When Fenway Sports Group first met Jurgen Klopp ahead of his appointment as LiverpoolAs the club’s manager in 2015, what chairman Mike Gordon really wanted to know was whether he and the German, along with the club’s future sporting director Michael Edwards, were comfortable enough in their skin to oppose each other, even if constructively.

Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers had complained about numerous problems privately and then complained later, with Gordon concluding that he should have intercepted such feelings before they multiplied, thereby undermining his own authority. Gordon would tell Klopp that speaking out and disagreeing with colleagues was not only allowed, it was obligatory.

It’s an anecdote that should make you think. Arsenalfollowing Edu’s abrupt departure as sporting director which has, by mutual agreement, left manager Mikel Arteta as the dominant figure in the club’s football structure. While no one doubts the Spaniard’s coaching talent or motivation, it is not necessarily in anyone’s best interest for this situation to persist in the long term.

The events on Merseyside prove this. For five years, the culture of mutual challenge Gordon established at Liverpool worked wonderfully: the team won every major trophy that mattered, including a first league title in 30 years, and, by 2022, had reached three Champions League finals.

This, it must be emphasized, would have been impossible without Klopp’s strength of character. He made Edwards’ job easier because he was very clear about what he wanted, but Edwards helped create the economic environment that allowed Klopp to make record signings that defined the era, mainly thanks to player sales. Between the two of them was Gordon, who acted as a buffer, protecting both men from some of their less helpful instincts.

Michael Edwards (left), Jurgen Klopp and Mike Gordon made a formidable team (John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The dynamic meant rival clubs were looking for their own Klopp, but also wanted another Edwards and even a Gordon. The problems only started when Liverpool had to let go of the players Klopp wanted to keep. Initially, Edwards was supported by Gordon, who decided that Georginio Wijnaldum’s salary demands were not worth meeting. Afterwards, Edwards began to see Klopp going his own way. The era of collaboration was over and the last three or four seasons of Klopp’s reign, with Edwards disappearing from sight, were clearly a manager-led operation.

In terms of trophies, the team was less successful during this period, with some spectacular near misses clashing with campaigns where the team underperformed, to the point where they even dropped out of the League altogether champions for a year.

FSG responded to the development by allowing Klopp to appoint his own sporting director after Edwards’ successor, Julian Ward, announced his intention to step down less than a year into the role in the summer 2023.

The man chosen by Klopp, Jorg Schmadtkehad the sole objective of carrying out the transfers. The important issue of managing existing contracts has been left aside and next summer, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk And Trent Alexander-Arnold are all free agents. Losing these players at different times for good fees would be difficult to accept; for them all to leave at the same time and for free would be indefensible, especially when FSG operates according to a real profit and loss system.

Liverpool are currently top of the Premier League. under Arne Slot but will he be able to stay there in the long term without players who continue to perform at the highest level and regularly decide big matches?

At one point, FSG took their eyes off the ball – a scenario that would have been unthinkable when Klopp, Edwards and Gordon worked in tandem between 2015 and 2020, and others tried to copy them.

One such club was Arsenal, whose renaissance arguably began in the summer of 2019 when they appointed Edu, who had his own golden history at the club as ‘Invincible’, as sporting director. Soon, the Brazilian was heavily involved in the recruitment of the team’s new manager.

Arteta was something of a gamble, a highly regarded manager of his era Manchester City working with Pep Guardiola but unproven as a number 1. But the move paid off: under the leadership of Arteta and Edu, Arsenal became relevant again. They may not have been as successful in terms of trophies as Liverpool during the same period under Klopp, Edwards and Gordon, but no team has come so close to challenging Manchester City’s hegemony during of the last two seasons and many expected them to do better this time around. term.

Mikel Arteta has emerged as an Arsenal title contender (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Edu’s departure from Arsenal potentially destabilizes this progress. He’s a different character to Edwards, who was hard-hitting and would confront Klopp if he saw a problem. The former Liverpool manager hasn’t been slow to come forward either – like Arteta. As Amy Lawrence suggested in her article on Athletics This morningEdu’s people skills provided a good balance to Arteta’s impulsive reactions. He also didn’t shy away from giving his own opinions.

Arsenal’s owners would do well to learn the lessons of what happened at Liverpool, where so much responsibility falling in one place – Klopp – ended up wearing him down, arguably contributing to his own departure. Arteta is of course a younger man than Klopp and has spent far less time in the meat grinder. He may have more energy in his reserves, but he also has a lot less experience and, ultimately, he has yet to prove that he can definitively turn all of his unquestionable promise into a winning culture .

Even if he did, like Klopp, it would be unwise to leave him alone. There is a nostalgia in football for yesteryear, where the most successful clubs – think Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson or Arsenal themselves under Arsène Wenger – tended to be dictatorships where managers decided everything from travel arrangements to squad levels.

There are so many games and departments now that it’s impossible. This is why figures like Edu and Edwards, as well as their subordinates, are not only useful accessories but fundamental to the success of a club.

(Top photo: Edu with Mikel Arteta; David Price/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)