A full version of the LiverpoolWorld Q&A.
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00:00 Well, let's start with Liverpool and big news coming out, obviously.
00:05 Richard Hughes joining as the Sports Director from Bournemouth.
00:09 What's the latest you can tell us?
00:10 And, you know, how is this sort of spiralled up to this point?
00:14 Because there's a lot of things that are going on behind the scenes in, you know,
00:17 the back room at Liverpool at the moment.
00:20 Yes, obviously Liverpool have brought Richard Hughes in now from Bournemouth and Liverpool need a little bit of stability in that back room
00:28 because Michael Edwards left and then Julian Ward spent a year in the role
00:32 and then Jörg Schmadker held the reins from the summer until January.
00:37 And obviously Michael Edwards coming back was a big shock
00:40 and it may be a position that the fans didn't expect.
00:43 So I have the obviously newer Sports Director will come back in
00:47 and I think FSG tried to get Michael Edwards back in his old role and it didn't really say to him.
00:54 He wanted something that he could get his teeth into a little bit more.
00:57 So they've given him this role as CEO of football for FSG,
01:01 which means helping expand their portfolio in football because they have been doing so much so in other sports.
01:09 And Richard Hughes comes in now with a good reputation at Bournemouth.
01:13 Signing the likes of Nathan Ake when he was there,
01:16 Calum Wilson and Lloyd Kelly among others.
01:20 And he's got a good reputation, Hughes.
01:22 It's interesting that he's worked with Michael Edwards.
01:25 He's known Michael Edwards for 20 years plus when Michael Edwards was part of the Pro Zones,
01:29 a port of when Portsmouth were close to the Premier League.
01:32 So quite clearly there's a rapport there.
01:37 And you know, Richard Hughes has got a good reputation in the game.
01:40 It seems that he's got a lot of contacts
01:43 and ultimately I think that's what has been so successful for Liverpool
01:49 and Michael Edwards in the past is having contacts and having agents really.
01:53 It's maybe not necessarily being able to spot a player,
01:56 for example, because there's so much technology now and so many ways to watch games that you don't really get players.
02:03 You think, wow, who is that or whatever, you know, maybe towards fan sites and like Guitaro Endo when he came in,
02:10 but usually scouts, recruitment teams know quite a majority of players,
02:17 but it's being able to get those deals and fares, for example,
02:19 when Liverpool got winds of Lewis Dias, who was going to be on the move to Tottenham
02:25 and Liverpool, because of the relationship, managed to move ahead there and get in.
02:31 So I think that would be Richard Hughes' challenge.
02:34 But obviously, you know, it lays a lot of fears that Yank Cloppe's leading the club now
02:38 and there's a good structure in place with Richard Hughes and with Michael Edwards
02:43 and now Liverpool can very much so start looking for who will be replacing Cloppe.
02:49 I mean, Sheffield are obviously the front-runner and I think Liverpool,
02:53 they have to be respectful, don't they, with any manager who's still in a job,
02:57 never mind a manager who's trying to guide the club for first Bundesliga title.
03:03 But I'm sure things will start to be ramped up now.
03:08 And looking at Liverpool's injury situation, obviously, you know, they were on such a fantastic run
03:14 and then, you know, big names start dropping out the side injured and it did take a hit to them,
03:19 but they seem to respond to that really well.
03:21 What's the latest you can tell us, you know, after this international break
03:25 and who will they be having back towards this business end of the season now?
03:30 Yeah, I just think that loss of Man United and the FA Cup part was Liverpool running out of steam,
03:34 to be honest with you. I mean, you've seen it in the extra time, the mistakes that were made,
03:39 they were just pretty rudimentary errors that Liverpool don't really make.
03:43 And I think, yeah, as I say, it was tired legs. And Liverpool, after the international break,
03:48 you would like to hope that Curtis Jones is maybe going to be back for Brighton.
03:54 Pep Linders, before the Carabao Cup final, says he'd be in and around the international break.
03:58 So that sort of tallies up with when he might be back.
04:01 Again, Klopp said he's got a chance when he was asked at his last press conference.
04:05 And then after that, you're looking at maybe Trent Alexander-Arnold coming back from his knee injury.
04:09 And surprisingly, Thiago Diotta looks like he might be ahead of schedule.
