Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles.
One app.

Start reading

Get all your news in one place.

100’s of premium titles. One news app.

Start reading

Liverpool Echo

Sport

Dave Powell

FSG plan must change again after two major backroom exits at Liverpool

Liverpool FSG Michael Edwards Mike Gordon Damien Comolli Michael Gordon Jurgen Klopp United States Julian Ward Billy Hogan

In little over a year Liverpool have had to contend with two sporting directors opting to seek pastures new.

In November of 2021 it was Michael Edwards who signalled his intention to depart, the former sporting director having long been seen as a key figure in the Reds renaissance under manager Jurgen Klopp, one that saw the club score plenty of success stories in the transfer market and underspend against their rivals yet achieve more than them, bagging a Champions League and Premier League title along the way.

Edwards' decision was understood to be born from a desire to take a break and then seek new opportunities having spent more than a decade at Anfield, brought to the club from Tottenham Hotspur by former sporting director Damien Comolli back in 2010.

Julian Ward, who had been working closely with Edwards as part of the recruitment team for some time before the latter's departure at the end of last season, was hand picked to take over the reins in order to ensure a smooth transition. But last month Ward signalled his intention to leave at the end of the season, himself to seek new opportunities, with Liverpool now on the lookout for the next sporting director who can lead the vital cog to the Reds machine that is their recruitment department.

It isn't just Edwards and Ward whose departures will be felt keenly, with the decision to transfer responsibility for the day to day running of Liverpool from Fenway Sports Group 's third in command, Mike Gordon, to Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan, someone with a burgeoning reputation within the Reds ownership group.

Gordon, while based in the US, was the most hands on of the FSG hierarchy when it came to Liverpool and he had forged a strong relationship with Klopp, being the German's closest ally when it came to his relationship with the Reds owners.

Gordon, who serves as president of FSG, has been passing the baton with regards to Liverpool on a piecemeal basis to Hogan. The reason for the change is that Gordon has been tasked with looking at the potential investment or full sale opportunities for FSG when it comes to Liverpool, with major US banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to field interest and weed out genuine expressions of interest that meet FSG's markers before presenting any opportunities to Gordon to feed back and assess with the FSG board, headed by John W. Henry and Tom Werner.

The ECHO has been informed by well-placed US sources that while there has been interest there are no talks far down the line and that while a full sale is something that FSG are open to at the right price it is a "strategic partner" that they would prefer, one that would be able to inject fresh capital and potentially clear out any FSG partners who may wish to cash in their chips with the valuation of the Reds so high at present. A strategic partner would be one that can provide some expertise to grow the business and tap into new revenue streams, potentially having the option to acquire the club in full further down the line.

While Gordon hasn't exited the building and will still be an ally of Klopp's in the FSG boardroom, the day to day involvement he had in the club being removed, on the back of Edwards' exit at the end of last season, and with Ward to depart at the end of this season, means that there are some key decisions that FSG have to get right behind the scenes, regardless of whether they see themselves at Anfield for the long haul.

Comolli, who turned 50 on Tuesday, now serves as president of French Ligue 1 side Toulouse, a club owned by RedBird FC, part of RedBird Capital Partners, the New York-based investment firm that owns 11 per cent of FSG and has full control of Italian giants AC Milan.

Frenchman Comolli, who was key in bringing Jordan Henderson to Anfield, left the club by mutual consent in 2012, the initial lack of impact by Henderson and the failure of big money buys like Andy Carroll impacting the FSG decision.

But while some of the signings may not have worked out it was Comolli that played a significant role in bringing about the kind of culture that FSG wanted to instil at Anfield after they acquired the club for £300m in 2010. During his time at the club Comolli was keen to change to culture and the structure behind the scenes and one of his own hires to the recruitment team would be that of Edwards, who joined as head of performance and analysis having worked in the same role under Comolli during his time at Tottenham Hotspur as sporting director.

In an interview with the Training Ground Guru podcast earlier this year, Comolli, pointed to what he described as the "perfect alignment" that had existed at one point between Gordon, Edwards and Klopp.

Comolli said: "They had great alignment. At one point they had perfect alignment between Michael Gordon, Michael Edwards and Jurgen Klopp, and that perfect alignment, the three of them, has created that success.

"(Success) all comes from the board, if the board doesn't play with the culture of the club and what it is trying to achieve and the culture of what they are trying to implement. The sporting director is the safeguard of the culture and of alignment of the club day to day."

Comolli asserted that Gordon was "key in what they do with the day to day running of the club". With that baton now passed to Hogan, and with a new sporting director required for next season, finding 'perfect alignment' once again will be no easy task achieve to master at a time when FSG are considering their own long-term plan for Liverpool.

READ NEXT: