That the Super League was finally the end game. That when John W Henry and his associates were talking strategy, the only way to make the huge profit he truly desired was to destroy our game and emerge as one of the winners from the smoking ruins. Now the Super League has collapsed, Henry lasted a full season before signing up for For Sale. As agents like Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley don’t commit overnight, and full sales pitch brochures haven’t been put together in one day, we have to assume this has been in the works for many months. Fenway Sports Group (owners John W Henry, second left and Tom Werner, second from right) have announced they are ‘inviting offers’ to sell Liverpool after 12 years at the club The sale would have been in the works for many months and comes after the end of their run for the European Super League fell through after strong backlash a year ago Their decision to sell the club confirms that Super League was the end of the game and while public backlash has helped push back, it has also exposed the elite Venture capitalists sell as much as they buy and Henry has always been determined to collect a substantial payout from his investment in English football. The great deception was that in the wake of the collapse of Super League, Liverpool and others were able to position themselves as if it was a mistake of judgement, a silly travesty, rather than a flint motivation. Would Liverpool be in the market today if this breakaway had been successful? We can’t know for sure, but it’s unlikely. What would be the point of cashing out when the economic boom had yet to materialize? We now know that, at least for the English elite, that dream is dead. So, oblivious to FSG’s hope of monetization, Henry did the next best thing. He is selling while putting his price on the back of Todd Boehly’s $4bn (£3.5m) Chelsea deal. Liverpool would deserve more. So $4 billion would be the return of FSG and Henry, given that the club was bought for £300 million in 2010. It’s a very fair exchange. Liverpool have done well under Henry’s management, which has been largely outstanding, with a first Premier League title, the Champions League, four domestic cups, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup. But their owner has also done well. Chelsea’s sale to Todd Boehly is believed to be a key reason behind FSG’s decision John W.Henry will be leaving Liverpool for a better place, but the owner has done well for them too (Henry and wife Linda celebrate Red’s Champions League triumph in 2019 Henry leaves Liverpool in a much better place than when he arrived, with one of the world’s greatest managers in Jurgen Klopp and a group of outstanding players. It is unlikely that the motivation to sell will be the cost of further rebuilding the squad or a factor as fleeting as a poor start to the season. Henry will have looked at greater certainties in a recession such as sharp interest rate hikes and a weak domestic currency. This is not a piecemeal form. If the $4 billion asking price is correct, buying Liverpool in dollars would have cost $400,000 more several months ago. However, it will surely have focused Henry’s mind that Newcastle’s arrival makes success, and the steady income streams that come with it, harder to guarantee. If the Premier League now has a Big Seven, almost half of those clubs will miss out on Champions League football every season. If the $4 billion asking price is correct, buying Liverpool in dollars would have cost $400,000 more several months ago Newcastle’s arrival after their takeover makes future success more difficult to secure Liverpool have invested heavily in players but often finance these deals through shrewd dealings. The inflated price extracted for Philippe Coutinho was the basis for moves for Virgil van Dijk and Alisson. However, such deals cannot be done every year without damaging the squad and Liverpool are now seven points outside the top four, albeit with a game in hand on Tottenham. The Champions League represents a significant annual increase in income. This year alone, coming second in the group stage to Napoli, has brought Liverpool £71.68m, not including gate money. Imagine a season that, instead of going to Liverpool, washes up on Newcastle’s doorstep. It is this thought that will terrify FSG. The prospect of a future in which such a gigantic revenue stream is far from certain and, with failure, the result – loss of prestige, global recognition, damage to the brand. Fenway Sports Group bought Liverpool in 2010 from American businessmen Tom Hicks and George Gillet and are set to make a huge profit on the £300m they paid. So Henry sells with Liverpool near their prime. Who knows where the club will be, say, five years from now? That question would have been answered if the Super League project had worked. Everyone would know where Liverpool would be because it was a closed shop. When that dream died, Liverpool had returned to life, to a future that could no longer be predicted. The backlash here saved English football but exposed the elite to the vagaries of a market they greedily shaped. Henry is not an adventure capitalist and that is why he is selling.
