Michael Edwards Return Confirmed

[Anubis]

18 hours ago, TD_LFC said:

 

I can't believe that a person who's decided to leave for a better opportunity is getting talked down by the fans of the club he's leaving.

 

Given he's on record as saying the manager has the first and last word on signings and that the chief exec was heavily involved in negotiations there's a fair chance he wasn't a Moggi style all powerful figure at Bournemouth.

 

If you go back through their thread they’ve been talking him down for a long, long time. So maybe not reactionary. 

[etho]

Mo and VVD should be given new contracts and if Edward’s has any hand in that not happening he’s a fucking idiot

[Street Preacher]

1 hour ago, Anubis said:

 

If you go back through their thread they’ve been talking him down for a long, long time. So maybe not reactionary. 

 

Although it's not certain, maybe he will have less sway at Liverpool than he did at Bournemouth. Also we've got such a good backroom team of transfer that he'd have to be total shit to mess things up. 

 

As someone previously said, from what has been written about him, he's more of a negotiator. Fingers crossed. 

[Anubis]

1 hour ago, Street Preacher said:

 

Although it's not certain, maybe he will have less sway at Liverpool than he did at Bournemouth. Also we've got such a good backroom team of transfer that he'd have to be total shit to mess things up. 

 

As someone previously said, from what has been written about him, he's more of a negotiator. Fingers crossed. 

 

That’s why I originally asked if we still had the analytical team looking at potential signings.

[sir roger]

1 hour ago, Street Preacher said:

 

Although it's not certain, maybe he will have less sway at Liverpool than he did at Bournemouth. Also we've got such a good backroom team of transfer that he'd have to be total shit to mess things up. 

 

As someone previously said, from what has been written about him, he's more of a negotiator. Fingers crossed. 

 

Have City changed their passwords yet?

[Frank Dacey]

Thing about Bournemouth is they're punching two divisions above their weight. For almost all their existence they've been in the third of fourth tier, so to be spending 6 or so seasons in the top flight is amazing and the people that are behind that have done a great job. Whether they can do a similar job at a big club is a different question.

[TD_LFC]

5 hours ago, Anubis said:

 

If you go back through their thread they’ve been talking him down for a long, long time. So maybe not reactionary. 

 

I've no idea if he will be good or bad but given the number of factors involved in the success of a signing judging a sporting director based solely on a signing, or collection of signings, seems like a pointless exercise.

 

If signings were able to be boiled down to the quality of one external person then it would be easily repeatable and sporting directors would be the single most important, and well paid, individual in football.

 

Hughes has already said that the manager had the first and last say on signings, and that the chief exec did some of the negotiating (at least up to a few years ago), you also have to consider the pool of talent available to Bournemouth, the club philosophy they have to work within, the budget they are working too and the resources in scouting/data analysis available to them not to mention all the left field issues that crop up and waylay plans and how the club is structured to deal with them.

 

Trying to sign a sporting director based purely on the reputation of player purchases without understanding the entire role and structure they work within gives you Steve Walsh.

[Barrington Womble]

Surely the whole point of data driven decision making is it isn't about the person having an eye for footballers. It's having an eye for data and understanding how the data can be used to identify the types of player you need. We obviously have a lot of that in place already, so the question then becomes can Hughes help the team working for him keep improving those models, both in turn of finding and understanding new data points, as well as marrying that to what the scouts are seeing with their eyes. 

 

I don't really understand how people can get too worried about it. You've only got to look at Everton to see it's not about poaching someone who's uncovered some gems, because if that's all it was, Walsh and brands wouldn't have been shit at Everton. 

[Lee909]

Hughes had Roma looking him as well and seems to be well respected in the game according to reports. He's going to be part of the team, same as Edwards was. And while Edwards might not be involved in everyday matters as much when they have the big recruitment meeting he will most likely be there

[VladimirIlyich]

I know a lad who works ion our analyst team. I used to coach him in a team when he was younger. I only found out from talking to his Mum in the shops last week. Long hours for them she said.

