Liverpool’s business made in USA not working

Zdroj: Economic Daily, Vladimir Travnicek

Owner of FC Liverpool John Henry wanted to transfer the economic model of baseball into football. In five years, he has won only one trophy and dismissed three managers.

An end to inflated player salaries, signing young footballers with the vision of building a winning team, and a successful transfer policy run not by a single person but by a group of responsible people — the successful business model that American businessman John Henry brought from the baseball team Boston Red Sox into English football has so far failed to deliver. FC Liverpool, which Henry’s company Fenway Sports Group entered in 2010, has in five years won just one League Cup. In that time, the management has already sacked three managers — the latest, Brendan Rodgers, this past Sunday. (...)

While Liverpool has not reached its sporting goals, it has on the financial side. Businessman Henry has managed to bring the club’s finances back to health over five years. For the first time in seven years, the club finished in the black. From June 2013 to the end of May 2014, it recorded a profit of £0.9 million.

“It’s great news for the club that it is being run economically. Modern football is very much about money, and the outlook for the future is certainly better when you have a financially healthy club,” former Liverpool icon Vladimír Šmicer told the Economic Daily. A key factor in achieving the first profit in several years for Liverpool was a huge increase in revenue. Since Henry’s takeover, revenues have risen by 36 percent. Specifically, in 2010, the club’s turnover was €225 million; after last season, it was already €306 million.

“There is a noticeable impact from the American owner — for example, the increase in ticket prices,” sports analyst and football agent Jozef Tokos told the Economic Daily. And since billionaire John Henry has been the owner of the baseball club Boston Red Sox in the USA for over a decade, he tried to transfer the successful business model from American sports into the English football club.