Open letter to fans from John Henry

By Olivavu, Mon 03/09/12 at 10:13

Liverpool Football Club's principal owner John W Henry has written the following open letter to supporters:

I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window, but that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved. They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in.

But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future - Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi - could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future.

Nor should anyone minimise the importance of keeping our best players during this window. We successfully retained Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Luis Suarez. We greatly appreciate their faith and belief in the club. And we successfully negotiated new, long-term contracts with Luis and with Martin.

No one should doubt our commitment to the club. In Brendan Rodgers we have a talented young manager and we have valued highly his judgement about the make-up of the squad. This is a work in progress. It will take time for Brendan to instill his philosophy into the squad and build exactly what he needs for the long term.

The transfer policy was not about cutting costs. It was - and will be in the future - about getting maximum value for what is spent so that we can build quality and depth. We are avowed proponents of UEFA's Financial Fair Play agenda that was this week reiterated by Mr Platini - something we heartily applaud. We must comply with Financial Fair Play guidelines that ensure spending is tied to income. We have been successful in improving the commercial side of the club and the monies generated going forward will give us greater spending power in the coming years.

We are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes. It will not happen overnight. It has been compounded by our own mistakes in a difficult first two years of ownership. It has been a harsh education, but make no mistake, the club is healthier today than when we took over.

Spending is not merely about buying talent. Our ambitions do not lie in cementing a mid-table place with expensive, short-term quick fixes that will only contribute for a couple of years. Our emphasis will be on developing our own players using the skills of an increasingly impressive coaching team. Much thought and investment already have gone into developing a self-sustaining pool of youngsters imbued in the club's traditions.

That ethos is to win. We will invest to succeed. But we will not mortgage the future with risky spending.

After almost two years at Anfield, we are close to having the system we need in place. The transfer window may not have been perfect but we are not just looking at the next 16 weeks until we can buy again: we are looking at the next 16 years and beyond. These are the first steps in restoring one of the world's great clubs to its proper status.

It will not be easy, it will not be perfect, but there is a clear vision at work.

We will build and grow from within, buy prudently and cleverly and never again waste resources on inflated transfer fees and unrealistic wages. We have no fear of spending and competing with the very best but we will not overpay for players.

We will never place this club in the precarious position that we found it in when we took over at Anfield. This club should never again run up debts that threaten its existence.

Most of all, we want to win. That ambition drives every decision. It is the Liverpool way. We can and will generate the revenues to achieve that aim. There will be short-term setbacks from time to time, but we believe we have the right people in place to bring more glory to Anfield.

Finally, I can say with authority that our ownership is not about profit. Contrary to popular opinion, owners rarely get involved in sports in order to generate cash. They generally get involved with a club in order to compete and work for the benefit of their club. It's often difficult. In our case we work every day in order to generate revenues to improve the club. We have only one driving ambition at Liverpool and that is the quest to win the Premier League playing the kind of football our supporters want to see. That will only occur if we do absolutely the right things to build the club in a way that makes sense for supporters, for us and for those who will follow us. We will deliver what every long-term supporter of Liverpool Football Club aches for.

http://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/latest-news/john-henry-s-open-letter-to-fans

theanfieldpaddy
Mon 03/09/12 at 20:38

the rate of decline

.. shur we only got to 2 cup finals last season

KK73
Tue 04/09/12 at 03:44

I think it is refreshing statement from the owners. They except their short comings. It is important that we realise that we cannot compete with City, Chelsea and UTd at their game. We can't improve as a team at the moment if we are going to over pay for players. Carroll situation was very frustrating but we need to have a strategy in place to compete.

We have in the recent past become a club that has lost too many battles on the negotiating table. At the moment from this transfer window Allen looks like a player that is a bargain. Sahin has hardly played and Assaidi hasn't played yet so can't comment. Borini hasn't had a very good start, but lets give him some time.

I think the owners are going about it the right way they deserve to be given respect.

Olivavu
Tue 04/09/12 at 09:36

But they didn't give Rafa the job, so they must be clueless and s**t!

KK73
Tue 04/09/12 at 16:33

haha some people!

dougy10
Tue 04/09/12 at 20:26

seriously am i missing something here but what is this fella (or his auntie) talking about,the club is in decline the last 2 years,we should have got rafa back,what sort of rubbish are you talking.
Here's an idea for you STOP LISTENING TO YOUR DELUDED AUNTIE

KK73
Wed 05/09/12 at 02:26

I think that Rafa was an option and COULD have been an good one, but definitely not the only one. And I can fully understand the owners not approaching him.

Olivavu
Wed 05/09/12 at 09:57

Ditto.

FernandoFowler9
Wed 05/09/12 at 10:52

I like that they didn't approach him. In light of how idiotic most of our fans appear to be, bowing to fan pressure seems like it would be a mistake.

BigDonga
Wed 05/09/12 at 12:22

Don't think that's really a good judge myself.

I am and was impartial to him coming. If he did, I do believe he would've spent the money that Kenny and Comoli did better, but that's a completely subjective view, then again he may have blown it... But who's to say we won't thrive under Rodgers, given time, which wouldn't have happened if Rafa was appointed (Unless he did as bad as we did last year and got sacked).

gerg1234
Thu 13/09/12 at 15:45

Just saw on Twitter that, according to Bill Simmons (writer for ESPN), John Henry is contemplating selling the Red Sox to put his all of his resources into LFC.

Olivavu
Thu 13/09/12 at 15:58

That would be sweeeeeeeeet

ArtonSG8
Thu 13/09/12 at 17:10

Quote from: gerg1234 on Thu 13/09/12 at 15:45

Just saw on Twitter that, according to Bill Simmons (writer for ESPN), John Henry is contemplating selling the Red Sox to put his all of his resources into LFC.

Exactly what we need.

gerg1234
Thu 13/09/12 at 17:47

http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2012/09/13/boston-red-sox-could-be-on-block/

Newest article. This may actually happen!

Just looked at Boston's payroll. $146 million (£90.5 million). It would be nice to have that lying around.

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