Liverpool chairman Tom Werner on Arne Slot, historic transfer spend and FSG's future Anfield plans

Tom Werner

Via Echo

On the back of a hugely successful season, it's fitting that Tom Werner begins by hoisting aloft one of the giant pieces of silverware that decorate his home office in the United States.

But rather than continuing to bask in the glory of a Premier League title-winning term for Arne Slot and his players at Anfield, that the Liverpool chairman is in possession of a Champions League replica is in some way symbolic of what might still be to come.

Werner

"It is an exciting time right now but we wake up every day and I keep using the word 'relentless,'"

"We want to win more trophies, we don't want to just appreciate what we have done.

“We are hungry to be more successful and what is exciting is that the league is tremendously competitive and we think it will be a challenging season."

The origin story of the club's 20th league triumph can be traced back over 18 months to when Jurgen Klopp informed Werner and the rest of Fenway Sports Group of his intention to walk away

Werner says

"At the LFC Foundation Gala Ball [last month], Jurgen was talking about how relentless the job is and he didn't really do much in Liverpool except wake up in the morning and drive to the training ground or Anfield, spend all day working and come home late at night,"

"The job, I saw the toll it was taking on him and I consider him to be a close friend, so when people think about being the manager, I think they think the focus is on winning matches every weekend but the fact is it's so complex, the job.

"You have to be the leader of the academy, the assistants, the staff, the physios, the doctors and of course the supporters.

“The greater community of football is there with the media as well, so I do understand.

"Of course, I wish he would have continued but I was also respectful, as a friend, for all the contributions he made.

“I appreciated that he wanted to transition in a very orderly way and he wanted to communicate that to us first and then the team and then the supporters.

“So, you know, after feeling appropriately disappointed, we said: 'OK, we're going to build a new chapter.'"

That "new chapter" started by looking at the football operations department through a wider lens.

Keen not to see a similar situation of burnout for Klopp's would-be successor, it was decided the manager's in-tray would no longer be as bulging.

Former sporting director Michael Edwards was coaxed back into the Fenway fold as the organisation's 'CEO of football'

From there, the vaunted Edwards headhunted Bournemouth's Richard Hughes to become the sporting director

Werner says:

"We looked at it as an opportunity and what was so special about Arne was, I have often said he is very authentic and he is not trying to be the next Jurgen Klopp, the next Pep Guardiola, he is his own man and he is going to approach the club in his own sincere and thoughtful way.

"So we looked at this as an opportunity to reshape the football operations, bring back Michael Edwards, empower Michael and Richard to do the jobs that we knew they were capable of doing and then turn the page.

"I am not smart enough to say there is only one way to achieve success but I had confidence and we had confidence that this was an opportunity and that Michael would be successful. John (Henry),

“Mike (Gordon) and I, we read all the reports about the various people who might be interviewed for the job, but I can tell you the research that went into finding Arne was really impressive and he was Michael and Richard's first choice.

"They did a lot of impressive background research on him, what he had done previously and they had good interviews with him and he was the first choice.

“I didn't know who he was but we were confident their thoughtfulness would achieve success.

“Now I think not a lot of people felt he would come in and win the Premier League this year but we did feel we would be in the top four."

The prospect of succeeding the wildly popular Klopp will have been a daunting one for many a coach,

but Slot's self-assurance ensured no supporter was harking back to the previous regime with anything other than fondness as the Reds went about storming their way to the title.