PREGUNTAS Y RESPUESTASBilly Hogan: «Estamos muy emocionados de volver a traer el Liverpool a los Estados Unidos»

The Reds’ men’s squad set up base in Chicago on Monday to begin a two-week stay during which they will play three friendly matches.

The first of those comes against Sunderland in Nashville on Saturday – and fans can watch the action live on All Red Video.

Upon arrival at Music City in Tennessee on Friday, we spoke to club CEO Hogan about why spending time in the States is key.

Read or watch the Q&A below.

Billy, here we are in Nashville ahead of the first pre-season game. What does it feel like to be back in the US again?

Yeah, it’s good to be back in the US. Obviously, we were here two years ago. The team’s just arriving here in Nashville and with our new head coach, Andoni [Iraola], in charge. A couple of years ago we were here to play three matches; we’re going to do the same again this trip. Looking forward to playing here tomorrow night in Music City, in Nashville. We’re playing against Sunderland tomorrow. And then we go on to New York, where we play against Wrexham on Wednesday night. And then we’ll wrap up with a match against Leeds in Chicago on August 2. It’s great to be back in the US, obviously it’s an opportunity for us to bring the club to see our supporters and so we’re looking forward to being here and excited to be back.

It’s been good to get the insights in Chicago and see bits of those training sessions already, but everybody says it from a football perspective, how important this period is for the players to be ready for that new campaign…

Absolutely. It’s kind of our responsibility as one of the biggest clubs in the world to bring the club out to our supporters, and that’s a big part of why we come on tour. But as you said, this is the pre-season and make no mistake about it, this is about putting the foundations in place for the long season ahead, as Andoni said in his comments. So, the team is working really, really hard. One of the great things about coming to the US is that the facilities that we’re able to either train in or play in are tremendous.

So, the match here tomorrow in Nashville, playing Yankee Stadium in New York and then playing in Chicago next Sunday. We’re training actually at the Chicago Fire’s training centre, which is a brand new facility, so thank you to them for allowing us to use their pitches and facilities. A terrific opportunity, but yeah, make no mistake, the guys are working really hard, as you’ve probably seen from the videos. And that’s really what it’s all about: getting the guys in shape.

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It’s also a sad week for Liverpool fans and the first of those friendlies is where we will pay tribute to the great Kevin Keegan…

Very, very sad to hear of Kevin’s passing. He’s obviously been battling cancer and is just taken far too early. We’ve obviously been in touch with his family and passed along our condolences. He was a Liverpool legend and was a guy who played the game the way our fans like to see it. He played front-foot, attacking, tenacious. I didn’t know him well, but what I did know is he was a very warm, generous person and he provided incredible memories for our fans. So, I know everybody will be devastated at his passing.

As you said, we’ll be recognising him tomorrow against Sunderland. Obviously, he had some time at their cross-town rivals and we’ll be recognising him, and then we’ll recognise him before the Monaco match at Anfield on August 9. And we are in touch with Newcastle. Obviously, we open the season against Newcastle at St. James’ Park, so we’re talking to them about what we might do to recognise him there as well. Very sad to learn of Kevin’s passing.

Important periods obviously on the pitch for the team and getting ready for a new season, but also a really important period for you off the pitch, too?

Yeah, it’s a huge opportunity for us. Obviously, the US is a really important market. Coming off the back of what was a really exciting World Cup that has also, I think, just been great for the sport, great for football generally. This is something from our perspective where, as I said before, the opportunity for us to bring the club out to our supporters here in this market, to interact with our Official Liverpool Supporters Clubs, which we’ll be doing in every market that we’re in, and really getting a chance to interact with our partners that we have. Almost 40 per cent of our partners actually are here based in the US, so an opportunity to engage and activate with them.

And then there’s a huge part of what we do here on tour, which is also about the community, so LFC Foundation is here. As I say, they’re the hardest-working people on tour – morning until dusk they’re running soccer schools and events with different organisations. We’re really proud of contributing back to the community. We were at a children’s hospital here in Nashville, we’ll be doing the same in Chicago. So, it’s something that we take very seriously, this opportunity to bring the club out to our supporters and engage with them here on the ground in these markets.

Round it up for us then, why is the US so important to Liverpool, particularly on this tour?

Yeah, as I said before, the US is a really important market from our perspective. A huge fan base here, over 26 million supporters of the club, which, I’m told, actually the only US sports team that has more fans is the LA Lakers. So, a pretty good indication of the popularity of the club. It’s our No.1 international retail market. We are the No.2 most-watched team in European football here in the US. So, the team is incredibly popular.

It’s an important market from our perspective. As we mentioned before, we’ve got a number of our partners that are here. And so, all of that kind of comes together to make it a super-important market from our perspective. And as we said before, great facilities, a great opportunity for us to engage with the fans and a great spot for us to tour in. So, really excited to be here and excited to see all our fans here over the course of the next two weeks.