Interview'Quite the journey and a tremendous drive to keep going' - Billy Hogan on FSG's 15 years at LFC

It was on October 15, 2010 that FSG officially completed the acquisition of the Reds, beginning a new era for the club on and off the pitch.

A period of significant transformation has since included two Premier League titles, a Champions League triumph and two Women's Super League wins, among a host of major honours.

Anfield has twice been redeveloped to take capacity beyond 60,000, while the men's and women's teams have moved base to elite facilities at the AXA Training Centre and AXA Melwood Training Centre respectively.

To mark the anniversary of FSG becoming custodians, CEO Hogan sat down with Liverpoolfc.com for a wide-ranging interview on the past, present and future for the club.

Billy, 15 years ago today Fenway Sports Group – led by John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon – took ownership of Liverpool Football Club and it's been quite the journey in between, hasn't it?

It has been quite the journey. In some ways it's hard to believe 15 years has already gone. I think when we sit here today as defending Premier League champions, having just completed a redevelopment of Anfield to get to just over 61,000 capacity, a team doing incredibly well on the pitch and off the pitch, it's been quite a journey. But I think it also gives us the opportunity, as we talk about the anniversary, to look back at where we were back in 2010.

I was part of the acquisition team that was looking at the club and for those that remember, we came into that process pretty late in the day. That was actually August of 2010, and we ended up closing and acquiring the club in October of 2010. And again, for those that remember, the club was literally on the brink of administration at the time and just in a very challenging position. So, to be looking back now from where we are and all the hard work that's been put in to get to this place and to think about the last 15 years, as you said, it's been quite a journey.

Talk to us about the leading priorities, both on and off the pitch, to begin with. What were they?

First and foremost, the position from FSG, across all of the entities that are a part of the overall enterprise, No.1 is always to focus on success and winning. That's the goal. That's why we all do what we do every day. There's quite a lot of acumen across the sports and entertainment landscape that FSG brought to the table and certainly the initial focus was about the team on the pitch and ensuring that we made the right decisions to rebuild from an on-pitch perspective, with an eye on competing and an eye on success. And obviously the football leadership, in particular some of the decisions made by those that came into the football side, were incredibly important, going back to Michael Edwards' first time at the club, Ian Graham, obviously the managers that came through, have been incredibly important in sort of focusing on the on-pitch.

And then of course there's off-pitch elements of that and I think in addition to the football being obviously critical and central, the other aspects [were] really infrastructure. There was a decision made very early on that we wanted to do everything possible if we possibly could to stay at Anfield. That was achieved through what was a multiple-phase expansion of Anfield, obviously starting with the Main Stand. People can remember what the ground looked like back in the early 2010s, but expanding from what was effectively 45,000 up to 54,000. Then obviously the more recent redevelopment of the Anfield Road to get us to just over 61,000, so sort of a focus on Anfield but across the board from an infrastructure standpoint there was investment that needed to be made.

The move from Melwood to the AXA Training Centre, which was an incredibly ambitious project and something that I think has been hugely impactful in terms of the home of the men's team and where they operate from, but also bringing the men's team and the Academy onto one plot, which was something that strategically we thought was important. It was something that we were able to execute. And obviously Melwood coming back into the family, so to speak, with the repurchase of Melwood and what we believe now is one of the best women's training centres in the WSL. And then we're just in the midst as we've said recently of some redevelopment work going on at the Academy.

So, when you think about it through, there is the football, the infrastructure and then the other element which we have been very public about [is] the fact that this is about trying to run a sustainable club and so the commercial revenues have been incredibly important. There's been a tremendous amount of success over the course of the last decade-and-a-half in terms of our partners and building out the partnerships business. Some really long-term partners: Standard Chartered obviously has been with us through the entire term of the Fenway Sports Group ownership; Carlsberg has been with us for over three decades. Long-term impactful partners that have come on to help us drive from a commercial standpoint, and much more to go on that front as well. Those are really the three areas: the football, the infrastructure and building out the commercial side of the club.

Another anniversary was marked recently as well – 10 years since Jürgen Klopp rolled into town. It was a huge moment. Could you ever have imagined how impactful he would have been?

Hoped maybe, but never imagined, for sure. Recently recognising the 10 years since Jürgen came to the club and an incredible nine years: success, obviously, on and off the pitch during that time, eight trophies won over the course of his tenure. But, to answer the question, no, I don't think anybody could have necessarily foreseen it [but] certainly hoped that would be the case. It was a great fit, Jürgen was a great fit for the club and I think the club was a great fit for him. A fantastic time here, hugely impactful and he will always be a legend of the club. He's still involved actually as an ambassador of the Foundation, and obviously he was at one of our events at the end of last season. A terrific impact and something that he will always be remembered as a legend of the club.

