Fenway Sports Group Chair John Henry, whose group has a controlling interest in EPL club Liverpool, believes that FSG is "now in a much better position to know exactly what's required to take the club forward," according to James Pearce of the LIVERPOOL ECHO. Henry said, “We know more now than we did when we bought the club. We didn't know a lot at the start. We have had something like 20 months to study and learn and this is really the direction we want to go in. We are working on a long term programme and we are fully committed to this programme. It will be the kind of football we want to play” (LIVERPOOL ECHO, 7/21). BLOOMBERG NEWS' Roger Bennett noted Henry and FSG Chair Tom Werner took control of Liverpool in October '10 for "a cut-rate price" after paying off about $300M worth of the club's debt. Werner was "attracted to the fact that the Premier League operates without the salary restrictions, player drafts and revenue sharing of U.S. sports leagues." He said, "In baseball, when you acquire a franchise, you are one- thirtieth of an industry. If we sell a Liverpool jersey to a supporter in Jakarta, we keep 100 percent of that." Bennett wrote results have been "mixed so far." Werner: "No supporter will take pleasure where we are right now." Henry said that the past 18 months "have been humbling." Henry: "Our first year and a half was spent learning as much as we could .We’re just now really beginning to understand what we have to do differently" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 7/19).
REPORT FROM FENWAY: In Boston, Alex Prewitt noted the Red Sox held a ceremony Saturday in honor of recently retired C Jason Varitek, who received the "home plate from his final game, a $25,000 donation to the Children's Hospital in his name, and golf clubs for retirement" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/22). Meanwhile, also in Boston, James Burnett III noted Brian Evans wrote the "catchy melody" to "'At Fenway,' his tribute tune to Fenway Park in its 100th year." The song was "offered by Evans to the Red Sox last fall," and has been "blasted by stadium workers during Red Sox home games for about a month now." The song "hit in a big way," as the Red Sox "love it." Red Sox Corporate Communications Dir Zineb Curran said, "It seems really fitting as we celebrate Fenway Park's centennial. We appreciate the different ways all our fans try to honor the club. So it's a great year for the song." MLB licensed the song for game use, which was "a first for the league." Evans, Baseball HOFer Jim Rice and actor William Shatner plan to "shoot a music video at Fenway, for 'At Fenway'" (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/21).
