If Liverpool owner John Henry had a dime for every time he saw the words “Sign Reus” on Twitter, he’d be a little bit richer.
But even though German superstar Marco Reus is yet to pitch up at Anfield, don’t think the club’s top officials aren’t paying attention to fans’ thoughts on social media, however outlandish they might be.
The Merseyside club even employ staff specifically charged with monitoring the responses the Reds receive, chief executive Ian Ayre confirmed at the Web Summit in Dublin.
Asked by moderator Ken Early why Liverpool didn’t sign Reus, because ‘it seems like a good idea’, Ayre replied: “If we did everything that was said on social media, we wouldn’t get any work done.”
Nonetheless, when you do delve beyond the shouting, Ayre revealed that social media is becoming an increasingly useful tool for clubs to gauge the feeling among supporters.
“It’s about using it as a barometer, it’s a good tool to get a sense of what the feeling is out there.
“You’ve got very different and diverse people out there, the people who come to the games are slightly different to the millions of people who watch on TV. People who are further afield have a slightly different view sometimes.
“But when there’s a consistent and common message, either good or bad, then that’s a good indicator.”
“Just like any business,” Ayre added, “people do research, we have people who just look at what the messages are. That’s what you do. As any business you want to listen to your customers.”
So fans can get in touch with suggestions for the January transfer window then?
“Well, that doesn’t mean you go out and sign players, because it doesn’t happen like that,” Ayre said. “You’ll have whole different sections of fans thinking about different players.
“But if they are talking about what we did at a particular game or the manager then of course we look at that to get a sense of what’s happening.”
