Liverpool's principal owner John Henry has defended his dual tenure of the Merseyside club and the Boston Red Sox amid claims of being overburdened with responsibility for the sporting giants. While Liverpool supporters have never been overly concerned that their owners have alternative concerns - in fact, their successful running of the Red Sox was considered a major asset in their favour when they bought the club - it has evidently caused rancour in Boston.
Defeat to Manchester United almost two weeks ago was a bitter pill to swallow for the Liverpool faithful, but the club's owners have become reluctantly accustomed to losing out against their biggest rivals. Fenway Sports Group's other team across the Atlantic, the Boston Red Sox, have just ended their worst season for 47 years - which included a staggering 13 losses against arch rivals the New York Yankees.
Liverpool players could barely contain their laughter as they took part in a meditation and
relaxation class to help them "deal with the stresses of club football", a new fly-on-the-wall
documentary capturing life behind the scenes at Anfield has shown.
The six-part series, due to be aired in the United States later this month, documents the arrival
of manager Brendan Rodgers and sheds light on his methods.
Liverpool's owners, die hard practitioners of Moneyball, pride themselves on the rigorous behind
the numbers, value for money purchases that give them a leg up in the MLB. Entering the cash on
steroids environment of the Premiership, they recruited Damien Comolli on the advice of Billy
Beane, Mr Moneyball himself and ended up throwing £120m on transfers.
It's been quite summer for Fenway Sports Group owner Jon Henry as he has managed to alienate the
fans of both the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool.
After a disastrous transfer window that has left Brendan Rodgers with only two strikers and
painfully thin in midfield, John Henry today penned an open letter to Liverpool fans, published on
liverpoolfc.
It's not every day that you get to spend time with your childhood heroes. That's exactly what I
was able to do this summer, as Liverpool Football Club visited the United States for its preseason
tour. LFC legends old and new descended on Boston for the club's friendly at Fenway Park against AS
Roma in late July.
Earlier this week, we featured an interview with Roma's new signing, the American midfielder
Michael Bradley. And lo and behold, the US playmaker didn't disappoint when he played for Roma in a
friendly on Wednesday night against Liverpool at Boston's famed Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red
Sox.
Steven Gerrard is looking forward to the start of 'an exciting new era' at Liverpool and claims he
is raring to go ahead of the 2012/13 campaign.
The Reds skipper has linked up with the rest of his team-mates in Boston after being granted
extended leave on the back of his efforts at Euro 2012 with England.
The Chievo Verona midfielder joins AS Roma on a three year transfer said to cost $4.6 million.
He will keep company with club talisman Daniele De Rossi, Miraljem Panic, and Simone Perotta in the
midfield.
Roma is owned by Thomas DiBenedetto, an American businessman and one of the partners at Fenway
Sporting Group, who own the Boston Red Sox as well as Liverpool.
Clint Dempsey is reportedly on his way to Liverpool. (Photo: Chris Aduama/aduama.com)
Coming off a historic season at Fulham FC, Clint Dempsey looked set to make a big move. That
move appears to be to Fenway Sports Group-owned Liverpool FC, according to multiple reports out of
England.
On Monday, the Daily Mirror reported yesterday that Liverpool were ready to offer
£7.
If you were wondering how much it costs to finish second in La Liga and get knocked out the
Champions League semifinal by nine men and Fernando Torres, the answer is $217,014,221.
That, according to the salary survey in ESPN's latest Money Issue, was Barcelona's total payroll
at the start of the 2011/12 season, making them the highest-paying sports team in the world for the
second year running.
Liverpool is giving Fox Soccer in the U.S., unprecedented behind-the-scenes access for a
six-episode documentary series.
Fox said on Thursday that "Our Liverpool: Never Walk Alone" will air this fall in the U.S. and
likely will be shown on networks around the world.
"I come from a background where the more supporters get to know the inside workings of the club
the more they are interested in the club itself," said Liverpool chairman Tom Werner, also chairman
of the Boston Red Sox.
Moneyball in the Premier League looking at Liverpool, Newcastle and Wigan - originally posted on
Soccerlens.com
Since the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) bought Liverpool FC last season, there has been a lot of
talk about ‘Moneyball'.
This was a successful book chronicling the Oakland Athletics baseball team, and in particular
it's General Manager Billy Beane (for a General Manager think of a powerful director of football,
David Dein at Arsenal, someone who controls transfer/signings).
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has revealed that exiting director of football Damien Comolli was
"probably not the right person" for the job.
Comolli left the club on Thursday after overseeing the spending of nearly £125million in just
three transfer windows.
The strategy was perceived to be part of the 'moneyball' theory favoured by the club's American
owners and had been so successful at their other high-profile acquisition, the Boston Red Sox
baseball franchise.
Liverpool has announced that they will face Roma in a pre-season friendly in Boston during a trip
to North America this summer.
The Reds will play the Italian giants on 25th July at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, who
share owners with the Anfield club.
The match will form part of the ballpark's 100th anniversary celebrations.
Liverpool FC will take part in a showpiece game against AS Roma at Fenway Park, home of the
Boston Red Sox, as part of the ballpark's 100th anniversary this summer.
The match against the Italian giants will take place on July 25 and will form part of Liverpool
FC's North American pre-season tour presented by Standard Chartered Bank.
Remember the infield, built from within the organization, that seemed to last forever? It was
Garvey at first, Lopes at Second, Russell at Short, Cey at Third and Yeager doing the catching.
