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“He has won over the fans in a very subtle way without forcing himself down their throats,” Evans said. “He has been very sensible since he took over. He hasn’t rushed into any silly moves or any silly promises.
“He has sat back and had a look at the club as a whole. The club looks in a far better shape than it did two or three years ago.”
Evans was part of the famous Anfield ‘Boot Room’ , external– literally a boot room where the likes of Bob Paisley, Ronnie Moran, and latterly Dalglish would gather after games to discuss tactics and strategies over a glass of whisky. What happened on the pitch outweighed anything off it.
Dalglish is keen to reintroduce that Boot Room culture, fusing his traditional approach with the modern ideas of assistant Steve Clarke and director of football Damien Comolli.
And Henry is happy to support the Scot. He is only too aware Liverpool’s last top-flight title came under Dalglish’s stewardship 21 years ago.
Not that 21 years is a long time in the American’s eyes. He helped the Boston Red Sox, external end an 86-year wait for a World Series title in 2004. And then repeated the feat three years later for good measure, external.
It seems there is more than good business sense to his success. Henry cares about the club but more importantly about the fans, the traditions and the values.
Stan Grossfeld, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist from the Boston Globe, external, was with Henry in Liverpool on the day he bought the club.
He told BBC Sport: “John is eclectic, shy, soft-spoken, intelligent and has a wry sense of humour. He always does his homework.
“When he first arrived in Liverpool and the Press was looking for him, he was secretly meeting with a fans’ group.
“He didn’t promise them anything but he asked questions and listened.”
In fact, he was meeting with Kevin Howson, of the redwhiteandkop.com website, external, who emailed the millionaire businessman and was shocked to land a one-on-one interview.
Howson said: “Henry listened and was very interested in what I had to say, which is great to see.
“We had got to the point with Hicks and Gillett where football was irrelevant. Our club was going out of business.
“Because of that, Henry still has to win some fans over. We didn’t ask questions under Hicks and Gillett but now we will. But it’s so far, so good.
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