The 61-year-old, who also owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, has reflected on the last week, which was bombarded with legal hurdles after former American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett attempted to hold on to the Premier League club.
“It has been a dramatic few days, twists and turns, it's been stressful but finally we have it done and that was our goal and our hope," Henry told the club’s official website. "I'm extremely proud of this team that worked on this deal.
“We're incredibly pleased. Talking to all the partners in the States, they're extremely happy.”
The deal finally became official on Friday afternoon, however due to Hicks and Gillett’s legal accusations, Henry conceded he was not completely confident everything would go to plan and he admitted that, during the turmoil, he was worried NESV would be turned away from a sale.
He added: “There were many days where I was wondering whether or not we'd be going home. In fact, even today I wasn't a hundred per cent confident.
“There were days where I was confident but there were a lot of twists and turns here. It was a terrific team [Broughton, Ayre, Purslow] who did a tremendous job of managing this process and I'm just happy it ended successfully.”
The Illinois-born businessman revealed that similarities between the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool are what drew him into taking over the historic club.
“There are a lot of similarities and that was something we've been discussing as we started doing our due diligence. We found more and more similarities between Liverpool 2010 and the Red Sox of 2001.
“For instance the stadium issue was a big issue in Boston in 2001 and we went in there not knowing what we should do, whether we should build a new ball park or refurbish Fenway. We have the same issue here.
“We have to listen, learn, talk to the community, talk to the council, talk with the supporters, but the biggest issue of all is really what makes the most sense for Liverpool long term.”
The position of the club, on and off the field, has been dismal and Henry is under no illusion that it will be easy to bring back winning ways for the Reds.
He continued: “There's a lot of work to be done to get this club to where it needs to be in the grand scheme of things. We really, through all the work we've done over the last two months, saw the challenges and problems which exist and we've got to work to address those.
“There is a great nucleus here off the field and on the field and we think we can build from that, but it's not going to be easy. We've got real challenges.”
While Liverpool fans have been welcome to the new owners, they have also expressed caution and uncertainty over another tenure of American ownership.
When Hicks and Gillet bought the Anfield outfit in 2007, promises were made by the duo that never came into fruition.
“It's been a tough three years and there were a lot of expectations created, so one thing I'm going to try not to do is to create a lot of expectations,” Henry admitted.
“I'm going to hopefully rather than make promises, deliver. When I say I, I mean New England Sports Ventures.
“We've got a very strong organisation, financially and otherwise, we have some terrific strategic thinkers and we're going to be attacking this head on starting tomorrow.”
“All I can say at this point is we're going to work as hard for you [Liverpool fans] as we possibly can and there's no doubt about it, you deserve it,” Henry continued.
“You have supported this club through the worst of times now and we're going to do everything in our power to make the supporters proud of their club and of us. It's a big challenge but I think we're up for that challenge.”
@GOAL.COM
No comments:
Post a Comment