Boston to Liverpool: Timeline of Fenway Sports Group - in pictures

2002 New England Sports Ventures purchase the Boston Red Sox for $700m (£480m). Theo Epstein is hired by NESV principal owner, John W Henry, as general manager to oversee an overhaul in player recruitment Photograph: Scott Audette/AP

2004 The Red Sox, under the management of Terry Francona, win their first World Series title since 1918 Photograph: Reuters

Feb 2007 NESV buy a 50% stake in the Roush Racing Nascar team Photograph: Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Oct 2007 Red Sox win World Series Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

Oct 2010 NESV buys Liverpool for £300m following a high court battle during which the club's existing owners, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, tried to block the sale Photograph: Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Dec 2010 Boston sign left-arm hitters Carl Crawford, #13, and Adrian Gonzalez, #28, for wages of $140m and $154m over seven years respectively Photograph: R. Yeatts/Getty Images

Jan 2011 Roy Hodgson is sacked as Liverpool manager and replaced by Kenny Dalglish on a caretaker basis Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images

Jan 2011 Liverpool sell Fernando Torres to Chelsea for £50m and, having already signed Luis Suárez from Ajax for £22m, buy Andy Carroll for £35m from Newcastle United
Photograph: Peter Byrne/Press Association

Mar 2011 NESV becomes Fenway Sports Group Photograph: Public Domain

May 2011 Dalglish signs a three-year contract as Liverpool manager Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Aug 2011 Liverpool begin the season having signed Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing for £20m each, Charlie Adam for £7.5m and José Enrique for £6m Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Sept 2011 After a final‑month collapse, the Red Sox fail to qualify for the post‑season play‑offs Photograph: Rick Friedman/Polaris

Oct 2011 Francona is let go as Red Sox manager Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

Oct 2011 Ian Ayre, Liverpool's manager director, reveals the club's desire to break away from the Premier League's collective-selling model in relation to overseas TV rights Photograph: Carl Recine/Action Images