12 March 2024 , 14:57
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You wouldn't have found Michael Edwards on the 'Meet our team' section of the Ludonautics website, but he was very much involved.
It was around September last year that Edwards, still enjoying a break from being involved in football day to day, agreed to a position as a non-executive director at the sports consultancy firm founded by Ian Graham, who worked closely with Edwards as Liverpool's Director of Research before leaving last year amid the club's continual shuffle of late.
Ludonautics' slick website promises you the opportunity to 'improve your chances of winning' if you use their statistical models and analysis, adding somewhat tantalisingly that 'many teams have tried, few have succeeded'.
Edwards certainly did succeed during his much-heralded time at Liverpool, initially as a chief analyst, then head of methodology, then technical director and then sporting director in 2016, ushering in a period which saw the Champions League recaptured and the 30-year wait for the Premier League title ended.
Edwards' transfer acumen was acclaimed as Liverpool rarely made missteps in the market, with the likes of Sadio Mane, Mo Salah, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho forming key parts of a team that played a level of football scarcely seen in the club's history.
Klopp's dream Liverpool line up as last-gasp January transfers rejected
Above all that though was Jurgen Klopp, and while there was never any outward tension between Edwards, Klopp and Mike Gordon - very much FSG's man on the ground in Liverpool, and someone who fostered a terrific working relationship between the trio - there was always a sense that this was a union that wasn't going to last forever.
Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk are two of Edwards' best Liverpool signings (AFP via Getty Images)Ambition drives the best after all, and while Klopp was rightly, understandably hailed as the mastermind behind Liverpool's successes, Edwards - never one to seek the limelight, as the very few photos of him in existence prove - would doubtless have wondered how his skills could be utilised if there wasn't such an all-encompassing presence acting as the figurehead of the club.
It was announced in November 2021 that Edwards would be stepping down at the end of that season, and then the following April Klopp signed a contract extension that would, we thought, keep him at Anfield until 2026.
That announcement was accompanied by plenty of well sourced claims that the Reds boss would have more power than he had ever had before at the club, and that certainly looked to be the case when Edwards' replacement, his former assistant Julian Ward, surprisingly announced that he would step down just a few months into the job in November 2022.
Edwards will take up a new role with FSG (PA)The departures of several well respected figures behind the scenes, such as Graham, would follow shortly after, and Klopp would then be joined by an old friend in Jorg Schmadtke when the veteran German was surprisingly appointed as a new, short-term sporting director last summer.
That appointment now has to be judged within the prism of Klopp deciding to step down at the end of this season, with Schmadtke helping to smooth that process by overseeing transfers for three players from German clubs - Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch - last summer, with Ward doing the majority of the work on the Alexis Mac Allister deal.
Who knows, perhaps Schmadtke was also discussing Klopp's eventual replacement with a German club too, but when the looming departure of the Reds manager created an opportunity to restore the structure at the top of the club to what FSG trusted before - when Brendan Rodgers didn't exactly get on with Edwards - there was only one man Liverpool's owners wanted.
Jorg Schmadtke stepped down as sporting director in January (Getty Images)Edwards isn't returning in his old role though, and it isn't just Liverpool's structure FSG are restructuring, but themselves as well.
Edwards will installed in a CEO of football position for the group, not just Liverpool, with his previous job taken by his close friend Richard Hughes following his exit as Bournemouth's sporting director in the summer. Edwards, Hughes and, interestingly, Eddie Howe all go way back to their Portsmouth playing days, and Edwards is said to trust Hughes' ability as a deal-maker implicitly.
With him taking on that role then Edwards will be free to oversee matters, and not just Liverpool ones, using his own data driven methods to determine transfer policy and staff decisions from the dugout to the back office.
Liverpool transfer window winners & losers as £37m spent on Klopp's "great day"
Edwards (right) with his former assistant Julian Ward, who replaced him as sporting director then swiftly left the role (trainingground.guru)In a rare public statement as part of FSG's announcement of the appointment Edwards made it clear that "one of the biggest factors in my decision is the commitment to acquire and oversee an additional club, growing this area of their organisation."
It is a huge move from FSG, and one that sees them move away from having Liverpool as their only football concern, moving into the multi-club model of the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City.
Perhaps that is what was needed to tempt Edwards back as he sought a new challenge to get his teeth into.
Many in Liverpool and Boston will see his return as a more important than replacing Klopp, and as Liverpool get ready to embark on a new era they'll be doing so with a trusted figure calling many of the shots.
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