Liverpool’s new axis of power was forged at Fratton Park
Hughes and Edwards will be key in choosing next Anfield coach and learnt trade under Redknapp at Portsmouth
The axis of power at Anfield, which will oversee the appointment of Jurgen Klopp’s successor and the new era at Liverpool, was created in the mid-2000s in the unpromising surroundings of Portsmouth’s old Wellington training ground, and a meeting between player and analyst.
It was there that a 24-year-old Michael Edwards met Richard Hughes, a midfielder of the same age, and the pair developed a strong bond.
Two decades on and Hughes is the new sporting director of Liverpool, appointed officially today by Edwards, who is himself back at the club for a second spell as owner Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football. The post-klopp era will be defined by this pair, who emerged from a training ground that was embracing new ways.
They were managed over two spells by Harry Redknapp, a man very much of his era but happy to encourage innovation.
Some impressive post-playing careers have developed from that training ground in Hampshire, much of them orbiting around the original influence of the changes Edwards sought to bring. He would follow Redknapp to Tottenham Hotspur and then move to Liverpool, eventually building the first great Klopp team.
Hughes became director of football at Bournemouth. Others from the Wellington days include Eddie Howe, then a Portsmouth defender contemplating the end of his injurywrecked career. Also Gary O’neil, now a Premier League manager for the second time with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
There are others, too: Matt Taylor, formerly a manager at Walsall and Shrewsbury Town most recently, and the Danish defender Brian Priske, who is now Sparta Prague coach.
In the first throes of football’s data revolution, Edwards got a receptive squad interested in how that data could reinforce or disprove accepted realities about the game. For the first time, players were also able to watch clips exclusively of their own game involvements.
Originally seconded to Portsmouth by analysis contractor Prozone, Edwards was eventually employed by the club as head of performance analysis.
As ever in football, the group moved on, but those early bonds survived, especially between Hughes, Howe and Edwards. Born in Glasgow of Italian heritage, Hughes moved near Bergamo as a child with his family, where he played in the youth team at Atalanta. Later, after Hughes’s playing career ended, Howe would convince his friend to work with him in recruitment at Bournemouth, where he was sporting director for 10 years.
Edwards and Hughes would occasionally compete over the same players. They would make recommendations to the other on targets and discuss what they had learnt along the way.
The possibilities open to Hughes in the transfer market were more modest, although there were successes. The biggest prizes would go to Edwards, who, as he rose to become Liverpool sporting director, could marshal the greater financial advantage.
Hughes tried to sign Virgil van Dijk from Celtic in 2015, but was beaten to his signature by Southampton. He was adamant that Mohamed Salah’s failure to settle at Chelsea was an anomaly and a second chance in England would yield more successful results.
With his background in Italian football, Hughes was long convinced that Roma’s Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker was the best in the world and well worth the £65million Edwards and Liverpool eventually paid. Those three would become some of Liverpool’s greatest signings.
The two clubs both competed for Hull City’s Andy Robertson, Charlton Athletic’s Joe Gomez, and Fulham teenager Harvey Elliott. When Liverpool were preparing for the 2019 Champions League final, Bournemouth beat them to the signing of defender Lloyd Kelly from Bristol City. Edwards called Hughes to concede his friend had got one over on him.
Nevertheless, the signing by Bournemouth of Liverpool academy graduates Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith, at a combined cost of £21million, worked out badly for the club. Ibe, in particular, had played well for Liverpool against Howe’s side three months earlier, which may have tipped the scales. Bournemouth could not afford to make those kinds of mistakes.
Hughes would later sign Tyrone Mings, Lewis Cook, David Brooks and Philip Billing, who became key players. The acquisition of Dominic Solanke from Liverpool in 2019, currently tied for third on the Premier League goalscorers’ leaderboard with Salah, offset those two earlier Anfield misadventures.
The signing of Nathan Ake, later sold for twice what he cost, was another triumph for Hughes. Either way, Hughes’s habit of identifying those who would make the transition to the top is why he built a natural rapport with Edwards.
A football passion and gambler’s eye for the next big thing has become a lucrative profession, and, post-retirement as a player, Hughes was briefly employed by BT Sport for its Champions League coverage.
Edwards has turned to Hughes because he is on the same wavelength and will require no extended introduction to life at Anfield. The trust between the duo will replicate that which existed between Edwards and FSG president Mike Gordon.
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Liverpool also know it is fundamental that the sporting director and next manager complement each other as they must instantly forge a day-to-day working relationship.
Edwards and Klopp made that work because – as one senior Liverpool figure put it – “they agreed 85 per cent of the time”. That makes the forthcoming managerial interview process as critical as the performance analysis.
Some of those under consideration are already known to Hughes. It cannot be insignificant that he was close to appointing Roberto De Zerbi as Bournemouth manager after Scott Parker’s sacking in 2022, with the prolonged takeover of the club by American investor Bill Foley meaning that a verbal agreement could not be developed.
Xabi Alonso is of huge interest, independent of being the fans’ favourite. Liverpool are awaiting guidance, as and when the Bayer Leverkusen coach deems it appropriate to announce if he is considering leaving the club at the end of what is surely destined to be a triumphant season. Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim is also ranked high among the list of candidates.
As well as world-class coaching talent, Liverpool believe Klopp’s replacement must have the courage and strength of character to emerge from his considerable shadow.
Liverpool consider Anfield job conditions to be among the best in the world – the club are in a much different place to when FSG was compelled to make three managerial changes over four years, in 2011, 2012 and 2015.
Edwards helped ensure Liverpool found the new Bill Shankly. Now he has Hughes on board to identify the next Bob Paisley.
Rest assured, they were already in deep discussion about the next big thing in elite management long before Klopp announced an Anfield vacancy – or, indeed, they knew they would be the ones filling that vacuum.
The pair would occasionally compete over the same players and discuss what they had learnt along the way
talks needed to keep Trent Alexander-arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah beyond the final year of their respective contracts, which all expire in 2025.
“I am fully aware of the expectations and responsibilities that come with taking this position,” Hughes said. “It will be my job, working with Michael and leading the football operations team already in place, plus the wider staff at the AXA Training Centre, to make good decisions.”
Edwards said of his first key decision: “He [Richard] is absolutely someone who embodies the best values of Liverpool FC. I trust him completely. He has outstanding judgment and a track record of making smart decisions which benefit the organisations he represents.
“It is clear to everyone that Jurgen will leave a legacy to build upon and in Richard we have the right person to make the key decisions and offer the leadership to take us forward into a bright future.
“As one very successful chapter will come to a close for Liverpool in the summer, the objective of everyone here is for another one to begin – and with Richard I am confident we have the right person in position for us to achieve this aim.”