Tom Werner: The full transcript
To watch the show 'Tom Werner: Up Close and Personal', click on the image below
Do you have a message for Liverpool supporters? "I do. I know how sport can have such a great impact on your life and just lift you up. Our dream is to win trophies. We want to have more trophies in our trophy case. I know the joy. I've seen the pictures when you all came back from Istanbul and to see the thousands and thousands of people lining the streets in Liverpool... that is such a dream."
The question had been posed by Ian Ayre; the answer delivered by Tom Werner.
It's just one of many fascinating exchanges between the Liverpool Managing Director and the club Chairman that takes place during possibly the most revealing interview ever filmed by LFC TV. It's an interview however that at one point earlier today looked like it might not even happen.
*****
"Gentlemen, can we have a word please?"
It's 9.50am at Schiphol Airport and Ian Ayre, LFC TV producer Matt Walker and myself are all attempting to navigate our way through customs in Amsterdam en route to the United States.
For the Reds Managing Director the journey today began at 4am with a 90-minute car journey from Bad Ragaz - where he was a guest speaker yesterday at the 'Football is More' international conference - to Zurich to catch a flight to Holland. A flight that saw him and the airplane take off without his laptop, which, in the rush to make the airport on time, he'd left in his hotel room [it was later collected by a member of the club's Community department, also in Switzerland with the LFC Ability Counts team]. Then, just for good measure, who should he walk right into upon entering the business lounge at Schiphol but his Old Trafford counterpart David Gill, Alex Ferguson and Bobby Charlton - in Holland for Edwin van der Sar's testimonial. "The last three people I needed to see at that time of the morning," he confides to us with a laugh later.
And now we're stood at the immigration desk being beckoned over by two particularly large and Dutch security guards who have just been informed by a colleague that we work for Liverpool Football Club. "Which one of you gentlemen was responsible for taking Luis Suarez away from us?"
We point at Ian.
"Well, Sir, I'm afraid I'm going to have to put on my gloves and administer a far more thorough examination before letting you on this flight..."
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While Ayre took the rap in Amsterdam, in reality, the two men responsible for enabling Damien Comolli and Kenny Dalglish to prize the most exciting player in Holland away from Ajax are actually sat 3,465 miles away inside Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts.
Since taking over Liverpool FC on October 15, Tom Werner and John Henry have done exactly what they said they'd do. They've listened, they've learnt and they've invested heavily in the playing squad. The purchase of Suarez may have broken the hearts of the two Ajax-supporting security men in Amsterdam but for Liverpool, it was only the start of an exciting new era at the club. A new club transfer record was smashed with the purchase of Andy Carroll from Newcastle and this summer has seen the owners again backing Dalglish and Comolli with the funds to bolster the squad with some of the best young players in British football.
Talents like Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing don't come cheap however and later today, inside a room on the third floor of Fenway Park, Ian Ayre and Philip Nash, Liverpool's Chief Financial Officer, will sit down with Henry and Werner to discuss the club's budget for the forthcoming year.
Ahead of that meeting however, Tom Werner wants to talk and in the first show of a new LFC TV series entitled 'Up Close and Personal', Ayre is making his debut on the club channel as a presenter. It's a new role he appears to be relishing, working on his questions and scribbling neat prompts down on small pieces of card for the interview while on the flight over. "I'm going to ask him about the ice cream van and have a bit of fun with it," he tells us in the car laid on to us to the ballpark. Neither of us have any idea what he's talking about.
When Werner turns up for the interview, he's in a great mood. At the time of talking, the Red Sox are sitting pretty at the top of their division, while back on Merseyside, the news is all positive. The day before we meet, the new signings were unveiled to the world's media and now Werner, like Henry, can't wait for the actual season to start.
As the cameras prepare to roll for the start of our interview on the particularly impressive Budweiser Roof Deck at Fenway Park, the Liverpool Chairman suddenly throws our well rehearsed plans into chaos by announcing that he'd like to interview Ian for the show. It wasn't exactly what we had in mind. "I've got some questions for Ian. I'll interview him as part of this show. That's OK, isn't it? " he asks me. I immediately say yes - he's the Chairman after all. All the same, I assume he's simply trying to unsettle Ian before his big moment in front of the camera.
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Ian Ayre: Growing up near Anfield I was a Liverpool fan but you're a New Yorker, so why not one of the New York teams?
Tom Werner: I rooted for the [New York] Yankees when I was growing up, and that was a big challenge when we acquired the Red Sox. I think people are entitled to make mistakes when they're young.
IA: What brought you to Boston?
