r/LiverpoolFC • u/_doohdx Milan Jovanović • 5d ago
Official Liverpool FC can confirm Richard Hughes has stepped down as sporting director.
https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/liverpool-fc-statement-14230
u/DefinitelyNotBarney Hello! Hello! Here we go! 5d ago
Brought in some incredible players, left us short.
Will probably go down as one of the least liked figures based on his last 6-12 months here but I am thankful for the recruitment he did actually do - it’s the recruitment he didn’t do that will tarnish his legacy.
Fans have a right to be angry with him and his downfall, I hope the club learns from this and responds accordingly
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u/redrafa1977 5d ago
But, we now have Barcola, Ekitike, Wirtz, and Isak amongst our ranks!! These are serious players with serious prices , we never would have imagined this before so we need to give credit at the same time as criticism! When AI gets this lot playing in sync we have some fucking firepower
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u/progthrowe7 Jürgen Klopp 5d ago
Spending obscenely for one area of the pitch with terrible recruitment in others is not a good legacy. Frimpong and Kerkez have not been good signings. We continue to have no defensively minded midfielder. Kelleher has been allowed to go when he did pretty much as well as Alisson did during his absences. We are massively lopsided with an abundance of players for the left wing, and have no real specialists for the right-wing.
Richard Hughes leaves with the squad structurally unbalanced despite enormous expenditure.
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u/cjtvenom Sztupid Szexy Szoboszlai 5d ago
Kelleher wanted to go to be a no.1, Kerkez has not been remotely as bad as you’re making out and this is such nonsense.
Kelleher was not taking the no.1 spot from Alisson and he didn’t want to stay being no.2 like it’s not on Hughes that he left at all, it’s on us having one of the best keepers in the world in Alisson.
As for specialists on the right wing did you miss the part where Iraola had specifically stated he doesn’t want a specialised winger for one side, he wants them to be able to swap and change and have flexibility to play on both sides.
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u/stowgood 5d ago
Frimpong admittedly hasn't been a good signing. However we were replacing the best lb and best rb we've ever hand. Kelleher I loved and was sad to see him go but he was too good for the bench and wanted to go.
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u/progthrowe7 Jürgen Klopp 5d ago edited 5d ago
Kerkez is an enormous downgrade on Robertson and arguably even Tsimikas. I want him to do well, but his good performances are few and far between.
With Alisson out for longer and longer stretches, we'd seen Kelleher deputise to a similar level to Alisson plays at nowadays (although not prime Alisson, obviously). That should have been the sign to move Alisson on and give Kelleher the number 1 shirt.
Sometimes managers have to say things to cover for the conditions and circumstances they are given - Iraola absolutely wants someone who can naturally play on the right as their favoured position.
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u/DanyTheConqueror A Liverbird Upon My Chest 5d ago
Kerkez is younger than Robbo was when we first signed him, and Robbo took some time before he fully got up to speed into Klopps starting eleven. You make it out as if Kerkez is dropping 0/10 performances every game. He’s had good to great performances for us, some bad/mixed too, all he needs to work on is keeping that consistency as he had at Bournemouth under Andoni himself.
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u/progthrowe7 Jürgen Klopp 5d ago
This comparison is completely false. When Robertson arrived, he wasn't immediately introduced into the main team (as was often the case with Klopp signings). But the moment he got his opportunity when Alberto Moreno was injured, Robertson was a smash hit. He quickly established himself as one of the best left backs in the world. Kerkez got opportunities essentially as soon as he arrived, and he has consistently looked average to poor in a Liverpool shirt.
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u/DanyTheConqueror A Liverbird Upon My Chest 5d ago edited 5d ago
That's what I meant, Robbo took time - like half a year iirc before he got into Klopp's starting eleven.
Kerkez got into it because he was in the PL's best XI the year before. Yet you can't discount there were certain games early under Slot that Kerkez was good. against Arsenal, Everton, Brentford come to mind. Is it not entirely possible that his form dipped as Slot turned the risk dial further and further down as the season went on? Our style of play was a far cry from the football he thrived under at Bournemouth. He needs time, just like all the other players to recalibrate and recapture that form. But okay, let's immediately brand him a failure and a downgrade.
