Owners: We can close gap

The duo will watch on this Saturday as the Reds kick off the 2012-13 Barclays Premier League campaign at West Bromwich Albion.

Werner acknowledges Liverpool may not be among the bookmakers' favourites to clinch the league title this season - be he's certain they're heading in the right direction, both on and off the pitch.

He told the Echo: "We know that we are behind, but we are on it.

"We have a lot of respect, not just for Manchester United, but other clubs in the Premier League, as well as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

"John and I went to a conference of the top European clubs in Warsaw. We learned a lot about some of the ideas that they have. For us, we feel that we have work to do.

"Do we feel that it is possible to get on a level with those clubs? Absolutely. Can we close that gap and compete at the very highest level? Absolutely."

Werner and Henry are entering their second full season as the Reds' principal owner and chairman - and their desire for success remains as strong as it's ever been.

Henry said: "The best analogy is that you can't turn an ocean liner around like you can turn a speedboat.

"When you look at the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester United, Liverpool isn't holding up its side of the rivalry. That is the way it was with the Red Sox and the (New York) Yankees. The Yankees were just completely dominant when we arrived.

"We knew we could never be on an equal footing financially with the Yankees. But we had to do everything in our power to get on a level footing with them on the playing field. That was a tremendous challenge. You could say Liverpool is an even bigger challenge than the Red Sox.

"Looking back at the day we bought Liverpool, I was trying to make a point then about how much of a challenge it was going to be because of the issues we inherited.

"We had a lack of depth in the squad and some really high payrolls. We also had issues with the age of the players and so forth. We knew it was going to be very difficult.

"Tom and I went for a long walk and we had to make the decision 'Are we going to buy Liverpool?' We had to decide whether we really wanted to take this on because we knew this was a huge challenge. A much larger challenge than any supporter could know.

"We had done due diligence and looked at how the situation was financially, with the player contracts and the youth system. The further we went into it, the more sobered we were."

Fenway Sports Group acquired Liverpool in October 2010. Henry admits both he and Werner have had much to learn about owning a Barclays Premier League club over the past couple of years.

"We came into this not knowing an awful lot about football," he said.

"We knew how little we knew but I don't think we realised how large the gulf was between the sports that we are used to and the way the sports are organised in the United States.

"It is a completely different sport, the way it is structured, player recruitment and the way the FA works compared with Major League Baseball and the NFL. It is a very different animal."

Fenway Sports Group have overseen a raft of changes since purchasing the club - not least in the dugout.

The club's owners moved to appoint Brendan Rodgers as Liverpool boss in June, and Werner is confident the Northern Irishman can have the desired impact at Anfield.

"First of all, his style of play was something that we were quite aware of - a very entertaining, aggressive style," he explained.

"We are very attracted to it. Brendan is a very articulate guy - he is intelligent, passionate and a student of the game. He just has a lot of qualities that we are impressed with.

"When we went through the process, with some astute football advisers, we kept coming back to Brendan as someone who was a modern, thoughtful manager."

Away from the pitch, Liverpool have secured a number of commercial deals to bolster their revenue streams.

This summer, Warrior began a six-year deal to become the Reds' kit manufacturers, while the club have also recently announced partnerships with Chevrolet and Garuda Indonesia.

"I think that we knew from the very beginning that it was important to increase commercial revenues," said Werner.

"People have talked about this idea of virtuous circles. The stronger we are commercially, the stronger this club can be. I think we have made great strides.

"The sales from the new Warrior kit have surpassed our expectations, we announced a new deal with Chevrolet, we have announced a deal with an Indonesian airline.

"We are very aggressive in how to raise the revenues commercially. We are working on stadium solutions because we know that match day revenues have to increase.

"This has been an evolutionary process. We are very happy with (managing director) Ian Ayre and the commercial side. Ian's input in the football side and his work with Brendan is very good. They are singing from the same hymn sheet.

"I think that we are moving in the right direction. I think that our fans see that we are on the job and, hopefully, they will see improvement this season."

From next season, UEFA are set to implement their Financial Fair Play in which clubs will be required to break even.

Henry said: "It is very important from our perspective that UEFA is successful in implementing Financial Fair Play. It is a key element. Are they determined to implement it? We don't know. It doesn't seem to be slowing down anywhere.

"Something like 50 per cent of clubs in Europe are losing money - and I am talking about the top tier of clubs - 20 per cent of them are in real financial difficulty.

"I think it is something that the individual leagues need to be considering and implementing, as well as FIFA and UEFA. Just because UEFA has their rule, it doesn't mean that the Premier League and other leagues couldn't be adopting similar principles.

"I know the Football League is implementing rules for themselves. That is a very important part, not just for Liverpool but for football in general."