1 week ago
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From the very start of their time at Anfield, the spectre of vast Gulf state wealth, and the struggle to compete with it, hung over Liverpool’s American owners.
I recall the day, 15 years ago next month, when Fenway Sports Group’s John W Henry sat down in the boardroom with those of us who wrote about the club, and told us: ‘I don’t have ‘Sheikh’ in front of my name.’ His point being that unless there was a rigorously policed system to prevent sovereign Gulf states pumping millions into their clubs, it would be very hard to compete.
For a very long time, there have been reasons to believe that success in the face of Gulf juggernauts, building Liverpool back to the top, would be impossible for FSG. That the highly intelligent and fabulously rich Abu Dhabis at Manchester City and the Saudi powerhouses at Newcastle, would render the American model of growth through efficiency and smart management something quite hopeless.
Today felt like the day the Americans proved they could see off the petro-dollars. Premier League champions, the services of Mo Salah long since retained, top of the league again with maximum points and, in the capture of Alexander Isak from Newcastle, demonstrably the club that the top players want to sign for.
Liverpool’s brute wealth and capacity to spend has certainly been less than either City or Newcastle, who have both been able to turn to Gulf state entities as sponsorship partners. But it has been by making a successful player acquisition system sacrosanct that FSG currently find themselves ahead of their rivals.
Part of that has been through leading the way with data and metrics - the ‘Moneyball’ approach to acquisition – to a level that the Gulf clubs haven’t. From the start, Henry took a personal interest in installing two data experts, Michael Edwards and Ian Graham, to help find value in the transfer market.
But success has also come from hiring the right combination of manager and director of football to make that approach work.
The excellent book Graham wrote about his Liverpool experience last year, entitled ‘How to Win the Premier League’, offered an excruciating picture of how Brendan Rogers, FSG’s first manager, was reluctant to work within such a structure. His demands that Christian Benteke be signed, in the face of evidence that such a move was folly, went a long way to getting him sacked in 2015.
Liverpool owner John W Henry's belief in the use of data has led to a period of significant success for the club
Sporting director Michael Edwards (middle) has played a key role in developing the club's player acquisition system
Club chiefs were unconvinced a deal for Christian Benteke in 2015 was the right option for the club - and ultimately manager Brendan Rogers paid the price
Jurgen Klopp was recruited because he was willing to adhere to the structure. Klopp’s key partner, as Graham’s book makes plain, was Edwards – the man universally known around the place as ‘Eddy’ - who had become sporting director by the time he left Anfield in 2022.
Liverpool’s failure to maintain their level after winning the Premier League in 2020 stemmed to a substantial degree from the temporary weakness in a system designed to hold on to the best players and sign the prime targets.
Julian Ward replaced Edwards, only to leave the club himself, and Jorg Schmadtke, a long-time friend of Klopp’s took over as a stand-in. It looked like a system in flux until Edwards was re-hired in a new role as chief executive of football, with Bournemouth’s technical director Richard Hughes promptly signed as a new sporting director.
While Liverpool brought an end to their period of system failure, both City and Newcastle look like clubs in need of a firmer grip on their own.
Having abruptly lost sporting director Dan Ashworth to Manchester United after a relationship with Eddie Howe which was not smooth, Newcastle signed and parted company with Paul Mitchell, the man who withdrew the Isak contract offer that former Newcastle director Amanda Staveley had put on the table. Newcastle are now using recruitment firm Nolan Partners to search for their third sporting director.
City have undoubtedly been suffering from the loss of their own director of football Txiki Begiristain, friend, confidante and soulmate of Pep Guardiola. They have the Portuguese Hugo Viana, though there is no sense yet that he matches Begiristain, a jovial life force and beating heart at the Etihad.
Newcastle's spending under Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, has been restricted by PSR challenges since the club were taken over in 2021
Txiki Begiristain's departure from Man City has left a huge void at the club
Hugo Ekitike was identified as a player capable of helping Liverpool to defend their Premier League title and has hit the ground running in England
The consequences of Liverpool’s superior system have been evident. A summer transfer window which has brought in the targeted players – including Hugo Ekitike, a revelation, and Florian Wirtz, who will develop – and the capacity to respond to the opportunity presented by Isak’s disenchantment on Tyneside.
It has become a virtuous circle of success on Merseyside: commercial and footballing growth generating the revenue to spend.
Henry said on that bright October day at Anfield in 2015 that they were looking to use a different kind of business model to find success. ‘We have to be smart,’ he told us. ‘We have to be more efficient.’
They’ve been as good as their word.
