Structures and Suits
What's going on upstairs?
A shorter free post than usual this week, because by the time this arrives in your inbox, I’ll be in Amsterdam. I’m writing this piece ahead of time, which is dangerous considering how much the landscape could change in the next 48 hours.
So since I launched this Substack, I’ve pushed my underlying belief that success largely stems from upstairs first, with everything else filtering downwards like a waterfall.
The owners appoint the suits. The suits appoint the manager. The suits and the manager combine to recruit the players. The players win the trophies. Voilà. That’s the modern means of navigating the turbulent waters of football. The optimal structure, or so we thought.
Jürgen Klopp was kinda problematic within the confines of that hierarchy. Too charismatic to control. Too good to be a pawn. Larger than life. The face of the operation.
Klopp was so much more than a coach, hence his role as Liverpool’s version of Alex Ferguson throughout his tenure on Merseyside. There’s a chance you’ll be good enough to work alongside him. But never above him.
Indeed, if I’m honest, I’ve grown a new level of appreciation for Klopp’s greatness over the past few months in particular. His ability to get the most from lesser ingredients. His impact on mentality and discipline. His eye for a player. His emotional bond with supporters.
A unicorn compared to his peers, but life after him was always going to be interesting to me, because his replacement looked destined to unlock the almighty structure that Fenway Sports Group desired from the very beginning.
By all accounts, Klopp restricted the departures of certain players. He naturally trusted his sons to deliver, perhaps a little too much. Jordan Henderson got that new contract. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keïta received emotional goodbyes. Flip Harvey Elliott for a profit? No chance.
I was curious to see just how efficient Liverpool would become with the suits in charge of recruitment. Arne Slot was perfect for them. The structure we’ve experienced over the past 18 months is exactly what Michael Edwards always wanted.
But based on what we’ve witnessed so far — and granted, it’s still early — I have to admit I expected a bit better.
So it’s almost impossible to judge sporting directors at any given moment, because it’s literally their job to plan ahead. Like, we’d all feel much better right now if Richard Hughes called a press conference and announced Michael Olise has agreed to join next summer. But he can’t.
Nevertheless, there’s no denying that he’s essentially made Liverpool worse so far. From the best in the country to fewer points than Manchester United after just one window.
If Slot does get fired inside the next six months, it’s my belief that Hughes will be largely responsible for his failure, having made his job much harder than it was last season.
Two very expensive strikers to keep satisfied. Wing-back Jeremie Frimpong replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold. A fragile centre-back department. Florian Wirtz signed to take Dominik Szoboszlai’s spot. An apparent lack of interest in set-pieces. Nobody lined up for January. And perhaps most importantly of all, a distinct lack of wingers in the squad.
Within the current structure, it’s the responsibility of the suits to present the head coach with the ingredients that he needs to cook up a storm. And last summer, despite landing Wirtz and Alexander Isak, that didn’t happen. I really don’t think many coaches would have Liverpool much higher than fifth right now.
Is Slot perfect? No, far from it. Is he upgradable? Yes. But if he gets sacked before the start of next term, he should stare into the eyes of Hughes for a good ten seconds before leaving the room in silence. Neil Warnock versus Craig Pawson vibes.
And given the prospect of his dismissal, it’s reasonable to suggest there’s a subtle issue attached to the current dynamic behind the scenes. Edwards governs football for FSG, Hughes sits underneath him at Anfield, and then you’ve got Slot.
One of the perks of installing such a formation is the distance between the players and the guys deciding whether to sell them. There’s a wall between the two. No emotional attachment. It fosters cold decisions, which I’d argue is a good thing.
But at the same time, there’s lots of emotional attachment between Edwards and Hughes. The pair are essentially besties. They go back two decades. I mean, cold decision-making is great until your forever friend’s annual performance review comes along. So… you got us relegated. Good job.
If Slot fails this season because Hughes failed last summer, it’s the former who will get sacked, not the latter. You want total harmony in the office — people who can listen and debate without falling out — but establishing a boys club of sorts creates a different set of pitfalls. Be careful.
I’ve still got tons of faith in the suits at Liverpool. They’re renowned for being sharp for a reason. Maybe this is just a transition year that will platform the next five, who knows? I mean, it could be worse. They definitely didn’t buy bad players last summer, that’s for sure.
But regardless, the jury is out on Hughes right now. His sales have been good, I’ll always maintain that. But when it comes to arrivals over the same period, you’d think he was recruiting for Ruben Amorim.
If success does indeed originate upstairs, so does failure.
Hughes is halfway through a rebuild in job for the next 5 years. The midfield got reshapes under Klopp but that's left attack and defence to do. Some of this forced on the club with Trent having his head turned by RM, Diaz desperate to leave, Nunez continued under performance and the tragic death of Jota.
We were never going to be able to do it in one window and bringing in 5 players was probably the maximum churn possible. As it is those players were always going to take time to settle - Wirtz, Ekitike and Frimpong to the intensity of the PL, Isak because he had no pre-season and Kerkez to the demands of a new high profile club where he wasn't allowed the luxury of being a slow starter.
Don't forget that Klopp was very happy with Edwards, Graham and all and took their advice to sign Mo rather than his preferred player. It was only later in his time that he began to have more control which is how we ended up with Nunez (who Klopp loved after seeing him play so well for Benfica against us) rather than Isak who the suits were recommending.
Who also wasn't happy with Virgil and Mo signing new deals that Hughes negotiated - nobody was expecting Mo to melt so spectacularly this season and the club can now bank a big fee for a summer transfer.
On top of that we were minutes from signing Guehi before CP meltdown and we did sign one of the best young CBs in the world - who could predict he'd do his ACL on his debut? Or indeed Frimpong having 2 hamstring injuries, Isak having his leg broken and Bradley being out until next season.
We were clearly interested in Semanyo for this window but he made it clear he only wanted Man City's inflated wages and who else is available now who could come in and strengthen the team - as good as Hughes is he can't precure world class players on a whim and we know as with Klopp's time we don't sign stop gap players.
Hughes procured the players for Slot to play high press, high intensity football just as teams decided to play shitball against us, low block, long ball, time waste, long throws etc - so now we're likely to see a shift in the recruitment strategy again - it's probably one of the reasons we didn't pursue Guehi - sorry 5ft 11 and mediocre in the air will no longer cut it - we need players who are elite like Konate and VVD with contesting Ariel duels and can still play it out of the back - that's an elite skillset - which explains why we're getting linked with players like Van de Ven and Bastoni who are only likely to be available in the summer.
Fortunately our ownership is very well aware of all of this, we're aligned all the way down and no one is going to panic. The club know Slot is doing the best he can with his current hand and also the hidden impacts like the grief from the death of Jota, the interrupted preseason, Mo's public strop because his legs are melting and he can't accept he's going to be benched sometimes, the freak hot streak of finishing against us and our own cold streak of underperformance against xg.
I fully expect Slot to be head coach next season and Hughes to continue his excellent work of this summer with substantially completing the rebuild he started.
The main problem is recruitment, and this is a hill I am willing to die on. It's easy to pile on Slot because he's the guy you see every time. How many times will you see Hughes at a press conference? He will always be in the shadows, which is unfortunate because I need him to explain what the plan was last summer.
You cannot strip the team of its title-winning components from last season and fail to properly replace them. It will affect any coach, let alone Slot, who is still navigating the waters of his managerial upgrade.
But a good coach should know how to get the best out of what he's working with — and this is Slot's failing.
It makes it worse now because he's trying to save his job, so he cannot really maximise the squad. Hughes should take more of the blame than Slot.