TW: Boston is very much like Liverpool. It's got a great history and this is the cradle of the American Revolution. I went to college here at Harvard. It's just a very special city and this is, as you can see, a very iconic place to play baseball. It's very much like Anfield. Fenway Park is going to be celebrating its 100th anniversary next year; it's the oldest ball park in baseball. When we took over, I think the general sentiment was you should tear down Fenway Park but we studied it and we thought there was a lot of value in trying to renovate it and trying to keep what's best about it. I mean, there are a lot of ghosts here just as there are a lot of ghosts when you watch a match at Anfield. You can see Ted Williams and Babe Ruth playing baseball here and I think right now the fans love coming here. It's the most popular tourist attraction in New England and tonight, I think it's something like our 670th straight sell out, which has gone back seven or eight years. I'm very proud of what we've done. When you come to the game later, you'll see the joy people have just walking into Fenway Park, which is very much how I feel every time I walk into Anfield.
IA: Earlier in my career I was in charge of a smaller football club [Huddersfield Town] and when I moved to Liverpool you kind of see the comparisons and the parallels but it's a big step up. You were at the San Diego Padres, what did you bring to Boston from that experience?
TW: I think to look at my career in sports, the lessons that I learnt in San Diego helped us become better stewards in Boston and hopefully we'll be better stewards in Liverpool through the lessons we've learnt. I think the most important thing, and it may seem obvious, is to put a quality product [out there] for your fans. These are the people who spend their hard earned pounds to come to see the club. We've got supporters all around the world who expect a quality product and so it's been our goal to try to improve our position on the pitch and to try and create an environment for players to say they want to play in Liverpool. We want to bring some of the lustre that all the fans know back to the club.
IA: You obviously have a passion for sport but what about playing sport? The guys at the Red Sox say you often take their money off them in golf.
TW: It's certainly in my nature to be excellent and to win and I think that winning drives us all here. Winning drives you; you want to have the best club in England and we want this to be the best baseball club in Major League Baseball. And for me that means building an organisation and trying to create a unity of purpose so we can deliver on our promises.
IA: Is that what motivates you - success? What gets you up in the morning? What time do you get up anyway?
TW: It depends what time I go to sleep! For me, one of the great experiences of my life was watching us beat Manchester United last year and watching us beat Chelsea last year. That kind of excitement and knowing that you may have had a small part in it is a very satisfying feeling and when I come to the ballpark tonight and the Red Sox are in first place, I know that we are delivering on our promise to field a quality team. That's what drives me."
IA: I keep hearing this story about an ice cream van! What's that about?
TW: Well, some people have a mid-life crisis and they want to buy a Mercedes or they want to drive a Thunderbird. When I was growing up there was this ice cream truck in our neighbourhood and I can still hear the bells of the ice cream truck ringing as it went around the corner. So there was an ice cream truck from that vintage that was put up on eBay and I sometimes drive it around my neighbourhood. I think half the people think I'm crazy and half the people think I'm Santa Claus.
IA: So any plans to give free ice cream away in Liverpool?
TW: Absolutely. I would like to do that. It's our hope to have Lebron James come to Anfield at some point in the next few months and maybe I'll encourage him to give away some footballs and basketballs.
IA: When we first found out about that relationship [with LeBron], people in the city were genuinely interested. Basketball's not the biggest sport in England but he's certainly someone who everybody recognises.
TW: You've just came back from Asia and you know the millions of supporters we have in Asia... well, Lebron will be great ambassador for Liverpool Football Club in Asia.
IA: When you come here to Fenway Park, you see the passion. The place feels very much like Anfield - very traditional. The fans are very passionate. Do you see a lot of parallels?
TW: I do and I think the fans in both venues are very knowledgeable and that is one of the things that is remarkable about this club and it is true in Liverpool. People in other stadiums sometimes come for the hotdogs or they come just for the socialising experience but here fans care so much about the Boston Red Sox just as our fans around the world do for Liverpool. They're knowledgeable and they'll tell you when they're unhappy - and I've heard some comments about that as the Chairman of Liverpool - but they'll say, you know, have a beer with me because we know you're doing a good job. I guess from my own point of view, that's the thing that drives me - if John and I and you can just leave the club in better shape than when we got here. Our hope is that we can make our fans proud of what we have done. I don't want to promise so much. I know John has said we're going to be top four and Kenny says, well, why can't we win? But we just want to move forward. We want to be better this year than last year and just keep going on the right track.
