The Political Economy of Football V2

Arne Slot has been sacked as Liverpool’s head coach. A joint statement from Liverpool’s owners on Saturday confirmed the decision, saying it was “necessary” and “the team’s trajectory is best addressed through a change of direction”. “That this was a difficult decision for us to make as a club goes without saying,” it read. “The contribution Arne has made to Liverpool FC in the time that he has been with us has been significant, meaningful and — most importantly of all to supporters and ourselves — successful. “At the same time, we have collectively come to the conclusion that change is necessary in order for the club to keep moving forward. “As such, we can only wish Arne well in the next stage of his coaching career, with our expectation being that he will continue to be successful. We do so in the knowledge that his Liverpool legacy is intact and will become yet more meaningful in the years and decades to come. “Nevertheless, the conclusion we have come to is built on a be...

Defeats are always difficult to accept at Liverpool, a club where expectations are enormous but the last two have been humiliations, in front of their own crowd, at Anfield, where the fate of all managers (or a head coach in this case) still tend to be determined, regardless of what people are saying on the internet. Frustration has been aimed at players and the person leading them but, so far, it has not manifested into the kind of groundswell where Arne Slot’s position has been questioned loudly enough to influence decisions at executive level. Some of his critics have suggested that Slot benefited from inheritance. All of the regulars in the squad last season were, after all, bought in the Jurgen Klopp era, but it seems ridiculous to use winning the league against Slot, particularly when Klopp was unable to achieve the feat with exactly the same group of players.  There are no indications that Liverpool, or more specifically, their owners, Fenway Sports Group, which is hea...

Much commentary on the modern game focuses on the manager to the exclusion of the players (or the playing budget) or the backroom staff, especially medics and physios.   Yet the statistical data seems to suggest that managers make little difference to a club’s performance compared with the playing budget, apart from an initial three match bounce. There are, however, two exceptions to that.    One are those poor at managing or at least square pegs in a round hole, Wayne Rooney being a recent example.   And then there are exceptional managers which require exceptional skill and diligence in recruiting them.    Whoever was going to be the new Liverpool manager had a hard act to follow in Klopp, although also a platform to build on. The most important thing about   Arne Slot, someone who sees the 46-year-old at work daily told the Sunday Times , is his “fit” to the role he holds. Liverpool helped to pioneer clubs applying data with the s...