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Monday, September 03, 2012

Liverpool owner defends transfer work

John Henry pens an open letter about his plans to mollify the fanbase of a once-proud, highly successful sports fanchise which is currently in turmoil…

“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.

vortex of dissipation Posted: September 03, 2012 at 02:05 PM | 24 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: boston, soccer

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1. TerpNats Posted: September 03, 2012 at 04:08 PM (#4225623)

Liverpool Nation is probably none too pleased.

2. Gamingboy Posted: September 03, 2012 at 04:49 PM (#4225651)

To be fair, he's probably been steel-driving all day, so might not have heard the screams of the Boston faithful.

3. Rough Carrigan

Posted: September 03, 2012 at 04:55 PM (#4225656)

The solution is pretty clear. Trade players with bad contracts to Ned Colletti.

4. Matt Waters Posted: September 03, 2012 at 05:03 PM (#4225661)

Is it natural for me to ponder, "why did this guy buy a soccer team in Liverpool when he already owned the Red Sox?" Seems like a lot for a guy to have on the old plate.

5. Jose Can Still Seabiscuit Posted: September 03, 2012 at 05:07 PM (#4225664)

That issue is beaten to death around Boston. Don't take this personally but I think it's a silly concern. Just about every owner in baseball owns multiple businesses. I think it would be a big deal if they were asking Cherington to be the GM of both teams but with the amount of delegating that Henry is presumably doing I doubt it's an issue.

6. The Clarence Thomas of BBTF (scott) Posted: September 03, 2012 at 05:19 PM (#4225672)

Where's our open letter! We haven't won a WS in almost half a decade! How dare he!

7. Matt Waters Posted: September 03, 2012 at 05:24 PM (#4225675)

That issue is beaten to death around Boston. Don't take this personally but I think it's a silly concern. Just about every owner in baseball owns multiple businesses. I think it would be a big deal if they were asking Cherington to be the GM of both teams but with the amount of delegating that Henry is presumably doing I doubt it's an issue

Totally fair.

8. JJ1986 Posted: September 03, 2012 at 05:37 PM (#4225685)

I know nothing about Soccer leagues, but does the basic "free agency" period take place during the season? That seems really weird to me.

9. Crispix Attacks 2: Swag Airlines Posted: September 03, 2012 at 06:00 PM (#4225706)

It ends about two weeks into the season. Which is in fact really weird. Then there's another "transfer window" halfway through the season, in January.

10. cercopithecus aethiops Posted: September 03, 2012 at 06:49 PM (#4225734)

A "self-sustaining pool of youngsters"? What is this, some kind of selective breeding program?

11. Voros McCracken of Pinkus Posted: September 03, 2012 at 06:54 PM (#4225738)

I know nothing about Soccer leagues, but does the basic "free agency" period take place during the season? That seems really weird to me.

Actually for the guys who are truly free agents (IE out of contract) they can sign at any time. Think of this as a trading deadline, only you trade players for cash rather than other players usually.

12. Dale Sams Posted: September 03, 2012 at 07:13 PM (#4225741)

England still have those insane work permit rules that drove me nuts in Championship Manager?

13. Voros McCracken of Pinkus Posted: September 03, 2012 at 07:26 PM (#4225744)

England still have those insane work permit rules that drove me nuts in Championship Manager?

Yes, but they have become more and more lax at the premiership level in granting guys permits on appeal.

Basically if a big club wants a guy for the first team, they tend to get his Work Permit approved.

14. Perry Posted: September 03, 2012 at 07:35 PM (#4225752)

Is it natural for me to ponder, "why did this guy buy a soccer team in Liverpool when he already owned the Red Sox?" Seems like a lot for a guy to have on the old plate.

Hell, that's nothing. Stan Kroenke owns Arsenal, the Colorado Avalanche, the Denver Nuggets, the St. Louis Rams, and the Colorado Rapids. All he lacks is a baseball team, and IIRC there was talk that he was trying to buy the Dodgers before the Magic Johnson group got them.