04:13 When he stretches off at Brentford, there were reports where he was going to be out for a couple of months from Portugal,
04:20 but he'd be back for the European Championship.
04:22 So you were thinking maybe he'd be back for the last couple of weeks of the season,
04:28 might be able to help Liverpool out if they are still in the title race and go far in the Europa League.
04:34 But that looks like good news on Thiago Diotta, to be honest with you.
04:38 Big boosts because he's been superb when he has played this season, really top form,
04:43 especially when he came back from that hamstring injury around Christmas time.
04:48 It just seemed like he was getting a goal or assist every game and really steps up to the plate.
04:52 Wembley, Salah, the African Cup of Nations.
04:57 And then after that, you're looking at maybe Wembley, Alisson, Becker be back.
05:00 Liverpool's the number one goalkeeper, to be fair to Kovi Nkella, he's done excellent.
05:04 But Alisson is one of, if not the best goalkeeper in the world.
05:08 And you want him back for the big games.
05:12 He's got a serious injury, according to Ian Clough, which seems like it's a hamstring injury.
05:17 He doesn't really get that with goalkeepers either, which is a little bit frustrating for Liverpool.
05:22 But they can't do too much about that, really.
05:25 But yeah, just getting those back and then just to touch on Stefan Perseche as well,
05:28 who had a really good breakthrough campaign last season, playing 19 times.
05:33 I think he's been struggling with growing issues this season.
05:36 Liverpool just haven't rushed him back because they don't want to prolong any potential issues with him.
05:44 But he uploads pictures on social media.
05:47 He looks like he's really, really developed his body during the time he's been out.
05:51 He's understandable. He was 18 last season. He's very slight, which is understandable when you're that young.
06:00 But it looks like he's used at least the time that he hasn't been playing to good use for his work, his physicality.
06:06 So that's a good thing. Sure, Liverpool fans are looking forward to seeing him again.
06:11 Well, on to Everton now.
06:13 Nottingham Forest has been confirmed to have a four-point deduction for breaching profits and sustainability rules.
06:19 I mean, you don't really ever want to look at another club and think of what they're going through, as Everton know all too well.
06:28 But it does sort of play into Everton's hands in terms of the relegation battle.
06:33 How important is this for Everton?
06:35 And we've mentioned multiple times they can't rely on other clubs doing poorly.
06:40 They've got to pick up their results.
06:42 But it is sort of good news for Everton.
06:45 And they can hopefully continue in the league and try and continue to get better now.
06:51 Yeah, it is. But I think a lot of Everton fans are particularly irked why Forest have only got four points and Everton have got six.
07:00 That was originally ten.
07:02 I mean, if you look at the document from the Independent Commission from the Forest case,
07:09 it said the Forest were working in cooperation and Everton provided incorrect information, which I think Everton,
07:20 those behind the scenes will be a little bit annoyed by that because they were working with the Premier League for quite a while in terms of what they could do.
07:27 And then the appeal board dismissed that notion.
07:31 So, you know, I think they can rightly feel grieved in what happened here.
07:39 Why have nothing for us? I think it was six points and then minus two for mitigation.
07:44 And, you know, Everton, then you put on top of it the stadium costs are divided.
07:51 And obviously the war in Ukraine affected Everton because he has a lot of funding from Aleksandr Yusupinov and through his businesses for Everton.
08:00 You know, we had a whole deal on a new stadium as well. So Everton lost significant revenue on that.
08:05 And they're only found to be guilty of 19.5 million, where I think nothing for us was 34.5 million.
08:13 So Everton are looking at that thinking, what has gone wrong here? Why have we been hit with this?
08:17 But back to the original point. Yes, at least there has been a little bit of justice in Everton.
08:26 They have maybe one less rival to worry about as much in terms of the relegation battle.
08:34 They are four points clear. They do need to start picking up results on the pitch because it's the winless in 11 games.
08:39 And they are potentially, if they don't pick up, they are going to be in another battle.
08:45 And that alleged breach from last season overhanging them as well.
08:51 I think that case is to be heard the week before Easter and Everton will hear maybe the week after that,
09:02 then probably the Tuesday after Easter Monday because it's a bank holiday.
09:07 So we'll just see about that. But yeah, I think you can understand why a lot of fans are calling for an independent regulator now in football,
09:16 because clearly there's no consistency here.