Liverpool Supporters Look for Owners to Appoint CEO in City

Liverpool supporters’ union Spirit Of Shankly has urged on the club’s American owners to appoint a chief executive based in the city.

The fans’ group has released a statement after a frustrating transfer deadline day left manager Brendan Rodgers with only two senior strikers.

Rodgers allowed Andy Carroll to leave for a season’s loan at West Ham on the understanding that a replacement forward would come in before last Friday’s deadline.

But Boston-based owners Fenway Sports Group failed to come up with the funds to bring in either Clint Dempsey or Daniel Sturridge, to the frustration of Rodgers and the club’s supporters.

That has increased the pressure on managing director Ian Ayre, who has not escaped criticism for Liverpool’s problems in the transfer market.

Principal owner John W Henry wrote an open letter to fans on Monday outlining FSG’s transfer policy and admitting they had made mistakes since buying the club in October 2010.

The Spirit of Shankly group believes those mistakes were caused by the lack of an ownership presence in the city – and has called on FSG to act on this.

An extract from their statement said: “Spirit of Shankly reiterates its stance that the position of manager at Liverpool Football Club should be supported with all of the resources at the club’s disposal.

“However, events of last Friday and the subsequent ‘open letter’ from the club’s principal owner, John W Henry, indicate that almost two years into FSG’s ownership of the club this is not yet the case.

“As pointed out by the union in May, there remains no ownership presence on this side of the Atlantic. It is our opinion that this situation has led directly to the ‘mistakes’ alluded to in Mr Henry’s open letter.

“Should the club’s absentee owners not wish to establish a full-time base in Liverpool, it remains imperative that they appoint a chief executive of a calibre commensurate with the club’s global status, to act with the full authority of the owners in their absence.

“Without this chief executive, it is far from sufficient for a club of Liverpool’s stature to have a part-time chairman (Tom Werner), based on another continent, with various other interests, and from whom little or nothing of consequence is seen or heard.”

The statement added: “If the board is based in Boston, why has no Liverpool-based chief executive been appointed to oversee the club’s affairs?”

It concluded: “With key questions continuing to go unanswered, Spirit of Shankly suggests it is time for Tom Werner to be held accountable as chairman of Liverpool Football Club. After all, the buck stops with him, not with those acting with his authority and not with people no longer at the club.”