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'On the right track' is not a phrase anyone would have used to describe the plight of the Boston Red Sox immediately prior to John Henry and Tom Werner arriving on the scene in 2002. Off the field fans were told Fenway Park had no future; a new stadium would need to be built while on it, the 'Curse of the Bambino' - 84 years without winning the World Series - showed no signs of abating.
To find out some about life before and after the arrival in Boston of Henry, Werner and FSG - then New England Sports Ventures - I asked Don Orsillo (below left), the play-by-play commentator for Red Sox games on NESN since 2001 just what state the club were in back then.
"It was already a very good brand; you're talking about six states who were very much in love with this team, but when the new ownership group took over in 2002, it brought it to its greatest level ever in its history," he says. "They did an amazing job on many different fronts. First of all, they spent a huge amount of money on payroll; they brought some of the best players who have ever played for the Boston Red Sox; they've been competitive every season and they did something that I didn't think was going to be possible - they renovated a stadium that is now going to a 100 years old next year, which is incredible. Each year they'd make a new renovation and you didn't know that it wasn't there before - somehow they kept it seamless. They kept the great uniqueness of this ballpark the same but yet upgraded it to something that is incredible now and I never imagined that was possible.
LFC: What was the fans reaction to the takeover? Were people nervous or excited?
Don Orsillo: New England is a very parochial place. They like their own to have ownership, to be stewards of the ball club perhaps, and this group was not from here, besides Tom having gone to Harvard. I think that was perhaps the one link but they quickly won over the Red Sox nation because they came in and did all the things that we spoke of. Very quickly the 'out of towners' idea was something you never heard of again.
LFC: What were the biggest changes you saw early on? What did they do first?
DO: When owners take over in Major League Baseball or any club, often they come in with their own philosophies and ideas and make those changes immediately. These didn't. They came in and listened to the fan base, they listened to the people who had worked here before them, and incorporated their own philosophy and ideas with what was already here. I think the fact that they listened first, before they perhaps made a lot of these changes, made a very big difference in their success in moving forward.
LFC: It was 86 years since you had won the World Series. Talk us through that season...
DO: It was an incredible season and I think the key to that season was the bold moves they made during the course of the season. They traded away a player in Nomar Garciaparra, who was a huge fan favourite here and an All Star, and the trade that they made acquired three very big pieces in what would win a World Championship for the first time in over 80 years. You acquire offensive first baseman in Doug Mientkiewicz, you get Orlando Cabrera as well, a very good defensive short stop, and you also pick up Dave Roberts, who ended up being arguably the most important part of what turned out to be the World Series. They came in and they did the right things, they spent a lot of money and it all worked out in the end.
LFC: Did you ever feel you would never commentate on a World Series winning team?
DO: Having grown up here and spent my entire life in New England, the feeling was not when are we going to win, it was, we're not going to win. How are we going to find a way to lose! It all changed that season.
LFC: What was the emotion like the day you won?
DO: Disbelief at the fact that the Boston Red Sox were World Champions and having known that my grandfather lived his entire life without a championship and many people have passed away without having the benefit of their team, the Boston Red Sox, winning a World Series and being there to see it.
LFC: Did the whole city get a lift?
DO: Absolutely. I think more than a city; Red Sox nation is more than Boston, it's more than the six states that make up New England. It's all over the country.
LFC: Did 2007 feel just as special?
DO: It did. It was unique in its own way because they were different players and it was a different time and it really confirmed the fact that this was a World Champion organisation now. Winning one is great but winning two means that you're in it for real and I think the second one was as important as the first in a great many ways but for different reasons.
LFC: What was the reaction of the Red Sox fans when the owners announced plans to buy Liverpool FC?
DO: I think that because they have had many other businesses, NASCAR and the other things that they've done, it hasn't affected this ball club in any way, shape or form and I think the fans think it's kind of neat because the ownership group is extended into different areas. I think there's some interest now that was never there before with fans looking into soccer or football because they have a link to Red Sox baseball but I don't think at any point anybody was concerned they would be spending less money here.
LFC: What would your message be to Liverpool fans?
DO: My message to Liverpool fans would be to believe in what they're doing, because they accomplished something here that was not done in a very long time. Believe in these people. They know what they're doing. They will spend the money; the resources are there for them to do great things. Trust in them - we have and we are very happy.
*****
Back on the Budweiser Roof Deck inside Fenway Park, Ian Ayre takes a quick glance down at his notes and gets set to ask his next question. The Kirkdale-born, former Royal Naval Officer appears to be warming to his new role as a presenter on LFC TV.
IA: When you came here, you ended this long, long, long period without success, without winning the World Series. What do you put that [success] down to? Is there anything you did or that you applied in those early years that you think might be a help to Liverpool and our title hopes?
