Liverpool News: Owners Pledge They Are Building For The Future

By Joseph Dempsey / October 18, 2012

In an open letter to the club's fans, posted on the official Liverpool website, owner John Henry has spoken of his disappointment at failing to land a new striker this summer, but has urged fans not to panic by pledging the commitment of Fenway Sports Group to the club and highlighting his ambitions for the future. Yesterday's defeat to Arsenal, along with a disappointing draw with Manchester City and a damaging 3-0 defeat to West Brom at the start of the season means this is the worst start to a League campaign for Liverpool in 50 years. They have picked up one point out of an available nine and are currently eighteenth in the table. Their transfer activity has been particularly strange this summer: with Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt and Andy Carroll departing the club, (the latter for a season at least) the only remaining senior strikers are Luis Suarez and Fabio Borini, who has just joined from Roma. Liverpool missed out on Clint Dempsey this summer, after failing to meet Fulham's £6m valuation, according to BBC Sport and in the same report, manager Brendan Rodgers admitted yesterday that had he known the club weren't going to sign replacement strikers, he would have kept hold of Andy Carroll. In the open letter to fans, published on the official club website owner Henry spoke of his disappointment of having not brought in any "marquee signings" this season, but reminded fans of the future.

"I am as disappointed as anyone connected with Liverpool Football Club that we were unable to add further to our strike force in this summer transfer window. "But that was not through any lack of desire or effort on the part of all of those involved. "They pushed hard in the final days of the transfer window on a number of forward targets and it is unfortunate that on this occasion we were unable to conclude acceptable deals to bring those targets in. "But a summer window which brought in three young, but significantly talented starters in Joe Allen, Nuri Sahin and Fabio Borini as well as two exciting young potential stars of the future - Samed Yesil and Oussama Assaidi - could hardly be deemed a failure as we build for the future."

He also reminded Liverpool fans of the past, and not the fact that they are the second most successful team in English domestic football. Just two years ago they were on the unthinkable brink of entering administration after being saddled with unpaid loan debts by former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and Henry was keen to stress the fact that the club are now in a much more stable condition.

"We are still in the process of reversing the errors of previous regimes. It will not happen overnight." "It has been compounded by our own mistakes in a difficult first two years of ownership. It has been a harsh education, but make no mistake, the club is healthier today than when we took over. "After almost two years at Anfield, we are close to having the system we need in place." "The transfer window may not have been perfect but we are not just looking at the next 16 weeks until we can buy again: we are looking at the next 16 years and beyond. These are the first steps in restoring one of the world's great clubs to its proper status.