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Football Liverpool FC Sports Marketing

Liverpool FC promotes commercial director, Billy Hogan, to managing director as club's chief executive, Ian Ayre, departs

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By Tony Connelly | Sports Marketing Reporter

February 3, 2017 | 3 min read

Liverpool FC’s commercial director, Billy Hogan, has been promoted to chief commercial officer and managing director as the club’s chief executive, Ian Ayre, will leave at the end of the month.

Ian Ayre

Ian Ayre will leave at the end of the month

Hogan’s additional duties as managing director will now see him take up the responsibility for the management of the club’s marketing and digital media departments.

The promotion is part of a wider transitional period for the club that will pave the way for the new, and still to be named, chief executive who is expected to join in the summer. Other changes to the senior structure of the club include Michael Edwards’ promotion to the newly-created role of sporting director.

The current chief executive Ian Ayre is set to leave the Premier League club at the end of the month, drawing to a close his ten-year tenure at Liverpool FC.

During his time as chief executive Ayre lead a complete overhaul of Liverpool’s financial, commercial and operational structure. He was instrumental in the smooth transition of Fenway Sports Group’s (FSG) takeover of the club in 2010 and is credited with securing lucrative commercial partnerships.

In 2010 he secured the shirt sponsorship deal with Standard Chartered Bank - believed to be one of the most lucrative shirt sponsorship deals in football and significantly increased commercial revenues for reinvestment into the team. Ayre will now join German football club TSV 1860 Munich on a date to be confirmed.

FSG president, Mike Gordon, said Ayre’s leadership has been “instrumental to the club’s progress under our ownership” and added that the “natural transition” was a measure of his “character and his commitment to LFC”.

Gordon said that the appointments of Hogan and Edward reflected their “first-rate performance”.

He added: “These changes have already ushered in improvements to the club’s operations and they will also serve to ensure management stability during the transition to new executive leadership.”

Liverpool said that the search for a new chief executive is “progressing well” and expected the position to be filled by the summer.

Football Liverpool FC Sports Marketing

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