Liverpool’s Edwards-Hughes axis of power was forged on the south coast – and shared transfer targetsMichael Edwards and Richard Hughes have been on the same wavelength ever since meeting two decades ago on a Portsmouth training field
Chris Bascombe and
Sam Wallace, CHIEF FOOTBALL WRITER
20 March 2024 • 12:22pm
The new 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 FC’s old Wellington training ground, with a meeting between player and analyst.
It was there that a 24-year-old analyst 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, many of them orbiting around the changes Edwards sought to bring. He would follow Redknapp to Tottenham and then move on 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 Pompey defender contemplating the end of his injury-wrecked 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 most recently at Shrewsbury Town, 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 Pompey by analysis contractors 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 those between Hughes, Howe and Edwards. Born in Glasgow of Italian heritage, when Hughes was a child his family moved to near Bergamo where he played in the youth team at Atalanta. Much later, after Hughes’ playing career ended, his Pompey team-mate Howe would convince Hughes to work with him in recruitment at Bournemouth, where he was sporting director for ten years.
Competition for Premier League-ready playersThroughout the time both were at their respective clubs and beyond, Edwards (at Liverpool) and Hughes (at Bournemouth) would occasionally compete for the same players. They would make recommendations to the other on targets and discuss what they learned 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 and prestige at Anfield.
Hughes tried to sign Virgil van Dijk from Celtic in 2015, 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 was the best in the world and well worth the £65 million that Edwards and Liverpool eventually paid for him. Those three would become some of Liverpool’s greatest ever 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 that his friend had got one over him.
Nevertheless, the signing by Bournemouth of Liverpool academy graduates Jordon Ibe and Brad Smith, at a combined cost of £21 million, worked out badly for the south coast 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 was another triumph for Hughes, later sold for twice what he cost.
Either way, Hughes’ habit of identifying those who would make the transition to the top of English football 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 after his retirement as a player Hughes was briefly employed by BT Sport for their Champions League coverage having impressed with his expertise on the European game.
Hughes arrival will accelerate manager searchEdwards 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 Michael Gordon. 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 percent of the time”. That makes the forthcoming managerial interview process as critical as the performance analysis. Edwards and Hughes officially take up their posts in June, but it would be naïve to believe the club is not advanced in its shortlist. The groundwork identifying Liverpool’s next manager began months ago. Hughes’ arrival will accelerate that process.
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 about when the Bayer Leverkusen coach may announce if he is considering leaving the German league leaders. 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 is in a much different place to when FSG were compelled to make three managerial changes over four years in 2011, 2012 and 2015. Anyone worried about the challenge of following Klopp will be struck off the list immediately on the basis of what might be described as imposter syndrome.
“The next manager must have big balls,” is how one Liverpool figure colourfully put it. 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 it.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/03/20/liverpool-transfers-michael-edwards-richard-hughes-axis/
