Liverpool FC Forum

This from Goal.com. Not seen it anywhere else, so it is probably a load of tosh, but it will be interesting to see what happens:


Liverpool hunt new managing director after disastrous deadline day

Club owners Fenway Sports Group are furious over the collapse of Clint Dempsey's proposed move to Anfield, and have deemed Ian Ayre responsible

EXCLUSIVE
By Richard Buxton

Liverpool will restart their search for a new managing director next week following a disastrous transfer deadline day at the club, Goal.com can reveal.

Owners Fenway Sports Group have revived their plans after Ayre was deemed culpable for Brendan Rodgers being left with only two recognised strikers when the transfer window closed on Friday night after their pursuit of Clint Dempsey fell through.

Ayre was charged with negotiating with Fulham for the striker, who had made no secret of his desire to move to Anfield and was greatly admired by the club's American owners, but refused to match Tottenham Hotspur's £6 million valuation which saw him move across the capital.

Rodgers was assured prior to allowing Andy Carroll to join West Ham United on a season-long loan that a deal for a replacement attacker was in place but the move for Dempsey, as well as that for Chelsea hitman Daniel Sturridge, failed to materialise.

Goal.com understands that this latest setback is the final straw for Anfield chiefs and has validated the long-standing concerns of principal owner John Henry and chairman Tom Werner, the club's senior figureheads about the Merseyside-born businessman.

The pair both harboured misgivings about appointing Ayre to oversee the day-to-day running of the club following Christian Purslow's departure in late 2010, but were won over by his work within their commercial department, which saw him promoted in March 2011.

However, his controversial quotes on plans for Liverpool to lead a breakaway from the Premier League's overseas television rights deal prompted strong disapproval from their peers and set in motion what soon became a season-long PR blunder last term.

At the height of Luis Suarez's race row, Ayre sanctioned the publishing of a forthright statement on Liverpool's official website in response to the striker being hit with an eight-game suspension for abusing Patrice Evra, which contained several inaccuracies and was widely criticised.

His refusal to intervene in the infamous T-shirt debacle which took place before Liverpool's visit to Wigan the following night continued to plant seeds of doubt in the minds of the owners, who forced him to join Suarez and then manager Kenny Dalglish in issuing a public apology after the Uruguay international refused to shake hands with Evra ahead of a 2-1 defeat at Old Trafford.

It is currently unclear whether Ayre will be allowed to return to his original role as commercial director at Anfield, where he has been succeeded by Billy Hogan, who arrived from subsidiary Fenway Sports Management at the end of May, despite helping successfully negotiate deals for Liverpool's array of new commercial partners this summer.

AFL powerbroker Gillon McLachlan this season knocked back a dream job with English Premier League club Liverpool.

In a sign of his growing reputation as a sports administrator, Liverpool offered him the prime chief executive's role.

It is believed the tempting overture came in the opening months of the AFL season.

The National Rugby League has since started a hot pursuit of the AFL's No.2 man.

McLachlan said no to Liverpool, one of the most famous clubs in the world, because he was happily settled in Melbourne with a young family.

It would have been an enormous upheaval to move to northern England.

It is not unusual for club chief executives in the EPL to be paid more than $2 million a year.

I don't know why they won't just get David Dein

The owners do love a "Scapegoat "

RED BEERGOGGLES » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:24 pm wrote:The owners do love a "Scapegoat "

Well its either the Manager or MD/CEO and they're not going to blame BR

Ayre's position was under review well before this, I believe. From Henry's statement though it seems he was carrying out orders...

Boocity » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:41 pm wrote:

RED BEERGOGGLES » Mon Sep 03, 2012 12:24 pm wrote:The owners do love a "Scapegoat "

Well its either the Manager or MD/CEO and they're not going to blame BR

Yeah ,Rodgers is their baby ,and besides ,who's virtues "as a young innovative manager" would they extol come January when we end up with
fuck all in the way of funds for players again, add to that we lose Suarez ,Agger ,Skrtel ,Reina,and are constantly fending off heavyweight bids
from teams desperate for the  brilliance of Joe Allen in their midfield ?

If they desperately need a scapegoat ,maybe we should put forward Werner's name ?

I dont care for Ayre but its obvious theres only his name left on the blame list
written on a whiteboard somewhere in Boston.

He better watch out 

It's always easy to pass the buck somewhere else, it takes a real man to stand up and accept responsibility when things go wrong. FSG should sack themselves because their performance has been as woeful as anybody else's.