Those who have played for Liverpool in the modern era are generally lucky enough not to have to worry about money for another day in their lives. But plenty still look to build another career when they hang up their boots, typically still within the world of football — and one former player is seeking to make the grade as a sporting director, in which guise he has just landed a new job.
As rival fans will be quick to mention, the media is a popular route for former Anfield stars, with Jamie Carragher, Peter Crouch, Danny Murphy and Daniel Sturridge among those to regularly grace our screens. Others, like Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso, try their hand at management.
But the sporting director path feels a little less common. Having said that, the position at Liverpool is currently filled by Richard Hughes, who is indeed a former player, albeit not for the Reds.
Likewise, Edu played for Arsenal before ultimately taking up that position with the same club many years later. Monchi spent more than a decade with Sevilla as a goalkeeper before becoming one of the most renowned sporting directors in the industry.
So the pathway is there, even if it is not massively well-trodden by many Liverpool alumni. Someone looking to change that is Martin Skrtel.
He has dabbled with ambassadorial duties for Liverpool since retiring as a player. Returning for various Legends matches, he has also accompanied the first team in pre-season in the past, integrating with Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
But Skrtel’s ambition appears to lie in becoming a sporting director. He has taken tentative steps in that direction in his native Slovakia.
(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
There was a strange and largely unexplained incident at the start of the campaign, when Skrtel joined Dunajska Streda, only to depart after just 35 days in the job. Reports from Slovakia suggested that his views “did not meet those of the club management”, while the club stated that the former defender left at his own request for personal reasons.
In any event, Skrtel has now returned to the sporting director game, this time with another Slovakian outfit. He has joined Spartak Trnava, the club where he called time on his professional playing career.
After leaving Anfield in 2016, Skrtel had spells with Fenerbache and Istanbul Basaksehir. He also briefly signed for Atalanta, although that was another curiously short engagement, which ended after just three weeks.
Spartak Trnava was his final stop. And he has now taken up the post of sporting director.
Naturally, Liverpool fans will wish him well in his next chapter. And with Hughes currently in the Anfield hotseat after a relatively unassuming player career, who knows what the future may hold — perhaps Skrtel could one day return to the Reds in a new capacity.
