Liverpool 'conduit' Gordon 'stepping back' from role with club
Gordon (right): Described as “the brain behind all the things” at Liverpool by Klopp (left)
Written by Training Ground Guru — November 16, 2022
MIKE GORDON, the conduit between Liverpool and owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG), is stepping back from his role with the club and “handing the baton” to CEO Billy Hogan.
The news was first reported by the Boston Globe, which is owned by John W Henry, the principal owner of FSG and Liverpool. Gordon is Non-Executive Director (NED) at Liverpool and has been described by manager Jurgen Klopp as “the brain behind all the things” at the club.
“We can have ideas, we can have plans but in the end he decides if we can do it or not,” the German has added.
Henry himself has said that Gordon is “by far FSG America’s most knowledgeable person with regard to soccer and is involved on the football side daily in constant communication with the members of our football committee and our manager.”
Gordon, who is also the President of FSG and its fourth-largest shareholder, has been the eyes and ears of the owners at Liverpool since they bought the club in 2010, even though he is based in the Boston area.
Gordon’s “step-back” has been described as a “natural evolution” by the Globe and “something he sought”.
The newspaper added: “The impact will be softened by the club’s growing confidence in Hogan, whose responsibilities will include working more closely on team-building decisions with manager Jürgen Klopp.”
Hogan lives in England and took up his post as Liverpool CEO in 2020, having previously been the club’s Chief Commercial Officer since 2012.
David Slemen of Elite Performance Partners has previously written about the importance of the NED role for TGG. He explained that the NED ensures that the Board "learn from mistakes, value the power of relationships (without being weighed down by emotion) and amplify the outcomes they are looking to achieve.”
This person “should be a brilliant performance leader who understands the demands of the game” and "have a real knowledge of what good performance looks like, and the processes and structures required to achieve it,” Slemen explained.
David Ornstein of The Athletic revealed last week that FSG had put the Premier League side up for sale, with two major banks - Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley - appointed to assist the process and a full sales deck prepared for interested parties.
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