Insight into Liverpool transfer guru Edwards – ‘Michael was different’

Will Ford
Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards during the red carpet arrivals for the 2018 Liverpool Players' Awards at Anfield, Liverpool. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Thursday May 10, 2018. See PA story SOCCER Liverpool. Photo credit should read: Peter Byrne/PA Wire

Richard Hughes – who worked with Michael Edwards at Portsmouth – has offered a rare insight into the way the Liverpool transfer chief goes about his business.

Edwards was released by Peterborough in March 1997, and pursued a degree in business at Sheffield University, before teaching IT at a high school.

He then landed a role as a performance analyst with Portsmouth via Prozone, where he analysed the performances of Harry Redknapp’s team.

One such individual who received pointers and presentations from Liverpool’s now-sporting director was Hughes.

The Scotsman told Bleacher Report: “On Mondays, he used to be the first port of call for myself and a good few of the other boys.

“We’d go into his office and have our stats read back to us on how we’d performed at the weekend.

“He’d played football himself, so he was used to that sort of camaraderie and those exchanges of banter with footballers.”

Hughes continued: “A lot of people in those roles come from a non-footballing background and sometimes they find fitting into the atmosphere of a football club quite difficult.

“Michael was different because he had an opinion, and he let you know it. He’s got a great sense of humour and he wasn’t afraid to tell me or even my more illustrious team-mates that we’d been garbage at the weekend, statistically speaking.

“He was the first person with that job description that I’d come across as a player.”

The former midfielder added: “If I was going into a game on a Friday afternoon, I’d ask him what he could tell me about whoever I was playing against and if there was an angle he could give me to help me the next day.

“It’s probably more a question you’d ask a coach or a manager, but Michael had that respect from us.

“We treated him as someone whose input was not only worthwhile but desired.”

 

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