Billy Hogan believes that Jurgen Klopp’s decision to announce his departure from Liverpool was crucial for allowing the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group (FSG), the necessary time and space to restructure effectively this year.
The club’s CEO is also confident that the recent appointments of head coach Arne Slot, sporting director Richard Hughes, and the return of Michael Edwards as the head of football operations will set the stage for a successful new era.
Klopp informed FSG of his intention to leave at the end of the 2023-24 season back in November.
An early-season meeting regarding summer scheduling prompted him to seriously consider his future after nearly nine years with Liverpool.
By communicating his decision six months in advance, Hogan explains, the Boston-based owners were given the opportunity to strategically plan for a transition that would sustain the club’s success beyond the Klopp era.
Edwards returned to Liverpool as FSG’s ‘CEO of Football,’ bringing Hughes over from Bournemouth, while Slot was hired after a successful tenure at Feyenoord.
Hogan said: “Given the significance of Jurgen going, leaving the club and making the decision he did, taking a step back and thinking of that from the standpoint of transition, the fact he made the decision when he did gives us a proper chance to do some succession planning.
“It also gave us the opportunity to revisit the overall infrastructure of the club from a football operations standpoint. Michael coming back was the first piece of that.
“His team have looked at how the football structure would function going forward.
“Arne and Richard work very close together. It is a new era but very exciting.
“The training sessions have been terrific. I have been speaking to Arne out here but I leave it mainly to Richard.
“My responsibility is the business side. We want to help Richard, Arne and Michael be able to invest in the football side.
“It’s similar to before but different in the sense there is a new structure on the football side. Jurgen and I worked together for nine years, we talked a lot about lots of different things.
“That will not change but given Richard and Arne are in now, the interactions will probably change in terms of how we all work.
“What has been terrific is the mindset that this is one club, we all need to work together to drive the club forward.”
He added: “Ultimately [the process to appoint Slot] was Michael and Richard.
“The amount of time we had with regard to Jurgen making his decision, gave us the proper time to do the work.
“A lot of analysis and research was done to make sure we had someone to play the way we want to play. We are really excited.
“From Arne’s perspective, he understands the goals of the club.
“We want to win trophies, Champions League qualification is a goal at the start of every season.
“He understands and acknowledges that.
“Jurgen wanted to leave the club in a great spot and he has now.
“Arne has an opportunity to take that forward. Change brings opportunity.
“We are seeing that in the way he is operating with new ideas.
“He said it himself, it is not a massive change but there are unique elements to his style.
“The opportunity and change in the structure, (FSG president) Mike Gordon and Jurgen worked very closely, there was an opportunity to step back into less of an operating owner.
“In Michael’s case to come in and be the decision maker across Liverpool and whatever might come in terms of other clubs beyond that.
“As Mike said, given the success he has had, Michael understands the responsibility.
“Mike Gordon has stepped back. But it has given him the opportunity to stop being the operating owner.”
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