00:00We need to start with the tragic passing, of course, of Diego Jota.
00:06How is everyone at the club taking this few weeks divorced from the tragic incident?
00:11Obviously, it's been unbelievably difficult the last couple of weeks since Diogo and Andre's passing.
00:19Obviously devastating for all of us at the club, even more so, of course, for his family.
00:25And so, you know, we're here in Asia on tour, but we're obviously staying in touch with the family.
00:32And we'll be remembering both Diogo and Andre before the matches while we're here in Asia.
00:39And then, of course, when we get back to the UK and talking to the family also about a more permanent tribute that we will have in time at Anfield as well.
00:49But just devastating, of course, and, you know, just tragically sad.
00:54He was just obviously a really gifted footballer, but a terrific person.
00:58And he's deeply missed.
01:01There's never going to be a perfect segue from something as tragic as this, I guess, to the point just to underscore certainly big shoes to fill on the field.
01:12And that takes us into really what's been also busy on your end this recent weeks.
01:18The transfer window has quite been busy.
01:20And you guys, I think what's stood out to many of the fans and many people who follow the club all over the world is suddenly the financial resources are there to be able to bolster the club on the pitch.
01:31Give us a sense of what's changed and why suddenly, why suddenly this big, you know, just a massive amount of activity in this transfer window.
01:40You know, there was there was equal noise last summer in the fact that we didn't spend very much.
01:44And so, look, our perspective is that we're always trying to improve the squad.
01:50That's the most important thing that we can do, certainly from a football perspective.
01:54The focus is on competing, winning trophies, putting the club in the best possible position to do that.
02:01There's always been, because of the business you're in, the speculation of the commitment of the owners, longer term commitment of the owners to the club.
02:10And I wonder if you could comment on that.
02:12You know, winning the Premier League, having, you know, won a number of trophies over the course of the last seven or eight seasons is proof positive that we're going in the right direction.
02:20But there's absolute commitment from ownership.
02:21Yeah, well, that's a good reminder for me to not follow a certain punditry.
02:27Let's put it that way.
02:28Well, I think the do you think the amount of money that's been committed to bolstering the capacities of the team on the field, should that address some of those concerns?
02:36Sometimes those investments look outsized in relation to other transfer windows.
02:42But again, it's all done from a strategic standpoint.
02:45And it's always done from the standpoint of trying to do what's best for the club at the end of the day,
02:49what's best for the club in the near term and what's best for the club in the long term.
02:53Now, let's talk about the business priorities this year.
02:56Let's talk about the next 12 months.
02:58What do you want to see?
02:59I would say on the business side, sort of more of the same.
03:01The retail side of our business is growing exponentially.
03:05We're just about to open our 20th standalone retail store, which is more standalone retail stores than any team in the world of sports.
03:11And we're partners with all star partners here in Hong Kong and across China.
03:15How far along are you in the planning there in terms of in terms of the Japan store, by the way?
03:19It's something that from our perspective, when we look at each individual market based on its merits.
03:25And in the case of Japan, we have a significant following there.
03:29And so really, it's about finding the right partner.
03:32The future of streaming.
03:34I want to get your sense of how you're looking at that as an opportunity.
03:38Is that something that's feasible right now within your within the near future?
03:41So from our perspective, I mean, ultimately, the Premier League controls all of the all the broadcast.
03:47What's the hope?
03:48What's the hope?
03:48Yeah.
03:48So I think, look, this is we're in an evolving media market, clearly.
03:52We'll see that over the course of the next, I would say, decade or so as the as the media continues to shift from what was previously sort of linear to now.
04:00What is more of a streaming concept as well.
04:02In terms of the transition from Klopp to has it that could not have gone better.
04:13And so the question I have is and this is something that a lot of CEOs deal with in terms of succession planning.
04:20You know, how do I replace a top performer with another top performer?
04:24Any advice on on on on how to be able to do that?
04:28Part of that is about planning.
04:30Part of that is about strategy.
04:31And part of that is having the time to get the right people in place.
04:36Being a manager or head coach of a football team is a little bit difficult is a little bit more difficult because typically you don't have that run up.
04:43But in our case, we obviously did.
04:44And as he said, it couldn't have gone better.
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