What some Liverpool fans conspicuously fail to appreciate is their club, as much as any other, helped forge the prevailing circumstances that drew the likes of Abramovich and Mansour into the English game.
It was they, along with Everton, united, Arsenal and Spurs in the early 80's that threatened a breakaway from the Football League unless the way gate receipts were shared between clubs, which had stood for decades, was ripped up, meaning those five had a greater share of the footballing cake at the expense of all the other clubs.
It was they who were at the vanguard of creating the Premier League in the early 90's, which departed from the trickle down principles of the football pyramid and allowed the top division to negotiate its own TV deal, and more tellingly, keep the spoils for themselves.
It was they, along with many of their ancien regime peers, who created the G14 group of clubs. Essentially a lobbying group motivated by collective (and individual) self-interest who threatened UEFA with the prospect of a breakaway competition if their financial demands were not met.
When Liverpool fans talk about money their club has "earned", it is in the context of perpetual fixing of the rules, as above, to make sure the dice were loaded in Liverpool's favour to try and ensure their enduring success.
At every stage, as a club, they were motivated, not by the wider interests of the game, but by advancing their own commercial (and footballing) ends, ultimately at the expense of other, weaker, less powerful clubs. Concentrating more and more power and wealth at the very top of the game.
Against that backdrop and the riches (and profile) that was to be bestowed upon anyone operating in that arena, is it any surprise that wealthy and powerful men cast their eyes upon the scene and considered the possibilities? Is it any wonder that global movers and shakers wanted a piece of that glory to feed their own egos and sense of ambition?
This was the inevitable consequence of a conflation of the journey Liverpool embarked upon (and agitated for) some three decades ago, with the rise of the global village and all the technology that accompanies it. Liverpool as a club, again and again, moved the pieces on the board to suit their own ends, but they failed to account for forces they could not hope to contain.
If Liverpool supporters want to look anywhere to apportion blame for that thing many of them seem to so greatly despise, " modern football", then their own club is as culpable as any.
Here endeth the 'istree lesson.
