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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Dave Powell

Liverpool and Manchester United differences clear after FSG sign vital contract

Liverpool FSG John W Henry ESL Supporters Board Darwin Nunez Football FC Barcelona Juventus Real Madrid

When John W Henry appeared in front of a camera in the bowels of Fenway Park in Boston on the evening of April 20 last year it marked the lowest ebb for Liverpool's principal owner during his time at the helm.

Fenway Sports Group supremo Henry rarely places himself before the glare of the media unless the situation demands it. The last time he had been so public with the Reds was to address the success of the team in securing the 2020 Premier League title, the club's first English title in 30 years.

But earlier in that year he had to address angry Boston Red Sox fans due to the trading of fan favourite Mookie Betts to the Los Angeles Dodgers, a trade deal that still rankles with Red Sox fans now, especially given the struggles that they are currently enduring in Major League Baseball on the field. Before that, even, there was the need to address fans in 2019 to address the sacking of president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, a man who had 12 months earlier helmed a World Series winning run for the Red Sox.

In April of 2021 the message from Henry to Reds fans was one of contrition. Just 48 hours before, Liverpool had been part of 12 European giants to present their own vision for a new European Super League to the world. Late on a Sunday night a website appeared stating the commitment of Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus to forming a new league, a move that threatened to alter the landscape of the game forever.

Two days on from that and the backlash that followed from football fans, most vocally in England, saw nine of the clubs perform a U-turn on the idea. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus remained wedded to the idea of creating the ESL and started on a path of legal action against European football's governing body, UEFA, arguing that they held a monopoly over elite football. The trio continue to push the legal case, but they know that there is no show without the English clubs but are aiming to clear the path for the competition to be reignited in a more palatable way in the future, by which time they would hope to have clubs and fans on board.

For some clubs the ESL debacle created a line of dialogue with supporters in an attempt to improve things, for others little has altered.

This week saw a historic moment for Liverpool. Contracts were signed and became binding to create a new Supporters Board, one that would have to be consulted and give consent for any such ESL moves in the future, one that has the power to protect the traditions of Liverpool Football Club. Written into the articles of association at the club, the Supporters Board will be in situ regardless of any future change in ownership, something that has seen Liverpool's supporters and ownership bring about positive change from a the train wreck that was the ESL.

Liverpool supporter group Spirit of Shankly were one of the driving forces behind the move, with the make-up of the Supporters Board consisting of 10 SOS committee members, plus six other representatives drawn from other fan organisations including Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association, Kop Outs, Spion Kop 1906, Official Liverpool Supporters Clubs, Liverpool Women’s Supporters Committee and faith and ethnic groups.

There will be monthly meetings with Liverpool's board and annual meetings with FSG's top brass. It is a line of meaningful communication that sees FSG cede some real power to fans to ensure that traditions are protected and the view point of supporters is taken seriously.

The move to sign the deal comes in a week where Manchester United fans are seeking to mobilise to organise a mass walk out of their game with the Reds at Old Trafford on August 22. United's continued failures on the field are seen by fans as a direct result of poor management of the club from top to bottom, with the absentee ownership that they have seen under the deeply unpopular Glazer family ever since their leveraged buyout of the club in 2005 having created a major schism between supporters and club. Sir Alex Ferguson was able to paper over the cracks for some time, but after his retirement the lack of strategy came home to roost and there has been little real change to have been implemented to address that.

In Spain, Barcelona continue to seem unfazed by their dire financial situation and continue to sign players they cannot yet afford to register, all while they continue to push for a clear path for the ESL alongside Real Madrid and Juventus.

Football is a business, that is an inescapable fact in the modern day. In order to finance the top talent to compete year after year there has to be commercial decisions that underpin it all, it has to be paid for in some way and it is the fans, both domestically and globally, who pay for that, whether it be through tickets, merchandise or subscriptions to sports channels that provide the numbers to drive the value of broadcast rights higher with each passing cycle.

But what the ESL showed was that fans cannot be ridden rough shod over, they cannot be expected to simply take whatever clubs throw at them in the name of corporate greed. They are businesses, yes, but they were emotional assets before they ever became multi-billion sporting behemoths. The ESL would have been great for the balance sheets of all involved, especially during a pandemic, but if it does not enrich the game and the product for the fans they all it would achieve would be to rise the value of the business and make a small bunch of very rich people even richer.

The 2022/23 season began last weekend. This season was to be the season when the ESL was launched, it would have been a competition to give an enormous financial boost to widen the gap between the elite and the rest, something that provided the kind of cost certainty that exists within the closed eco-system of American sport, where relegation is never a concern.

The deal that was signed between the SOS and FSG marks a very different beginning that what Henry may have envisaged to this particular season when he, alongside the likes of Florentino Perez and Andrea Agnelli, tried to orchestrate the creation of something that football fans never asked for.

When Henry faced the cameras in April of last year it was at a time when the project was in the process of crumbling to dust as the clubs, like dominoes, all fell, one after another until three remained, unfazed by the criticism such was the financial need for them to realise this project.

At the time the apology and remorse seemed genuine. "I hope you’ll understand that even when we make mistakes, we’re trying to work in your club’s best interests," he said. "In this endeavour I’ve let you down.

"I’m sorry, and I alone am responsible for the unnecessary negativity brought forward over the past couple of days. It’s something I won’t forget. And shows the power the fans have today and will rightly continue to have."

FSG have had to make something of a habit of backtracking on decisions, namely the initial decisions to raise ticket prices and the furloughing of staff at the onset of the pandemic, but they have to their credit listened to fans.

While they may not bow to the every wish and desire of fans in the transfer market, one thing that owners of any club must do is listen to fans on matters of integrity and tradition, after all it is the fans who remain a constant through the decades. The Henry contrition appeared real at the time and what has happened since has firmed that idea up. It doesn't excuse what happened but it does go some way to showing a commitment to righting the wrongs.

Having a strong supporter voice with genuine power to effect change has never been more critical for football clubs. For Liverpool to have that moving forward is something that should be applauded on both sides.

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