Liverpool midfielder Joe Allen admits less patient owners may have sacked Brendan Rodgers after the club's sixth-placed finish last season.
Rodgers' assistant Colin Pascoe and coach Mike Marsh were both relieved of their duties by FSG last month after Liverpool relinquished their place in the Champions League after just one season.
Rodgers survived the inquest, but Allen admits he too could have paid the price for the Reds' failure under different owners. The 25-year-old, however, insists it's the players, rather than the manager, that were to blame.
"Yeah, of course, some owners may have been less tolerant after the way the season went. But the players we've got here are all honest players who take responsibility," said Allen.
"At the end of the day, we were the ones who let the supporters, the manager and the staff down - and ourselves down as well. It's as simple as that.
"So it's up to us to get back out there and get back to the levels we know we can reach."
Liverpool started last season slowly under Rodgers before putting together a good run of form through the mid part of the season only to suffer another collapse in the closing stages.
A 6-1 defeat at Stoke represented a humiliating end to the season for the Reds, and Allen admits the summer break has dragged as a result.
"The start of last season was disappointing for us," he said.
"We didn't start the way we would have liked. We turned it around at one point and had a good run from December through to March but in the last two months we dropped off again.
"To allow the standards and the levels to drop like that was what hurt the most.
"And when you end on a low like we did at Stoke, it's a really long summer. But thankfully we're back in now and everyone wants to set the record straight.
"It's no point looking back - last season is the past. It takes a while to get over disappointments like that, but our mentality now is to look forward.
"There's a lot of work to be done between now and the start of the season. It's been tough so far, which you'd expect.
"It is different with the new coaches on the staff and there have been changes to what we do - new faces will always bring that. But everyone is enjoying the sessions. Players and staff alike have been putting in the effort to ensure we start this season well.
"After last season, though, the players we've got here don't need extra motivation when they go out and wear the shirt. I wouldn't say there's added incentive after what happened at the end of last season, but we certainly want to make sure we hit the ground running this time around.
"That's why it was great to get back out there in Bangkok, having not played for a while. There was a good atmosphere for a pre-season game and everyone got 45 minutes, which is going to help us."
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