Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan has paid tribute to outgoing sporting director Michael Edwards and says Julian Ward is the ideal man to further his predecessor's fine work at Anfield.
Edwards will leave the club at the end of the season after over a decade of service behind the scenes on Merseyside. Having joined the club in 2011 as head of performance and analysis, he then became technical director, but it was his role as Liverpool's maiden sporting director where the famously low-key analyst truly established his reputation among the club's worldwide fanbase.
Edwards was instrumental in helping bring together most of the current squad that Jurgen Klopp has at his disposal, while also ensuring Liverpool received good sums for players who were surplus to requirements at Anfield.
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Liverpool are viewed as one of the pioneers in the rise of data analysis within football and have an entire research department dedicated to exhaustive evaluations of potential transfer targets, something which was brought in on Edwards' watch.
Ward was appointed as assistant sporting director in December 2020 and has taken a more hands-on approach this season as he has continued to prepare for the leading role once his boss officially steps down next month.
CEO Hogan, who himself replaced Peter Moore in the summer of 2020, has backed the club to continue thriving with regards to their recruitment once Ward officially takes over.
In an exclusive chat with the ECHO, Mr Hogan said: "Michael has had an immense impact, absolutely. And look, some of those moments, whether it is the football operations or the work the Academy is doing, maybe it doesn't get seen as much as the first team that is on the pitch.
"But I think the work and the job that Michael and his team have done - and Julian has been a big part of that team as well - it speaks for itself. They've been, if not the best, then certainly close to the best [recruitment team] in football over the course of the last, well, many years now,
"I think that building a squad like that is not something that happens overnight and those guys and girls work really, really hard to get themselves into a position where the club can continue to enhance the squad.
"And that is ultimately providing for Jurgen, working with Jurgen and providing him with the talent to keep going. So Michael has done an incredible job over the course of the last decade, definitely."
With Liverpool heading into this weekend's Champions League final against Real Madrid as Carabao Cup and FA Cup holders, and having just come off a 92-point Premier League campaign, it's a special period for the club under Klopp.
It's also an important time off it too as work continues on an Anfield Road development project that will add an extra 7,000 seats to the stadium before the start of the 2023/24 campaign. Club owners Fenway Sports Group are continuing to explore all options available to keep the club sustainably run and competitive against the financial behemoths of world football.
And ahead of the showdown with Real Madrid in Paris later this week, the Boston-born CEO says success on the pitch makes it easier to provide for the club off it.
"It definitely correlates," Mr Hogan, who was speaking at All Saints Catholic Primary School after the LFC Foundation raised £1m for charity, said: "Our kind of mindset has always been about trying to have the off-pitch stuff help the on-pitch as much as possible. I think probably earlier in the last decade or so that FSG have owned the club, there was probably a lot of support gone in off the pitch to support the on the pitch stuff.
"But as soon as you get into a position where the team is performing on the pitch - and that's both men's and women's - that obviously has a benefit for the off-pitch side of things. So it almost becomes a virtuous circle and that is really the mindset.
"So whether it's ourselves at Liverpool or across the Atlantic with the other properties that FSG own, it's really about trying to create sustainability in the way that we operate with the organisation but both sides work hopefully in synchronicity with one another.
"Those of us who aren't involved in coaching or managing or the sort of actual on-the-pitch efforts, there are those of us working off the pitch that support the club.
"Every person inside the club should ultimately take pride in lifting the trophies we have this season because everyone's effort is ultimately geared towards winning. So success on the pitch leads to success off the pitch and vice versa and so it's a great period at the club at the moment given the success we're having on the pitch."
The Premier League title may have ultimately eluded Klopp and his players, but the European Cup showpiece in the French capital offers the Reds the opportunity to turn a famous season into an iconic one at the Stade de France on Saturday evening.
The feel-good factor around the club was accentuated last month too when Klopp put pen to paper on a new contract to keep him at Anfield until 2026 and Hogan saluted the manager for his efforts during a sensational season so far.
He said: "I think this is one of the cases where you can say that the results speak for themselves but I've had the pleasure of working for Jurgen over the past six plus years and he's a great personality, a great person in his own right and I think everyone has taken to that.
"He has obviously taken to the club and the values that we have here. The way he is as a person and the values we have here as a club line up very closely so you can see it. It's been easier to see it in the good times but you can also see it in the bad times as well that he really brings people together as a leader. And hopefully there is more to come.
"I think from our stance - the journey we have been on - starting with the header from Ali (Alisson Becker) at West Brom last season, to get us back to this point, another Champions League final, has been incredible.
"And I think, from our perspective, whether it's from the club or the supporters' perspective, I know everyone couldn't be prouder of the job they have done. And now we hope they can play the best they can.
"Real Madrid are obviously formidable as an opponent and an incredible club with so much experience. If there's any club that has more experience of the European Cup than Liverpool, it's them. So I think it'll be a great match, hopefully and we'll obviously keep our fingers crossed for the right result."