It was a 'where were you?' moment when he announced that he was leaving, but football can't stand still, it never stands still. You'll probably have a strong recall of that time when he announced he wanted to go, and then of course the success that's followed since under Arne Slot...

Yeah, it was obviously a shock for everybody when he initially let ownership know and informed myself and others. It was one of, as I said, shock but also one where he clearly had made the decision for the right reasons and, ultimately, I think when he had the opportunity to share that news, it was something that was a bit of a 'where were you?' moment. But I think at the same time it also gave us, the club, an opportunity to think about what would be next. Ownership made the decision, as we know, [for] Michael Edwards re-joining the club as the CEO of Football, and then subsequently Michael bringing in Richard Hughes as our sporting director, and the work really could get under way. To some degree, a credit to Jürgen in the sense that he made that news public so that there could be a sort of public search for the next leader on the football side.

Obviously that target was Arne, and certainly [we are] incredibly happy that they were able to make that happen. A huge amount of work and a huge amount of credit to Michael, to Richard, and obviously then to Arne and the team for the success that we saw over the course of last season. As you said, it is one that we're incredibly excited and pleased with that transition. An amazing, amazing amount of work went into making sure that transition went as smoothly as it could.

And that transition was followed soon afterwards with a Premier League title. It was the moment that we'd all dreamed of. We had experienced it behind closed doors. To get that moment together as a football family was just incredible, indescribable really...

It was. We've talked about it in the past, when you think about winning the Premier League during COVID and frankly how kind of, and I've said it before, heartbreaking that was to be in an empty Anfield. The fact that we got an opportunity five years later to clinch the trophy that day against Spurs, which was just an incredible moment, and then of course lifting the trophy at Anfield a couple of weeks later. It really was one of those moments certainly I'll never forget. All of the hard work that goes in, all of the support, all the travel that our supporters do all over the world to follow this club, and the incredible opportunities for us to celebrate that together, which we didn't get the chance to do previously in 2020. And a culmination of, as I said, all that incredible work and a phenomenal season by a team that really just methodically ground out results over the course of last year. Couldn't have been happier with the way that things went last year, for sure.

Talking about success on the pitch, and they were fantastic moments for us all as Liverpool fans, there also seems this renewed sense of ambition off the pitch too...

Yeah, we've been very, very public about the fact that we're always working to run the club sustainably. And that ultimately means that we are focused on on-pitch success, and then we hopefully can drive off-pitch success to help to fund that, to help to drive the club forward. An amazing team of people that work incredibly hard off the pitch to make sure that we're doing everything possible to support our on-pitch ambitions. Ultimately that's to win trophies and to compete consistently. From a partnership standpoint, which is a big part, we mentioned Standard Chartered and Carlsberg and Expedia, AXA – some of our big partners on the principal side. We've had 10 new partners that have joined the club in the last 18 months alone, so incredibly important work going on there.

From a merchandising standpoint, we were celebrating when we were out in Hong Kong for pre-season, we opened our 20th standalone retail store. And actually since our visit to Hong Kong, we've opened 21 and 22, so we've now got 22 standalone LFC retail stores around the world, more retail outlets than any other team in world sport, which is something that we're incredibly proud of and we continue to drive that forward.

We've talked about the expansion of Anfield, and one of the things that we've obviously been doing more recently is concerts at Anfield and trying to utilise Anfield for more than just the matchday. That is an opportunity for us also to potentially bring new people to Anfield and new people to Liverpool. We all are familiar with the Swifties who came in a couple of summers ago, but all the fans of P!nk and Bruce Springsteen and Dua Lipa, those are opportunities for us to have people come to Anfield that maybe wouldn't come for a football match, but also the chance for them to come to Liverpool and to see the city and to reinforce what's great about the community and Merseyside in general.

And then obviously the digital side of what we do. We're the most-watched team in the Premier League, over 200 million followers across our social media platforms, 1.7 billion engagements, the most-engaged team in the Premier League last season. So, we want to continue to drive all of these elements forward. There's still a tremendous amount of work ahead of us, but really proud of the team sort of behind the team, the team off the field that's doing all this work to help drive the club forward in a major way.

A tricky one this, but what would your highlight be amongst all the stuff that you've talked about already? One that you would pick out, what would it be to go back to and why?

