It might have escaped the notice of some Liverpool fans, but Reds co-owner John W Henry has been a very busy man in transfer market over the last week or so. I must point it however, not in football but in baseball. The Boston Red Sox have made two significant trades in the past week to ensure they have a better 2011, but the cost of their two signings will amount to no less than $300million over seven years.
Last Monday it was formally announced that first baseman Adrian Gonzalez (pictured right alongside Theo Epstein) was traded from the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox which sees four young prospects, including outfielder Reymond Fuentes, right-hander Casey Kelly and first baseman Anthony Rizzo, moving in the other direction. On top of that, multiple sources believe that Gonzalez will sign a contract rumoured to be worth $154 million over seven years.
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The Reds Sox were not done there though, and two days later, they signed Carl Crawford from the Tampa Bay Rays, which will see the outfielder get an estimated $142million over seven years. It is a big commitment from the Boston Red Sox and although the Baseball team do have the second largest turnover in the MLB, it does indicate that John W Henry and the Fenway Sports Group are willing to pay out large amounts for players in the prime of their careers. While Gonzalez has been an all star selection in the last three years, Crawford has been a selection in three of the last four years.
Many Liverpool fans will be hoping that such a policy will be translated to the Reds in the near future. One word of caution though, let’s hope that Henry’s big spending Red Sox do not have any affect on the business that Liverpool do in the near future. I am fairly confident though that such outlays in Boston will not affect the Reds as for one, although the contracts for both Gonzalez and Crawford are large, they are spread over seven years and will cost roughly $42million annually. With the Red Sox turnover as large as it is, second only to the giant New York Yankees, such trades should be sustainable.
In this regard, the same sort of strategy maybe used with Liverpool FC, with Henry and co explaining that the Reds need to boost worldwide commercial sales and boost turnover to match Manchester United and the rest of football’s biggest clubs. This will however take some years, and the prospect of signing players for big fees and on big contracts doesn’t seem to me to be immediately likely. Patience will certainly be needed with the Fenway Sports Group to build the Reds into anything like they have built with the Boston Red Sox. Hopefully however, over a certain amount of time, they can build Liverpool’s commercial and corporate interests, and re-introduce these profits into the club, making transfers of the likes of Gonzalez and Crawford a more realistic possibility in the not too distant future for Liverpool.
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Who’s to say they’re not going to spend money at Liverpool.
Would you prefer them to play the Manchester City tactic by declaring to the world how rich they are and then get totally ripped off….????
agree with T – they havent even had the chance to spend any money at LFC yet. for me this is a good sign showing the have deep pockets and are not afraid to put the hands in them. roll on January because we definitly need some new players!!
no offense but stupid people shouldnt be allowed to post articles like this cause it just makes you look like a dumb fan who has no clue….
1st off nesv have been at the sox for 8/10 years now,the reason they (sox)can afford to buy 2 players like they did is because of the revenue genrated and a carefull plan followed,do you think they just went out picked 2 top players and went to town,if you do then you shouldnt be allowed access to the internet,them players have been budgeted for,do not break there structures,and will benifit the team for years to come,like henry said last night if a risk is worth takeing then they will take the risk….
when will liverpool fans realise and understand that nesv owning the sox,fenway park and fenway racing will have no impact on lfc,just the same way as when we are back were we belong none of our money will go near the sox,its all about running the business correctly,and they will….
you call yourself a livepool fan yet you write crap that just spreads dishention amoung fans and between english reds and american red,do some simple research and actually listern to what the owners are saying before posting rubish like this
All very well, but without success, your fanbase will contract and therefore your revenue streams shrink. So, do we speculate to accumulate now, or do we build slowly and hope that that is enough, because if we dont qualify for major tournaments, the better playrs will be off to the likes of Real, Bayern, Barca et all. History tells us that in order to secure top positions consistantly, you spend big, then consolidate. Man U have consistently during Sir Alex’s reign, bought marquee players (some good, some bad). Chelsea invested heavily when the Russians came along. Even Blackburn managed to buy the title with Jack Walkers millions. Now we throw the Man City’s billions into the mix and we have a new title challenger.
We need a new stadium. One that matches our aspirations. 70,000+ seats. Thats where the biggest increase in revenue will come from. Arsenal paid off approx £112 million this year in stadium debt. When its fully paid off, they will be able to put that money into transfer fees and wages and with the financial fair play rules coming, who then will be able to touch them financially? Man U wont, they will be too busy servicing their debt interest payments, Man City’s turnover wont be enough to allow them to compeat (unless the sheik buys 10 million shirts to help boost it). Chelsea are already tightening the belt and the crop of youngsters they have are not in the same league as those they let go and are struggling as a result when they have injuries.
We are a club with high expectations. We do not settle for second best. when Liverpool lose, it should make the front pages not just the sports pages.
I had the priviliege of seeing Liverpool in the 80’s winning all before them. This current crop of players will be remembered as LOSERS unless they buck their ideas up.
The money for the Red Sox players came from revenue from the Red Sox franchise, not NESV’s pockets. This how they want LFC to run, players funded by club profits thus keeping the club stable and competitve. This may take a couple of years to get to the levels at the Red Socks but if you think about it some if not most of the reported £40m in interest payments the club was paying to the banks can now go on players. Thowing money at players will only throw the club into debt again.
What about the Rod Sox fans they will fear their money will be heading this way to “setup the soccer franchise”.
We as Liverpool fans should be patient and if the Rod Sox model is anything to go by we will have a bright and succesful future.