Neil Jones has posed one ‘big question’ for which FSG and Liverpool will need to provide an answer after Jurgen Klopp leaves the club at the end of the season.
The German’s glorious managerial reign at Anfield has been characterised by some of the most astute signings in the Reds’ history, a feat made all the more impressive by him working with an inferior transfer budget to some Premier League rivals.
Previous boardroom figures such as Michael Edwards have also received plenty of credit for the club’s market activity over the past decade, but with LFC seeking a new manager and sporting director over the coming months, it’s hard to know whether that enviable reputation will continue or fade.
Speaking to The Redmen TV‘s Journo Insight Show, Jones stated: “I don’t expect a sea change in FSG’s strategy. I don’t think they’re going to go down this different route and start signing Galacticos and do anything different from what we’ve seen.
“The big question that remains is: how much did that strategy work because of the man who was in the manager’s seat, and how much of it was down to the strategy itself?”
Whoever comes in to replace Klopp will have a topped-up transfer kitty due to extra income arising from the impending increase of Anfield’s capacity to 61,000 once the redeveloped Anfield Road Stand is full opened (The Athletic).
A near-certain return to the Champions League from next season should also help, but Jones is right to warn Liverpool fans not to get overly giddy and expect an influx of marquee names.
The general inactivity of the January transfer window is inevitably a consequence of some Premier League clubs being charged (and, in Everton’s case, punished) for breaching the division’s Profitability and Sustainability Rules, which has seen a notably cautious approach adopted by the majority of its members.
The replacements for Klopp and Jorg Schmadtke will need to gradually replenish the squad at Anfield while refraining from putting the club at risk of financial foul play.
It’ll only be after a couple of years that we truly get an answer as to how much of our market success in recent years was down to having a total genius of a manager, and how much can be attributed to a sensible approach from those in the boardroom.