Liverpool have seen Michael Edwards leave Fenway Sports Group this week, but what does it mean for the owners’ other recent additions to the club hierarchy?
Edwards left his role as FSG’s CEO of football with immediate effect on Friday, which marks the second time he has departed the Liverpool setup.
His exit comes with the owners shelving their plans to purchase another club, with the opportunity lead a multi-club model the biggest motivating factor behind his return in 2024.
That rendered his job description void and FSG are not expected to hire a replacement, with president Mike Gordon due to take over football operations.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Saturday, May 9, 2026: Liverpool's sporting director Richard Hughes during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC at Anfield. The game ended in a 1-1 draw. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Sporting director Richard Hughes is also set to leave Liverpool at the end of the summer transfer window, having been appointed by long-time associate and friend Edwards two years ago, and a move to Al-Hilal is considered likely.
This asks questions of the stability of FSG’s hierarchy off the pitch, but The Athletic‘s James Pearce reports that “as things stand, no further exits are anticipated.”
Pearce writes with regards FSG technical director Julian Ward (pictured right), director of football development Pedro Marques and assistant sporting director David Woodfine.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, April 27, 2025: Liverpool's Director Michael Gordon, Chief Executive Officer Billy Hogan and Julian Ward after the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Tottenham Hotspur FC at Anfield. Liverpool won 5-1 and became League Champions. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
All three were appointed – or rehired, in the case of Ward and Woodfine – under Edwards’ leadership, but are currently expected to stay.
It is likely their duties could shift, however, not least with Ward and Marques a focal part of FSG’s efforts to scour the market for another club.
But as Pearce explains, “their responsibilities also involve player development pathways and the planned £20 million redevelopment of the academy.”
Who will be Liverpool’s next sporting director?
When it comes to Woodfine, there is also the possibility of a promotion to the role of sporting director, having worked under Hughes for the past two years.
Woodfine previously served as scouting and recruitment coordinator, head of football projects and scouting operations, and director of loan management at Liverpool between 2014 and 2023.
His pathway is similar to that of Ward, who acted as European scouting manager and then loan pathways and football partnerships manager before he became Edwards’ assistant sporting director in 2020 – and then replaced him in 2022.
An internal promotion would arguably benefit Liverpool given the lack of consistency in the sporting director role in recent years.
Hughes’ two-year spell in charge came after a year-and-a-half from Ward and then less than a year with Jorg Schmadtke aiding Jurgen Klopp.
The last man to hold the sporting director job for a significant period was Edwards, who was officially appointed to the role in 2016 before vacating it six years later.