Liverpool owners in Boston firing line

A former Boston Red Sox manager has criticised the owners of Liverpool in his new book for the way they ran the storied baseball club prior to his tenure ended in 2011.

During his eight seasons at Fenway Park, Terry Francona delivered two World Series titles to a city that had been starved of the ultimate success for 86 years.

The manner of their 2004 victory — which arrived in his first year as manager — ensured his popularity still endures in the sports mad city and when he followed that up with the 2007 World Series, his reputation was sealed.

But the 2011 disintegration of an expensively assembled team led to the Fenway Sports Group chiefs, John W Henry and Tom Werner, to not renew his contract.

This past Tuesday saw the release of a book he co-authored with Boston Globe journalist Dan Shaughnessy, Francona: The Red Sox Years and a relatively damning portrait of the leadership of Henry and Werner has garnered the most attention.

Although he has rowed back slightly on his comments while promoting the book this week, he still insists the way his time in the city ended leaves a sour taste.

“When people ask me if I left the Red Sox on my own or if I was fired, I don’t even know how to answer that,” the book quotes him as saying. “I tried my ass off to help put the team in position to win, and I worked my ass off that last year more than ever.

“Our owners in Boston, they’ve been owners for 10 years. They come in with all these ideas about baseball, but I don’t think they love baseball. I think they like baseball. It’s revenue, and I know that’s their right and their interest because they’re owners — and they’re good owners. But they don’t love the game. It’s still more of a toy or a hobby for them. It’s not their blood. They’re going to come in and out of baseball. It’s different for me. Baseball is my life.”

Mention is made of Francona’s intolerance for Henry being late for meetings while it also grated with him that their concern for the highly-prized television ratings outweighed concern for players who sought an easier fixture schedule.

Shaughnessy writes that Francona became concerned with their increased interest in the fortunes of Liverpool while Werner passed comment to Francona on the injury-ridden team’s “shit season”.

“That bothered me,” said the manager. “We ground out 89 wins [out of a possible 162, a decent record in baseball]. I remember thinking, fuck, if this was shit, I don’t want to be around here when it really is shit.”

This week on a Boston radio station, Francona sought to lessen the impact of his comments.

“I think they’re real good owners. In fact, I said that in the book. I wouldn’t have written the script — the way it ended, I wouldn’t have written it for me, personally. That doesn’t mean they’re not good owners,” he told WEEI.

“I actually think they’re really good owners. I was disappointed in some of the things, in my communications with them, I was very disappointed.

“Where some people said it was critical, I didn’t view it that way. I think I went out of my way and called them good owners. They’re not bad people. I had some issues with the way some things were handled. That doesn’t mean they’re bad people nor does it mean they’re bad owners.”