What Everton fans told Liverpool owner John W Henry after humiliating Goodison Park debut

John W Henry, having completed his £300m takeover of Liverpool FC 14 years ago, initially planned to delay his first match as the club’s new principal owner. Eager to experience Premier League action at Anfield after ousting the unpopular Tom Hicks and George Gillett, Henry’s intentions were to wait.

However, following a dramatic High Court victory in London on October 15, 2010, the then New England Sports Ventures head was too excited to postpone his visit.

Arriving in Merseyside the next day, Henry met with staff, players, and manager Roy Hodgson at Anfield. Yet, an impromptu decision led him to attend the 214th Merseyside derby against Everton as his first game.

The subsequent day’s evening events likely left Henry regretting not waiting for the Anfield clash with Blackburn Rovers. The taunts of “going down, going down” from the Everton fans would have been excruciating for the Liverpool faithful and even more so for Henry and his NESV colleagues.

This marked a less than stellar start to Fenway Sports Group’s reign over Liverpool.

“I hope you’ve kept your receipt,” echoed from the stands as Liverpool bigwig John Henry, NESV heavyweight Joe Januszewski and their crew made a swift exit from Goodison Park after witnessing The Reds’ 2-0 trouncing at the hands of Everton. In that moment, the Boston-based owners must have seriously questioned their investment choice.

Indeed, there was a reason Liverpool, one of Europe’s elite ‘franchises’, was up for grabs at such a bargain. Putting the disastrous reign of Hicks and Gillett aside, by Autumn 2010, Liverpool’s squad boasted progressively fewer stars and was led by a beleaguered boss who seemed to sink deeper into ineptitude with each passing match.

“That is as good as I have seen a Liverpool team play under my management,” inadvertently quipped Hodgson, with the painful irony lost on him. “To get a result here would have been Utopia,” he offered after the match, adding another bewildering remark to his gallery of outlandish comments during his short-lived tenure at Anfield.

One national newspaper didn’t hold back, stating: “It is certainly hard to recall a Liverpool team worse than this one and hard to imagine that Hodgson will be given long to prove otherwise,” Another publication reported: “Henry met Hodgson after the match and the manager’s position remains safe,” but noted: “Although comments such as ‘I refuse to accept we were outplayed or in any way inferior’ are insulting to the eyesight of his new employer and to the Liverpool fans forced to endure this derby humiliation.”

The ECHO delivered its verdict with a touch of realism: “John W Henry and Tom Werner spoke with great pragmatism when they arrived on Merseyside this weekend, making it clear that the job of restoring Liverpool to the summit of English football will not be completed overnight.”

They added a scathing observation: “Maybe the club’s new owners had seen a DVD compilation of their new club’s performances this season; if they hadn’t the chastening, harrowing 90 minutes they had the misfortune of sitting through at Goodison Park yesterday gave an idea of the depths to which the Reds have fallen.”

In a post-match debacle, Hodgson found himself in hot water following a sharp exchange with a Scandinavian journalist, where he disparaged Norway and Denmark, saying these were countries he’d “never want to work in again” after being pressed about his team’s display. This off-pitch blunder was likely just as disappointing to Liverpool’s hierarchy as the lacklustre tactics witnessed during the game.

The outcome sparked chatter among some national media outlets about Liverpool potentially getting embroiled in an unimaginable fight to retain their Premier League status. With the advantage of hindsight, this may seem excessively dramatic, but given that they had just narrowly escaped administration due to NESV’s takeover, such a fear was still very much alive for a fatigued fan base eager to cautiously emerge from the lengthy and poisonous shadow cast by Hicks and Gillett.

It was indeed a modest start for FSG.