Sports News Michael Edwards named Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of Football Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon is passing the baton to a familiar and trusted associate after 13 years. LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – DECEMBER 13: Jurgen Klopp, center, poses for a photo with Sporting Director Michael Edwards, left, and Mike Gordon, FSG President and Liverpool F.C owner, at Melwood Training Ground on December 13, 2019 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
After being responsible for the oversight and management of Liverpool Football Club the last 13 years, Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon is passing the baton to a familiar and trusted associate, Michael Edwards.
In a newly created role as FSG’s CEO of Football, the 44-year-old Edwards will be charged not only with filling two key vacancies at the very top of the Liverpool job chart but also with guiding FSG’s search for a new soccer team to either purchase or partner with.
Valued most recently by Forbes at $5.29 billion, Liverpool tops an FSG portfolio that includes the Red Sox, NESN, the Pittsburgh Penguins, and NASCAR’s RFK Racing. For more than a decade, Edwards, alongside Gordon and manager Jurgen Klopp oversaw the rise of a franchise that won seven major European soccer trophies, including a Premier League and Champions League title.
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In bringing him back into the fold, Liverpool is leaning on the England-based Edwards to build upon the franchise’s success while Gordon reverts to a more traditional ownership role from Boston.
“In addition to Michael’s talents aligning so perfectly with what we see as our needs and our ambitions going forward, there are also a lot of shared experiences,” Gordon said in an interview with the Globe. “We know him quite well. He knows us quite well. That made the process a lot quicker. There’s a lot of mutual respect, admiration, confidence – all those things. It’s a great fit.”
When Edwards departed Liverpool in 2022 after more than a decade as first its performance director and then sporting director, he wanted to spend more time with his family and figure out next steps. He was wooed heavily by clubs such as Manchester United and Chelsea to be their sporting director. He needed new challenges, however.
After Klopp informed Gordon and FSG leadership last fall that he was retiring, Liverpool turned first to Edwards to come back. Edwards told them he had no interest in returning to his old job. The lines of communication remained open.
Edwards believed Liverpool needed to associate itself with another team, most likely one that is Europe-based, in order to stay on as equal footing as possible with other, deeper-pocketed clubs. Gordon and FSG ownership bought into that vision.
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That search for a new soccer club has begun, but Edwards’ first priority is to hire a sporting director and manager, “in that order,” said Gordon, “because the sporting director will have a very strong voice in who the new manager is as well. We have a top-notch department now, we’re going to strengthen it considerably with these additions. The search process is underway.”
In a statement, Edwards described himself as “humbled” that Gordon, FSG principal owner John Henry, and FSG chairman Tom Werner pursued him so persistently. Henry also owns the Globe.
A deal with Edwards was cemented last weekend, when Edwards came to Boston to, in part, partake in the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference with ex-Liverpool analytics guru Ian Graham.
Until now, Edwards has been working as a consultant for Graham’s Ludonautics sports advisory firm.
“This is definitely not something that I take for granted given their track record across sport and business,” said Edwards. “It was vital for me that, if I did return, it had to be with renewed vigour and energy.”
Also, he said “one of the biggest factors in my decision is the commitment to acquire and oversee an additional club, growing this area of their organization. I believe that to remain competitive, investment and expansion of the current football portfolio is necessary.”
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Earlier this month, FSG announced that Liverpool CEO Billy Hogan would gain a new title, CEO of FSG International. Hogan will remain responsible for Liverpool’s commercial operations, as well as governance and league relations while Edwards oversees soccer operations.
Michael Edwards named Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of Football
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