Closing of John Henry's Investment Firm Causes Concern

As Liverpool supporters, we don't necessarily need evidence that's "concrete" or "real" to have crippling levels of anxiety, especially ahead of a matchup with one of the club's most beloved players in recent memory who left in less-than-ideal circumstances just when things were finally looking up. Anxious is what we do, and we seem to do it quite well, at least as well as someone can do something that's actually quite terrible for them.

So when news broke mid-day stateside yesterday that John Henry would be shutting down his Florida-based investment firm at the end of the calendar year due to dwindling assets, it was understandable that concern for the club's future, both immediate and longer-term, would be the first reaction. There wasn't much that was clear about the circumstances initially, but that's not necessarily something to prevent panic drinking/crying. If you weren't already.

Over the course of the next few hours, however, details emerged that seemed to distance the struggles of Henry's investment firm--which was blamed on an inability to survive the financial downturn--and any potential impact that this might have on his involvement with and support of Liverpool. Via the link above:

There was speculation in September that his firm's demise might mean Henry would lack the resources to support the Red Sox and the Liverpool Football Club in England. Henry and at least one key partner say that is not true.

Red Sox chairman Tom Werner said in an interview Friday, "I know that John doesn't have any intention to sell either the Fenway Sports Group, or any portion of his shares."

Depending on your perspective that's either encouraging or plainly neutral news; I don't think that any of us are too concerned with John Henry's dealings as they pertain to anything other than Liverpool Football Club, and for many, how Fenway Sports Group plan to improve the club both in the winter transfer window and the coming seasons.

I think it's very easy to go straight to doom and gloom here, but the fact is that there's very little to suggest that Henry's deciding to discontinue his investment firm--which he reports he hasn't been in charge of since 1989--will be to the detriment of Liverpool. Whether or not that's the case is something that we'll eventually find out, but for now we're left to hope that there's not much of a story here at all, and that the club's future is in safe hands moving forward.

Or just the drinking.