This week's Blood Red column assesses the return to the sporting director role of Julian Ward
Julian Ward
Julian Ward
View Image
Ordinarily, the appointment of a new sporting director at Liverpool would have dominated supporters' attention during an international break.
However, this has not been an ordinary pause in play given the seismic news of Manchester City's guilty verdict - for which they have since appealed - over their 114 breaches of Premier League financial rules.
As one of the biggest scandals ever to engulf British football, it stands to reason that news of City would take up large portions of the rolling news channels and podcasts this week, but Julian Ward's reappointment at Anfield remains a significant development.
Liverpool had known for some time before it was confirmed that Richard Hughes would be upping sticks to Saudi Arabia and it had become something of an open secret in football circles before being made official shortly after the transfer window closed last month.
So like when Jurgen Klopp told owners Fenway Sports Group of his decision to step away at the end of the season back in November of 2023, the club have had ample time to prepare a succession plan.
The return of Ward was, to some, a surprise, given he had already held the position in 2022 before handing in his notice just a few months into the job.
But Liverpool in the final quarter of 2026 are a totally different club to the one that Klopp presided over with such power in mid-2022, when he had just guided the Reds to 92 Premier League points, a domestic Cup double and the Champions League final.
Back then, any sporting director was essentially a facilitator for the transfer deals Klopp wanted to see at Anfield. It was the legendary Germany, for example, who was the driving force behind the call to sign Darwin Nunez in the summer of 2022 for a club-record fee of £85m.
Without casting comment on the three-season career of Premier League winner Nunez, it is still fair to say it was Klopp whose championing of the Uruguay international was loudest at the time.
Ward eventually walked away in the summer of 2023, with over a decade at Liverpool in a variety of roles finally taking a toll on someone with a young family who worked across Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day of 2022 to ensure the Reds beat Manchester United to the signing of PSV star Cody Gakpo in the January transfer window that followed.
The hiring of an external sporting director would have proven somewhat paradoxical given they are the people most responsible for generally implementing a club's culture and given Ward's years of experience of Liverpool, its people and its processes, there were few as equipped to take on the mantle once Hughes stepped down.
The in-tray, as it always is at Anfield, will be bulging and like his predecessor, Ward is suddenly tasked with the handling the hot potatoes of contract issues regarding key performers upon his arrival.
Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold were the big three for Hughes to wrestle with when he joined in 2024.
Two years on, Ward will be made to reach a decision over club captain Van Dijk and the long-serving Alisson Becker, who reiterated his own importance to the cause with a flawless performance against Bournemouth last time out.
Before any plans are thrashed out with his staff with regards to the January window, Ward needs to place Van Dijk and Alisson at the top of his to-do list.
The contract extension of Mohamed Salah on the Greek island of Mykonos in the summer of 2022 after a long, drawn-out process, is evidence that the new sporting director has experience of successfully handling such matters. That bodes well.
Van Dijk insisted after the Bournemouth game that he has not heard from Liverpool officials as of yet and Alisson was wrestling with the idea of a move to Juventus earlier this year.
Both remain Anfield totems and will be enormous for Andoni Iraola this campaign, whatever the new head coach is able to achieve.
Ward, though, may find that his first task is determining what lies beyond this season for both.
FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE!All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page
Get YOUR Liverpool FC Newsletter
Get the best Liverpool FC news and analysis straight to your Inbox courtesy of the Echo!
Yours in just two simple steps.
Enter your email and hit Subscribe.