On this day in 2010, FSG’s tenure as Liverpool owners started with a miserable 2-0 loss at Everton to leave talk of relegation swirling
Upon completing his £300m purchase 13 years ago, John W Henry had planned to hold off on attending his first match as the new principal owner of Liverpool FC.
Henry initially aimed to savour his first taste of Premier League football at Anfield
Having finally wrestled the club from the vice-like grip of the detested Tom Hicks and George Gillett,
But having completed a dramatic takeover in the High Court of London on October 15, 2010,
The then New England Sports Ventures chief simply couldn’t wait.
Having arrived on Merseyside the following day to meet the staff, players and then manager Roy Hodgson at Anfield,
Henry and the rest of NESV pencilled a late change into their diaries to make the 214th Merseyside derby against Everton their maiden fixture in English football.
Liverpool owners are angry
By early evening the following day, Henry was likely wishing
He had held off for the Anfield visit from Blackburn the following week.
The cries of “going down, going down” from the home end would have sounded like nails on a chalkboard for the away supporters at Goodison Park but they would stung Henry and his team even more so.
The company who would soon become Fenway Sports Group had begun their ownership of Liverpool in the most inauspicious of circumstances.
“I hope you’ve kept your receipt,” came one call from the home end as Henry,
Senior vice-president of NESV Joe Januszewski
The rest of the entourage filed out of Goodison Park having seen
Liverpool comfortably beaten 2-0 by their fierce local rivals. The Boston-based organisation might privately have been forgiven for wondering what on earth they had inherited. One Everton fan in particular sneered in Henry’s face that he “had bought the wrong club”.
