The inner working of Liverpool’s infamous transfer committee has long been a source of fascination.
Despite all the protestations from inside the club of a harmonious and perfectly functioning meeting of minds, the transfer committee is more generally considered by fans and media to be somewhere south of serene.
Speaking at the 2015 Web Summit, Liverpool’s managing director Ian Ayre insisted that the final call on all signings rests with Jurgen Klopp, just as it did with Brendan Rodgers before him.
It was in the wake of Rodgers’ sacking last month that stories emerged of supposed ‘barter’ arrangements between the Northern Irishman and the transfer committee.
There were suggestion that Rodgers gave the OK to the signing of Roberto Firmino, a player the transfer committee wanted, in exchange for him being allowed to sign Christian Benteke.
But Ayre insists that the so-called committee are merely providing information for the manager to make the final call.
“The word transfer committee I think got used once and became this idea that we all sit round a table and have a vote on every player we sign, that couldn’t be further from the truth,” Ayre said.
“There’s only one person that has the final say over what players at Liverpool Football Club and that’s Jurgen Klopp right now. That’s always been the case for as long as I’ve been here.
“Brendan had the final say on all the players we signed. The point that has been made about the committee, and I don’t think we did anything any different to most football clubs, is that the manager will say we are looking for somebody in this position and a bunch of people – and that’s a mix of traditional scouts and more recently analytical and digital based information – bring all of that together as was always the case.
“Then we look at two, three, four players, the best players for that position, show them to the manager and the manager can go watch or have the scouts go watch those players and narrow it down. At that point I’ll become more involved and start talking to clubs, agents, players on a negotiations basis and then the manager will choose.
“That’s never changed. I’ve been at the football club eight years.
“The committee, and we don’t think of it as a committee, just the media do, is really a collaboration of all those people that all contribute to let the manager make that decision, and I think that’s very smart.”
Ayre admits that there is no time for a manager to travel the world scouting and casting an eye over transfer targets and meeting agents and player representatives, it is the head coach (in this case Jurgen Klopp) who makes the final call.
And he disputes the notion put forward by former players like Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves that the shift in power towards transfer committees has discouraged them from becoming managers.
“Look at the last three months, we had a game every three days – when is the manager going to fly around the world and watch players? When is the manager going to negotiate with an agent?
“That’s not the same as making the decision. The point is using smart processes and people, all of whom, our scouts, our analytical people, they have all learnt at all manner of different football clubs and have great experience in the game. They are there to provide the manager with the best tools to make the best decision.
“If I was any of those people you mentioned and I wanted to be a manager you’d need that.”
