The business of sport is just like any other these days, with big money owners taking control of the major clubs in the world while mopping up large swathes of the competition at the same time.
That has now gone one step further, with club owners more than willing to switch sports and own assets across a variety of sports entertainment sectors.
Liverpool are a perfect example of this phenomenon, with the Fenway Sports Group having first taken control of the Boston Red Sox before using their financial clout to take over Liverpool.
This throws up the prospect of there being some fascinating synergies between the two, with the football club borrowing ideas from the baseball team and vice versa. This has already been seen with The Reds making pre-season tour appearances in Boston.
In this article we look at how the Red Sox, who had a torrid 2020, can bounce back by emulating the genius that is Jürgen Klopp.
Fenway Park could do with a bit of German efficiency to turn its fortunes around
Creating a Team that is Tantamount to a Family
You often hear about managers or people from boardrooms calling everyone in their organisation a part of a family, only to then contradict themselves by firing people willy-nilly or showing no trust in their hired underlings.
In the case of Jürgen Klopp, though, the German backs up his silky words with genuine actions both behind the scenes and when the cameras are rolling on matchday.
The incoming Alex Cora will have some work to do to build the same atmosphere in the Red Sox locker room but must do so if he is to repeat his feat of winning the World Series with the same team in 2018. If his charges start to show some Liverpool-esque togetherness in early regular-season games, then expect Boston to have the MLB sports betting experts and analysts talking about them making another strong playoff push.
Can Boston borrow a bit of that famous You’ll Never Walk Alone spirit and bring another World Series title back to Fenway Park?
Infusing Belief and Belonging in Every Member of the Team
Before his recent fall from grace, Alex Cora was winning World Series titles and garnering praise from all quarters, but he may find that respect hard to come by during his second term leading the Red Sox.
A good place to start trying to rebuild that trust is to take a leaf out of Klopp’s book, by making each and every player on his roster feel the love. Not only that but also ensuring that each individual is given a resounding belief that they are pivotal to the success and wellbeing of the team as a whole. Conversely, if Cora is looking for the antithesis of such a constructive approach, he should look no further than the ongoing farce at Old Trafford, where the manager is of the opinion that fringe squad players are not really his concern.
Spending Wisely in the Transfer Market/ Draft
There is of course no comparison between how new talent is procured in the respective sports of baseball and football, but one thing everyone can agree on is that a solid offseason, sprinkled with wise additions to a team, can ultimately make or break a regular season.
The Jürgen Klopp approach to this process is to always ignore the fanfare that the media and sports agents try to whip up around big-name players, opting instead to go for those who his trusted scouting staff have recommended to him. The recent signing of Diogo Jota is a good case in point, with the Portuguese already proving his worth at Anfield.
If Cora can also manage to put reputation and hype aside to build a cohesive playing unit, then the Boston Red Sox may soon be joining their Fenway Sports Group counterparts as champions once more. They should just keep their hands off Klopp, because he is staying on Merseyside!
