Liverpool buyers have winning legacy with Red Sox

To paraphrase Liverpudlian legend John Lennon, all the Boston Red Sox owners are saying to sceptical Liverpool FC fans is give them a chance.

A deal by New England Sports Ventures to purchase debt-saddled Liverpool for 477 million dollars was not made lightly by 61-year-old hedge-fund billionaire John Henry and partner Tom Werner, a television producer.

“Our objective is to stabilize the club and ultimately return Liverpool FC to its rightful place in English and European football, successfully competing for and winning trophies,” they said in a statement.

Liverpool supporters can be forgiven for worries about trading one set of American owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, for another, especially with fan protests against the Glazers, the wealthy US family that own Manchester United.

Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool in 2007 and have vowed to fight the sale in court because they see the Red Sox offer as too cheap.

For many Merseysiders, it’s no thanks to more Yanks.

But Henry and Werner hope to move beyond anti-American feelings and make the club a winner again and Irish native Tim Treacy, chairman of the 300-member Liverpool FC Supporters Club of Boston, likes the idea.

“I’m encouraged because I’ve seen what they’ve been able to do with the Red Sox,” Treacy told the Boston Globe. “Henry knows how to make money and he’s not afraid to spend it on players.”

The Red Sox spent 170 million dollars this season on a mix of top free agent talent and players developing in their minor-league system, trailing only the rival New York Yankees in payroll, but missed the playoffs for the second time in eight seasons.

Henry, Werner and Red Sox president Larry Lucchino took out a full-page newspaper advertisement apologizing to the team’s fans.

“There’s nothing like ‘October Baseball’ at Fenway Park. You miss it. We miss it. We want it back,” the ad said.

“While we fell short of our annual goal of reaching the post-season, we are proud nonetheless of the way this team conducted itself through serious adversity – showing grit, determination and a team-first attitude.

“We are also proud of you, our loyal fans. Through injury (and more injuries) and after hard-to-swallow losses, you continued to fill Fenway Park and support the team… When we were struggling, you were there.

“We work for you. Our players play for you. It gives us immense pride to do so. You are the rock on which this franchise is built. We know the best way to honour you is not merely to thank you, but to go out and honour our fundamental commitment to field an excellent team in 2011.

“We can do better. We will do better. We are committed to winning. For you, for us, for the whole of Red Sox Nation.”

They might as well have repeated the Liverpool FC motto – “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.

In fact, they have had to reassure Red Sox fans that dabbling in the English Premier League will not dim the commitment to baseball excellence.

Liverpool, who are 18-time English champions but have not won it for 20 years, is off to its worst start in 57 years and the Reds, founded in 1892, are struggling in the relegation zone.

In 2002, Henry took over a Red Sox club that had not won the World Series since 1918 and some considered cursed. The Red Sox ended an 86-year drought by winning the crown in 2004 and repeated the feat in 2007.

The Red Sox also listened to supporters and spent 250 million dollars to renovate historic Fenway Park, the oldest stadium in Major League Baseball dating to 1912, rather than rip it down in favor of a new stadium.

There are now luxury boxes and seats atop the fabled left-field wall known as the “Green Monster” but such breaks with tradition enabled the team to boost seating capacity without losing the mystique of history, a factor Henry will surely consider in Liverpool’s debate to renovate Anfield or build a new home.

Henry, Werner and Lucchino bought the Red Sox for 660 million dollars in 2001 and have not feared change, making Theo Epstein the youngest manager in Major League Baseball at age 28 and adopting a statistics-to-salary model for team building detailed in the book “Moneyball”.