What Liverpool 'genius' did to leave Sir Jim Ratcliffe in awe as Manchester United left behind
What Liverpool 'genius' did to leave Sir Jim Ratcliffe in awe as Manchester United left behind
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has praised Liverpool as well as delivering another damming Manchester United verdict
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe (Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images )
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has found himself in the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons. The Manchester United co-owner has made a number of controversial calls in recent months that have resulted in him coming under intense scrutiny.
The petrochemicals billionaire has overseen a succession of contentious moves in an attempt to turn things around at Old Trafford. However, a lot of those moves have been cost-cutting measures, while earlier this week United announced that most season ticket prices will increase by about 5% for the third successive year.
But while Ratcliffe has been incredibly damning in his assessments of United and the position his club finds themselves in, he could be any more complimentary about Ian Graham and how they managed to get themselves ahead of the curve in terms of the data revolution that has swept through football.
Andy Robertson makes honest admission on Liverpool future after Milos Kerkez transfer links READ MORE:
In a glowing endorsement, Ratcliffe hailed the club’s former director of research Michael Edwards as a 'genius' as well as praising Jürgen Klopp, who is currently Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football, for the team they built with Jurgen Klopp that enabled the Reds to win the Champions League and then the Premier League.
“United completely missed the data revolution, which Brighton and Brentford didn’t, which Liverpool didn’t either,” he told The Times. “Liverpool had Ian Graham analysing data between 2012 and 2023. They brought in Jürgen Klopp and they had Michael Edwards as sporting director and Graham, who is the genius in football on data analytics.
“So you had that team of three who then built an extremely intelligent squad between 2015 and 2018 that went on to win everything on the planet. Edwards, who would look at 20 videos for every player that they considered buying, and Graham, who would look at the data of every single minute that footballer had played in his life. And then he had Klopp who had a footballer’s view.
“Graham was the forerunner and United missed out. We’re still missing out, because we still don’t have data analysis at United. All we’ve got is Jason’s eyes. And Jason, for me, is a guy at the coal face. He ran the academy at Manchester City. Txiki Begiristain, I know, thought Jason had the best eyes in the club.
The best LFC news, features, videos and podcasts Nobody covers Liverpool Football Club in more detail than the ECHO. Our team of reporters follows the Reds home, away and abroad and we have seven days a week coverage of everything from the first team, to the women's team and the Academy. Here's how you can get the best LFC news on every platform: Download our premium LFC App for exclusive content and ad-free reading. Apple here and Android here. Follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Our Blood Red brand is one of the top rated LFC podcasts. You can watch it on Youtube here or search Blood Red podcasts wherever you listen. We're also on TikTok. Join our WhatsApp community for breaking news directly to your phone as it happens and follow our WhatsApp channel for updates and the best pictures. Subscribe to our newsletters here for all the news directly to your inbox. Subscribe to Dave Powell's Bottom Line newsletter for exclusive business of football news, features and interviews directly to your inbox. Follow us on every platform here.
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“He’s a warm character, he’s got a sense of humour, he knows what he’s talking about, he’s got a really good relationship with Ruben. So, you know, if you compare that with last season when we had Erik and John Murtough [as football director], it’s chalk and cheese. Jason knows what’s working, what’s not working in terms of how Ruben’s playing, his system, which players he’s picking, which players we are going to buy in the future. And Jason’s got views on all of those things. And when I listen to Jason speak, I get what he’s saying.
“But what he can’t do is watch every match. And that’s what the computer does. The computer can watch every match that every player has played in every league for every year they’ve ever played football. So you have to marry the two pieces of data and then it tells you something. And that’s what Brighton and Brentford have done. And also it’s then much easier to spot the younger talent because the computer does that. Jason can tell you every good 21-year-old, but not every good 16-year-old.
“So build a management team, then we have to get it back onto a stable footing, and this is our unpleasant year, when we have to make all those not particularly nice decisions, letting people go, that sort of stuff. That’ll all be done in the summer and then it’s about recruitment. You can have a fancy stadium, but if you haven’t got recruitment right you’re not going to win football matches.”
