Liverpool Owner John Henry explains the “biggest challenge” The Reds face

Liverpool Owner John Henry looks on from the stands at Anfield

John Henry, principle owner of Liverpool, has suggested that the biggest obstacle to his club’s first title since 1990 has been other clubs ignoring Financial Fair Play legislation, report ESPN.

Henry didn’t call out any specific clubs, but one would wager he’s alluding to the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea – the Premier League’s biggest spenders last summer in terms of net loss.

“The biggest challenge for us has been the ignoring of Financial Fair Play,” Henry told the BBC. “It makes it very difficult to compete, but by the same token there are many clubs who can’t compete at Liverpool’s level. So I guess I shouldn’t complain that vociferously.

“It’s challenging, it makes it difficult. There are only four Champions League spots, we have three teams that seem to have unlimited budgets, at least two so it’s challenging.”

Liverpool are close to finalising plans that will increase Anfield’s capacity to 50,000. However, Henry doesn’t attribute their relative lack of matchday revenue to their inability to invest heavily in players.

“The stadium [rebuilding Anfield] was never going to solve the problems that Liverpool was facing economically,” Henry added. “Financial Fair Play is a much bigger solution to the problems Liverpool and other clubs are trying to compete [against]. That’s a much larger issue.

“We really don’t have Financial Fair Play, or at least people are not abiding by it. If UEFA does something about it and people have to comply, even then the rules are somewhat suspect. I’d love to think that UEFA can do and will do what needs to be done, but we’ll see.”