What can NESV and John W Henry do for Liverpool?

If Liverpool's takeover by New England Sports Ventures (NESV) does go through the club would be effectively swapping one set of American owners, in the form of the despised Tom Hicks and George Gillett, for another, led by multi-millionaire John W Henry.

And having had their fingers burned by owners from across the Atantic once, Liverpool fans will be anxious to find out about Henry and NESV.

Henry, a college drop out who made his fortune as a Wall Street trader, set up NESV in 2001 with backing from other investors and the following year bought the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

The company now owns not only the team but its stadium, Fenway Park, and the Fenway Sports Group, which describes itself as "new kind of sports marketing agency" and has ties with Premier League club Fulham.

In addition NESV has a 50 percent stake in the NASCAR team Roush Fenway Racing and also owns 80 per cent of New England Sports Network, a cable TV company that covers six states.

Among Henry's main backers when he founded NESV were Tom Werner and The New York Times Company.

Werner is a TV producer, businessman and an ex of CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric.  He is also a former owner of baseball team the San Diego Padres.

The $700m deal for the Red Sox went through in 2002 and Henry is now the team's principal owner. Werner is chairman.

Now 61, Henry is originally from Illinois. Although he studied at the University of California, where he majored in philosophy, he never graduated. This has been put down to the fact that he spent much of his time performing in rock'n'roll bands.

He eventually started out in business in the 1970s as a commodities broker trading corn and soybean futures. In the early 1980s he set up his own company and began earning his fortune. By 2006 he was estimated to be worth $860 million.

The good news for the Anfield faithful is that in 2004, two years after NESV took over at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series for 86 years.

And fans worried about Liverpool's plans for a new stadium - a constant thorn in the side of Hicks and Gillette - may be heartened to know that Henry has invested around $50m in Fenway Park. But whether he will be happy to fund a brand new stadium for the Reds remains to be seen.

But after life under Hicks and Gillette most Liverpool fans will be wondering what kind of an owner he will be. Fortunately for them he appears to be more in the mould of Villa chief Randy Lerner than Hicks and Gillett or the Glazer family, who owns Manchester United. Henry has not saddled any of his franchises with debt and is a popular figure among Red Sox fans who credit him with bringing the good times back to Boston.

He is also an influential figure in the world of baseball and the way he runs NESV has obviously won over Liverpool chairman Martin Broughton who said he was "immensely impressed with what they have achieved and with their vision for Liverpool Football Club." ·