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has praised Liverpool as well as delivering another damming Manchester United verdict
Manchester United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe (Image: Marc Atkins/Getty Images )
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has found himself in the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons. The Manchester United co-owner has made a number of controversial calls in recent months that have resulted in him coming under intense scrutiny.
The petrochemicals billionaire has overseen a succession of contentious moves in an attempt to turn things around at Old Trafford. However, a lot of those moves have been cost-cutting measures, while earlier this week United announced that most season ticket prices will increase by about 5% for the third successive year.
But while Ratcliffe has been incredibly damning in his assessments of United and the position his club finds themselves in, he could be any more complimentary about Ian Graham and how they managed to get themselves ahead of the curve in terms of the data revolution that has swept through football.
Andy Robertson makes honest admission on Liverpool future after Milos Kerkez transfer links READ MORE:
In a glowing endorsement, Ratcliffe hailed the club’s former director of research Michael Edwards as a 'genius' as well as praising Jürgen Klopp, who is currently Fenway Sports Group’s CEO of football, for the team they built with Jurgen Klopp that enabled the Reds to win the Champions League and then the Premier League.
“United completely missed the data revolution, which Brighton and Brentford didn’t, which Liverpool didn’t either,” he told The Times. “Liverpool had Ian Graham analysing data between 2012 and 2023. They brought in Jürgen Klopp and they had Michael Edwards as sporting director and Graham, who is the genius in football on data analytics.
“So you had that team of three who then built an extremely intelligent squad between 2015 and 2018 that went on to win everything on the planet. Edwards, who would look at 20 videos for every player that they considered buying, and Graham, who would look at the data of every single minute that footballer had played in his life. And then he had Klopp who had a footballer’s view.
“Graham was the forerunner and United missed out. We’re still missing out, because we still don’t have data analysis at United. All we’ve got is Jason’s eyes. And Jason, for me, is a guy at the coal face. He ran the academy at Manchester City. Txiki Begiristain, I know, thought Jason had the best eyes in the club.
The best LFC news, features, videos and podcasts Nobody covers Liverpool Football Club in more detail than the ECHO. Our team of reporters follows the Reds home, away and abroad and we have seven days a week coverage of everything from the first team, to the women's team and the Academy. Here's how you can get the best LFC news on every platform: Download our premium LFC App for exclusive content and ad-free reading. Apple here and Android here. Follow us on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram. Our Blood Red brand is one of the top rated LFC podcasts. You can watch it on Youtube here or search Blood Red podcasts wherever you listen. We're also on TikTok. Join our WhatsApp community for breaking news directly to your phone as it happens and follow our WhatsApp channel for updates and the best pictures. Subscribe to our newsletters here for all the news directly to your inbox. Subscribe to Dave Powell's Bottom Line newsletter for exclusive business of football news, features and interviews directly to your inbox. Follow us on every platform here.
Article continues below
“He’s a warm character, he’s got a sense of humour, he knows what he’s talking about, he’s got a really good relationship with Ruben. So, you know, if you compare that with last season when we had Erik and John Murtough [as football director], it’s chalk and cheese. Jason knows what’s working, what’s not working in terms of how Ruben’s playing, his system, which players he’s picking, which players we are going to buy in the future. And Jason’s got views on all of those things. And when I listen to Jason speak, I get what he’s saying.
“But what he can’t do is watch every match. And that’s what the computer does. The computer can watch every match that every player has played in every league for every year they’ve ever played football. So you have to marry the two pieces of data and then it tells you something. And that’s what Brighton and Brentford have done. And also it’s then much easier to spot the younger talent because the computer does that. Jason can tell you every good 21-year-old, but not every good 16-year-old.
“So build a management team, then we have to get it back onto a stable footing, and this is our unpleasant year, when we have to make all those not particularly nice decisions, letting people go, that sort of stuff. That’ll all be done in the summer and then it’s about recruitment. You can have a fancy stadium, but if you haven’t got recruitment right you’re not going to win football matches.”
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