New Liverpool owner John Henry, of the New England Sports Ventures, says he is ready for the rough challenge he has ahead to restore the club to its winning ways.
The American businessman, who attended Sunday’s Merseyside Derby defeat to Everton, declared last week he and NESV are “here to win” but admits there is a lot to learn and a lot of fix.
“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.
“We are not going to make any promises but we are going to listen and consider.”
The club will be hoping the new owners can provide money to strengthen the squad when the January transfer window comes around, but Henry – who also owns the Boston Red Sox – warns his money will be spent wisely.
“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.
“The revenue potentials around the world – it is a global football club – and especially with the financial fair play rules, it is really going to be revenue that drives how good your club can be in the future.
“That is one thing that we think we are good at.'”
