Tom Werner exclusive interview: Liverpool's chairman on Suarez, Rodgers, the ghosts of Anfield.. and Danny DeVito
Tom Werner exclusive interview: Liverpool's chairman on Suarez, Rodgers, the ghosts of Anfield.. and Danny DeVito
Mirror chief sports writer Oliver Holt visits the Reds' co-owner in Boston to discuss their three years in charge, and the future
Happy anniversary: Liverpool look good three years after Henry and Werner (left) took over
AFP
Liverpool chairman Tom Werner knows a decent soap opera when he sees one.
When he was a television executive, he was behind one of the best programmes ever made.
As he sat in his
private box at Fenway Park - home of baseball's Boston Red Sox - this
week, Werner smiled about making the pilot episode of hit 1980s sitcom
Taxi.
It launched the career of Danny DeVito, from behind a raised, caged office as a dispatcher in a fictional New York yellow-cab garage.
“Danny’s
such a big personality that everyone thought he was a giant when he was
ranting and raving in those early scenes,” Werner said.
“It was
only when he came down into the garage midway through the show that
everyone realised he was not actually a giant at all.”
A few hours after the Anfield giants
moved to the top of the Premier League with their win over Crystal
Palace, though, Werner’s mind was on a present-day soap opera.
This one’s name is Luis Suarez and Werner, like most people in football, is captivated by how it is turning out...
Werner on... Luis Suarez
Werner
had watched the Palace game that morning at the home of his friend and
Liverpool principal owner, John W Henry, in the Boston suburb of
Brookline.
It has not been an easy three years, turning a great
English institution away from the chaos into which it had been plunged
by previous owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett.
But it is impossible to shake the feeling now that the club is moving steadily forward in the struggle to reclaim old glories.
Amid it all, of course, striker Suarez,
not long returned from his 10-game ban for biting Branislav Ivanovic,
was a central figure and Werner was hooked on the storyline.
As he
sat in his Fenway suite, less than an hour before Boston’s play-off
game against the Tampa Bay Rays, guests began to stream in.
None of them wanted to talk about baseball.
They were full of Liverpool and, in particular, Suarez, who had scored in the 3-1 win. Fab four: Werner wants Suarez to fulfil his Champions League ambitions with Liverpool
John Powell
“I got a kick out of the fact that Luis came out on to the pitch before kick-off with his baby and his daughter,” Werner, 63, said.
“He
shook hands with all the officials and the other players carrying his
baby. That is the side of Luis I know, the loving parent.
“There was interest in him from other clubs throughout the summer but it was important for us to try to keep him.
“He is one of the great players of the world and we felt that we would be a stronger club with him than without him.
“That
does not mean I don’t respect his intense desire to play in the
Champions League. But it would be a very happy day next May if and when
we get to the Champions League by finishing in the top four and he is
part of it.
“It is our intention to keep him for a while.
“Our
intention is to build a winning club and he is integral to that. The
past is the past and I have great affection for him personally.
“I give Brendan Rodgers an enormous amount of credit for making sure Luis knew how needed he was at Liverpool.
“Brendan made it plain to him how much he was going to be embraced by the fans, and the supporters have been terrific.”
The day before this interview, Liverpool had announced that Kenny Dalglish would be joining the board in a non-executive role.
The move heightened the feeling that the club is becoming whole again after the period of turbulence under Hicks and Gillett.
Werner
said he would not hesitate to ask Dalglish’s advice and “tap into his
wisdom” and was, of course, full of praise for Rodgers, the Scot's
successor in the dugout... Touching base: Oliver Holt and Tom Werner at Boston's Fenway Park
Werner on... Brendan Rodgers
"I think Brendan has
made remarkable progress," Werner said. "He's a great strategist and
has shown strong leadership. When we hired him, we were confident we
were getting one of the brightest managerial talents in the game and he
is proving his worth.
"He's dedicated to improving the club as a
whole and shares our vision of developing a club that is built for
sustained success.
"He has shown a willingness to use young
players and at the same time, demonstrated the ability to get the best
out of our established stars.
“Brendan is respected by the
players. They feel he is a good strategist and a good leader and his
philosophy has been embraced by everyone.
“We are all moving in the same direction and Brendan is very much the leader.
"We're
pleased with the progress we're seeing on the pitch but our goal is to
create sustainable, long-term success at Liverpool and to consistently
compete for silverware, so we're not getting carried away with a few
good months.
"The club is definitely moving in the right
direction under Brendan and as owners we're very optimistic and excited
about the future." Like a boss: Rodgers' first year and a bit gets the thumbs up from Werner
Alex Livesey
Werner, who remains an understated man despite his showbiz
connections – John Travolta was among his guests at Fenway on Saturday -
tried to play down Liverpool’s superb start to the season.
“It is
certainly promising,” he said. “We have a softer schedule at the start
of this year than we did last year but all you can do is win the games
you are supposed to win.
“The team has played brilliantly at times. It is not unfair to say that Suarez and Daniel Sturridge are as powerful a striking force as any in the league.
“They
both scored brilliant goals today and I am excited about the future but
I don’t want to be accused of wearing rose-coloured spectacles.”
For just a moment, though, he threw circumspection to one side and thought back to Liverpool’s win over Manchester United at the start of last month.
“There is nothing like a goal scored at Anfield,” he said. “You almost feel like the whole place is levitating.
“To have been there when we beat Man U this season, it was one of the great afternoons of my life.”
Werner on... Liverpool vs Red Sox
Even
as Liverpool’s stock rises again in English football, there are a few
who fear they are the poor relation to the Boston Red Sox in the
priorities of their owners.
With Liverpool joint top of the
Premier League and the Red Sox taking a run at the World Series, it is a
notion that Tom Werner and others in the hierarchy at the Fenway Sports
Group - such as chief commercial officer Billy Hogan - poured scorn
upon.
“It’s a funny question,” Werner said, “because it’s like
when somebody says, ‘Do you like a certain child more than you like
another child?’
“We are very honoured and proud of our stewardship
of Liverpool Football Club. It is one of the great iconic clubs in all
of sport.
“I’m just trying to do my best, as is John Henry, to bring more silverware to that amazing trophy cabinet at Anfield.
“It’s
funny because when we make an acquisition at the Red Sox, people say it
means that maybe we don’t have enough money to make an acquisition at
Liverpool.
“But I think we have proven that while we don’t have
the resources that Chelsea and Manchester City have, we feel that we are
growing the club and we feel there is great synergy between some of our
properties.
“And I feel like the more we grow the club
commercially, the more we can spend on improving our performance on the
pitch. It’s important for Liverpool fans to feel that we are fighting
very hard for Financial Fair Play because I think that is a healthy
improvement, if it has some teeth in it. Cheers! Boston Red Sox's famous Fenway Park home
“I was very involved in representing Liverpool in that
discussion at club level and it is important because the club needs to
be self-sustaining. One of the things about FFP is it means you don’t
have to overspend to win.”
Like many others, Werner sees comparisons between the Red Sox and Liverpool, their fan bases and their histories.
“It
starts when you walk on the pitch at Anfield – this is something that
is similar to Fenway Park – because you do feel a little bit the ghosts
of previous players,” he said.
“When I am at Anfield, I do feel a
sense that we are on the right trajectory and there is a certain
hopefulness that wasn’t there three years ago.”
Hogan, who splits his time between Fenway and Anfield, is equally optimistic.
“Each property stands on its own,” he said. “We are all involved in sport to win, so you want to see every property doing well.
“Hopefully now you are seeing the fruits of three years’ effort.”
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