[Le Duan]

4 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

Surely the whole point of data driven decision making is it isn't about the person having an eye for footballers. It's having an eye for data and understanding how the data can be used to identify the types of player you need. We obviously have a lot of that in place already, so the question then becomes can Hughes help the team working for him keep improving those models, both in turn of finding and understanding new data points, as well as marrying that to what the scouts are seeing with their eyes. 

 

I don't really understand how people can get too worried about it. You've only got to look at Everton to see it's not about poaching someone who's uncovered some gems, because if that's all it was, Walsh and brands wouldn't have been shit at Everton. 

You know……I rather enjoyed that post

[Megadrive Man]

Richard Hughes confirmed as Sporting director.

 

Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards speak out after Liverpool confirm new sporting director - Liverpool Echo

 

I'm glad we are finally getting this sorted out. Just the easy job of sorting a new manager now!

[Barrington Womble]

1 minute ago, Megadrive Man said:

Richard Hughes confirmed as Sporting director.

 

Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards speak out after Liverpool confirm new sporting director - Liverpool Echo

 

I'm glad we are finally getting this sorted out. Just the easy job of sorting a new manager now!

Beheadie Howe. 

[Megadrive Man]

1 minute ago, Barrington Womble said:

Beheadie Howe. 

 

I don't see him leaving Newcastle thankfully!

[3 Stacks]

The article by Joyce says Diaz, Nunez and Gakpo were "manager signings". Already getting some narratives out there, which is sick.

[El Rojo]

BERTIE MEE SAID TO RICHARD HUGHES, ‘HAVE TOU HEARD OF THE NORTH BANK HIGHBURY?’ HUGHES SAID ‘NO I DONT THINK SO BUT I’LL TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT OUR ANALYTICS TEAM THINKS AND GET BACK TO YOU BEFORE C.O.B. TODAY.’

[Dapower]

15 minutes ago, Megadrive Man said:

Richard Hughes confirmed as Sporting director.

 

Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards speak out after Liverpool confirm new sporting director - Liverpool Echo

 

I'm glad we are finally getting this sorted out. Just the easy job of sorting a new manager now!

Looks a right sneak for me

[Megadrive Man]

17 minutes ago, Dapower said:

Looks a right sneak for me

 

You need a bit of that.

[joe_fishfish]

52 minutes ago, 3 Stacks said:

The article by Joyce says Diaz, Nunez and Gakpo were "manager signings". Already getting some narratives out there, which is sick.

Got a link?

[SasaS]

Missing Ibiza George already. Pina colada in one hand, phone in the other, floating in his swimming pool and getting us Endo, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch from Bundesliga. 

 

Imagine what he can do if he actually applied himself properly.

[3 Stacks]

2 minutes ago, joe_fishfish said:

Got a link?

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/sport/football/article/liverpool-richard-hughes-sporting-director-bk998gj6f

[Turkish Delight]

On 14/03/2024 at 18:05, Frank Dacey said:

Thing about Bournemouth is they're punching two divisions above their weight. For almost all their existence they've been in the third of fourth tier, so to be spending 6 or so seasons in the top flight is amazing and the people that are behind that have done a great job. Whether they can do a similar job at a big club is a different question.

 

Their net tranfer spend in that time is pretty sizeable. It's something like 300 million over the last 5 years.

 

Their story wouldn't have been possible but for initial investment from a Russian billionaire.

[luxury_scruff]

https://archive.ph/DBPdf

 

[luxury_scruff]

Hughes advised Liverpool over Salah and Alisson – and is De Zerbi fan

March 12 2024, 12.20pm GMT

 

There should be little sense of trepidation for Richard Hughes as he prepares to officially take over as Liverpool’s sporting director at the end of the season. 

After all, there were times during his tenure as Bournemouth’s football administrator that he found himself on the same wavelength and displaying the same vision as those already in situ during one of Anfield’s golden periods. 

