John Henry and Thomas Werner

LIVERPOOL Football Club’s new owner yesterday said he realised the challenge ahead as he watched his first Merseyside derby at Goodison Park – and broke his silence to fans on plans to bring “opportunities” to the club.

John W Henry, the softly-spoken hedge fund manager multi-millionaire turned owner of the Boston Red Sox, added another big red brand to his assets portfolio on Friday afternoon, and intends to take them back into the top four.

Yesterday, dressed in a charcoal suit, red tie and sporting the thick-rimmed specs that are becoming his trademark, Mr Henry arrived in the directors box of his new club’s oldest enemy.

Alongside the 61-year-old, who paid £300m for Liverpool through his New England Sports Ventures business, were NESV chairman Tom Werner and LFC chairman Martin Broughton.

The names have become familiar in Merseyside during the past week, as Mr Henry and the Liverpool FC board battled another pair of Americans, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, for control of one of England’s most successful football clubs.