Ward promoted to Assistant Sporting Director by Liverpool
Ward joined Liverpool from Manchester City in 2012
Written by Training Ground Guru — December 26, 2020
JULIAN WARD has been promoted from Loans Manager to Assistant Sporting Director by Liverpool.
The 39-year-old joined the Reds from Manchester City - where he was South American Scouting Strategist - as Scouting Manager for Spain and Portugal in October 2012.
Three years later, he was appointed to the newly-created role of Loan Pathways and Football Partnerships Manager by the Anfield outfit.
Ward’s promotion to Assistant Sporting Director - the first in English football - is recognition both of the job he has done during five years in charge of loans and also of how big Michael Edwards’ remit as Sporting Director has become.
When Brighton Technical Director Dan Ashworth recently appeared on the TGG Podcast, he explained that he was responsible for “bringing together seven departments” - the men’s first team, women’s senior team, recruitment, Academy, medical and performance, loans and psychology.
That's obviously a very big job - and Liverpool are on another level to Brighton when it comes to the size of their budget, staffing, scouting operation, data department and Academy.
Ward's previous role has been filled by David Woodfine, who moves from Head of Football Projects and Scouting Operations to Director of Loan Management.
Woodfine worked with Edwards at Portsmouth before joining West Ham as Head of Performance Analysis in 2010. He has been with Liverpool since October 2014, first as Scouting Co-ordinator and then as Head of Projects and Scouting, holding each role for three years.
Although Southampton Director of Football Operations Matt Crocker recently explained how his club had turned their back on loans, they remain a crucial part of the operation at Liverpool.
In this article in March 2018, Ward gave a fascinating insight into both his role and department. He explained that there were essentially three types of outgoing loan for Liverpool: first-team players needing game time, temporary transfers for non-EU players and elite Academy players looking for a challenge.
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