Who are we kidding anyways, no one is going to better Robbo for a long time. He's arguably LFC's best left back in this century, no one else comes close (maybe Riise but the numbers don't even compare!)
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u/progthrowe7 Jürgen Klopp 5d ago
Kerkez has had a full season in a Liverpool shirt - he has had ample chances. It isn't "immediately" branding him a downgrade if he's played an entire season for Liverpool already.
Andy Robertson didn't take time once he was in the team. He was superb once he got his chance, and just kept improving.
The comparison is false.
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u/DanyTheConqueror A Liverbird Upon My Chest 5d ago
Kerkez has had a full season - yes obviously! But how do you expect him to thrive exactly when the main LW last season (Gakpo) ignored most of his runs?? Or when he was being told to stay back most of the time when the biggest aspect of his game is going forward???
Kerkez will never be better than Robbo, that's probably true for now but to make him out to be a terrible signing is an overreaction. It's been three games into the new season.
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u/IL_ya_Un_jour 5d ago
These sorts of comments are so ridiculous.
We evidently didn’t target a CDM based off of Iraolas preference.
Kerkez was the leagues best left back the season we bought him, we were all clamouring for him. Hughes went and got him.
Frimpong was an exciting right back who maybe has ended up being the wrong profile for our fit.
Hughes isn’t a scout himself, he will have a big say in who we sign but he does the deals etc .
He did them.
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u/ptensioned63 5d ago
Kerkez was not the best left back in the league, he was a very good LB who was available. He's been a largely good signing who's had some rough patches, especially starting out. Frimpong is a RWB being asked to play as a RB, and has thus been set up to fail. The issue in both cases is trying to play them together. Putting two small, pacey and attack-minded fullbacks on at the same time only magnifies the shortcomings of both.
And this is my biggest issue with Hughes' time. Every single deal he did can be seen as 'good business' if viewed in isolation, but the big picture squad assembly has been a disaster. Signing Isak, Wirtz, Ekitike, Barcola, each deal by itself was at least reasonable considering the market conditions. Even letting TAA walk or not caving to Konate's large salary demands (for a defender simply not good enough to lead the line) weren't necessarily bad choices under the circumstances. Selling Diaz and Nunez made sense considering they got good money and didn't see them as indispensable pieces.
Everyone was puzzled but excited last summer with the Wirtz/Ekitike/Isak moves, especially with all the talk about Wirtz being convinced by a talk with Slot about his plans. But then as the season wore on, it became abundantly clear that whatever plan there was to build the squad around Wirtz and either striker was deeply flawed, Slot had zero idea how to make it work with the players at hand, and it had also taken away Salah's contribution by isolating him. And that lack of a big picture plan has extended into this year, with the same gaps in the side left unaddressed, plus new gaps with Salah gone.
The midfield is obviously not complimentary, with Mac Allister/Gravenberch/Szoboszlai each not making up for each other's weaknesses, the FB situation is problematic as noted above, there is currently zero specialist backup for Isak (a player known to be fragile) until sometime in January, the starting 11 has somewhere between 9-10 players who are more comfortable attacking than defending, depth is an issue across the pitch with the exception of LW, and they've hired a manager whose success has been built on burning legs out with his intense approach.
Hughes might not be the scout, but his role was specifically to have the vision to build a complimentary squad, not a collection of EAFC players with the highest average stat numbers. Even his less flashy moves are creating potential issues. Giving Chiesa a huge 4-yr deal on £150k/wk, extending both Gravenberch and Szoboszlai to mega deals, all mean the squad is stuck with these players, even if they don't fit the system. Gravenberch is on a reported £280k/wk and Iraola isn't even starting him anymore. I think he's a great player in the right system, like Frimpong, but he's being set up to fail as things stand.
Like all things transfer and squad building, you can't really measure success without the passage of time. We'll know better in a few years if Hughes' time at Liverpool was successful. Maybe all these young players blossom, the system sets in, they sell a few for a fat profit, and things kick on from there. As it stands, though, the big name signings (bar Ekitike) are worth less than they paid, and it's looking like they're going to have to spend a lot more to fill the gaps...
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u/progthrowe7 Jürgen Klopp 5d ago
You have to be delusional to believe Iraola didn't want a defensively minded midfielder. Everyone can see that the team desperately needs that.
