JOHN HENRY — who remains the Principal Owner of Liverpool Football Club — once said: “I think the biggest issue was the sense of disenfranchisement and their sense of not being a part of their own club, so that’s what we discussed. This was a big first step.”
He was speaking in October 2010 after meeting Liverpool supporters groups following what was then known as NESV securing a takeover of the club.
If Henry found fans to be at a low ebb back then it was understandable. Shafted by Hicks and Gillett. Managed by Hodgson. Beaten by Everton. Nineteenth in the table. Dark days.
“We realise the challenge that lies ahead if we are going to go toe to toe with the other big clubs,” added Henry then.
“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.”
Let’s leave the turd unpolished — lately, the going has been rough. Not 2010 days, of course, but enough to have swathes of Liverpool’s support questioning the club’s direction again.
Two wins in nine at the end of the season. Weak performances against West Brom, Hull, Palace and — of course – Stoke; a day best forgotten, a match easily remembered. In your nightmares.
Add just one win in a relatively easy Champions League group, the Europa League exit and the dismal FA Cup semi against Villa.
Given the unprecedented £117million transfer spend on nine players the previous summer, and a record reading nine seasons with only the League Cup to show for it, it was no great surprise when the bookies made it a banker that Brendan Rodgers would soon be clearing his desk when Tom Werner and Michael Gordon came to town.
After all the Americans had form.
Instead, after a couple of hours of what were described as “good and productive” talks it was revealed “a comprehensive plan for improvement” had been agreed.
The phrases favoured by men in suits, shirts and ties arrived in the public domain encased in quotation marks but attributed to nobody. Nothing more has been revealed about that “comprehensive plan” since, although it soon became clear it included P45s for Mike Marsh and Colin Pascoe.
Since then, silence. John Henry seems to have lost interest, the visits curtailed, the tweets no more, and Michael Gordon, FSG’s Liverpool man, favours the low profile and even knocked back an interview with the Boston Globe, a newspaper owned by Henry.
It’s left a vacuum, a gap. A place where supporters are speculating what the plan is, or indeed whether there is one. It seems unlikely Rodgers bulleted his coaching staff, particularly given his close relationship with Pascoe. So why was the decision taken? What is Rodgers’ role now? Is the coaching the only aspect of football operations where changes are being considered? What about the transfer committee? If the No.2 that is chosen — by ‘mutual decision’ of Gordon, Werner and Rodgers, according to the local press — is too strong, too purposeful, are we about to usher in another Roy Evans/Gerard Houllier situation?
These aren’t the only questions circulating on a daily basis. There’s the bigger picture stuff, too. Are we walking the walk of a big club? Going toe to toe? If it’s a contact sport it feels like we’ve been on the canvas after swinging some pretty big punches the season before last.
But right now the corner man isn’t offering any advice as we prepare to go back out for another round. And as talent and experience continues to leave Liverpool with alarming regularity, fears increase that we’ll be fighting with one hand tied behind our back.
More than two weeks have passed since Marsh was told to take up walking the dog full time. Pascoe was left examining his shorts collection shortly after.
No explanation. No announcement. No justification. Nothing. Zilch. Silence. Nada.
Rewind back to 2010. One of the perceived plus points of the arrival of Henry and Co. on these shores was their willingness to communicate. They were seen as open and honest — the polar opposite of their hated predecessors from the Land of Opportunity.
Email Q&As, breakfast with supporters, phone-ins on LFCtv — we had communication from the owners coming out of our ears. It felt fresh. It seemed positive. The mood lifted.
It carried on for a time. Open letters. Statements. Interviews. Tweets.
But all of a sudden the silence is deafening. Henry was last seen in L4 in February. No asking what City, United or anyone else interested in Raheem Sterling is smoking. No show for Steven Gerrard’s last game and a similar noticeable by absence moment at Wembley.
So what’s changed? When did saying nothing become the strategy?
Henry has in the past praised the city of Liverpool for ‘a culture of toughness, intelligence and creativity’. Equally, he is an intelligent man. You would presume Gordon is too.
That being the case, and aided and abetted by the club’s communications team, you would guess that they have predicted the reaction, and the accusations, that have followed their decision to stay schtum.
Why would they say anything, you might ask. Why should they say anything, some people say. What other owners would speak in these circumstances, others have said.
How about John Henry?
Three thousand miles from Anfield, Henry is watching over another sports team’s crisis at the Boston Red Sox. They recently lost seven in a row, and unrest among fans has been building for some time.
Christopher L. Gasper wrote in the Boston Globe: “How bad does it have to get before someone in a position of authority or influence on 4 Yawkey Way decides to act, whether that’s changing the manager, recalibrating the roster or altering philosophical course?
