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So which way will Fenway Sports Group jump? Stick or twist?

Brendan Rodgers will face his end-of-season review with the Liverpool owners under considerable pressure after the 6-1 capitulation at Stoke.

And it may all come down to the numbers.

No, not those six goals that the Reds shipped in one of the most embarrassing, calamitous performances in living memory. As bad as Stoke City was, it wouldn’t ultimately determine the manager’s fate.

There’s every chance that decision has already been taken by the FSG hierarchy and the Northern Irishman will, in perhaps a matter of days, learn whether he still has a future at Anfield.

In their history dealing with managers, FSG have shown both tolerance when things aren’t going so well as well as being fearless if they feel a change in the managerial hotseat is required.

The recent history of their two big sports teams – Liverpool FC and the Boston Red Sox – provides the evidence for this.

When FSG took over the reins at Liverpool in the autumn of 2010, Roy Hodgson was already the Reds manager. He was not their appointed man, Hodgson having been in post since July 1 of that turbulent year.

But a series of awful performances culminating in a dreadful display at Blackburn Rovers in January 2011 led to Hodgson being relieved of his duties. FSG had shown they were unafraid of making the biggest of changes at a football club.

There was plenty of clamour from supporters to have club legend Kenny Dalglish restored to the dugout. Whether FSG truly wanted him in the job is perhaps open to argument, but there was no doubt the majority of fans had been appeased.

And over the next 14 months, Dalglish steadied a ship that was listing badly. A first piece of silverware in six years was achieved when the Carling Cup was won in March 2012, and the team also reached the FA Cup Final only to narrowly miss out to Chelsea.

FSG installed their own man within 11 days of Wembley loss

But it was clear by the time the end of the season was reached, FSG were looking to install their own man at Anfield.

Just 11 days after the Wembley loss to Chelsea, Dalglish was gone and barely two weeks later, FSG announced his successor – Rodgers.

The former boss of Watford, Reading and Swansea City was yet to celebrate his 40th birthday but FSG’s faith in him to lead their plan to bring success and silverware back to Anfield was total.

So, FSG have had ‘their man’ in the job for a total of 155 games in all competitions. The club under Rodgers has been unbeaten in 115 of those contests, winning 80 of them and losing 40.

So after a season where every major target has been missed, will they continue to back him?

Across the Atlantic, the pattern of managerial moves at the Boston Red Sox does have echoes of Anfield.

FSG took control early in 2002. The team had not won the World Series in more than eight decades.

One of thir first moves was to send manager Joe Kerrigan packing after a difficult end to the 2001 season when the team missed the playoffs.

FSG got ruthless in their pursuit of World Series

FSG installed Grady Little, a move that almost, but not quite, brought glory to Fenway Park again.

In 2002, the Red Sox enjoyed a brilliant year winning 93 games but still a distant second to the New York Yankees in their division.

A year later, they did make the playoffs but in an infamous clash with the Yankees the Red Sox came up short.

Little’s tactics came into sharp focus and the heartbreaking loss to their deadliest rivals only strengthened FSG’s resolve. Despite Little’s fine numbers across two seasons – he oversaw 188 victories – the owners acted once more and the manager was gone. And rapidly too, just 11 days after. You might have seen that number earlier...

It was seen as ruthless decision by some commentators, but if anyone doubted the determination FSG had of finally claiming a World Series title, they had no reason at all to question it now.

Boston’s then general manager Theo Epstein said: ‘’All I can tell you is the truth, which is quite simply that the decision was made on a body of work after careful contemplation of the big picture. It did not depend on any one decision in any one postseason game.’’

Team president and chief executive Larry Lucchino added: ‘’We did assure him that this decision was not made based on a single decision in a single game.”

The next period of FSG ownership of the Red Sox was without question the most successful.

Under new manager Terry Francona, Boston famously claimed their first World Series crown in his first season, the team’s first title since 1918.

A year later they made the playoffs only to lose to the eventual champions, the Chicago White Sox.

In 2006 the Red Sox failed to make the playoffs, but there was plenty in the goodwill bank for Francona and he held onto his job.

There was no doubting it was the right decision by FSG as the following autumn, the Red Sox roared to their second World Series triumph in four seasons.

Francona led Boston all the way to the American League Championship Series in 2008 but in 2009 and 2010 they missed out on the playoffs.

To be honest I don't know how much support there was from ownership

After a dramatic ending to the 2011 season where Boston lost a pivotal final game, they missed out that year too.

That loss also led to Francona deciding to call it quits – just a matter of a few hours after the defeat.

Speaking after his departure, Francona said: “To be honest with you, I didn’t know, or I’m not sure, how much support there was from ownership. I don’t know if I felt real comfortable. You have to be all-in with this job and I voiced that today. There were some things that maybe – going through things here and to make it work – it has to be everybody together and I was questioning some of that a little bit.”

Changing the manager though and bringing in Bobby Valentine was to be an utter shambles. Boston slumped to the bottom of the American League East Division with their worst record in almost half-a-century.

Twenty-four hours after the conclusion to the 2012 regular season, FSG fired Valentine.

This time a managerial change worked wonders and John Farrell led the Red Sox to their third World Series title in the FSG era in 2013.

It wasn’t sustained last year and a poor season saw FSG move away from the ‘moneyball’ concept – buying cheaply and building success via statistical analysis of players’ achievements on the field (not that the team really employed this idea strictly to the letter) – and instead some major multi-million dollar deals were sanctioned.

Eye-watering contracts inked by Hanley Ramirez (four years, $88m) and Pablo Sandoval (five years, $95m), both agreed less than a month after the 2014 World Series ended.

An indifferent start has already seen FSG fire pitching coach Juan Nieves to try and turn things around in that part of the game where the numbers, to use American parlance, were ugly.

Back at Anfield and the fact that the Reds reached both domestic cup semi-finals – the only club to do so – will likely count for very little when it comes to FSG. They know the bottom line is success in the Premier League and by definition qualification for the money-spinning Champions League.

An incredible and very positive 2013-14 campaign has been overshadowed by the one that has just ended, and with a sizeable number of Liverpool supporters questioning Rodgers’ future, there’s no doubt FSG will have heard those calls.

Yes, he is FSG’s man, but given their track record of firing their own appointments in the past – Dalglish, Little and Valentine – it shows they will pull the proverbial trigger if they think it will benefit the team in the long run.