Liverpool owner John Henry told British media Thursday that restoring his club to the top tier is going to take time. Fenway Sports Group (FSG) bought the club in October, 2010, for $470 million to end an dysfunctional era under former owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Getting Liverpool back on equal footing with top rivals, like Manchester United, as FSG did when it bought the Red Sox a decade ago, is a work in progress.

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

Liverpool last won a league title in 1990 and has finished sixth and eighth in the Premier League the past two seasons. Henry and partner Tom Werner face the difficult task of building a stronger squad while cutting down the salary commitments.