Having fought with the somewhat militant Trade Unions during his tenure with British Airways and with a senior post within the Confederation of British Industry, he is credible, has powerful backing, and is successful. He would, under no circumstances, put his reputation on the line were he not convinced of his success. Crucial to this success is Clause 81 in the Company Articles of Liverpool Football Club, which states:-
Each director appointed to the office of chairman of the board of directors of the Company may appoint any person as a director of the Company and may remove any director (other than George N Gillett Jnr and/or Thomas O Hicks) Any appointment or removal shall be made in writing and signed by the then current chairman.
Not being a legal expert, I can only surmise, but indications are that Broughton has not attempted to remove either of the owners from the board, whilst Gillett and Hicks have not given written notice of the removals of Purslow and Ayres, and not had it ratified by the chairman, Broughton.
Without looking too far ahead of ourselves, and any scepticism is perfectly understandable, New England Sports Ventures potentially represent exactly the type of owners that Liverpool supporters crave.
They have a very strong track record, having purchased the Boston Red Sox for £430m in 2002. Having not won the World Series since 1918, the Red Sox returned to prominence winning the Championship just two years into their tenure in 2004. Fans should respond well to an owner who has constantly emphasised the historical traditions of the Boston Red Sox whilst making significant investment into the club and presiding over 2 championship seasons. John W. Henry is known for being passionate, but very reserved, and unlikely to interfere in technical sporting areas. Upon arrival in Boston, he famously said:-
“Win a World Series? That’s not my choice, it’s my role, it’s my obligation to New England, that’s what I’ve been charged with. When you bid on the Red Sox, the challenge you’re undertaking is nothing short of winning the World Series.”
If his commitment is to be nothing short of Premier League success, then most Koppites will engage with him. They have invested highly in attracting star names to Fenway Park, to include David Ortiz, Curt Schilling and Daisuke Matsuzaka. In terms of the stadium, they spent over 200m to refurbish Fenway, which remains the smallest in MLB but one which is notorious for being a difficult place for opposing teams. In this regard, although the Red Sox remained at Fenway, Henry has shown that he will invest appropriately, and in the case of Anfield this would hopefully be the new stadium.
It is clear that John W. Henry and NESV have the pedigree to become very successful and highly regarded owners of Liverpool Football Club. However, they have much to prove to the supporters of the club, who are understandably sceptical and are passionate to protect the future of their club. They need to engage and communicate with supporters from an early stage, and must prove not only that they have the club’s best interests at heart, but also that they are committed to it as a real priority.
I doubt that even Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte had as eventful a 48 hours as those experienced by Liverpool supporters. They have become accountants, lawyers, judges, sceptics and baseball fans in the space between sunset and sunrise. The future of the club remains in doubt but there is hope on which to grasp.
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Very well written and informative article
Most of this is common knowledge and if you dig and do you research and your a true liverpool fan then you will already know and understand whats going on and all or most of the hype around most crap that gets put to the public in all but most of this countries papers.
broughton said please take whats in the news as a pinch of salt, not many unless very well connected, would have know naff all about the red sox with regards to the them taking over at liverpool, kraft was linked yes that was global stuff and still does remain keen but the owners of the sox have come right out of the blue for 85-90 % of us, now thats worth writing about, not about the drival that every tom dick and harry wants to write about a club such as LFC.
SOONER WE HAVE NEW OWNERS WE CAN PUT TO BE THIS MEDIA, SCUM STUFF THAT INDEED HAS BEEN A HUGE PROBLEM TO THE IMAGE OF THIS GREAT CLUB, FANS WILL ALSO SETTLE DOWN AND TALK ABOUT FOOTBALL, AND THE CLUB WILL BE WELL RUN AND THEN THE REAL FANS CAN GET ON WITH DEALING WITH THE SAME OLD ANTI LIVERPOOL FEELING THAT THIS COUNTRY HAS TO LFC BUT AT LEAST WILL NOT HAVE OWNERS TRYING TO GET US TOO!!!!
Samuel Charles. On 4/10/10 you posted a comment. Until we sell this club fans should boycott games and demonstrate loudly outside the ground. Didn’t sound to me that you were calmly waiting for Broughton to go quietly about the business of selling the club. You’re missing the point – blogs are for us all to argue, and moan and tell the world our opinions are the right ones. I liked this article too.
A quote from another forum suggests something else…
“Ask the people of South Florida what they think of him… in particular the fans of the Florida Marlins. He pretty much used the Marlins as stepping stone to buying a title contender in Boston. The Montreal Expos were losing money and the owner wanted out. The Marlins were losing money and Henry wanted out. The Boston Red Sox were stuck in a losing rut, but still a marquee franchise and Henry had his eye on that team. Major League Baseball bought the losing Expos (imagine, the league buying a team from an owner) from Jeffrey Loria, so that Loria in turn could buy the Marlins from Henry. Henry then leveraged those two sales into the purchase of the Red Sox.
I’m sure baseball was happy (especially since it subsequently moved the Expos/Nationals to DC and sold the team) to new ownership. But ask the fans in Florida if they didn’t feel used by everybody involved. At the end of the day the whole thing just smacked a bit too mercenary for me to feel comfortable with him being involved with my club”.
Until the dust settles, we live in hope that this IS the right purchase…
YNWA
do you really think the new lfc stadium has cost an estimated 50 million pounds, when no building work has even been done ? but that amount went out of the club it seems. that is only one item, add to this the debt repayments.
Is it possible to boycott watching LFC matches at home?all
fans must unite & have their opinions heard.
We dun wanna get into administration. We dun wan G&H to continue as owners.We dun wan the sales to have to go to court.we want the sale to conclude immediately
i say, stop watching the matches at Anfield until matter resolved & G&H removed.
@tinydino Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. Any boycott would be futile now and would have had to have taken place months ago. The sale cannot conclude immediately until the courts have judged, and the only way we will go into administration is in the event that the judge votes in favour of H&G. This will most likely be decided before the next match at Anfield hence any boycott would serve no purpose.
@Matt @Jim @theoldkoproar @Red Side Thanks all for your thoughtful & constructive comments.
LFC will go into administration if G&H continue to block the sale & interest on debt is not repaid by 15-Oct.tat’s like a week away.not sure bout the court system in UK cos from i’m from, it takes months before anything is even presented to court let alone making a decision..
All fans shud go ahead wit boycotting anfield IF the sale din go thru becos of G&H..which means back to square one..