15. Jeff Frances the Mute Posted: September 03, 2012 at 08:03 PM (#4225769)

Kroenke was one of the final 3 bidders for the Dodgers. The Magic/Guggenheim group outmaneuvered the Kroenke and Cohen groups and closed the deal before the others could present their final offers.

16. Jim Wisinski

Posted: September 03, 2012 at 08:07 PM (#4225776)

That issue is beaten to death around Boston. Don't take this personally but I think it's a silly concern. Just about every owner in baseball owns multiple businesses. I think it would be a big deal if they were asking Cherington to be the GM of both teams but with the amount of delegating that Henry is presumably doing I doubt it's an issue.

A good example of the opposite being the case would be the Glazers. Right at the time that they took on a ton of debt to finance the purchase of Manchester United the Buccaneers went from being regularly one of the highest-spending teams in the league to one of the lowest.

17. RMc and His Roster of Rubbish Posted: September 03, 2012 at 08:11 PM (#4225779)

All he lacks is a baseball team

And a team in this league.

18. Bob T Posted: September 03, 2012 at 08:54 PM (#4225793)

John Henry bought Liverpool after Tom Hicks was forced to give it up.

The English just love (and by that I mean hate) American owners. The Glazers are despised by Manchester United fans.

Randy Lerner, who owns the Cleveland Browns, also owns Aston Villa, a team beloved by presumably someone although I've never encountered a Villa fan.

19. BourbonSamurai, vassal of the Harpsburg Empire Posted: September 03, 2012 at 09:42 PM (#4225818)

Clearly he intends to move the Red Sox to england.

20. rfloh Posted: September 03, 2012 at 09:53 PM (#4225823)

" hn Henry bought Liverpool after Tom Hicks was forced to give it up.

The English just love (and by that I mean hate) American owners. The Glazers are despised by Manchester United fans."

The English, like any fans, unsurprisingly hate owners, regardless of nationality, that load debt onto a team to buy it, that borrow huge amounts to buy it, then transfer that debt onto the team. Other than that, IME, they don't really care, American or not.

Also, Lerner is a huge improvement on Deadly Doug Ellis.

21. Perry Posted: September 03, 2012 at 10:38 PM (#4225853)

Randy Lerner, who owns the Cleveland Browns, also owns Aston Villa, a team beloved by presumably someone although I've never encountered a Villa fan.

Lerner's quite the Anglophile, and as I understand it the perception in Cleveland is that he cares more about Villa than the Browns. In any case, he sold the Browns last month, so now he has another $1 billion to buy soccer players.

22. Shooty is in the Trust Tree

Posted: September 04, 2012 at 08:50 AM (#4226010)

The English just love (and by that I mean hate) American owners. The Glazers are despised by Manchester United fans.

On the other hand, Ellis Short has been pretty great for Sunderland. Also, Lerner has invested in Villa it's just that the people he trusted to spend his cash completely screwed it up. He's not unpopular because he's milking the club like the Glazers or Hicks, but because they haven't had results.

23. FancyPantsHandle glistening with foreign substance Posted: September 04, 2012 at 09:00 AM (#4226015)

Kroenke was one of the final 3 bidders for the Dodgers. The Magic/Guggenheim group outmaneuvered the Kroenke and Cohen groups and closed the deal before the others could present their final offers.

'Outmanoeuvred' would be one way to put it. 'Overbid by 1 billion' would be another.

Randy Lerner, who owns the Cleveland Browns, also owns Aston Villa, a team beloved by presumably someone although I've never encountered a Villa fan.

I do believe Swedish Chef is a Villan. You can tell by the derisive and self-loathing posts he makes about the team in the footy thread.

24. Neutral Milk Dotel (Dan Lee) Posted: September 04, 2012 at 09:14 AM (#4226020)

The Magic/Guggenheim group outmaneuvered the Kroenke and Cohen groups

Unfortunately, the Crazy Guggenheim group also beat him to the punch with the Indians* back in 2000.

(* - Stan Kroenke never attempted to buy the Cleveland Indians, as far as anyone knows. I just couldn't pass on an opportunity to insult the Dolans and reference Crazy Guggenheim in the same post.)

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Monday, September 03, 2012

Liverpool owner defends transfer work

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