 

Hughes targeted Andrew Robertson at Hull City, Fulham’s Harvey Elliott and pushed for Charlton Athletic’s Joe Gomez during his time on the south coast, while also identifying Celtic’s Virgil van Dijk and Roma’s Alisson as signings that, in an ideal world, he would have pursued. 

 

If, on each occasion, Liverpool’s pulling — and spending — power left him to some extent frustrated, there was the consolation that his identification process had been highly efficient. 

 

The occasional scalp also tasted sweet. Much to Liverpool’s annoyance, Hughes was successful in persuading defender Lloyd Kelly to reject the lure of Merseyside to move to Bournemouth in May 2019 for £13 million. 

 

That deal prompted a begrudging, congratulatory phone call to Hughes from Michael Edwards, then Liverpool’s sporting director. It is Edwards’ appointment as chief executive of football at Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, that has now smoothed the wheels for the next step in Hughes’ career progression.

 

The closeness of their relationship stems from time together at Portsmouth when Edwards was chief analyst and Hughes the club’s respected captain and midfielder. He was among a core group, which also included Eddie Howe, Gary O’Neil and Matt Taylor, who sought out information on their own performances plus those of opponents and teams from abroad. 

 

Indeed, while Hughes was viewed as natural to move into coaching after retiring as a player, it was Howe who persuaded him to work behind the scenes. 

 

While in recent years Hughes and Edwards had become rivals in the transfer market, the differing budgets and aspirations at Liverpool and Bournemouth meant there were also times when the latter would seek the insight and advice of the other to add weight to his own gut feeling on a target.

 

Alisson was one of those players and Mohamed Salah another. That Hughes proved a sounding board for two deals that were struck with Roma should be of little surprise given the Scotsman grew up in Italy, began his football career as a youth player at Atalanta and developed a passion for AC Milan [and also Barcelona]. 

 

He also sought to appoint Roberto De Zerbi as Bournemouth manager following the departure of Scott Parker in 2022, only for a delay in the change of ownership at the club allowing Brighton & Hove Albion to entice the Italian instead. 

 

De Zerbi will feature on the list of candidates to replace Jürgen Klopp in the summer, while Hughes knows Xabi Alonso’s agent, Iñaki Ibáñez, as he also represents Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola.

 

It will be Hughes who will make that appointment with support from Edwards, although he will not micromanage the new incumbent.

 

A long-standing desire to work with him again has come to fruition because Edwards respects and trusts Hughes’ football knowledge. He also perhaps sees something of himself in the 44-year-old. 

 

That is a sporting director who will be football first, looking deeper than a club’s status to assess individual performance, rather than being operational focused.

While a list of players Hughes signed at Bournemouth includes names such as Nathan Aké, David Brooks, Aaron Ramsdale and Dominic Solanke, it would be remiss not to mention Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith who were far less successful deals earlier in his reign as technical director.

 

Both were signed from Liverpool, although it is understood Hughes was less of a driving force in those deals, which served as a lesson to him. 

 

After the short-lived spells of Julian Ward and Jorg Schmadtke as Liverpool’s sporting director, it is important that Hughes’ appointment brings with it stability and structure that will create the best conditions to allow Klopp’s successor to focus primarily on extracting the best from the squad they inherit. 

 

To that end, there is a need for clarity on the futures of Van Dijk, Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold. All three will have one year remaining on their contracts in the summer and there is a sense of surprise in some quarters that more of an effort has not already been made to tie down such key performers. 

 

There are some at Liverpool who believe that, even allowing for the success in the Klopp era, stepping into the German’s shoes should not prompt apprehension. All that it needs is the ideal candidate possessing the cojones to accept the challenge. It will be up to Hughes to now help prove that is indeed the case.

[joe_fishfish]

Sorry Stacksy mate, not seeing any mention of Gakpo, Nunez or Diaz in that article. Or the phrase "manager signings".