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Liverpool FC's principal owner John Henry praised the "toughness, intelligence, creativity" of the city as he gave a series of insights into his reasons for buying the club in 2010.

Henry, who also owns the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Globe newspaper, drew comparisons between the two cities as he explained why he bought the club after it had been plunged into crisis by the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

During his speech to the Boston Chamber of Commerce, Henry boasted about the qualities at Liverpool, calling Luis Suarez “the most exciting soccer player” in the world while comparing the Uruguayan to Boston baseball hero David Ortiz.

Henry stressed the importance of Liverpool as a global business and brand, explaining to his US crowd that a Liverpool versus Man United league match draws in close to a billion worldwide TV viewers, which is nine times the size of the worldwide viewing audience for the NFL Superbowl.

He said: "What's amazing for an American who is in the middle of the world's most watched sports league, the English Premier League is the scale of it.

"What Americans don't know is that when we play our rivals Manchester United the worldwide audience on television is just about a billion people. And that's for a regular season match, that's about nine times the size for the worldwide viewing audience for the superbowl.

"The relationship and rivalry between Liverpool Football Club and Manchester United is very similar to the relationship and rivalry between the Yankees and the Red Sox.

John Henry and Tom Werner: Pictures of their time at Liverpool FC so far

"And just as the Red Sox always seem to play second fiddle to the Yankees, Liverpool has similarly been frustrated by United since the Premier League replaced the Football League 20 years ago.

"So how can a rivalry like this attract a billion viewers? Both Liverpool and United are huge in China, Malasia, practically every country in the world except the US."

He cited the Red's preseason tour of South East Asia that had huge turnouts as evidence of the global power of LFC.

"The larger part of the story that struck us when we were considering buying Liverpool out of a bankruptcy situation created by Americans was the similarities of the two cities, the two teams, the two histories, the two stadia.

"Liverpool has a large Irish Catholic population, it's a seaport on a famous river, both cities are about 45 sq miles in size, both have around 600,000 people, both are college towns.

"Boston had the fist public library, Liverpool had the first lending library. Both cities have pioneered medical advancements during the decades and both have the largest economic powers in the world exactly 213 miles to the south by car.

"Both cities will excoriate me for comparing them, but like it or not they are kindred spirits.

"They play in the most historical cathedrals of sport. Anfield has 7,000 more seats than Fenway but actually you might say its a bit cosier than Fenway.

"It's no coincidence that The Beatles came out of that small town 50 years ago, and that the soccer club there is one of the most successful and biggest sports teams in history despite local economic climate.

"There is a culture of toughness, intelligence, creativity that reminds me of New England. So I am sure I have answered your questions on 'why Liverpool?'"

Video: Watch John Henry's speech in full