TW: I feel that you and Kenny and Damien and everyone are working tirelessly. There is saying that Thomas Edison once had, which is that, it's one per cent inspiration and 99 per cent perspiration. I don't think anybody is working harder than we are right. We are trying right now to continue to see if we can recruit talent; we are willing to spend pounds to upgrade the team and I think that both clubs, both the Red Sox and Liverpool, are blessed with management that is tireless and smart and I think that is the essential ingredient.
IA: You talk of that management trio... We've got a Managing Director from Liverpool, a manager from Scotland and a Director of Football from France - an Englishman, a Scotsman and a Frenchman, it sounds like the first line of a joke....
TW: I remember a conversation I had recently with Kenny and you and John and Damien and I didn't understand a word.
IA: I saw a quote from Kenny that said he thought we had great owners. We've seen a lot of changes at Liverpool in not even a full year and the new season is just approaching us - is there anything that stands out for you that you want to achieve this year? We've spent money in the transfer market but is there anything you'd like to see different in the coming season that we didn't see last season?
TW: Well, just as a fan - what most fans feel - is that there were a number of matches when we were playing weaker teams and for some reason we weren't prepared or didn't perform at our best. I think it's important - and I'll be sitting with you when we play Sunderland - that we get off to a good start. I think there are a lot of high hopes and expectations and we need to show that the decisions made in the off-season were the right ones. I'm very keen about getting off to a good start.
IA: Kenny is at the heart of everything at Anfield. It's one of the many reasons that it's great to have him back at the club. What do you, as someone who came into football in very recent times, see in him and his qualities and what he brings to us?
TW: I can't think of somebody who embodies the relentlessness and the drive and the attitude of excellence better than Kenny. Obviously we knew of him before we met him. I think he is a natural leader. I've had the privilege to watch him as he trains the men at Melwood and I just think he's so charismatic and I think he's been able to instil a sense of purpose into the club. When he says something, I think people listen.
IA: There's a good parallel between the two of you because he takes money off people in golf too...
TW: I know he's a good golfer and are we going to get Darren Clarke to Anfield at some point.
IA: We are actually. I wrote to Darren after he won the Open and invited him and we had a nice letter back saying he'll try to come this season.
TW: Now can I interview you for a few minutes? Here we are in Boston. We met you during the sales process. What do you think about what we've done in Boston that is interesting to our fans in Liverpool?
IA: I think the thing that hit me first and foremost when I came to present to your investors in Boston and we walked around Fenway was that it was so like Liverpool. Here today with some of our guys who have come along, they say the same thing, this just feels like Anfield; the offices, the way the stadium - obviously it's different - has got that traditional and historic feel. It feels like it's been around a long time; it's got real history and great memories. I think that knowing the people who now own our football club have experienced that type of atmosphere, that type of fan, that type of history; I think that's really important. As someone who's supported the club my whole life, I take great stock in the fact that you guys know what it's like to own something historic, because that's what we are.
TW: Do you have - without putting you on the spot - an opinion about what to do about the new stadium at Stanley Park or refurbish Anfield?
IA: Yeah, I do. I unashamedly would say I'd love to stay at Anfield, because you never want to move if you don't have to from somewhere like that. As a fan, and someone who's supported the club for over 40 years, all my memories are there. I know where I stood when we won certain competitions. I know where I stood when we won the league. I know where I stood when we qualified for our first European Cup final. So to leave that home, to leave that sort of spiritual place and to go somewhere else would be a big wrench for me, and for other fans, so if it's the option, if we can get to that option, and we both know the difficulties and the challenges around that, then it has to be the right solution for me.
TW: I know you were with the club in Asia. What would be the memory you take back from seeing the team in Kuala Lumpur and Guangdong?
IA: Malaysia is pretty special for me personally and also for the club. On a personal basis, to have lived in that country, 40 million people or so, five or six thousand miles away from Liverpool and to walk out for training on the first night we where there and have nearly 40,000 people watch training and then to walk out on a match day and have over 80,000 people when we're that far away from home. I think the thing that struck me the most was watching the young players, people like Jon Flanagan, and watching the new players, people like Charlie Adam, who'd just joined the club, and for them to get a true realisation of the size of this football club so far away from home. There were so many fans it was like a sea of red and white. I found that astounding and I think it also embodied the fact that while we might not have been the most successful club in the last few years and we may have had some difficulties in the last few years, our fans are still there. There are still millions of them and they represent such a big opportunity. As I've said before, almost 50 per cent of our commercial revenue comes from international markets so they're just as important as everyone else and it's great to see they're still behind us.
