Premier League is 'like the wild west', says new Liverpool owner John W Henry

The new owners of Liverpool, New England Sports Ventures, have admitted that adapting to the world of football has been a "culture shock" and that there are aspects of the way the game works which are "like the wild west."

John W Henry and Duncan White - Premier League is 'like the wild west', says new Liverpool owner John W Henry
Put them up: New Liverpool owner John W Henry (left) shares a joke with Duncan White (centre) Credit: Photo: GETTY IMAGES

John W Henry, the principal owner, and Tom Werner, the new chairman, have been shocked by the lack of transparency in football compared to American sport, the influence of agents and the power of players to push through transfers. "It's been a culture shock, there's no doubt about it," Henry said. "It's sort of like the wild west." In American sport, the salaries of players are available to the public, agents are strictly regulated and players only break contracts in exceptional circumstances.

NESV are prepared to invest in January if the right players can be identified and are keen to get a recruitment team together modelled on the one they use with the Boston Red Sox. Henry confirmed that transfers would be decided on a "collective" basis, with the new director of football strategy, Damien Comolli, and Roy Hodgson, the manager, working together. The emphasis will be on Comolli and his team of scouts identifying players, with Hodgson being consulted on which aspects of the team he feels need strengthening.

Steven Gerrard, the Liverpool captain, has encouraged the new owners to invest in the team as soon as possible. "I think the Americans have got the right idea by trying to build a platform for this club for many years but, of course, when I speak to them, I'm going to be wanting the quick fix because I have got four or five years left at this level and I want to win trophies before I finish because that is what I go to work for," he said.

Hodgson has welcomed the appointment of Comolli, saying: “I think clubs need a strategy and they need a long term strategy and we football managers cannot guarantee long term strategy, that is fairly obvious,” he said.

“I can’t be running Liverpool and at the same time wondering what 12 year old is going to be joining the academy and how the academy is going to be run and how the scouting system is going to be run.

“You need people to do this and all clubs have got this, it's just a case of what you call them. We have a good man. Damien Comolli is a good man and he knows his football and he is experienced and had great success at Tottenham and St Etienne and I’m delighted to welcome him here and he will be a great help to me because the time I have had putting down on other areas, maybe now somebody will be there taking the burden off my shoulders or at least easing the burden but at the end of the day it will be us working together in terms of recruitment.”

Having appointed Comolli on Tuesday the club have begun the next stage of assembling their new team at Anfield by engaging a London head-hunting firm to help find them a chief executive. Henry and Werner met with recruitment specialists on Friday evening but do not anticipate an imminent appointment.

“We want to have a wide net but in a perfect world we want someone who has a connection with Liverpool and who understands the connections between the fans and Liverpool,” Werner said.