It is impossible to calculate precisely the financial cost to Liverpool of their dire failure to qualify for the Champions League knockout stage but it is safe to assess it as several million pounds the club could have seriously done without losing.
Uefa has secured a significantly improved TV deal this season, from €820m (£740m) overall to €1.05bn (£948m), and dishes the money out according to the stage each club reaches and how far other clubs from that country advance too. The earlier other clubs go out, the greater the share of the TV "market pool" which accrues to the clubs left in the competition.
If, as is unlikely, England's three other clubs are knocked out in the next round, Liverpool's loss will be lessened. Last season, when Liverpool were eliminated in the quarter-final by Chelsea, and Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all reached the semi-final, Liverpool earned €23.2m from Uefa for their participation in the Champions League, which included around €8m for the knockout stage.
In addition to the Uefa money they will not earn, the club will also lose the bounty from guaranteed full houses on knockout-stage nights at Anfield; they may have to consider dropping ticket prices to bring in the crowds for Europa League fixtures.
It is difficult to avoid the sense that last night's exit represents more than a drop in form for Liverpool, partly explicable by injuries. There is a feeling that the club's hold on its place among English football's elite is weakening, with failures on the pitch married damagingly to the mess off it, where the two North American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, could hardly be less loved.
They saddled the club with the £174m cost of their own takeover, which was completed so they could build Liverpool a new stadium of which there is no sign. In the year to 31 July 2008 the Anfield club, previously considered too careful at times with money, had passed £300m in debt, and more than a year on, that financial position will look no prettier.
By May we will know how much last night's elimination from the Champions League cost Liverpool in lost euros as well as wounded pride. The club cannot make the outdated claim that they can now concentrate on the league but they do need to dedicate themselves to retaining their precious place in the Premier League's top four.
A failure to qualify for the Champions League at all will cause a truly serious financial loss next season. Then, they could begin to fall terminally away from United, Chelsea and Arsenal and the other big city pretenders finally closing in on that fourth place, the gateway to euro-riches.
Uefa has secured a significantly improved TV deal this season, from €820m (£740m) overall to €1.05bn (£948m), and dishes the money out according to the stage each club reaches and how far other clubs from that country advance too. The earlier other clubs go out, the greater the share of the TV "market pool" which accrues to the clubs left in the competition.
If, as is unlikely, England's three other clubs are knocked out in the next round, Liverpool's loss will be lessened. Last season, when Liverpool were eliminated in the quarter-final by Chelsea, and Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal all reached the semi-final, Liverpool earned €23.2m from Uefa for their participation in the Champions League, which included around €8m for the knockout stage.
In addition to the Uefa money they will not earn, the club will also lose the bounty from guaranteed full houses on knockout-stage nights at Anfield; they may have to consider dropping ticket prices to bring in the crowds for Europa League fixtures.
It is difficult to avoid the sense that last night's exit represents more than a drop in form for Liverpool, partly explicable by injuries. There is a feeling that the club's hold on its place among English football's elite is weakening, with failures on the pitch married damagingly to the mess off it, where the two North American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, could hardly be less loved.
They saddled the club with the £174m cost of their own takeover, which was completed so they could build Liverpool a new stadium of which there is no sign. In the year to 31 July 2008 the Anfield club, previously considered too careful at times with money, had passed £300m in debt, and more than a year on, that financial position will look no prettier.
By May we will know how much last night's elimination from the Champions League cost Liverpool in lost euros as well as wounded pride. The club cannot make the outdated claim that they can now concentrate on the league but they do need to dedicate themselves to retaining their precious place in the Premier League's top four.
A failure to qualify for the Champions League at all will cause a truly serious financial loss next season. Then, they could begin to fall terminally away from United, Chelsea and Arsenal and the other big city pretenders finally closing in on that fourth place, the gateway to euro-riches.
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