I knew the new owner was wrong for Liverpool the moment he made his first press conference request.

Former Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has explained why the club’s success under Tom Hicks and George Gillett was exceptional, as he offers his verdict on the FSG approach at Anfield.

Former Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has praised the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, for sticking to their principles, but admits he is surprised the Reds achieved any success under the “ridiculous” rule of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

Liverpool are back in contention for the Premier League title after being the only club to seriously challenge Manchester City’s domestic dominance in recent years.

The relationship between FSG and Jurgen Klopp, whom the owners appointed as manager in October 2015, has been critical to this. The Reds have won a sixth European Cup, their first championship in 30 years, world champions for the first time, and the FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Super Cup under Klopp.

Despite being unable to match the financial clout of majority-owned City and Newcastle United, as well as perennial moneybags Manchester United and Chelsea, Liverpool has achieved success.

And, while FSG acknowledged the need for outside investment by selling a minority stake in Liverpool to US private equity firm Dynasty Equity in September for an undisclosed sum between £82 million and £164 million, Parry believes the owners have been courageous in sticking to a long-term outlook.

“I think Liverpool have done brilliantly under FSG and Jurgen Klopp,” Parry went on to say. “The Champions League victory was fantastic, and I believe the owners have achieved success with a long-term model.” They do not want to lose money, but they are not in it to make money; rather, they are in it to create long-term value. They’re in it to win it, and I think they’re great owners.

“The fans give FSG stick because they want to be competing with Manchester City and the clubs owned by sovereign states, but the owners have had the patience and the courage to say that if it is going to have to take longer, that is just the way it will have to be.

“The fact that they were not Hicks and Gillett gave them a lot of credit in the bank with the fans and they were a lot more patient with them. The fanbase were used to Liverpool winning titles so there was always an expectation, but it had become so long that a lot of newer Liverpool fans had never seen them win a title, so they didn’t have quite as much pressure.”

FSG had replaced Hicks and Gillett in October 2010 after the duo’s ownership ended in acrimony after months of infighting that took the club to the brink of administration.

Despite the duo’s controversial tenure after taking over in February 2007, Liverpool reached the Champions League final that season and two years later embarked on a title challenge which saw them narrowly finish second to Manchester United. And Parry, who is currently chairman of the EFL, believes that was a surprise given the chaos behind the scenes.

“How Liverpool ever achieved anything under Hicks and Gillett is one of life’s great mysteries,” said Parry, speaking to William Hill’s podcast, Up Front with Simon Jordan. “The day before they took over was when I had already started to think, ‘what have I gotten into here?’

“We had known George Gillett for quite a long time, he was very likeable and gave us free reign which was quite commendable. He then brought in Tom Hicks literally a week before the takeover. We didn’t really know Tom, but they had done business together before. It was a classic case of being able to happily survive together in many different businesses, but football is something different.

“They were 50/50 in the ownership and there were no deadlock provisions, which is ridiculous. It was rushed and they had put their plan together too quickly. In hindsight it was ridiculous, but we didn’t know the nature of their deal at the time and it became the source of many challenges down the line.”

Hicks and Gillett: The living nightmare for Liverpool FC - Liverpool Echo

Parry added: “We had a press conference to announce the takeover. We were planning for it and we had a very professional PR advisor teeing the whole thing up, because the Moores family selling Liverpool was massive news. It had to be done properly.

“We had to brief them before on things to ensure they didn’t refer to the club as something like ‘the Liverpool Reds’, telling them not to mention franchises. These were all the things we had to do to mitigate the missteps that the Americans might take.

“We were deciding the running order for the conference with George set to speak second, but Tom jumped in and said, ‘I’m speaking second otherwise I won’t get a word in!’ At that point I was thinking, ‘what is going on here?’ You know that when your first instincts are negative, they’re generally correct.”

 


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