Football Special: How Liverpool could relate to Boston Red Sox?
The Liverpool Football Club is nearing a change of ownership, as the New England Sport Ventures have made a bid of 300 million pounds to buy the club from its American owners.
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher has come out and supported the proposed takeover. The NSEV has had a 300 million pound bid accepted by the Liverpool board and Martin Broughton believes that the takeover will be completed soon.
The matter is currently pending in court as Tom Hicks has tried to block the sale and challenged the matter in court and a verdict is expected to be given by coming Friday.
Defender Jamie Carragher believes that the takeover will be beneficial for the club as it will provide the club with a decent transfer budget to invest in fresh blood that is desperately needed at the club.
Carragher is weary of the current situation at the club and with the club currently lying in the drop zone the takeover could not have come at a better time.
Liverpool fans are disillusioned by the takeover bid by another American owner but John Henry is a different story altogether than Tom Hicks and George Gillet.
The business tycoon made his fortune in Hedge funds and has smartly invested in sports. His most famous sports buy was the purchase of Boston Red Sox. The baseball team had not won the World Series since 1918 when the 61-year-old bought the franchise and
immediately invested in the team’s home ground and expanded it so that greater revenues could be generated through club sale. He finally ended their 86-year-old trophy drought with a World Series win.
John Hendry also owns a NASCAR racing team and has a keen interest in sports.
Hendry is a self-made billionaire and although he does not have the insane amount of finances as some of other Premier League owners such as Roman Abramovich and Sheikh Mansour but has a fortune rated at 860 million USD.
The American has an excellent track record in sports, as he guided Boston Red Sox to their first World Series title in 2004 only two years after taking over the club.
Before the takeover the Red Sox last won the World Series in 1918 and immediately after winning the championship they sold their star player Rob Huth to bitter rivals NY Yankees.
Ruth excelled at Yankees and smashed many records for the side from Big Apple, while the Boston Red Sox suffered one tragedy after another and almost disappeared into obscurity.
Entire generations of Boston Red Sox fans passed with the hope of winning the league once again but failed to live the dream and wondered if they could ever win the World Series once again.
It was not until the acquisition of the club by John Hendry that the fans had their faiths renewed, as he finally landed the World Series in 2004, that has eluded his side for 86 years.
It was not just a fluke or a stroke of luck as the BRS won the World Series again three years later and Hendry did it all by sticking to the rich traditions of the club.
Hendry resisted to the temptation of moving out of the historic Fenway Park and instead invested in the ground, increasing revenues and reignited their rivalry with the Yankees.
The situation at the Merseyside club is not much different to that of Red Sox in 2002, Liverpool have not won the Premier League ever and their last League win came 20 years ago in 1990, and they also have a stadium issue to address as they look to expand
the stadium to ensure greater revenues but have failed to do so due to the paucity of funds but with Hendry in the fold the tide may just be turning for Liverpool.
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