Henry playing down Reds expectations

16 October 2010 13:20
ew Liverpool owner John Henry has pledged to deliver rather than make promises as he sets about restoring the club to former glories.[LNB] Investment in the squad and building a new stadium or redeveloping Anfield are two of the main issues his New England Sports Ventures group have to tackle after their £300million takeover.[LNB]But unlike former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who arrived spouting big ideas - the latter uttering the now infamous "spade in the ground in 60 days" phrase when talking about the new stadium - Henry plans to take a less high-profile approach.[LNB]Henry said he can understand fans' wariness of having yet more American owners, but stressed comparisons should stop at nationalities.[LNB]"It's been a tough three years and there were a lot of expectations created," he said. "One thing I'm going to try not to do is to create a lot of expectations.[LNB]"I'm going to hopefully, rather than make promises, deliver. When I say I, I mean New England Sports Ventures."[LNB]NESV were well received when they took over the Boston Red Sox nine years ago and, after investing in players and redeveloping Fenway Park, were rewarded with two World Series titles after a long drought.[LNB]Henry believes he and his group learned a lot from that experience and sees parallels with the Red Sox and Liverpool.[LNB]"There are a lot of similarities and that was something we've been discussing as we started doing our due diligence," he added.[LNB]"We found more and more similarities between Liverpool 2010 and the Red Sox of 2001.[LNB]"I won't go into them at this point, but 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.[LNB]"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."[LNB]Getting the message across is another key area NESV have to improve after Hicks admitted last night he failed when it came to communication with the fans.[LNB]It is believed Henry has chosen to avoid a public unveiling with a press conference at Anfield, so it is essential he finds a way to connect with the fan base.[LNB]Some groups have been calling for supporters representatives to be given access to the board, but that seems highly unlikely.[LNB]"All I can say at this point is we're going to work as hard for you as we possibly can and there's no doubt about it, you deserve it," Henry said in a direct message to fans.[LNB]"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.[LNB]"It's a big challenge but I think we're up for that challenge."

Source: Team_Talk