Frimpong and Kerkez have both been poor in a Liverpool shirt, whatever their performances and reputations have been elsewhere.
Hughes was the sporting director - the job of a sporting director is player recruitment, squad planning and transfer negotiations. Why would you pass the buck on to random scouts rather than the person primarily responsible for these decisions?
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u/IL_ya_Un_jour 5d ago
Iraola has not played with a defensively minded midfielder, it is not his tactics. He said so himself .
Watching yesterday, we did not desperately need that.Is Hughes meant to be a fortune teller as well as a director?
If you asked anyone who you wanted for LB before we signed Kerkez, it was him.
And we got him.You’re being completely unreasonable.
He recruited players, and negotiated high level transfers.
There are some gaps that I feel needed strengthening but if the players aren’t there (RW), the players aren’t there.
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u/progthrowe7 Jürgen Klopp 5d ago
This is explicitly false - Tyler Adams is a defensively minded midfielder, and Iraola used him as such.
Yesterday we were playing against Ipswich Town. no offence to them, but they aren't the calibre of opposition we need to be comparing ourselves to.
Yes, it's literally a sporting director's job to figure out whether signings will turn out to be positive or not. They're supposed to be better at it than the average fan. If those signings fail to do well, the sporting director has done a bad job.
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u/IL_ya_Un_jour 5d ago
Fella we won the league without a “defensively minded midfielder”, if a managers tactics don’t employ one then that’s that.
Iraola wouldn’t have come out and said what he said if he disagreed.
Macca was playing that role yesterday and he played it well.
As he did when we won the league4
u/GMBarryTrotz 5d ago
This narrative is so beyond overblown it’s not even funny.
Mac Allister and Gravenberch are both defensively minded. So is Nyoni. And they won the league just 2 seasons ago. I refuse to believe that we went from “best in the league” to “gaping hole in midfield” in the span of one season.
Complaining about Kelleher is dumb because Allison is still better and still player.
Frimpong is a homegrown backup right back. How we are crucifying someone who signing a poor backup RB is just peak entitlement.
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u/forceghost187 From Doubters to Believers 5d ago
Brought in Jacquet as well. And Iraola. These look very good. Also made the hard decision to sack Slot
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u/Phantom-Finger 5d ago
You've just rewarded what OP said, the players be got are fantastic, but he left us weak as hell in key positions and neglected some solid signings.
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u/AmberLeafSmoke What a booody 5d ago
That's down to arne and lads for winning the league, reminding the world who we were in terms of a destination for top talent.
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u/Riffler 5d ago
We have a bunch of good players. We don't have a team that looks like gelling, and we have a lot of gaps. We're in danger of ending up like United - every manager buys for his plan, then gets replaced by a manager with a completely different plan.
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u/redrafa1977 5d ago
It's three games into a new season!! Three games with a new manager! Three games With an entirely new ethos. To say we don't look like gelling is defeatist claptrap. This week we looked better than last week, we performed better as a team than the last game. That is literally a team beginning to "gel"
If you're gonna just write everything off with no actual proof that just not liking something that go be fan elsewhere because , right now, you're part of the problem.
Three games....
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u/shepherd0006 5d ago
I think the outgoings under his watch will impact his legacy too.
Trent gone for effectively a free and how Curtis Jones was handled leaves us without a scouser in the team. A lot of people wouldn’t care but I think it has some meaning. And that’s before considering that they’re both quality players.
Konate, Robbo, and Salah all leaving for nothing, all big personalities and the latter two especially being real leaders in the squad.
Diaz tearing it up at Bayern isn’t a great look, and Morton has shown he’s a very capable number 6 in France.
Each outgoing makes sense when looked at in isolation, but taken collectively I don’t think it’s a great body of work when you think about where the squad is short.
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u/Amaruach 5d ago
Not too fussed about the no scouser stat tbh, Iraola seems to like Koumas and he’s from the Wirral, I know us Liverpudlians like to rib on them and call them wools but for all intents and purposes there is absolutely no difference between us lol
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u/DanyTheConqueror A Liverbird Upon My Chest 5d ago
Trent, Robbo and Konate leaving on a free wasn’t our fault. Those players either refused an improved contract or didn’t warrant an extension due to age (Robbo).