TW: Do you have any predictions about this year?
IA: Yeah, I'm with Kenny! If Kenny says we can win it then we can win it. He put the pressure on himself, so I'm happy to stand behind him.
*****
Spotting an opportunity to wrestle the role of interviewer back from his chairman, Ayre shuffles his cue cards and returns to the driving seat.
IA: So Tom, obviously you had this early success, winning the World Series, but what's that like and how did you deal with the success?
TW: The experience of being in New England when the Red Sox won after 86 years of drought is hard to actually articulate. It was as if the whole region was floating for quite a while. When you think about 86 years, you think about the fact that some people came to Fenway Park in 1920 and passed away before seeing the World Championship. One of the things that happened after we won the World Series is that people where actually buying World Series pennants and bringing them to their parents grave so that they could participate in that success.
IA: Is it the same here in Boston? Do you have a parade?
TW: They had a parade - three million people! Now this is a city of less than one million people and three million people came out. We had them on duck boats, which is something that can actually go on the street and on the water. It was great and when we came in we said we were going to bring Championships to Boston and that's certainly our goal in Liverpool.
IA: We look forward to that. In football, we're entering this phase at the moment where people are talking about financial fair play. How do you see financial fair play? What do you think it means to us?
TW: I hope there's some teeth in it because I think it's healthy for the sport. It will make the sport more competitive. I know you've been outspoken about some recent actions - our fans will know what club you're talking about. In fact, I think everybody knows. Part of our assumption when we came in last year was that financial fair play was coming into existence and that we'd hope it would have some teeth. It will make the performance on the pitch more competitive.
IA: I guess another one of those differences [between football and baseball] is the rules and the application of them, not just in fair play but in football in general. For us at Liverpool, we apply those in the UK, but we also live in a world that applies them across Europe and the world. That's not really the case in US sport where it's a very sort of domestic product.
TW: I do think one of the experiences I've had is what a global fan base Liverpool has. We think in the US sometimes narrowly about our fan base. To think that some people, sometimes, are getting up in the middle of the night to watch a Liverpool match in Asia... it's tremendous.
IA: No USA tour this summer, but maybe next year?
TW: We hope so. We've had one football match here last year and everybody who came had a great time and I know there is a lot of support for Liverpool in Boston. That would be something to look forward to.
IA: Do you see a growing interest in soccer in the US?
TW: I see that in general. I think all these things matter - the women's World Cup did quite well in the US and the team of course was a good team but I think people want to watch the best athletes in the world and the best athletes in football are in the Premier League. I feel just talking to people... I bump into people and they say they're Liverpool fans, and there are more and more fans of Liverpool and the other teams in the EPL day by day. I know Manchester United had a terrific experience in the United States this summer. They played a number of matches and they were all sold out. That's good for the sport globally.
IA: The US has got a new German coach and you know how us English love to come and beat the Germans, so we look forward to that. I think one of the things our fans will look forward to this season is [seeing the new players] - we've made some fantastic investments in the transfer market. I think Kenny and Damien have worked extremely hard across the summer on that. How do you see it? You've spoken to some of the players and seen some the games since they came. Do you feel optimistic?
TW: Very optimistic. You know we haven't spoken about Suarez, who was the MVP of the tournament in South America. We've not yet seen all of our players together. We've seen Adam and we remember Carroll when he was on the same pitch as Suarez. I'm just looking forward to the season starting and of all our players being a team.
IA: I think that's always the challenge at this time of year. We've got lots of players come in but they're building up their fitness after coming back from competitions. The general sense I've had of being in and around Merseyside and then obviously on our tour in Asia and various other games, is that the level of optimism is still high and I think we all hope for great things this season.
TW: I do have a funny story to tell you! When we first were talking about Stewart Downing, we looked on the internet to see what we could learn about him. And there was some footage of Stewart that maybe you can show our fans, where he is, from 30 yards away, kicking a football into five different trash cans and it's brilliant.
To watch the Stewart Downing footage that excited Tom Werner and John Henry, click here>>
John and I said, 'Oh my god, this player is brilliant, we've got figure out a way to make a deal with him.' We later found out of course that the footage was somewhat doctored but we were so excited about Downing joining Liverpool.
IA: Final question, about my interview technique - should I give up my day job?
TW: You should definitely not give up your day job or what you're doing. You're in the right position at Liverpool and we're delighted that you're letting Claire [Rourke] do the interviews from now on.
To watch the show 'Tom Werner: Up Close and Personal', click on the image below