Jordan Henderson has issued an emphatic endorsement of Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) in an interview with The Athletic.
Despite the former Reds captain revealing that he decided to leave Anfield this summer as he didn’t feel wanted by senior figures at the club, he spoke out glowingly about the tenure of the incumbent ownership on Merseyside.
The 33-year-old said of FSG: “Honestly, I can only have positive things to say about the ownership. They’ve been so good. It’s plain for everybody to see.
“When they came in and took the club over to where it is now and what they’ve achieved in that time — pretty much the same length of time as I’ve been there — has been remarkable, really.
“These guys are smart people. They know what they’re doing. They’re not a club that’s going to go and splash one hundred, two hundred, three hundred million on a player.
“They know what they need and sometimes — in my situation — that’s not nice at times. But it’s the best thing for the club. It’s the best thing for the team.”
Henderson added: “I always felt as though they had the best interests of the club at heart. They never take any money out of the club. They invest it all back in the club — whether that’s with the stadium, training ground, players. But at the same time, they’re clever in what they do with the money.
“They’re not going to go and spend a ridiculous amount of fees and wages on players because it will upset the structure, as much as I tried with certain players in the past! They stick to their principles and it has worked.”
In many respects, Henderson is right in his verdict on FSG, under whom the overall value of Liverpool FC has grown exponentially.
They purchased the club for £300m in 2010 (Forbes) and, following reports last November of John Henry and co being open to new investment, LFC now has an estimated worth of £4.36bn, according to Conrad Wiacek, head of sport analysis at GlobalData (via The Athletic).
The current owners will always have the gratitude of Reds fans for ending the despised tenure of predecessors Tom Hicks and George Gillett, while Anfield’s capacity is due to increase 25% on their watch.
FSG have also overseen the appointment of Jurgen Klopp, a transfer policy regarded by many as among the best in world football, and the glory of major silverware in the form of the Premier League, Champions League, Club World Cup and more.
However, the frugal approach referenced by Henderson has rankled with many Liverpool fans who feel that the ownership have been too cautious in an era where big spending is a necessity in order to compete for the biggest prizes.
The owners have also attracted criticism for various acts such as plans to raise ticket prices to £77, attempting to trademark the city’s name, furloughing non-playing staff during the first COVID lockdown and engaging in a botched attempt to join the much-reviled European Super League.
There’s a perception among portions of the fanbase that the Reds’ success of recent years has been in spite of rather than because of FSG, so by giving such emphatic backing to them, Henderson could’ve driven an even bigger wedge between himself and some supporters of his former club.
It’s a topic on which every Liverpool fan is bound to have their say, whatever their perspective of the ownership might be.
#Ep89 of The Empire of the Kop Podcast: EOTK Insider with Neil Jones🎙️