Liverpool owner John Henry booed in Boston amid calls for investment after FSG sale decision

Liverpool have been put up for sale by Fenway Sports Group as they seek new investment but fans of the Boston Red Sox want the American group to spend money to improve the MLS team.
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Liverpool‘s loss at Brentford has unsurprisingly left supporters again concerned about what the rest of the season holds.

In truth, many saw the result coming. Despite heading into the first game of four successive Premier League wins, confidence was not high. The Reds had failed to convince in previous wins against Aston Villa and Leicester City.

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Jurgen Klopp’s side got what they deserved in west London. Brentford were full value for their 3-1 victory, with Liverpool failing to take advantage of Tottenham’s loss to Villa and move up to fifth in the table.

Indeed, there are palpable worries that the Anfield outfit will fail to qualify for the Champions League this season. Having been expected to challenge for the title again, the Reds find themselves 15 points adrift of leaders Arsenal and four points outside of the top four. Missing out on Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in seven years would be a hammer blow.

One way many believe Liverpool can remedy their problems is by bringing in new recruits in the January transfer window. Cody Gakpo has already been signed for an initial fee of £37 million from PSV Eindhoven. But plenty of Kopites are perturbed that the Dutch forward won’t be enough to turn around the Reds’ fortunes.

It’s been almost two months since it became known that Liverpool had been put up for sale by Fenway Sports Group (FSG). At the time the news broke in early November, it came as a surprise. FSG have owned the Reds since 2010 and oversaw the club’s return to the top of European football. A sixth Champions League was added to the trophy cabinet in 2019 (along with defeats in the 2018 and 2022 finals respectively) and a 30-year wait for a league title was ended in 2020.

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Liverpool fans had hoped there would be new capital put into the club to bolster funds in the January transfer window. While the Reds have splashed the cash on Gakpo, clamour for a new midfielder continues. Indeed, after the Brentford loss, Kop legend Jamie Carragher ruled out Liverpool’s chances of finishing in the top four unless they freshen up their engine room - and rued the lack of spending in the area of the pitch.

Klopp recently admitted that the Reds ‘cannot play Monpoloy’ and told of his frustration at the constant calls for new players. Still, it won’t stop supporters from putting pressure on FSG to provide Liverpool with the funds for a new midfielder and deliver Klopp with the tools needed.

And across the Atlantic, sections of fans of another of FSG’s teams are seemingly equally frustrated. MLS side the Boston Red Sox have been owned by John Henry since 2002. During that time, the Red Sox have won four World Series championships - including ending an 86-year wait in 2004 to claim the Commissioner’s Trophy.

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Much like Liverpool, Henry - FSG founder and principal owner - helped bring success back to the Boston outfit. But much like Kopites, some Red Sox followers are starting to become unsettled with the American group.

Henry was present at the Red Sox’s Fenway Park to watch another of his outfits on Monday. NHL side the Pittsburgh Penguins, purchased by FSG in December 2021, took part in the Winter Classic as they faced the Boston Bruins, who claimed a 2-1 win. The popular showdown meant that Henry was at the very nucleus of the game given his ice hockey team were playing at the home of his baseball side.

Yet fans of Boston persuasion saw it as a chance to let their feelings known to Henry. As the 73-year-old entered Fenway Park, a video has emerged of fans shouting ‘pay Raffy’, ‘Raffy is worth the money’ and ‘pay anybody’. They demanded that the Red Sox re-sign third baseman Rafael Devers, who has been linked with a move away.

It comes after shortstop Xander Bogaerts left to join the San Diego Padres last month. ESPN reported that the deal Bogaerts was offered by Boston felt like 'a slap'.

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Henry then made an appearance on the field before the game. But as he made his way into the stands, Worcester Telegramand Gazette reporter Joe MacDonald wrote on Twitter that ‘fans started to boo him’.

He wrote: “John Henry just walked through the stands and fans started to boo him.”

In addition, the Boston Globe - a newspaper Henry owns - reports that he was ‘was treated no more kindly by the fans in the stands, who smattered him with boos’.

In both Merseyside and Massachusetts, it appears that FSG are facing pressure to invest in both teams’ playing squads.

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