Robert Kraft talks about Liverpool interest again

American businessman Robert Kraft has been talking [ED: again] about how he nearly bought Liverpool Football Club.

The owner of New England Patriots was close to a deal with then chairman David Moores back in 2005 but pulled out because he felt it would be impossible to make the Reds successful if based in the States and not in Liverpool. The lack of a salary cap in football was also a major concern for him.

In an exclusive interview with Sky Sports for a special feature called ‘Kraft’s Patriots: Inside New England’, which will be shown tomorrow night on Sky Sports 2 at 9pm, Kraft spoke about the Reds and even hinted that he may still be interested in doing business in the future.

Kraft said: “I actually came very close to buying Liverpool.

“What I loved is the passion of the fans.

“I came very close but we decided not to do it at the time.

“We’re flirting with a couple of things. You never know down the future.

“I can just assure you this, if we ever do do it, it will be because we think we have an opportunity to build a winning franchise.

“But winning is a special high that comes from winning and when you are competing at a very high level, and you are trying to position yourself at being excellent, that is a turn on for me.”

Last year, former Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry spoke about his disappointment of when those talks with Kraft collapsed.

“Robert Kraft would have been a magnificent owner we think,” said Parry.

“He would have been brilliant, there was a real rapport … but the sad thing was Robert just woke up one morning and said ‘I don’t know why I’m doing this, it’s too far away, I’m committed to Boston, I have teams in Boston because I’m from Boston. I can’t do this at arms’ length’.

“The other thing he was concerned about was the lack of a wage cap in football. Before we got to an offer he pulled away which was tragic in many ways.”

Throughout 2015 we believe that Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) fought off interest in the club from Qatar. It is claimed that Michael Gordon thought it was a good idea to exit now but that John Henry insisted on sitting tight.

Well placed sources have continued to claim that Kraft has been hovering around in the background for the last couple of years. There has never been any suggestion of any talks having taken place but we are continually told that Kraft continues to monitor ownership chatter concerning the Reds.

• The Kraft interview is available to watch on our members’ website

Previous Robert Kraft quotes on Liverpool FC:

“Do you know I came close to buying Liverpool, right before George Gillett and Tom Hicks bought it? I met David Moores, a wonderful man, and it was quite an interesting episode because I love the game of soccer, too. My heart wanted to do it but my head told me, no. I am relieved I didn’t buy Liverpool. Sometimes the best deals you do are the ones you don’t do. I didn’t like the fact there was no salary cap. If English clubs ever had a salary cap then I would look at buying a Premier League club. With a salary cap, we would look at whatever was for sale because we feel we can bring a competitive advantage. We know how to manage a sports franchise. It’s very complicated. It’s different from other businesses. You are dealing with the public and the media. You bond emotionally with your product. We as owners are going to compete against people who could spend hundreds of millions of pounds more and we’ll let our fans down. One thing I know about the NFL and the EPL is that the teams are really owned by the fans. They feel the ownership, they feel a connection. These two sports are the only ones which bring a whole community together. People from different social and economic backgrounds and ways of living can all root for a team on a common basis. So you have to be very mindful that the owner is really a custodian of an asset. You have to put the interest of the fans first or people will be very upset with you. I was a fan of the Patriots sitting in the stands in that old stadium [since 1971]. The fans know I put their interests first. I’m very proud of our record since we bought our team,” – Robert Kraft, October 2012

“Manchester City won the championship this year and I hear they’re going to lose $156 million. I would rather give that money to charity if I had it. I want every business to stand on its own. I would only do it, if there was a salary cap. It’s the same thing I said three years ago. We could have bought Liverpool before the two ownership groups who preceded us and in the end I don’t want to compete in a business where people throw money at something. I want to be able to compete. The fans in Liverpool are awesome and they are expecting to win every year, and if you are competing with people who have different rules then it makes it difficult. We have the resources to do it, it’s just I choose not to do it. I don’t want to be in a business that does not stand on its own, I want every business to stand on its own, and for ego reasons I’m not willing to lose that kind of money. The only way I would go into a sports business is to win. And, I don’t think I can compete on an equal footing so I choose not to do it,” – Robert Kraft, June 2012

“I wanted to [take over] Liverpool. I met with David Moores, who is a fine gentleman, and we came very close to buying it, very close. But in the end my instinct was – without a salary cap, or a stadium … I wasn’t sure how we’d get a stadium built quickly and efficiently. But the more important issue was the salary cap. If the salary cap was there, we would have done it. If [the salary cap] came here, I would buy a team in a minute because we think we know how to run a sports franchise. We have stuff sent to us all the time, but I think deep down, until there was some kind of salary cap structure I couldn’t go ahead with it … unless there was a great business steal. But I don’t like to go into a team because of the real estate or anything like that. If you buy a team in a sports league, it’s about winning – that’s the bottom line. You want to be playing by the same rules, so it’s not just about who has the most money,” – Robert Kraft, June 2009