At Anfield this week are Bayern Munich, that habitually successful organisation with an enviably democratic ownership structure and such a hold on the Bundesliga title that one imagines that giant silver plate sits unremarked upon on their sideboard, a part of the office scenery. Somewhere to put the mail, or the place Karl-Heinz Rummenigge leaves his car keys.

They have won the German title 16 times since Liverpool were last English champions, and the last six have come in the past six years. Their president, Uli Hoeness, said last week that Bayern very nearly appointed Jurgen Klopp in 2008, which is no surprise because they have either signed or appointed just about every successful player and coach to come out of Germany, even if the scrutiny in recent times has been about those they missed.

At the annual general assembly of Bayern’s membership in November, which has to limit attendance from the club’s 291,000 members, Hoeness was given the kind of slapdown to which even a man whom a prison sentence could not dislodge from the club is unaccustomed. He was taken to task by one of the club’s rank and file members, Johannes Bachmayr, a 33-year-old lawyer and amateur footballer, who launched an excoriating attack on Bayern’s leadership.

Hoeness, 67, has recently marked 40 years in senior positions at Bayern where he played before injury cut his career short – including that brief sabbatical in prison for tax fraud from June 2014 to February 2016.

Bayern are controlled by their members, who account for 75 per cent of their ownership, with the rest in the hands of long-term commercial partners Audi, Allianz and Adidas. But there is growing concern about the club’s future with a board of figures from Germany’s corporate elite, and perceived as allies of Hoeness.