Thursday, October 13, 2011

Henry Knew Little About Reds

Liverpool owner John W Henry admits he knew 'virtually nothing' about the club or English football before completing a takeover in October 2010.

His Fenway Sports Group (FSG) helped to oust fellow Americans George Gillett and Tom Hicks from the Anfield boardroom last year.

Their arrival was greeted with much fanfare in the red half of Merseyside, with it felt that changes at the top were vital if the club were to move forward on and off the field.

FSG are set to celebrate their one-year anniversary as Liverpool owners on Saturday and believe they have made progress during that time.

New players have been drafted in, Kenny Dalglish has returned as manager and results have started to improve.

Henry is pleased with how his first 12 months at Anfield have unfolded, especially as he came into the post virtually blind to the challenge he was taking on.

He has, however, been a success in his homeland with the Boston Red Sox baseball team and believes parallels can be drawn between his two sporting enterprises.

Henry believes he can help revive Liverpool's fortunes both at home and abroad, but concedes that he knew little of the financial difficulties and the size of the task facing him when he arrived.

"We knew virtually nothing about Liverpool Football Club nor EPL (the Barclays Premier League)." He told The Guardian.

Tom Werner, who is now Liverpool's chairman, also had limited knowledge of the Reds, but claims to have been aware that FSG were buying into a global brand.

"I had been in sports so I was aware of the EPL and its strength globally," Werner said.

"But I didn't know the inner workings of it. I certainly knew about Manchester United."

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