Peter Moore became Liverpool’s chief executive officer in June 2017, replacing Ian Ayre. The 63-year-old Liverpudlian spent nearly his entire professional career on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean before being presented with the opportunity to return home and take the helm of the club he has supported all his life.
Bringing a wealth of experience back to Merseyside, having previously held senior positions at Reebok, Sega, EA Sports and Microsoft, Moore has followed his own vision to enhance the club’s standing on a global scale and has overseen an investment in a new platform to engage their massive fan base.
Moore was in town this week as one of the guest speakers at Forbes Global CEO Conference 2018. He also took the opportunity to visit the Liverpool store, meet up with the supporters’ club and talk to the Bangkok Post about various topics including the challenges he’s faced in just over a year into his job at Anfield, his ambitions for the club, how he deals with the fans’ expectations and why emotional connection with the club can work to his advantage.
When the opportunity to take on this new challenge arose, did you take a long time to make a decision?
There was probably six months or so of conversation with ownership (Fenway Sports Group). It was a big move for me. I never thought I would ever go back to England.
And one could never dream that [of being a Liverpool CEO]. I am very Americanised in my views and the way I think about things, the way I act. And the only reason I would ever go back to England was to watch Liverpool play. I go see my family. I would go back at least 3-4 times a year to watch Liverpool. Fly from San Francisco to watch a game... maybe five times a year. It was never easy to go all the way from San Francisco to Liverpool and back. But I obviously also weave in, go to see my brothers and sisters who still live in the UK as part of that trip. But it’s been a long time since I lived there. Everything was strange to me. It’s a foreign country!
How was your first year as Liverpool CEO?
Well, I’m getting used to the weather again after being away for a long time and living in California. No, we had a great season obviously last year. It was a very pleasant surprise.
As the season built, you could feel that something special was happening, particularly the impact that players like Mohamed Salah were having on the field and we’re going in the Champions League and beating teams 7-0. And I went to every game. No matter where it was in the world, I went to every single game. I was witness to this team building in confidence ...and you could see it and the fans could feel it. And we made a good start this year!
Is it unlike any position that you’ve held before, being a lifelong fan of the club yourself?
The difference is that there’s a weight of expectations that hundreds of millions of people have on the club. Everything’s great when we’re winning and fortunately that’s generally what we do and so from that perspective I think you’ve got the hopes and dreams and aspirations from everybody. That’s not just me but everybody that works at the club.
That has been the biggest eye opener for me. I thought I knew how big the club was as a fan. It’s only when yon travel... I’ve been on tour to Hong Kong, America, Australia and you arrive in the middle of the night and there are thousands of fans and you’re thousands of miles from Liverpool. Only then do you see the impact this football club has on global fanbase. The passion that people have for this football club and what it means to them. And no where bigger than Thailand by the way when you look at the numbers, the size of the engagement of followers on social media. We owe it to Thailand!
How do you balance being a fan and being a CEO of the club?
I use it to my advantage because I understand the city, I was born in the city. I’m a Liverpudlian. So I can draw from that to understand what’s going on locally. And to have empathy and connection with the city. If I was really American it would be difficult, impossible, to do that. You just can’t imagine.
The flip side is... I watch the game differently now, very differently. The implications when we score goals, and the implications when we concede goals that go in my head. That makes it a little more difficult to ‘enjoy’ the game. But I think overall, being from Liverpool, understanding Liverpool, is an advantage. But there are times when you have to put that aside to figure out what is the right decision.
You worked for many years in gaming industry. How have those experiences helped you at Liverpool?
One of the things we learned, a long time ago, from gaming is this idea of networking people together, to bring them closer together, so that they engage deeper. In that case online gaming was phenomenal for doing that. And it’s the same with football, particularly with Liverpool, how do we use technology to bring people closer to Anfield. Because you can’t get more people at Anfield!
A lot of people come over from Thailand and I speak to them every game. There’s always somebody from Thailand coming over to say hello if they see me walking to the stadium. But it’s a long way away, it’s not cheap to fly to England, it’s difficult to get a ticket to the game. How do we then use technology to bring Anfield to Bangkok, if you will, on a game day? We’re building out a technical backbone, an infrastructure that will allow us to engage deeper, bring more content realtime, web applications, in particular, how to use things like virtual reality, augmented reality. How do we make you feel like, even though you sat in your apartment in Bangkok watching a game in the evening local time, but you feel like you’re at Anfield.
I want to make you feel that when we kick off against Arsenal on Saturday night [late last night] at the Emirates and you’ve got your Liverpool shirt on that you’re closer there, you’re there. So from that perspective that’s what we’re looking at. Engagement tools, ways that we can bring you closer to the club, add value to you as a Liverpool supporter. So the work is ongoing and it’s not that far away. We have a project called ‘Fan Connect’ that is built entirely around that objective which is to engage our fans with a deeper, richer, more substantial experience.
In the age of social media, Liverpool’s presence on this platform is still behind some of their rival clubs. Are those numbers really that important?
There are probably a couple of clubs that have a bigger number per se, but I think we engage in a very different way. Last time I looked we just turned 11 million followers on our twitter account and a good chunk of those are from Thailand. When you look at the number that is Thai specific, outside of the UK, this is our No.1 source of Liverpool supporters.
But I know that we can always do better, and that is the plan, not only to do better as regards the number of people that follow us but also to engage them. They provide you with the growth, they engage with you financially, and that creates this cycle that allows you to be able to take that and reinvest it on the field. So we have the best players that we possibly can as a result of that. And that’s what I learned at EA and certainly at Microsoft, building virtuous cycle, and certainly planning to do the same thing at Liverpool.
How important is fan input when it comes to your decision-making?
I absorb input from a myriad of different places. Social media is a great way to get a sampling. But you have to be careful. One thing I’ve learned about football is there’s something happening everyday that people want to react to, give their opinion about. So for me social media has become a tremendous platform to understand what’s going on in the minds of our supporters. Not only right there in Liverpool but also here in Bangkok, you know, a lot of supporters will tweet in English or I get it translated when I see it in Thai. So from the perspective of me understanding what’s going on it’s a very useful tool.
You go to pubs and talk to fans as well!
If we win I go to the pub [laughs]... I did that last Saturday. We beat Cardiff and I went into Liverpool with my wife and a friend who had come over from the United States. Look when we’re winning, they all want to come over and say hello and it was fine. It was just... out for a beer... just as simple as that. Many people come over saying ‘I’m excited about what the team’s doing’. It’s a different story if you lose because emotions run high. But I enjoy going to a pub for a pint like most Englishmen! If I’m doing it in Liverpool a lot of people recognise me and it’s actually fun to sit down and talk with people. Most people are very rational and respectful.
You earlier talked about Thailand being one of your biggest fanbases outside of the UK, so when will Liverpool visit us again?
I’m sure we will be back eventually, I just don’t know when. We would be foolish not to because of the power of the Thai fans, passion and their love for the club.This place is too much fun not to come back on a regular basis!
