Liverpool

Fenway Sports Group Looks For New Front Office Structure With Liverpool

Published May 18, 2012

The managerial model that EPL club Liverpool’s owner, Fenway Sports Group, hopes to install is “yet to be revealed to the public,” but its firing of Kenny Dalglish “marked the pivotal moment in a revolution that will allow his former club to dispense with the traditional managerial role,” according to Tony Barrett of the LONDON TIMES. A direct replacement for former Dir of Football Damien Comolli is also “no longer being sought, but FSG is in the final stages of filling a general manager-style position.” Liverpool Managing Dir Ian Ayre said, “We are going to have a different structure. There will be more than one person in and around that role, in the sense of dividing up some of the responsibility. We are fairly imminent on a lot of the positions where people have exited. We are quite close to the arrival of replacements." Ayre added, “Running a big football club is a big challenge and it is evident you need focus in each area, with a specialist in each area to give us value in each area.” Barrett notes the “divergence from the traditional managerial structure is clearly a gamble by FSG, albeit one that demonstrates both its ambition and its willingness to do the unconventional.” Whatever the merits of the new managerial blueprint, Liverpool’s fourth manager in two years “will at least be armed with funds” of about US$47.5M for investment in the playing squad. Ayre, “You wouldn’t expect to unveil a plan to take the club forward, to bring in a new manager, and not invest in it" (LONDON TIMES, 5/18) SKY SPORTS’ Jeff Stelling wrote, “It's clear there is no room for sentimentality in football, that's for sure, and FSG are not in this for the love of Liverpool. That's not a criticism -- they're businessmen and like other businessmen they want to see a return on their investment”(SKYSPORTS.com, 5/17).

CONTINUING TO LEAD: Ayre added that he has “signed a new deal at Anfield despite claims” by some he would be next to depart, and “accepts Liverpool have reached a defining point in their history.” Ayre: “When [co-Owners] John Henry and Tom Werner arrived, they said they wanted to be winning the league. It won’t happen overnight. Nobody is kidding themselves. But you have got to be heading in that direction. You can only live on history of success for a certain amount of time.” Ayre added, “I don’t believe that Chelsea have more fans in south-east Asia than Liverpool. Spend time in those countries and those cities and you will see that Liverpool and Manchester United dominate the landscape. But it doesn’t last forever. That is why progress is so important” (London TELEGRAPH, 5/18).

GOING NOWHERE: In London, Paul Hayward writes, “No club exposes the risks of the Premier League's 'laissez-faire' economics quite like Liverpool, who must wish Sheikh Mansour had called on them instead of Manchester City. Imagine an Etihad Campus for the Anfield area, one of the most deprived wards in Britain.” Liverpool is starting to “resemble a man chasing a car down a road.” Liverpool’s fans are “not ready to accept this downgrading and will tolerate nothing less than an immediate restoration of the old glamour." They will "not get it, because the people making all the big decisions are still in the kindergarten of football ownership” (London TELEGRAPH, 5/18).

WHO'S NEXT? The TIMES’ Barrett writes the club has moved “to back up their claim that they can attract the world’s best managers” by placing former FC Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and former England manager Fabio Capello on a shortlist to replace Dalglish. But the two “appear to be unrealistic targets." Still, their presence on the list of targets represents “a statement of intent from Fenway Sports Group” (LONDON TIMES, 5/18). In London, Simon Rice writes the news would “appear to show Liverpool's owners Fenway Sports Group are moving quickly” to appoint a successor. Should Martinez be appointed, “it would be a brave move” from the Liverpool owners (London INDEPENDENT, 5/18). The London DAILY MAIL’s Dominic King writes whoever comes in “will need to bring success without spending swathes of cash, and part of the reason Dalglish is gone is because FSG were not convinced he would utilise their funds wisely this summer" (London DAILY MAIL, 5/18).