“The Sox appear stuck in a state of organisational inertia, preaching patience, spouting platitudes, clinging to hope, and losing games. Rinse and repeat.
“There has to be an attempt to shake this team from its torpor. It’s not about finding a fall guy. It’s about trying to salvage a season that is quickly slipping into irrelevance. Trying anything is preferable to doing nothing.”
Sound familiar?
Within that climate, did Liverpool’s principal owner adopt the ostrich approach? Pull down the shutters and offer the bird? No. He faced the music and answered questions direct in front of an army of reporters.
Ballsy. Bold. And evidence of leadership and direction.
Is it too much to ask to see something similar at Liverpool sometime soon?
“Reversing the errors of previous regimes” no longer washes as an excuse. This is FSG’s club, with FSG’s players and FSG’s manager, transfer committee and executives.
Five years into Liverpool under FSG, we’re seeing a new Main Stand rise above The Kop but the people who regularly grace the former famous terrace wonder how soon the clapping executive-types paying thousands of pounds to fill the structure will see silverware paraded on the pitch in front of them.
To say supporters again feel ‘disenfranchised’ is perhaps a bit much, particularly as generalising about the feelings of thousands is always a dangerous game. But what many fans — myself included — would like to see is more evidence of a ‘club’.
Early in his time at Liverpool Brendan Rodgers said: “The template I will put down will be about organisation, on and off the field. What we are trying to do is organise the club so there is a one-club mentality and one shared vision going forwards.”
He also said: “When I became a manager I always wanted to go into a club with a clear philosophy, so it’s clear in terms of where everyone is heading.”
Does this describe Liverpool FC right now? From the outside — because that’s where fans have been left on this — it looks to be more ideal than reality.
What’s the plan? It would be lovely to hear it. Mr Gordon? Mr Henry? Mr Werner? Anyone?
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Couldn’t agree more with the sentiment. I’m actually not bothered about seeing JWH & Co sitting in the stands but I am pissed off by the wall of silence from the club being filled by the media and ex players (Carra announcing a new coach today I see).
From top to bottom we hear the soundbites. It reminds me of the saying “that when all is said and done a lot more is said than done”.
The club feels rudderless at the moment, certainly on the playing side. JWH needs a kick up the arse but as he is top of the pile then there is no one to do that.
It’s worrying.
I think this situation calls for a good slice of patience..I’m as baffled as everyone by the deafening silence, however maybe everyone has to take a step back & wait before drawing hasty guns or conclusions.Football today is big money business..just look at the FIFA scandal…we have to appreciate certain perspectives..FSG took over a sick club…now we have seen a great 13/14 title challenge…and work on Anfield is very real ! This is not an FSG apology but they’re not all bad & certainly not responsable for the poor football of last season…they provided the money for players who just didn’t perform…same problem at the Redsox…sometimes owners cannot be blamed for everything. Would we be happier if they sacked Rodgers, bought players like Falcao and Di Maria ?? Yes, some would say but where is the guarantee that Klopp or Ancelloti would be better. Maybe for a while until we lose 4 or 5 matches on the trot…a possible when you look at the 15/16 fixtures..! I honestly think they don’t have the solution & neither do we…LFC has a great history but history is not a surefire guarantee to 3 points every match…let everyone take a breather & wait for the beginning of the season..we’ll have a sneak preview with the pre season tour & I guess they also are unwilling to talk until they have something concrete to talk about & not just hopes & promises…a stuff which keeps newspapers & fans alive but rarely gets you anywhere near the top. Anyway I love TAW and LFC whatever happens YNWA !
I dont care that they dont care but I do care that they are so disrespectful of us, that they havent employed people to do the job that people who run football clubs do.
Are we trying to be the best? If we are, then look at Bayern and how their club is ran..compare that to ours.
That would lead me to believe that they dont care about us being the best and they just want to do the bare minimum that keeps our perceived potential high but never take the risks to actually reach it.
Actions speak louder than words.
I want the owners to go about their business quietly, put their new plan in place, and then after we have all the new staff and players in, then I want to hear part of the plan that we need to hear, I don’t want them to over promise and under deliver. I also don’t want them revealing too much to our competitors.
The owners originally said they would under promise and over deliver, talk is cheap, let’s let them, Rodgers, his staff and players get to work and start the season with wins.
One thing that’s crossed my mind recently is whether Henry feels he’s fit enough to run the club. I don’t really know the details of what happened on his yacht except that he needed an ambulance called. Maybe this is the reason, he personally, has taken a back seat. Maybe this is why Gordon has taken over and maybe it’s just his way to be discreet. I don’t know and I don’t even know if Henry’s illness coincides with his going quiet. It’s just Something I wondered about. Still no excuse for the silence of FSG regardless.