Wonder what they are thinking now about the Dodger legacy.
Is this how they envisioned baseball would become 30 years later?
John W Henry believes Liverpool have a long way to go to make up for the mismanagement of the club
by their previous owners.
Henry claims there is still much work to be done, both on and off the pitch, to get the Reds
heading in the right direction following the buyout by The Fenway Sports Group (FSG) in October
2010.
Tomorrow, Ligue 1 winner Montpellier will be facing Lyon in the Trophée des Champions,
otherwise known as the French Supercup. Lyon have won this trophy seven times, more than any other
team in the league. Also significant is that this is the fourth year in a row that this competition
will be held on foreign soil.
(Editor's Note: This article is a follow-up to two articles written in December 2011 and this
past January about St. Louis' struggles to land an MLS franchise. If you haven't read those yet, it
is highly recommended. This is Part 3 of the ongoing Soccer in St. Louis series.)
Having lived here for just about 5 months now, I can say one thing about for certain about the
St.
Liverpool owner John W Henry has flown back to the United States rather than attend Saturday's FA
Cup semi-final against Everton at Wembley.
Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, returned to his native America with
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner to watch Friday's first home game of the Major League season.
Earlier this week, we featured an interview with Roma's new signing, the American midfielder Michael Bradley. And lo and behold, the US playmaker didn't disappoint when he played for Roma in a friendly on Wednesday night against Liverpool at Boston's famed Fenway Park, home to the Boston Red Sox.
In case you missed it, watch the above video to see Bradley's golazo.
BOSTON, Mass. Fenway Park will be featured on national television on ESPN2 on Wednesday, July
25th, and for once, it's not for a Boston Red Sox game. Instead, the now annual Football at Fenway
event – this year featuring England's Liverpool F.C. and Italy's AS Roma – will be shown live
nationally on ESPN2.
El Fenway Park cumple 100 años con una capacidad para 37 mil 493 fanáticos, desde 2003 hasta
hoy lleva 748 llenos seguidos, en el se han jugado siete Series mundiales y tres Juegos de
estrellas, es el parque de pelota activo más viejo en las ligas mayores.
La construcción del Fenway Park costó 650 mil dólares obtuvo el nombre a que así se llamaba el
vecindario donde fue construido.
Liverpool will be allowing unprecedented behind-the-scenes access to U.S.-based Fox Soccer
Channel to film a six-part documentary series. "Our Liverpool: Never Walk Alone" will document the
club's FA Cup final against Chelsea in May, as well as their preseason tour of North America in
July.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has urged his team-mates to forget about the FA Cup final - and
concentrate on improving their league position.
Gerrard admits three top-flight wins in 2012 is not good enough for the Merseyside giants, who are
facing their worst position and points tally since the launch of the Premier League.
Principal owner John W Henry and chairman Tom Werner returned to Boston before the 2-1 victory as
they had to keep long standing promises to watch the Boston Red Sox.
However, there was an instant message of congratulation for the team as the dour mood which had led
to director of football Damien Comolli's dismissal 48 hours earlier was lifted.
If you are interested in the science of sabermetrics - be it from the 'Moneyball' tales of Billy
Beane and Bill James, or of Damien Comolli's interest in recreating the same in football - you'll
like this article by Neil Ashton on Comolli, sabermetrics, and what's gone wrong at Liverpool.
When the trend for sending statistical analysis to managers on a Monday morning began, Kenny
Dalglish filed them in the bin.
With Liverpool owner's John Henry and Tom Werner due in England later this week for the FA Cup
semi-final between Liverpool and Everton on Saturday, it is believed that there will be something
of a show-down between the owners and Manager Kenny Dalglish.
An end-of-season report is required of the Anfield boss by FSG, who must be very concerned at
Liverpool's dismal Premiership performances this Season.
So Liverpool's awkward season continues to progress. Mid-table Premier League and a Carling Cup
(with potential FA Cup on the way) I doubt are what John Henry and company expected when they
purchased the club last year. With a Champions League place way out of view lots of journalist are
talking about how the Moneyball aspect is not working this year.
I am beginning to think that I should stay out here in Florida after getting a text message from
my Dad who was at the game yesterday telling me we had beaten Leicester with Torres scoring two and
ending his goal drought!
Things couldn't have gone any better with City up next on Weds night. Four wins from four and by
the sounds of it the side has been rejuvenated.
Pep Guardiola has been living a quiet life with his family in New York City since beginning his self-imposed exile from football at the end of last season. Though the sport has continued on without him, Guardiola remains the most wanted man in the game as he looks to take a new job next season. In the newly released video above, he says he would like to work in England, but this comes a day after he reportedly reached a deal with Bayern Munich (that has since been denied).
It had become a matter of time. The Boston Red Sox were going to trade away their long-time
third baseman Kevin Youkilis. Today, we got an answer as the Red Sox shipped him to the Chicago
White Sox for two prospects. Youkilis will become the everyday third baseman in Chicago and will
look to prove to Boston that he still has some gas left in the tank.
Early goals, excitement in the middle, and losing the game late. These are all things that this
season's New England Revolution are starting to do to us. The team debuted Jose Moreno, to minimal
fanfare, and had the comeback of Benny Feilhaber held on a day where the Boston Celtics, Boston
Bruins, and Boston Red Sox were all playing.
