‘Liverpool owners sought advice from Arsenal and Man United’

Liverpool owners John Henry and Tom Werner have contacted Arsenal and Manchester United for advice in the past, managing director Ian Ayre has revealed.

Fenway Sports Group, headed by Henry and Werner, have been in control of the Merseyside outfit for over two years after completing the purchase of the club in October 2010.

During their reign, the Reds have sacked two managers – Roy Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish – before hiring current boss Brendan Rodgers and backing the Northern Irishman to the tune of £50m in the transfer market.

And Ayre revealed the Reds owners have talked to United and Arsenal chiefs David Gill and Ivan Gazidis to gain a better understanding of the Premier League.

“The thing with John is, if he’s going to do something, he wants to be the best he can be at it. He’s also not the sort of person who would try to kind of fake having the knowledge of something,” Ayre told Sports Illustrated.

“So in terms of his football knowledge, he’s watching and watching, and not just Liverpool, but everything he can get access to.

“His wife, Linda, told me he’s literally watching hours and hours of soccer. He’s a prolific reader of content from all sorts of avenues to get himself well-informed.

“But he also asks a lot of questions, asks your view on things. He sends things around to all of us. What do you think of this? He and Tom are both very open in their approach.

“They’ll contact David [Gill] at [Manchester] United and Ivan [Gazidis] at Arsenal. What do you think? That’s healthy. Let’s a get a rounded view of the sport and how we should be doing things.

“It’s better to have an owner taking a genuine interest and is well-informed, rather than someone who says, I was successful in baseball, so I can do that in soccer. They both put a lot of time into the team and into the game. That bodes well for Liverpool.”