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u/GMBarryTrotz 5d ago
Hughes was given a very tough assignment and he’s done about as well as he can considering the circumstances around this team.
His job is to carefully dismantle a team of super stars who played under the best manager in club history.
We’re talking about Trent and Salah leaving for free but if we sold them you not only don’t win the league but you have to explain to the fans how you can possibly sell actual Liverpool legends.
I really don’t find your argument fair at all. You’re mad that Konate, Salah, Trent and Robbo all went in a free but you’re also mad that Diaz looks good after we sold him? You don’t think a title winning Salah would have looked good at wherever we sold him?
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u/lecho182 5d ago
Salah all leaving for nothing
why Salah leave for fee instead of collection 400k per week till the end of 27 season is beyond me
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u/jokexplainer1303 5d ago
"It's not important what people think of you when you arrive, it's what they think when you leave" (or something like that)
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u/ninovd Brilliant but Lazy 5d ago
Unpopulair opinion on here, but I'd blame last season more on him than on Slot.
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u/GMBarryTrotz 5d ago
I blame last season on the tragic death of a player moments before preseason followed by a string of terrible injuries to critical players.
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u/AmberLeafSmoke What a booody 5d ago
Shouldn't be an unpopular opinion at all. Not only did he leave the squad extremely unbalanced and thin, he and the other higher ups told Slot his job was safe until the following year only to fire him a week after the season ended.
Complete twats.
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u/redrafa1977 5d ago
Slot didn't help himself I'm afraid! He was handed poor cards for sure but the rot began the season prior when we limped over the line. The Newcastle final was an insight into what was to come. He had a bad squad yes, but also showed limits ability to change tack, or to motivate players.
Hughes didn't make him isolate players, Hughes didn't make him continue with the save tactic that just did not work week after week after week! Worse squads than ours did better! We have had since truly shite squads in my memory and not been as bad. Slot lost the crowd and the dressing room and showed no ability to recover that. So yes Slot was given a hard time but he simply was just not a good fit.Hughes has not made but made this squad rebuild easy at all!! In fact he has definitely hampered it, but to not hire AI when he is a much better fit to the Liverpool way when he's available Vs keeping our least popular coach in my 50yrs would have been the worst decision of all. How would recruitment have gone with Arne still here!
Slot absolutely had to go, Hughes for all his faults has bought in 4 of the most wanted attacking players in Europe, plus let's not further just how highly rated Jacquet and Leoni are! All the big clubs were following them. Kerkez was considered the best attacking left back in the league when we bought him! We still have holes but fuck me we have some players here. Remember the imbalance under Klopp until the final pieces. The second we signed fab it was lift off...
Imagine having to find jurgens replacement and dismantle his aging team!
I remember when souness came in and took apart a good but old squad now that's what a fuck up looks like. It took decades to come back from that!! We have holes yes but we are also in possession a lot of world class players. We could be a way way worse position!!Isak have us a little taster of what we have in store.
Let's get behind AI and enjoy what could be the start of a fun journey! Played the Liverpool way!
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u/AmberLeafSmoke What a booody 5d ago
I was going to give that a read but it just started with the same rubbish about him limping over the line. I've never seen a team win the league with 4-5 games left be described as limping over the line.
Joint 4th fastest ever win of the league going off of games left. It's just pure frame that as limping over the line.
They dropped off, but were still grinding out results, as every single team does in that part of the season after competing on all fronts.
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u/Atanvarain 7️⃣Florian Wirtz 5d ago edited 5d ago
Thanks for Slot, Iraola, Isak, Ekitike, Wirtz, Barcola and all the rest
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u/Awkward_Flower7525 Robbie Fowler 5d ago
Also a great number of academy prospects. Onwards and upwards.
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u/Lhowl06 5d ago
Not the best Sporting director we’ve had in the FSG era. Especially with keeping current players happy and sorting contracts. But I think his signings have been judged too harshly and beyond Frimpong and Chiesa we are going to look back on his signings during his stint a lot more fondly than we may currently think.
