Re: LFC Sold to NESV (New England Sports Ventures)
Quote from: Arse on Today at 07:58:09 PM
Hey guys, as a Sox fan and Arsenal supporter, I figured I'd try to offer my take on the situation. Yes I'm a Yank, so please forgive me that.
Prior to Henry and Co. purchasing the Sox in 2002, we had become a second tier team. While the Sox typically won a fair amount of games, the top clubs in our division and elsewhere in baseball were far ahead of us in spending, club operations, and player development. The general manager and club manager had both put up an impressive string of expensive but disappointing teams, and our beloved Fenway Park was in serious need of an update. The team hadn't won a championship in 84 years.
2002 and 2003 saw the new ownership undergo a drastic change from their predecessors in how they approached club operations. They brought up a young and intelligent general manager who quickly made important personnel changes on the roster and began drafting players that would later make important contributions to the club. From a business standpoint, Henry invested a decent sum of cash, managing in the process to fix what needed to be fixed, and answered a lot of questions about the organization in the process. In those two years, great skepticism and doubt faded turned into a "can do" attitude across the board. Eight and a half decades of disappointment had created an extremely pessimistic fan base who, while dedicated and loyal, expected the team to try hard but fail anyway. That changed pretty quickly in 03/04 with deep playoff trips and finally a World Series victory.
Going with popular sentiment, rather than building a shiny new park with 60,000 seats, they kept old Fenway Park and have made new improvements to it every off-season. I'm not 100% sure, but I get a similar feeling when folks talk about Anfield.
Overall, the owners have done a great job hiring the proper staff, staying out of the way of team management, and making improvements in many different areas, all the while making the Sox one of the biggest clubs in baseball, winning games, and making a LOT of money. Also, anyone concerned that this is strictly a business deal and that LFC will simply become a mediocre football club at the expense of being Henry's cash cow, consider the fact that the Sox typically rank between 2-6 in team payroll from year to year. The only team that inevitably spends more on players and trades are the Yankees, essentially the MLB version of Chelsea or Man City, and they spend 20-30% more than anyone else. Rest assured though, that while NESV isn't going to throw down a half billion euros of oil money to buy 11 of the world's best players, they will likely fund an upper-tier team who won't spend extravagantly, but will be intelligent with wages and transfers.
No one can see the future, but I would definitely be more confident in NESV than I was in H+G. I also wouldn't mind seeing you Reds bump Sp*rs out of their Champions League spot. Anyway, best of luck to your club and I hope the new owners can bring you back into prominence and avoid the disgusting amounts of debt that Chelsea and Man U are running into now.
