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Blood Red: The Liverpool FC Podcast

Billy Beane EXCLUSIVE: The Moneyball man who inspired FSG, Michael Edwards and Liverpool FC's transfer genius

Blood Red: The Liverpool FC Podcast

Reach Podcasts

News, Sports, Soccer, Sports News

4.41000 Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2020

⏱️ 26 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Matt Addison speaks to Moneyball pionner Billy Beane, the man who inspired Liverpool's transfer recruitment strategy with his work with the Oakland Athletics baseball team, for an exclusive podcast. Beane is baseball's version of Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards, and was the first to put data, analytics and science into gaining marginal advantages in the transfer market – something the Reds have pretty much perfected in recent years. Beane is the man that Liverpool have looked to follow, so he is the perfect person to shed light on an area that the club try to keep secret. Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson are just three examples of how the Reds have used Beane's technique to unearth undervalued gems, and he gives Blood Red a fascinating insight about how the process works. The 58-year-old, who was played by Brad Pitt in the film Moneyball, is a close personal friend of Liverpool owner John W Henry and FSG chairman Tom Werner, while he also knows the club’s ex-sporting director Damien Comolli. Beane provides insight into all three of them, plus current sporting director Edwards, in a rare behind-the-scenes look into FSG and how the Americans, who also own the Boston Red Sox, operate. Enjoy.The Liverpool Echo sends a twice-daily Liverpool FC bulletin out via email with the all latest news, views and analysis from Anfield. Sign up for this service here: https://communicatoremail.com/F/QvfUCndgGDRHFbKqw0Z7Ip/Join our Blood Red podcast group on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1656599847979758/Watch and subscribe to our Blood Red videos on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-TbqyJWlhRPedk-if0rKtw?view_as=subscriberVisit the Liverpool ECHO website: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/all-about/liverpool-fcWant to leave a message to Jurgen Klopp's title winners? If you do, let us know where in the world you celebrated Liverpool's Premier League victory here: https://liverpoolchampions2020.liverpoolecho.co.uk/ Download our Liverpool FC app for free: Apple – https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/lfc-echo/id1255495425 Android – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mirror.liverpoolfc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This is the Blood Red Podcast from the Liverpool Echo, giving you the inside track on all the big talking points from Anfield.

0:08.0

Hello and welcome to the latest Blood Red Podcast.

0:12.0

I'm Matt Addison, and while there is no football for

0:14.1

Liverpool FC to enjoy this weekend we do have a very special guest here for you

0:18.8

instead. If you haven't listened to the FSG Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Podcast from last week,

0:24.7

this one kind of follows on from that one.

0:26.6

So I'd recommend that you go back and download that one first from the exact same place that

0:30.8

you got this one from.

0:32.4

In that one, we looked in detail at

0:34.4

FSG's Liverpool strategy as a whole but this podcast goes straight to the heart

0:38.8

of a topic lots of Liverpool fans understandably get very excited about transfers and

0:44.0

how Liverpool go about signing players. Michael Edwards quite rightly has an

0:48.6

excellent reputation among Liverpool fans but he along with the rest of the transfer team, analysts and scouts,

0:55.3

were inspired to use data and statistics to find marginal advantages and undervalued assets

1:00.7

like Andy Robertson or Mohammed Sala by one man. This week I

1:05.0

Face time moneyball founder Billy Bean of the Oakland A's and baseball fame the man

1:10.2

who first used data to help sports teams punch above their weight, finding value

1:14.9

in the market with unfancied players.

1:18.0

With the news coming out last week that Manchester City had been let off their financial

1:21.7

fair play misdemeanors. Those advantages

1:24.1

that Liverpool have over their rivals when it comes to smart recruitment might just

1:28.2

have got even more important. Liverpool have adopted a similar moneyball strategy under FSG, something that Yergen-Claude has embraced, and the Reds have reaped the rewards.

...

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