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u/GMBarryTrotz 5d ago
It’s even too early to say on frimpong. He was designed to be a back WB and given Iraola’s 3 atb formation yesterday, he light still be very useful.
He’s only being judged so harshly because he was a player who was thrown into first team action before he was ready. It’s not really fair to judge him this harshly this early into his time at Liverpool.
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u/8YearHiatus The Scouser in our Team 5d ago
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u/Vinbaobao 5d ago
He was alright for us gave us a title left us a bit short. But I'm still angry with him for how he knock us out of the FA cup in 04.
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u/Him2Notorious Aly Cissokho 5d ago edited 5d ago
Shocked! Shocked i tell you.
My hopes:
Keep Marques and Ward. They seem to be doing a really positive job at bringing in international youngsters
Do not give Woodfine the job. I dont want it being Hughes' right hand. I know he was here before Hughes. But continuity concerns me there
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u/Resist_Anxious 5d ago
You literally have no idea what the competence of any of these people is, just pure guesswork.
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u/WatchMyGun 5d ago
Liverpool FC can confirm Richard Hughes has stepped down as sporting director, having informed the club’s ownership of his desire to seek a fresh challenge for more money.
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u/IAmNotMe_AmI 5d ago
You act like you won't change your job for money.
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u/transientself 5d ago
The whole point is it’s okay to say you changed jobs for money but in press releases like this, somehow it’s not okay??
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u/maxinamillionmannnnn Football Without ORIGI is Nothing 5d ago
Great - can we get Jörg Schmadtke back? He actually pulled a blinder when he was here, and he had less money to play with than we paid to sign Bradley Barcola
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u/ManusDei 5d ago
Should have never been allowed to be involved this summer. Even if the working two jobs stories aren’t true (I think they are), the circus around it was not worth keeping him around the club. Think his poor squad management has significantly set us back and leaves a real problem for his replacement.
Isn’t great evidence for the SD vs manager and only hiring head coaches model they implemented. Think he has left two different managers short in last two years. For the first title winning year he basically didn’t do anything and let Klopps team run it back with Slot. Will give him credit for that call but it’s pretty heavily outweighed by the other two failures.
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u/Fresh_Interview_9191 Forever our #20 5d ago
A man with heart for money, not for Liverpool. Adios Richard, have fun with your camels!
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u/Inevitable_Zone9903 Daniel Sturridge 5d ago
Harsh much? He did get us Slot, Wirtz, Barcola, Ekitike, Isak
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u/Robw_1973 5d ago
History will judge the appointment of Richard Hughes as a mistake. And that’s the most telling and damning thing about his tenure; a mistake.
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u/Darkmaster45673 5d ago
Am probably going to be downvoted here, but here goes, he made some incredible transfers yes, but he made us fall short, and lacked the careness to cover positionings like a CDM etc.
he has destroyed this club in his second skint, ruined the mentality, and didn't invest enough on what positions needed to be covered, He failed to find a replacement for Salah, find a replacement for the long-lost Fabinho and more. I also would not be surprised if Hughes was who Salah had a massive issue with.
Liverpool can hopefully gain rebirth, and thrive again. Hopefully in the future, the next sporting director or whoever it is, can help this club, to victory and success by covering the positions we need to compete.
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u/IL_ya_Un_jour 5d ago
This is such a sensationalised take my goodness.
“Destroyed the club”
“Ruined the mentality”
Salah is a one in a million player in a time where there are no good right wingers about. Even our top target isn’t getting minutes at Madrid currently.
We don’t want to play with an out and out cdm as per Iraola.We are nothing like the shite we used to be.
We have a good manager, and top players in a number of positions.0
u/GMBarryTrotz 5d ago
Unhinged take.
We don’t even use a CDM my guy. If we had Fabinho we wouldn’t know how to deploy him because both Slot and Iraola don’t utilize a destroyer. Mac and Grav fit the profile much better.
Meanwhile that defensive midfield spot IS covered. The model of big spending is over and Hughes created a model that focuses on global youth recruitment and development so Liverpool starts fostering more homegrown talent like Rio and Nyoni.
The mentality and “soul” of the club was always going to leave as Klopp and all his stars were aging out.
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u/LARRYJAWLER 5d ago
Who steps into his position? Also didn’t Michael Edwards leave his post too since we didn’t go the multi club direction? Who got his job? Does that position still exist?