He hurt his neck (possibly his back). A neck brace was applied by paramedics and he was transported to a nearby hospital, treated and and released within a couple hours. Liverpool fans would be a lot better off if they stopped trying to make something out of nothing.
Why should John W Henry or Tom Werner say anything when no matter what they say fans will twist and turn it into something they can relentlessly criticise and moan about or use to support some warped agenda against the manager or the ‘Yank’ owners. And the biased London-based media — most of whom support London-based clubs or United — will use it all gleefully against Liverpool. They don’t have to come up with their own ideas when our fan base gives them such rich material with which to mock and belittle us.
Why should John W Henry post anything on Twitter when EVERY Tweet his lovely WIFE tries to post — even when it has nothing to do with LFC — results in a barrage of ugly abuse directed at her — and by extension her husband?
Why should FSG say anything to a fan base that is increasingly vile, bitter, unreasonable, and unwilling to acknowledge even the great good that has occurred in the past 5 years — a fan base that is consumed with suspicion and negativity and addicted to looking for everything to whinge about? A fan base that turns against its own club’s players before they even pull on the shirt.
This article is another example of the attitude “what can the club give to me” rather than “what can I give to my club.” And that attitude — with only a couple exceptions — is increasingly reflected in the attitude of the players in their contract negotiations. When they came out onto the pitch at Hull and looked up at a nearly empty away end, surely it went through every one of their minds — the fans care predominantly about themselves, not about us, so why should we care about them?
Yeah, there’s trouble at the club and in the dressing room, but it has nothing to do with how FSG conducts its business or with the current manager. The trouble making is in the stands. Make no mistake — in the end the fans will reap the bitter fruits of what their sour attitude and actions set in motion.
FSG should engage with supporters because supporters are stakeholders in the club. Because you’ve witnessed a very small minority of fans behave in a certain way it doesn’t mean all fans behave in this manner so why even suggest that?
As for looking up at the stands at Hull, please. If Steve Bruce can understand why fans are protesting against ticket prices it’s surely not beyond the players to do the same.
And if the ‘biased’ media is a consideration, FSG have their own. The club has its own. They can communicate and have done in the past. See ‘open letter to supporters’. They are now choosing not to.
Please don’t take my comments personally, Gareth. You know I admire your TAW contributions. My comments are an expression of the frustration I feel at how depressing it has generally become to read constant criticism of every aspect of the club’s business — on the pitch and off.
Yes, the fans are stakeholders. I know a lot about stakeholders from the work I do. Unless they want to diminish and ultimately lose what they have chosen to have a stake in, they don’t engage in activities that undermine it. Instead, they throw all their passion, energy, and effort into supporting it positively and constructively.
It’s true that what happens on Twitter represents a small percentage of the overall fan base. But it only takes a small number of disaffected people to gather into a crowd large enough to be noticed. That was quite obvious at Hull. And it took only one person (or perhaps a few) to organise those planes flying over Anfield, but it lingered in the print and broadcast media for many news cycles, mostly used against the club.
I’ve seen many decent, respectable fans stop communicating and interacting on social media because they don’t wish to be exposed to the bitter ugliness of the ‘few’. The media picks up on what’s left and uses it as representative of the whole.
Respect is a two-way street. If fans want FSG to and communicate with them openly and respectfully, then the fans need to treat the Owners with respect, instead of pre-judging what they haven’t even actually said — and judging negatively every detail of everything they do say, not to mention making fantasised assumptions that have no basis in fact or reality.
Again, this is not directed at you or TAW. It’s a general reaction to what I have observed over a broad swath of commentary I’ve read and heard in recent months in a variety of places.
Yeah, it’s all the fans fault, Ellie.
Not the professionals like Rodgers and his merry men who are paid multi-millions every year to achieve positive results for the club. Not FSG, who are merely custodians of the club and are expected to make the right decisions to bring the club silverware..
It’s all the fans fault; the bricklayers, the plumbers, the electricians, the shop boys, the teachers, the techies and the cleaners; the very people who pay their hard earned money to support the club through thick and thin and manage to still make it the 8th richest in the world despite not winning a domestic title in a quarter of a century.
Pull the other one with your deliberate attempts at deflection.
Alan, you have completely missed the point of my comment and at the same time you have proved my point.
Ellie wrote “Yeah, there’s trouble at the club and in the dressing room, but it has nothing to do with how FSG conducts its business or with the current manager. The trouble making is in the stands.”
