that score. We've spoken about it every week in this column.
Injuries, of course, have not helped but 20 defeats is not right. That tells you something is broken inside the place and it's a massive period for FSG now.
I am not even talking specifically around Arne Slot and the future of the head coach. That, of course, is up for debate but it goes beyond that and Liverpool simply can't allow themselves to become another Manchester United.
For a long time United have struggled in the post-Alex Ferguson era and Liverpool are dangerously close to falling back into the pack less than a year since they lifted the Premier League title.
They are still in the Champions League spots because as many as fifth qualify now but that doesn't mean it's been an acceptable season. Far from it.
Liverpool have fallen away to the point where they are not battling with Arsenal and Manchester City anymore for the big prizes. They are now looking over their shoulder at the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth, it's a far cry from what we are used to.
In fact, Liverpool need a result from Manchester City in the final week of the season, which says it all really. Imagine that: Pep Guardiola and his City side can do us a favour in May.
It'll be tough for them too on Tuesday night because Andoni Iraola has been one of the managers of the season for me at Bournemouth. He's done it in front of the smallest crowds in the Premier League and he is a Basque man through and through.
I know what the Basque people are like from my time at Real Sociedad and they work hard and fight for what they believe in and Iraola has demonstrated that at Bournemouth. He has done a great job on the south coast.
Salah spoke from the heart
Whatever you think of Mohamed Salah's decision to go public with his grievances over the weekend, you cannot deny it came from the heart.
Salah spoke out about the style of football played by Liverpool this season in a statement that was widely viewed as a dig at Arne Slot. It was liked by several team-mates on social media too.
It was very cryptic, as Salah tends to be with this sort of stuff, but it's clear that he isn't happy with what has happened at Liverpool this season.
But he's not alone in that regard because who is? I know I certainly am not.
People will have their opinions on whether Salah was right or wrong to go online with his frustrations but he is at least telling us how he feels about the situation. You can never accuse of him not caring either way.
It'll be interesting to see what Slot does now on Sunday when Salah is at Anfield for his final game of the season.
Does Mo start? He deserves to for me.
His statistics are ridiculous and it'll be a long time before we see anyone else get near them. Let's not forget, only Roger Hunt and Ian Rush have scored more than Salah in a Liverpool shirt, so he will rightly go down as a club legend.
But Liverpool might need a result this weekend and it cannot become a testimonial atmosphere if that is the case for Salah and Andy Robertson, who is also leaving.
As for Robertson, I call him the modern-day Joey Jones, and he will run through brick walls for his team. His attitude is infectious and he has been a massive character behind the scenes for years. He is a legend and will be sorely missed.
But there might still be a job to do and I'd be starting Salah on that basis.