I mean, it's incredibly difficult to pick just one. There's been so many. As I said earlier, the reason we do this is to be successful, to win trophies. Winning two trophies in the WSL, winning two Premier League trophies, the Champions League, Super Cup, Club World Cup, those moments when you get the chance to lift a trophy are moments that you never forget and the people that you've worked so hard with, and for in the sense of our ownership, but the team that we work with every day on and off the pitch, those are the moments that everything comes together.

I will say and we talked about it earlier, not just because it's the most recent, but the title last year and the opportunity to celebrate that together, the opportunity to lift a trophy at Anfield, which is something that we didn't get the chance to do, that's probably the highlight. The transition that we talked about in terms of football leadership, all the work and blood, sweat and tears of the last 15 years coming to fruition with the title is certainly a moment I'll never forget and right up there with the best of them.

You've so articulately described the highest of highs, but we've had the lowest of lows as a club as well. How do you feel as a club we've been able to get through those moments together?

Yeah, certainly even just this past summer and even these last few weeks, most recently, Matt Beard, who was the former manager of the women's team and had two stints here at the club and, I mentioned earlier, won two WSL trophies and helped us get promoted back to the WSL in his most recent time at the club, we lost Matt just a couple of weeks ago. And of course, Diogo and Andre and their passing this summer, which rocked everybody, not just here at the club but across the world of sport and even frankly beyond that.

Maybe a term that gets used a lot and maybe sounds trite, but there really is a sense of family at this club and it's something that I've certainly felt in my time here and I think in those moments, certainly the highs are incredible but I think in the lows that family comes together. I think we saw that in abundance this summer, unfortunately, in the aftermath of Diogo and Andre's passing. When we have had lows, and you're right, there have been lows, that's when that family comes together, supports each other and supports those impacted by it. Those are really, really difficult moments, but I think it's also just a reflection of the values of the club and the way that people come together, both inside and outside of the club, supporters and those that are impacted by the club, to come together to get through those moments.

The fans have been incredible during that time. You mentioned Diogo there, who I know you had a personal relationship with, it's been so difficult for everybody. But the fans have been in that place where they want to do things too, and there's an incredible amount of money that they've raised in that time. You're working on memorials and what the next step will be to honour his memory...

Incredible, yeah. Even obviously as we move through the season, recognising him and Andre in the 20th minute with his song has been done and I'm sure will continue to be done. [We are] working on a permanent spot to recognise both of them at Anfield. Again in the aftermath, something that we wanted to do as a club and supporters were very supportive of was [that] all of the proceeds from his name and number, and as well we created a T-shirt honouring him, all of those proceeds are going to an LFC Foundation programme for grassroots football that will be in his name, him and Andre, and well over £200,000 has already been raised in that effort. So again, just another incredible example of the love and support and the coming together of the community and the supporter base around the club.

And even in those moments, those days and weeks after we lost the two of them, the sort of impromptu memorial at Anfield and the number of people that came to find solace in not just remembering them but in a sense also being together, that was something that we've seen and we continue to see over the course of this season.

So we come back round again to marking 15 years since FSG took ownership of Liverpool. How do you sum it up, Billy, in terms of what happens next, the ambitions, the burning desires that they will have going forward for this club?

I think first of all it's really important in these moments to take a look back and recognise where we've come from, as we've talked about, and I would like to thank John, Tom, Mike, all of our partners at FSG, for the vision, the leadership, the ambition, what has been accomplished here over the last 15 years. We have had success and we've had great opportunities to lift trophies on both the men's and women's side, and that only makes you hungrier to do it more. So, we certainly don't intend to stop. The pursuit is always about competing, and ultimately about trying to win trophies, so that won't change, that doesn't change, that is our fundamental goal, and certainly something as the leader of this club I feel honoured to be in the position that I'm in to help lead this club, to work with so many people both on the football side and on the business side that literally wake up every single day trying to drive this club forward. So, a huge thanks to all of them.

And we continue to move forward. We've talked about a lot of the things which are going really well currently. We're really, really proud of our Red Way programme, which really looks at how we operate from a sustainability standpoint. And that's not just as a club but our people, our communities and the planet, and how we continue to do that and that's helped to differentiate us from the competition, if you will, going forward. So, there's a tremendous amount of accomplishment in a moment when you look back over 15 years, but there's also a tremendous drive to keep going. And with that leadership from FSG and with the leadership here at the club, we're going to continue to do that, continue to compete for trophies, and we're excited about the future.