Former Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre has revealed how the ‘transfer committee’ worked during his time at the club.
Ayre served as CEO at Anfield for a decade before leaving the club in February 2017. He played a key role in helping bring Jurgen Klopp to the club as manager, as well as his role in transfer dealings, which gained a fair amount of attention while Brendan Rodgers was manager.
The committee was responsible for the identification of potential new players, scouting them and then securing their services. Ayre served on this committee, along with several others including Mike Gordon, Michael Edwards, Dave Fallows, Barry Hunter and the manager.
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After leaving Liverpool, Ayre had a role at 1860 Munich and he is now the chief executive at Major League Soccer outfit Nashville SC. And now he has opened up on how the ‘transfer committee worked during his time at Anfield.
“John’s [W. Henry] one of, obviously, one the key players there, Mike Gordon’s another, Tom Werner [too],” Ayre told Talksport . "Mike probably has the most day-to-day involvement, as a group they’re very cerebral.
“It’s a very thoughtful and considered process and there’s a lot of interaction with other people around the group and around the Red Sox, and what it does is brings many heads to the table for a decision.
“I remember us taking a lot of criticism back in the day about the transfer committee. And here we are now, and it’s the same transfer committee, I mean obviously I am not in that group, but it’s the same process, and it worked. You make a plan, then Fenway, they’re very committed to the plan.”
Ayre added: “[We] sat around in a group, with myself, Michael [Edwards], Mike Gordon, Dave Fallows and all of the people that should be involved, including the manager.
“Then think about a position we want to fill, then the guys go away and work really hard to narrow down that focus to three or four players.
“And I would get involved with negotiating with the teams or the clubs or the agents, and then you narrow it down to the one.
“The rules in that committee are, and I imagine are still: we will never put a player on a manager that he doesn’t want.
“What’s the point in that, right? What’s the point of giving the manager a player he isn’t going to choose or pick?
“Then the other rule, if there were a couple of rules, where: we always had the right to say no.
“If somebody wants to buy a 34-year-old player for £25million, we were always going to say no to that, maybe.
“But when you’re on the plan and you’re developing the plan, I think back now, I watched the game on the weekend, there were five/six players on the bench or on the pitch, that were in that group, so it had to have worked right?
“Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Divock Origi, Joel Matip, James Milner, so it worked.”
