Liverpool owner John W Henry offers some laughable points with his letter to fans
By Henry Winter,
Dear Prudence, won’t you come out to play? Staying in harmony with the great traditions of Beatleville, John W Henry took a leaf out of John Lennon’s songwriting book.
If Lennon’s hymn of homage was to Mia Farrow’s reclusive sister, Henry’s homily was a love letter to the similarly elusive soul of financial restraint.
Henry’s open missive to the Kop sought to justify the contentious actions of his Fenway Sports Group in the newly-closed transfer window.
Admirable in his intent, namely communicating with the club’s lifeblood, Henry provided a window on the owner-manager-player-supporter dynamic in the modern game.
Some of Henry’s observations defied belief. Others introduced some welcome perspective in the ‘Greed Is Good’ world of the Premier League.
His declaration was more than a parochial affair, a parish-pump natter about life within the Anfield village. Henry’s thoughts need absorbing by all within the middling and upper echelons of English football. He makes some credible points and some laughable ones.
The thrust of the letter, amusingly presented on the official Liverpool website with a picture of Henry reaching inside his jacket as if for his wallet, was that the club were ambitious, that their faith in an exciting young manager in Brendan Rodgers remained strong, that balancing the books was essential and their pursuit of the likes of Clint Dempsey failed because they were “unable to conclude acceptable deals’’ for strikers.
This is where Henry’s mix of Moneyball and Mr Micawber falters. What is “acceptable”? Is it so extravagant to pay Fulham an extra £1 million to land Dempsey, a player that Rodgers has chased all summer.
Henry should have scribbled his note to fans a week ago, asking them whether Dempsey, a proven Premier League attacker, was worth an extra £1 million. Er, yes.
The lament in a few Kopite quarters of their club being “built by Shanks, broken by Yanks” overlooks Fenway’s desire to run Liverpool as a business in keeping with Henry’s commitment to Financial Fair Play.
But there’s a balance between prudence and the need to spend to have even a chance of silverware. Buying players is not the appliance of exact science. It varies.
Henry, a slave to the Billy Beane philosophy of Moneyball so applicable to baseball not football, believes in recruiting young players with future resale value, a strategy that makes sense only if honourable exceptions are part of the rule.
Dempsey, an attacker experienced in the demands of the English game, would have hit the ground running.
Manchester United moved for another 29-year-old. Mr. Ferguson spent £24 million on Robin van Persie, four times the sum Fulham wanted for Dempsey, and the United manager has been rewarded with four goals in two starts. The Van Persie deal always made financial sense.
Never mind the till-busting takings in the Old Trafford megastore, just look at the rewards on the pitch.
Van Persie’s ready to roll, off-the-peg excellence, satisfaction guaranteed. Dempsey would also have delivered if less dramatically.
He would also have eased the workload on Luis Suarez, helped with the education of the hitherto unconvincing Fabio Borini and giving lessons to ingénues like Raheem Sterling.
Henry needs to slip the leash on his dogma and the question remains: who is advising Fenway on footballing matters?
It’s their club, their party but the feeling remains that Anfield is now filling behind the scenes with sharp commercial minds but lax footballing brains.
Take the new Warriors kit deal. It’s a handsomely renumerative package, north of £25 million a season, but the brash and weirdly-worded “We Come Not To Play” branding around Anfield is utterly at odds with Liverpool’s DNA.
Again, who is providing wise counsel to these moguls from over the pond?
Essentially, Henry and Tom Werner are good owners, albeit naive about the realpolitik of English football and missing a modern-day Peter Robinson, that much-respected chief executive of the club’s halcyon days.
Managers and star players listened to PBR and followed his advice (by and large). The incumbent, Ian Ayre, is not a leader.
Respect needs showing to Henry. His dispatch from Boston emphasised that he “valued the judgment” of Rodgers in re-shaping an imbalanced, inadequate squad.
So trust the manager. Bestow Rodgers with faith, patience, time and, please, appropriate funds.
Henry let Rodgers down over Dempsey, leaving him light in attack with Andy Carroll loaned to West Ham United. Liverpool’s wage-bill has ebbed and so has their potency.
Moneyball can really be a ruinous game at times. Do the maths. Dempsey would have more than paid his way.
Henry was obviously burned by past outlays. In a less than subtle dig, the belt-tightening American criticised Kenny Dalglish for overspending on players last year. Fair enough.
Dalglish’s signings undoubtedly failed. Andy Carroll remains the skirmish point in this battleground of beliefs.
For those of us at Upton Park on Saturday, Carroll reminded everyone of his usefulness on and off the ball. Yet one performance should not be used as a stick with which to beat Rodgers.
It’s the owners who have something to prove. Ditto the players.
Experienced internationals like Martin Skrtel, Steven Gerrard, Glen Johnson and Pepe Reina have all erred this season. So responsibility lies all around Anfield.
A need for honesty too. Henry spoke of Fenway as models of altruism in their involvement with Liverpool. Henry is a man of integrity but he is also a businessman.
Liverpool are a global sporting brand, a great family fallen on hard times. So Henry senses an opportunity. Invest shrewdly, get the giant back on its feet, and it’s fistfuls of dollars all round.
That’s the way of the world but don’t go kidding people.
Henry also stretched the bounds of credibility by claiming that “we have no fear of spending and competing with the very best”. Nonsense.
Liverpool cannot compete with the very best. They are a mid-table team. Their history is inspiring, but others have disappeared over the horizon.
Liverpool’s fan-base is loyal and passionate but they need to cash some reality-checks, let alone some real cheques.
Sorry Prudence.
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