There’s no mistaking your point, Ellie. Deflection of responsibility from those in control of the club who make the decisions that decide the fate of the club. A weak attempt at deflection it was too.
You might recall a man called Rafa Benitez being booed and heckled while Chelsea manager. He still got 3rd and won the Uefa cup. You see, Ellie, quality professionals get the job done on the field irrespective of the fans’ moods. So your lectures about the fans are rather missing the point.
It’s not the majority of fans that are “vile” and the other derogatory words that you use. It’s a minority. The Internet makes it look worse than it is as those views get the most air.
Most fans are good Reds that want to support the club. The same fans that waged a war against H&G and hounded them out of the club. Is it any wonder that those same fans are wary of any owner going forward. We have no issue with Yanks (as you put it) owning the club. What we want are good honest owners.
Of course there are always going to be some who will never be satisfied. As a long time supporter of the club I can remember there being a fan element like this in the 70’s and 80’s. They just didn’t have the ability to spread their views so widely.
As far as FSG communicating with the fans and whether they should or not. My view is they should. I hate to see news of sackings in the media and the club saying nothing about it. I hate to see ex-players apparently knowing who the next appointment will be and making it public. Current and ex-players commenting on coaches being let go just puts the club in a poor light.
FSG should ditch their Twitter accounts and communicate openly with the fans through the club website.
“Yeah, there’s trouble at the club and in the dressing room, but it has nothing to do with how FSG conducts its business or with the current manager. The trouble making is in the stands.”
Great to see Ellie’s bullshit getting taken to pieces here (also sad she can’t have a disagreement with a TAW contributor without sandwiching her stupidity between paragraphs of brown nosing and sycophancy).
Go and look at her previous comments…..the fans are at fault or partially at fault for everything. We should all go to Anfield and cheer and applaud no matter what shit is dished up before us. We should never ever criticise anything to do with LFC, otherwise we aren’t true supporters. We should all be happy. We are fans of Liverpool Football Club. That makes us lucky enough so how dare we demand a competent manager or owners with a clearly defined plan. Its a disgrace we as fans and stakeholders, demand some success. By her reckoning we should have got right behind Hicks and Gillett and Hodgson. How dare we protest and wish for all three to be removed. We should have applauded them and sung their names. Then everything would have been fine.
I wonder was Ellie around in the early 80’s when Kenny got abuse during a bad run of form or when the Kop was silent as we grinded out yet another game 2-0 at home to relegation fodder with no flair or imagination. I somehow doubt it as the invention of the internet and twitter seems to be why Liverpool fans are so vile and as a result why LFC has failed for a decade now.
No wonder she didn’t respond to Alan’s last comment.
Leanne, running the risk of brown nosing but I do admire your contributions, particularly this reply. Well said!
What rubbish. FSG saw what the cancers were like and came out refreshingly different. That was until they became bored with their latest asset on the books. FSG don’t give a shit about the club, it’s just another leverage vehicle and brand in their portfolio. They couldn’t even be bothered to attempt Gerrard’s last game for the club, and regardless of what you thought of the man’s form, FSG were a disgrace for not taking a luxury flight to clap him off the pitch for the very last time.
FSG may not be H&G, but you can bet your bottom rounders playing dollar, they’ll be flipping the club once the ground problem is off the books (and added to the asset column, along with projected income).
Anyone else think that they’ll sell up as soon as the mainstand has been completed or they get a good enough offer?
Thinking that they’ve lost interest.If they were going to be serious from day one I would have though that competent people with experience of running a top level football club would have been appointed at every level on and off the pitch.
Talk is cheap actions are way more important.
How many interviews do Abramovich, the Glazers, Kroenke or the Sheikh do? Do we want owners who are “engaged” with the fan base like the porn brothers at West Ham?
The CEO’s/MD’s of all of the other clubs do at most a couple of interviews a year. Seriously, do you see Gazidis, Emanalo or Ed Woodward out in front of the cameras on a weekly basis updating the fanbase on the current strategy? Those guys show up in the media at most a couple times a year and all of the interviews are on their terms, ie. no hard questions, pure fluff.
The clubs you mention aren’t sacking people without explanation though are they?
I’m sure some of these clubs have sacked people and put out the “nothing to see here” & “move along now” signs at some stages,
Has it not always been like this at the club?
Was Peter Robinson giving briefs regularly back in the day?
Back in the day is unfortunately not applicable to football in 2015. There’s more money, more media attention, and Liverpool didn’t exist in a world where they’d had their fingers burnt by a set of owners in recent history. Communication with stakeholders is a major part of any big organisation and the very same group is approaching things very differently on different sides of the pond.
