New Liverpool owner John W Henry has admitted he faces a tough task in reviving the club’s fortunes but is confident the Reds will again be able to compete with the best soon (Liverpool 11/1 to be relegated).
Henry’s NESV group finally became the new owners of the Merseysiders on Friday following several nervy days of court battles both in the High Court in London and in Texas as former custodians, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, attempted to block the reported £300m deal.
Henry, who initially said he would not be watching the Merseyside derby at Everton on Sunday but in the end was at Goodison Park for the 2-0 defeat, admitted there is plenty of work to be done to get the club back among the elite – both on and off the pitch.
“What am I thinking? How much work this is going to be. How steep the learning curve is going to be. This is not going to be easy,” he said.
“We realise the challenge that lies ahead if we are going to go toe to toe with the other big clubs.
“We are not asking for a long honeymoon. This is a contact sport we are in and the going can get rough sometimes. We realise that.”
Henry plans to meet Liverpool fans’ groups in the next few days to listen to their concerns but he insisted he has a good track record in reviving sports clubs and hopes the success NESV have enjoyed with the Boston Red Sox can be emulated at Anfield.
“We are not going to make any promises but we are going to listen and consider,” he added in the Liverpool Echo.
“There were big financial issues but in the end we made a decision we really wanted to compete at this level.
“I don’t have ‘Sheikh’ in front of my name but we look at revenues in sports as being the ability to send out a strong team on the field.
“When we arrived at the Red Sox, the New York Yankees were a juggernaut and it wasn’t that much of rivalry.
“I believe we turned it into a rivalry where we have gone toe to toe with the Yankees even though they have got a much higher revenue.
“They keep going up but we have gone up faster. When we looked at Liverpool, the first thing that struck us was there are opportunities here to really build a winner.”
Liverpool’s revival on the pitch cannot come quickly enough following a shocking start that was compounded by the derby defeat on Sunday, but they have a Europa League clash next up on Thursday when they go to Italy to face Napoli (Liverpool 10/1 – Europa League Outright).
Under-pressure boss Roy Hodgson has yet to lose in Europe this term but the Reds’ dismal Premier League form so far has left his side second bottom of the table, ahead of West Ham but only on goal difference.
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