Interested tactic by Liverpool’s new chief executive Peter Moore who began his first day at Liverpool by saying that the five-time European champions cannot compete financially with its Premier League rivals like Manchester City and Manchester United.
In the past, Liverpool’s old chief executives, including Ayre, Christian Purslow, Rick Parry and the esteemed Peter Robinson, had been responsible for transfer negotiations but the new structure Fenway Sports Group have in place means that is now the responsibility of Michael Edwards, the sporting director.
The 62-year-old Moore, who was appointed as Ian Ayre’s successor in February, will still have the duty of approving all expenditure and he has vowed to oversee a project that improves their global brand. He insists, having worked in America for the last 35 years, that Liverpool remain one of the Premier League’s foremost brands.
As a lifelong Liverpool fan, Moore says he is anxious for the club to capitalize on being back in the Champions League but he has made it clear there is no need for them to be spooked by the way City have been spending since the last campaign ended.
‘It’s not about saying “they spent a dollar, so we’ll spend a dollar”,’ said Moore.
‘It’s not “they’ve spent £100m, so we will spend £100m”. It’s about we have strengthened our squad in these positions and it has cost us this.
‘I maybe naive but I’m not looking at my competitor – let’s call City a competitor – spending this, therefore I need to spend that regardless of the quality of the players? That makes no business sense to me. I trust Michael implicitly to do a value proposition of a particular player, based on the data analytics we have on them.
‘I’m yet to see the process of how it works but I hear nothing but good things about the way we do it and in particular about Michael Edwards and his process of this. But the theory that because Man City spends £100m we need to spend £100m? Listen, we may spend £100m. Who knows? But it won’t be because they spend £100m.
‘If your next-door neighbour puts £50,000 into his greenhouse and for you to keep up with your comparable on your street? Will you spend fifty-thousand quid on a greenhouse? No! You do what makes good sense for your house.’
Moore is aware of the challenges he faces to generate more funds for Jurgen Klopp but this is a task he intends to embrace. His view is that Liverpool are ‘well placed’ to build on a sound campaign in which they accrued 76 points to secure a berth in the Champions League qualifiers.
‘Football’s big business now,’ said Moore. ‘You’ve got to keep moving. I come from an industry in Silicon Valley where every day you realise technology is a non-stop river. You’ve got to constantly be on your toes, working hard, be aware of your surroundings, make sure you’re tweaking your company’s direction and strategy.
‘How do you drive revenue? How you manage costs? Here, it’s no different. What we have to do as a single team is provide the team down there on that pitch when it’s finished with every resource they need to be successful. That is the challenge of modern football. We see clubs that just can’t keep up with it.
‘It’s always sad for me to see clubs that I grew up with as a boy that were powerhouses and have fallen off the pace. I’ve seen this in the world of Silicon Valley, once you drop off the pace, catching back up again and being relevant, attracting talent, it becomes very, very difficult.
‘I come in and I look at where we are today. You can pick the last 10 years, I can pick the last 40 years and go “okay, one of the most successful clubs ever” but it is about where we are today.
‘We have a world-class manager that any club in the world would want and we are so fortunate to have him, and in Michael we have a sporting director who really has his finger on the pulse on what is going on around the world. So I look at it that way. The key ingredients are in place.’
