Liverpool will be forced to undergo a major overhaul at the end of the season after it emerged that another crucial backroom staff member had resigned.
The Reds were rocked earlier this month by the news that owners Fenway Sports Group were attempting to sell the club. FSG have owned Liverpool since October 2010 and their efforts to cash in and move on have now been followed by other major movements behind the scenes at the club.
On Thursday it emerged that sporting director Julian Ward would step down from his role at the end of the 2022/23 season – his first since taking over from Michael Edwards. Ward has progressed through the ranks at Liverpool over the past 10 years and his departure comes as a considerable blow to the club.
He isn’t the only key staff member to resign, either, with The Athletic reporting that Dr Ian Graham has also resigned as director of research. Graham handed in his resignation in June, but will work out his notice period until the end of the season, like Ward.
Also like Ward, Graham worked closely with former sporting director Edwards and has primarily been involved in expanding Liverpool’s data department. His work on recruitment and player analysis has directly influenced the club’s transfer strategy over recent years.
His departure in May will usher in the end of an era, with Edwards, Ward and Graham all gone. The trio were instrumental in shaping Liverpool’s hugely successful recruitment policy, which has seen players like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker arrive at the club.
Graham started out as an academic, studying a PhD in theoretical physics at the University of Cambridge. He moved into football, working for a company called Decision Technology before joining Tottenham under former director of football Damien Comolli.
It was at Spurs where he met Edwards and both ended up following Comolli to Liverpool when the club were bought by FSG in 2010. “In effect Michael has been my boss since I started at Liverpool,” Graham told the club website in June 2020.
“At the time he was responsible for advising on recruitment, the Academy and video analysis for the first team, so he was already involved in all aspects.
“I think he saw the value, as Damien did, in having someone in the club rather than consulting. At Spurs it very much was ‘can you tell us your opinion on these players?’ and we would rarely work on anything else, but I think with being inside the club you can help out with different departments, it’s not just recruitment.”
