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Where Liverpool owners FSG are at with multi-club search after Michael Edwards return

Liverpool owner John W. Henry (left) has tempted Michael Edwards to return as FSG's new CEO of Football
-Credit:Reach Publishing Services Limited


In March of last year, Michael Edwards made a return to Liverpool, of sorts. Reds owners Fenway Sports Group wanted a world-class individual to lead their latest project and it was Edwards who they were set on.

Edwards had been linked with a direct return to the Reds on numerous occasions having left his role as sporting director at the club in 2022, but just stepping back into what he had been doing for the best part of a decade wasn’t compelling enough. It was to be Richard Hughes who would assume that position.

The announcement of Edwards’ return was clear in what he would be tasked with, and that was to help FSG add more football clubs to their portfolio to create a multi-club model, the kind that has been increasing in popularity across Europe in recent years.

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But his role as CEO of Football at FSG, a newly created title, would also involve him playing a key role in identifying Jurgen Klopp’s successor, with Arne Slot getting the nod, while he would assume the kind of oversteer role that Mike Gordon had held for so long, with Gordon taking a step back to do more on the wider FSG side.

But as we fast approach the one-year anniversary of Edwards’ return, there is no second club that has been acquired yet, although FSG had taken on interest in fallen French giants Bordeaux last year.

For FSG, they are more considered when it comes to investing, preferring to remove as much risk as possible, but there is also an opportunistic side, and that was shown with the Bordeaux move. They were a distressed asset, facing bankruptcy but with plenty of access to talent and a strong football infrastructure. One of the main issues was the ownership of the stadium, as well as the incredibly weak state of the French TV media market that has left many clubs fighting fires financially. In the end there wasn’t enough time to be comfortable with a deal, or to try and make one work, and they stepped away.

There has been a narrative that has formed in some quarters that the role that had been envisaged for Edwards just hasn’t been that at all, and that FSG’s perceived slow pace in adding a second club is something of a let down for Edwards given his expanded remit.

When RedBird Capital Partners, who have owned a minority stake in FSG since 2021, acquired French side Toulouse back in 2020, it was the culmination of more than two years of work that had been led by Damien Comolli, Liverpool’s former sporting director.

A dossier of more than 80 clubs from across Europe and beyond had been compiled, with data on not just the football infrastructure, finances and media deals, but also the demographics of the places they were looking to acquire clubs in looked at in a deep and meaningful way. Eventually, with the impact of relegation and the COVID-19 pandemic, RedBird acquired Toulouse for €20m (around £16m). The club has since been promoted and qualified for the Europa League.

That was two years of work to find an opportunity, and for an investment firm that has a similar way of working to FSG. That FSG haven’t yet landed on acquiring another club isn’t really much of a surprise, especially when the acquisition of another club could be impactful for Liverpool in years to come when it comes to honing or accessing talent.

“It can be easy or it can be hard, these things can happen quickly or take an age,” said US football investor Jordan Gardner, a former owner of Danish side FC Helsingor and current advisor for Twenty First Group, a firm which provides investment intelligence for those looking to get into the sports market.

“FSG, like RedBird, are disciplined and sophisticated investors, so it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise that they haven’t just jumped in early.

“They’ll be looking for clubs that they can make financially sustainable, that don’t burn through cash, as that isn’t the FSG way, as well as things such as the infrastructure of a club, its training centre, its stadium, its academy as well as its access to talent. So, for example, if you’re picking up a club in and around places like Paris there is a lot of potential talent available.

“Then there are macroeconomic factors to consider, especially when you think about France. Some people I have spoken to are a little bit skittish about investing in France right now because of the issue with the drop in value of the media deals.

“There is the possibility that with all this going on that they are just taking their time to take a breath and slow down a little to properly assess the market and the opportunities, but they will likely be ready to move when the right one comes up, and that can happen quickly, but it can also take a year to get a deal done for a club.”

Coming out of the pandemic there were bargains to be had for willing investors as the perilous state of finances for clubs were exacerbated by the huge financial impact of Covid on the game.

Valuations have risen from where they were at that point, understandably, but that doesn’t mean that good deals can’t be found, they just aren’t as plentiful as they once were.

“Coming out of Covid there were lots of clubs that were distressed assets and available for way below the market value,” said Gardner, speaking to the ECHO.

“The price point and valuations have gone up. There are less of those distressed clubs and that means that there is a little less deal flow.”

FSG, sources familiar with the matter have told the ECHO, remain committed to adding another football team to their portfolio, with Edwards and his team still actively working on that. But there hasn’t been a timescale placed on it, and they are willing to wait for the right investment opportunity, much in the same way they operate with their investments in North America.