Next steps for FSG after 15 years at Liverpool

Anfield expansion and Arne Slot contract - Next steps for FSG after 15 years at Liverpool

The ECHO's Reds writers look at what could be next on Fenway Sports Group's to-do list at Liverpool as they celebrate 15 years as owners this week

Fifteen years ago this week, John W Henry stood on the steps of London's High Court as the new principal owner of Liverpool FC and delivered his mission statement.

"We're here to win," he professed just moments after Fenway Sports Group, who were then known as New England Sports Ventures, had completed a £300m takeover at Anfield to end the reign of the detested Tom Hicks and George Gilett, whose disastrous stewardship had led the club to the brink of financial ruin.

In the decade-and-a-half since, FSG have transformed the fortunes on Merseyside. In October 2025, they stand as the Premier League champions who are almost certain to post record-breaking revenues in their next set of accounts, aided, in part, by their 10-year agreement with new kit manufacturers Adidas alongside a whole host of commercial agreements that have been penned in recent times.

READ MORE : Liverpool CEO explains how FSG took Reds from 'brink of administration' to Premier League gloryREAD MORE : FSG issue fresh statement on Liverpool ownership - 'We could never have imagined'

Anfield now plays host to crowds of 60,000 on a weekly basis having seen the Main Stand and Anfield Road ends increase capacity in 2016 and 2023, respectively, while a £50m training facility named the AXA Centre opened five years ago next month.

In a public statement released on Wednesday, FSG have made clear their intent to continue the progress on Merseyside, saying: “Today is a day to look back with gratitude. But it’s also a reminder that our work isn’t done. There’s still so much more ahead of us - more to achieve, more to win, and more memories to make, together."

So what does that future look like for Liverpool under the guidance of Fenway? The ECHO's dedicated Reds writers have taken a closer look as to what might be on the agenda on Merseyside in the coming months and years.

Paul Gorst

More than any one single transfer or managerial appointment, Fenway Sports Group's decision to stay at Anfield and expand rather than move the home ground of Liverpool FC has been their most inspired decision.

In the winter of 2010, it would have been easy to cast a glance around sites that might house a brand new stadium for a football club who were about to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

However, after one cursory glance around Anfield itself, John Henry was moved to state that he saw no reason why the club would ever want to up sticks and end their association with one of the most iconic stadiums in world football.

Fifteen years later, the modern Anfield stands as a monument to FSG's understated yet decisive ownership. Over £200m has been invested into its infrastructure, the bricks and mortar that has become the club's unique selling point to attracting and swelling its worldwide fanbase.

The Main Stand opened in September 2016 at a cost of around £115m as Anfield played host to its biggest crowds for decades before the renovation of the Anfield Road end - which fittingly began with Jurgen Klopp putting the first spade in the ground back in September 2021 - was finally completed in late 2023.

With Anfield hosting some of the biggest musicians on the planet in June every year now, turning the venue into as close to a 365-day-a-year operation as possible has been a lucrative call.

Is there, then, more scope to develop in the coming years? Anfield chiefs have always insisted it is not on the to-do list when asked in checks and interviews in the last few years but finding a way to further increase Anfield makes long-term financial sense.

That Anfield Road contractors Buckingham Group went into administration during the renovation was unfortunate and the initially slated cost only rose further and further as the work went on.

Those factors are likely to count against any future plans to develop further but if there is a way to build that famous old ground up even more, then that will help bring in more supporters through the turnstiles to satisfy what is a growing demand for tickets.

As Premier League champions in 2025, that demand has rarely, if ever, been more intense.

Mark Jones

It is still mildly amusing to think that the Liverpool FSG walked into was a Liverpool managed by Roy Hodgson, with the 2010 images of the former Reds boss alongside John Henry and Tom Werner looking as though they must surely have been photoshopped.

After Hodgson came the second coming of Kenny Dalglish of course, but one League Cup in 18 months wasn't enough for Henry and co to give in to sentimentality and keep the King in the job. They had their eyes on a different type of manager.

Enter Brendan Rodgers, with a lot of youthful drive and ambition, some occasionally cringey soundbites but a promising coaching career ahead of him. It should be said that things were almost oh-so different for the Northern Irishman in 2014, but ultimately he would fall short.

And so it was over to Jurgen Klopp, and the ultimate union between manager and club, two entities which found each other at the perfect time. Did FSG get lucky that Klopp became what he was? Not really, for they had the foresight to appoint him in the first place, but even they wouldn't have envisaged the special bond between fans, city and club that was to be created.

Then when Klopp shocked us all by departing last year it was hello to Arne Slot, a man so different to Klopp in many ways, but sharing the same managerial genius that would power the Reds to a convincing Premier League title, FSG's second.

And Slot is now key to what FSG should do next. They perhaps didn't envisage Klopp being in the post for as long as he was back when he was appointed a decade ago, but then Klopp didn't either.

Slot signed a three-year contract when he arrived on Merseyside 15 months ago, and while it is amusing to think of those who doubted him back then, it is also understandable that FSG didn't want to hand out a long deal to a manager unproven anywhere outside of the Dutch league. We've all seen Erik ten Hag.

Now though, it is time to reward Slot with more job stability and make him the football figurehead of FSG's next steps. After a summer transfer overhaul that will need time to come together, Slot should be backed to be the man to do just that.

A new contract is a deserved reward for the Premier League champion, and it can be the bedrock of further successes to come.

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