Fenway Sports Group’s highs and lows during 10 years at Liverpool

Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group celebrate 10 years in charge of the club on Thursday.

Here the PA news agency takes a look at some of the significant moments of the decade since their £300million takeover in 2010.

Highs

Klopp

Recruitment

One of the four promises FSG principal owner John W Henry made the day he bought the club was to attract the best players. The task he faced was laid bare as, in the first match of his reign – a 2-0 defeat at Everton – the team included the likes of Paul Konchesky, Sotiris Kyrgiakos and a fading Joe Cole. Fast-forward 10 years and Liverpool’s recruitment is the envy of their rivals. Helped by the promotion of Michael Edwards to sporting director, the club have signed the likes of Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson Becker, at the time the world’s most expensive defender and goalkeeper respectively, as well as developing ‘bargain’ buys like Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah into world-class talents.

Success

The return of the King

Boosting the bank balance

When the club was bought in 2010 for £300million, virtually all of that was used to pay off debts to the banks run up by predecessors George Gillett and Tom Hicks. By the end of the 2017-18 financial year the club had posted record post-tax profits of £106m.

Anfield redevelopment

Just short of their second anniversary, FSG made another decision popular with fans by ditching the previous owners’ proposals for a new stadium in Stanley Park to remain at Anfield. They provided a £115m loan for the redevelopment of the Main Stand, which was completed in September 2016 and extended capacity to 54,000, and plans to redevelop the Anfield Road stand have been drawn up but paused until 2022 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Champions League victory

After suffering a heart-breaking defeat to Real Madrid in the 2018 final Liverpool, against the odds, returned the following year where they beat Tottenham to lift their sixth European Cup.

Title wait ended

Lows

Suarez shame

Ticket U-turn

Just when things seemed to be going well, a 2016 proposed ticket price increase to £77 sparked anger amongst fans and they staged a walkout in the 77th minute of a match at home to Sunderland, who were 2-0 down before the protest began but scored two late goals to draw. Within four days, FSG performed a U-turn on the price hike, with Henry, chairman Tom Werner and FSG president Mike Gordon issuing a statement admitting “part of the ticketing plan we got wrong”.

Furlough furore

With the club riding the crest of a wave, just two victories away from winning the title, FSG shot themselves in the foot with another huge public relations gaffe. With the UK – and football – on lockdown due to Covid-19, the club announced it would be placing non-playing staff on the government’s furlough scheme designed to pay 80 per cent of wages. The decision was met with outrage – especially considering it was less than two years since they had announced world-record profits – and another climbdown was forthcoming, with the club saying they were “truly sorry”.