Chelsea certainly have done and then given very minimal reasons – United have had 2 managerial changes in 25 years or so and again say very little and Arsenal have had Wenger for ever!!
In all honesty what are they going to say – its normally something along the lines of mutual consent etc.
I would like more communication but only if it actually means anything and isnt PR drivel.
Gareth has summed up what a lot of us are feeling just now.And Ellie,I think you are missing the point if you don’t mind me saying so.
The idea that fans commenting on these issues (and there are numerous issues) are causing mass outbreaks of hysteria and negativity couldn’t be further from the truth.
I could be wrong but my guess is that the vast majority of commentators, here and elsewhere,have no inside knowledge of the Club.We comment on reports and speculation on TV,Radio and Newspapers.We also watch the games and form our opinions from all those influences.
The problem as I see it,taking all those sources into account,is that we now have an image which is sinking fast. Any official comment from the Club at this stage will surely make matters worse.It would probably make “headline” news rather than just the sports pages.Every word subject to intense scrutiny and speculation and interpretation.
Maybe best just to keep schtum;heads down and get off to a flying start and don’t look back!
Been saying similar for a long time
The investors in the FSG Hedge Fund have NO interest in “soccer” they are interested in making money
The fact that they are in the USA means that they have a little more interest in baseball and the Boston Globe
What is clear is they are in it to make money
They have pretty much maximised the revenue stream that is sponsorship and outside investment
They are investing in building on the main stand as they say an immediate increase in income once built ( thus increasing the perceived value of the business
Where they have failed, is the third revenue stream – buying players to win things ( clearly not the owner’s fault) and I am guessing they will not want to throw much more money in that direction given the returns compared to sponsorship and rebuilding
I further think the FSG Hedge Fund will want to unload this particular investment (LFC) as soon as the new stand is producing income, and it worries me the spending on the field will be non existent before then
Why are they owners quiet ? Well they know all questions they would be fielding would be rather negative at the moment!
I completely agree with your sentiment, LFC is purely a portfolio investment, they have no personal feeling for the club at all….they bought it as a fire sale, just hours or days away from going into administration, they have applied good business practices to it with a view to increasing it’s value before selling it on upon completion of the ground improvements being completed.
With the “relaxing’ of FFP which was basically their only means of hanging onto the coat-tails of the Big Four, they have now lost the protection that FFP provided them….and rumor has it that they are in discussions currently with potential Middle East buyers….which might explain a lot of what has happened since the last game of last season!!.
Actually, I’ve never felt more disenfranchised by LFC as I do now.
I think they’re in the “don’t give a shit coz we’re selling soon” mode
Any sign of a new backroom staff…no?
Keep asking questions – to the club/Ayre/Gordon/Werner/Rodgers/etc, by any method – and publish details of those questions and how many times they are asked – a bit like the often heard ‘we asked for an interview but no one from the company/government/etc was available for comment’ and shame them into responding – eventually the national press will pick it up and things will happen.
Firmino motherfuckers
I firmly believe the worst ownership of British clubs,is by the Americans. FSG have appointed “yes men” in Ayre and Rodgers so that suits them. Imagine a takeover by Aramco for example; Ayre and Rodgers would be chopped immediately. We have a useless MD who flies around the world then screws up a deal over pennies; a manager who is an egomaniac and has a poor track record. It’s clear FSG did not revise he defensive records at former clubs. If Rodgers was not British, the press would crucify him. Three seasons of failure is his Liverpool record. Houllier and Rafa were Premiership runners-up too, but they weren’t British.
The club is certainly not moving forward on the pitch. In commercial terms, we’re catching up but on the pitch, a definite no. No leaders in the squad, no defenders, no defensive midfielders. Mark my words, Rodgers will not win anything as he does not possess a winning mentality unlike Ancelotti who is by far, the best manager around. FSG are clearly displaying an Ageist policy that is extremely un-pc for Americans and holding us back in the transfer market.
Ancelotti would win a trophy within two season for us; build a squad with a winning mentality and we would have an experienced coach who compete in Europe,not get humiliated as in the case of Rogers.Our European displays under Rodgers were comical. inexperienced, unfit to manage a big club,this guy has to go.
No other big club would factor Ancelotti’s age against hiring him….this shows FSG’s ambition, or lack of it! I hope the rumours about Aramco are true as they will invest in a squad of class, World Class players, and the chuckle brother (Ayre/Rodgers) will be chopped like the disrespect they have showed to Carra, Agger, Reina, Gerrard. The Academy will be heading in the right direction too as Rodgers’ input there, has been awful too.