John W Henry, the principal owner of Liverpool, has suggested his Fenway Sports Group has overpaid for players, particularly in Boston and also in Liverpool, since they bought the football club a year ago this Saturday. Kenny Dalglish, appointed Liverpool's manager in January – which Henry described as "a calculated gamble" because he was not initially convinced Dalglish should return to management after an 11-year absence – has since spent £110.5m on players.
Liverpool's outlay includes £35m on Andy Carroll, £20m each for Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing, as well as £22m for Luis Suárez and £6m for José Enrique, the latter two generally felt in football to represent fair value. The Boston Red Sox, the baseball team Fenway owns, took on $300m (£191m) in new payroll commitments on two players, Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, before this season, which nevertheless ended in dramatic collapse for the Red Sox.
I still see Andy Carroll as a panic buy from Liverpool when they lost Torres near the end of the transfer window. How Newcastle convinced them he's worth £35m, I'll never know.
Guardian headline: "lfc may have overpaid for players, concedes Henry". Actual quote is in a para about the Red Sox, not connected to lfc at all ;/
am expecting big things from downing, specially today.