Henry has the aces in Suárez saga despite Liverpool’s tough hand.
Tony BarrettAugust 16 2013 13:08PM
If John W. Henry needs to know the power and potential impact of his leadership then he need only look at the pictures of Luis Suárez joining in with training at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground.
In those images he will see the result of his own intervention with Suárez displaying the kind of change in attitude that Henry and Brendan Rodgers had demanded of him before he could return to the fold.
This is a significant result for Liverpool’s principal owner who readily admits to making mistakes since taking control of the club almost three years ago. By overcoming player power in this instance, even if only temporarily, Henry has shown that he is in charge and also that he will not yield power to those who resort to desperate means to usurp it.
Ever since Suárez began agitating for a transfer, Liverpool, and in particular Henry and Rodgers, have played their hand as well as could have been expected in the most testing of circumstances. The 26-year-old and his agent, Pere Guardiola, have been consistently outmanoeuvred and their attempt to force a transfer this summer is today looking less likely to succeed than at any time since the saga began.
There have been numerous threats made through various channels with everything from legal challenges to transfer requests being mooted at regular intervals only for nothing to transpire. Liverpool stood strong in the knowledge that their interpretation of the contentious clause in Suárez’s contract was legally solid and they were ultimately proven right.
Yes, they have been aided and abetted by some questionable tactics on Suárez’s behalf. Not least of which was his decision to go public on his dissatisfaction last week at a time when the PFA’s legal team were studying his contract in order to ascertain whether or not he had any right whatsoever to challenge Liverpool’s position.
Had he waited for their assessment to be made before making headlines he might have saved himself from looking disloyal, ungrateful and, worst of all from his point of view, wrong. His own contract gave him nowhere to go, both literally and metaphorically, so screaming blue murder at the way he felt he was being treated by his employers looked particularly foolish when Gordon Taylor delivered the bad news less than 24 hours later.
Taylor’s intervention was all that Henry needed to go on the offensive and to do so from a position of immense strength. “We are not going to sell Luis,” the American told the national press, including The Times. “For football reasons we can’t – and especially to Arsenal. We’ve made that clear. It is unequivocal. To sell to a rival for those Champions League positions, or one of them, would be ludicrous. Whatever the bid is, we won’t sell him. We need Luis. Hopefully this will pass.”
Today it appears that while it may not yet have passed – the transfer window still has more than two weeks left to run – Suárez has at least accepted that he has to conduct himself in a manner befitting of an employee earning around £100,000 per week. His relationship with his employers will now be built solely on expediency but perhaps it always was anyway.
Whatever the immediate future holds for Liverpool and Suárez, he will now be aware that if he is to leave it is likely to be only on their terms and with their consent. That may come next summer, or maybe even before then, and the two parties may have to come to a watertight contractual agreement that facilitates his eventual departure in a manner that suits both player and club.
Going head to head with Henry has backfired spectacularly for Suárez but it has also shown the importance of a figurehead utilising the kind of power that his position affords him. If Henry was to take similar control of more of the day-to-day leadership of Liverpool – even from afar – rather than delegate much of it to others, it might not just be Luis Suárez who bends to his influence.
Tony BarrettAugust 16 2013 13:08PM
If John W. Henry needs to know the power and potential impact of his leadership then he need only look at the pictures of Luis Suárez joining in with training at Liverpool’s Melwood training ground.
In those images he will see the result of his own intervention with Suárez displaying the kind of change in attitude that Henry and Brendan Rodgers had demanded of him before he could return to the fold.
This is a significant result for Liverpool’s principal owner who readily admits to making mistakes since taking control of the club almost three years ago. By overcoming player power in this instance, even if only temporarily, Henry has shown that he is in charge and also that he will not yield power to those who resort to desperate means to usurp it.
Ever since Suárez began agitating for a transfer, Liverpool, and in particular Henry and Rodgers, have played their hand as well as could have been expected in the most testing of circumstances. The 26-year-old and his agent, Pere Guardiola, have been consistently outmanoeuvred and their attempt to force a transfer this summer is today looking less likely to succeed than at any time since the saga began.
There have been numerous threats made through various channels with everything from legal challenges to transfer requests being mooted at regular intervals only for nothing to transpire. Liverpool stood strong in the knowledge that their interpretation of the contentious clause in Suárez’s contract was legally solid and they were ultimately proven right.
Yes, they have been aided and abetted by some questionable tactics on Suárez’s behalf. Not least of which was his decision to go public on his dissatisfaction last week at a time when the PFA’s legal team were studying his contract in order to ascertain whether or not he had any right whatsoever to challenge Liverpool’s position.
Had he waited for their assessment to be made before making headlines he might have saved himself from looking disloyal, ungrateful and, worst of all from his point of view, wrong. His own contract gave him nowhere to go, both literally and metaphorically, so screaming blue murder at the way he felt he was being treated by his employers looked particularly foolish when Gordon Taylor delivered the bad news less than 24 hours later.
Taylor’s intervention was all that Henry needed to go on the offensive and to do so from a position of immense strength. “We are not going to sell Luis,” the American told the national press, including The Times. “For football reasons we can’t – and especially to Arsenal. We’ve made that clear. It is unequivocal. To sell to a rival for those Champions League positions, or one of them, would be ludicrous. Whatever the bid is, we won’t sell him. We need Luis. Hopefully this will pass.”
Today it appears that while it may not yet have passed – the transfer window still has more than two weeks left to run – Suárez has at least accepted that he has to conduct himself in a manner befitting of an employee earning around £100,000 per week. His relationship with his employers will now be built solely on expediency but perhaps it always was anyway.
Whatever the immediate future holds for Liverpool and Suárez, he will now be aware that if he is to leave it is likely to be only on their terms and with their consent. That may come next summer, or maybe even before then, and the two parties may have to come to a watertight contractual agreement that facilitates his eventual departure in a manner that suits both player and club.
Going head to head with Henry has backfired spectacularly for Suárez but it has also shown the importance of a figurehead utilising the kind of power that his position affords him. If Henry was to take similar control of more of the day-to-day leadership of Liverpool – even from afar – rather than delegate much of it to others, it might not just be Luis Suárez who bends to his influence.
post/rant, best ever
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