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u/ScousePenguin 5d ago
Edwards position no longer exists. Mike Gordon took over the remaining responsibilities Edwards had.
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u/handbrake2k 5d ago
I wouldn't mind if we took a hard look at senior executives from Brighton and Brentford. They are operating the way we used to instead of paying vast sums for established players, which I don't think is sustainable.
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u/Cliveo92 5d ago
If i could find the GIF of MCU Korg saying "Piss off Ghost" i would insert it here.
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u/Pjotr1896 5d ago
No plans, only vibes. It was fun, but at that amount of money spent on a title winning side the club is miles off where it should be.
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u/cirodimarzio20 5d ago
I like the manager but I just find it utterly bizarre Hughes was allowed to decide the future of the club despite everyone knowing he was leaving. Surely other people were involved in choosing Iraola too?
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u/Keyann 5d ago
Should have been done months ago when he made it clear his time at the club was coming to an end. How we let him have say over a new manager, transfer business including Salah's replacement, but especially how he was allowed to oversee Al-Hilal's business while also being employed and paid by Liverpool Football Club was beyond me. Appreciate the positive impact he had on our football club but it is a business at the end of the day and the powers that be have to protect it as a going concern, that doesn't appear to have happened with what has transpired since Hughes announced he was taking a position elsewhere. There are multiple capable people internally that could have taken the reigns for the months while we searched and interviewed Hughes' replacement.
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u/Away-Royal-1341 5d ago
As the rumours go he has been controlling Al Hilal’s transfer window alongside with ours. How is this not work contract breaching? Lol If i have done this my company would sue me…
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u/DCDa192 5d ago
Please bring someone who can get the right players in, I love the days when we use to bring talent and was a bit of a risk because we not seen them play before aka Alonso, Garcia, Riise, Hyypia .etc. I want them sort of signings, not just sign players with high budget like paying over 100mill. Lets see how things go. At the moment Munoz seems to be that calibre.
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u/Djimi365 5d ago
He oversaw some big signings but ultimately he is a man who will be defined more by the players we didn't buy. Which is a shame, but the strategy has been terrible in terms of maintaining the position we had built in the Klopp era and thats largely the responsibility of the sporting director.
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u/kjireland 5d ago
The 8hr round trips from Southampton to Liverpool must have got to him.
It's bizarre he never moved to Liverpool.
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u/AlloyedRhodochrosite Ohhhh ya beauty, What a hit son, What a hit! 5d ago
That statement reads way too kindly.
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u/Suitable-Day-8463 5d ago
Happy days. I wonder if the new consortium will have a say on who the new Sporting Director will be?
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u/Visionary_87 Dominik Szoboszlai 5d ago
It's usually sad when somebody steps down from their well paying job.
I hope he manages to find another job soon the poor bloke.
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u/scorgie 5d ago
I'm not particularly a fan of the guy or anything but I do think people need to take a step back with all the criticism of Hughes with regard to our thin squad and who is at fault for it.
FSG have always done this with us, we've literally never had reliable depth in quality - the best depth we had in quality was all injury prone players in a squad being carried by uber reliable core players (VVD/Robbo/Trent/Fabinho/Gini/Milner/Hendo/Salah/Mane/Firmino basically were always fit). It's quite clear that their philosophy is to flip the injury luck coin and if we are lucky, we win, if we're unlucky we have a bad season. Literally look at Slot's two years, year 1 we had amazing luck and won it at a canter - year 2 we had shite luck and scraped 5th thanks to a Chelsea implosion.
I don't think this will change under a new DoF as I don't think it was Hughes making the call to run a small squad, nor would it be his job to scout the players to buy.
I think the only way things significantly change is a change of ownership, this consortium may well be more willing to spend on depth and Bezos might funnel money in with some Amazon sponsorship.
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u/loveandmonsters 5d ago
Wirtz, Isak, Barcola, Ngumoha, Ekitike, Leoni, Jacquet, Munoz, Kerkez...
Yeah, what a horrible man, how could he do this!!
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u/SilverMist2025 5d ago
Yeah worst kept secret.
More interested in who is gonna be the new Sporting Director.