No one can deny that Liverpool FC is a massive club. Under normal circumstances most managers in the world would not pass up the opportunity of managing such a great club if the post was offered to them. The facts are though, these are not normal circumstances. The lack of money to spend on new players, the uncertainty of the future of the owners and a team whose major stars are considering their future, it’s enough to put off the bravest manager of taking on the role. So out of the potential favourites for the position, who would be willing to take up the role?
Kenny Dalglish – The Liverpool legend is currently helping Managing Director Christian Purslow to draw up a shortlist of replacements FOR Rafa Benitez. Sky Sports News is also reporting that he is in talks about becoming temporary manager until a new coach is found. If this is the case then it could be the ideal solution. Many managers may be unwilling to takeover as manager until the ownership issue is resolved and Kenny could be the short term interim appointment until the American owners finally sell up. It would mean Dalglish would be in charge for the best part of next season.
Interest in Job: Likely
Roy Hodgson – The Fulham manager has had an excellent spell at Craven Cottage. Working on a limited budget, he managed to get his team to the Europa League final last season before losing narrowly to Atletico Madrid. A manager with a wealth of experience in Europe and at international level, the veteran manager would see the Liverpool job as a great opportunity to work at the top of English football for the first time at the grand old age of 62.
Interest in job: Likely
Martin O’Neill – The Northern Irish manager’s future at Aston Villa looked uncertain at the end of the season as he refused to guarantee he would be at the club beyond the final game of the campaign. Since, he has had talks with Randy Lerner, and will stay on as manager for next season. He will have to sell before he buys players this summer at Villa Park, although the situation at Anfield regarding transfer budget would be far more uncertain and he would also have to contend with Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard’s uncertain futures. Would he trade one relatively amenable American owner for two complete clowns?
Interest in job: Highly debatable
Mark Hughes – A former Manchester United and Everton player does make an obvious Liverpool manager. Hughes has already in his managerial career decided to manage Manchester City, one of United’s biggest rivals and it would not be a great stretch for him to manage Liverpool. A manager, desperate to get back into management at the top club, he would likely apply for the position although he would not be welcome by many of the Anfield faithful.
Interest in job: Likely
Guus Hiddink – A man who has already filled the caretaker manager role at Chelsea, Hiddink does have the experience of reigniting a faltering team in a short space of time. The Dutch manager has just taken up the position of Turkey manager and would probably be less than keen on taking the role. He would most likely want a long term deal if he were to return to England and with the uncertain ownership situation, he could see himself out of a job at Liverpool in six months if he decides to take on the role. In such a situation, he would definitely prefer to stay as Turkey coach
Interest in job: Unlikely
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What about Harry Redknapp? Most people would prefer him to both Hodgson and O`Neill I would assume….
Intrestingly you go for British managers, with the exception of Hiddink. I just don’t see Kenny doing it willingly, sure he may do it for the good of the club, like when he took over from Barnes. However what manager would come in and have the guy you replaced around? I want Kenny here, youth development officer, board director, club ambassador whatever so he’s out for me.
Of the others Roy Hodgson, I like the guy but no. Martin O’Neill NO NO NO, he’s a hoof ball merchant, he’s never done much in the EPL, organised yes, tough to beat yes, media friendly yes, Liverpool manager NEVER. Mark Hughes, old useless being Liverpool manager?? Except I’m Welsh and I saw what he did with a brutal Wales team and went from hating him to developing an admirtion for him. His spell at Blackburn was a success and City aren’t doing better without him. His signings there for the most part were sensible, he didn’t sign Robinho the owners did. The Lescott signing is a bad mark as is his Old Toilet and Good for a laughison days. Could you imagine Man U appointing an ex Liverpool and Man City player as their boss? No, well you’re wrong Sir Matt Busby and he’s a legend.
The surprising part is the lack of foreign managers being linked, Claude Puel is certainly worth a look as is Pelligrini, I hate Real it’s Rayo (political reasons) and Barca for me, but Real have improved immeasurebly this season and only lost the league by 1 goal (if Barca-Real had finished 0-0 rather than 1-0 Real would have been champs) and the manager gets SACKED!! Hopefully the special needs one falls flat on his face and looks the prat he really is. Also this we’re taking our time comment may mean there are some World Cup coaches being considered.
what about carrager????????
wish he’ll be the next keny . . .
he have a potential ablty to manage lfc with his own lfc blod . . .
yeh,harry steers spurs to 4th spot then leaves to take on a sinkin ship with huge debt,no money for players and your best ones likely to jump too.haaaahaaahaaa dream on
Andy, agree with you concerning Kenny, Hodgson and O`Neill. Kenny might be short term solution over the summer but anything beyond that would shock me. Hodgson is by all means a good manager but i don`t think he`s got what it takes. O`Neill is wrong for us, and so is Hughes.
Though the latter might do a decent job under the circumstances I just can`t imagine he would have much support from either players or fans. And then again, hiring a guy who got the boot by City? Hmmm…
Though some might find it unthinkable, I still think Redknapp would be the best british solution. He`s turned around Spurs from in 18 months. And yes, I know leaving Spurs now would seem completely absurd. But that`s if you stick to the short-term perspective. Spurs won`t last long in the top 4, while Lfc soon will have new owners in place and proper funding. And Redknapp would then have a mouth-watering challenge on his hands. It would be his final chance to manage a world famous club. Let`s face it, Tottenham is Tottenham, not Liverpool.
Otherwise, Hiddink would seem an ideal candidate. And a spanish-speaking manager would also make sense, given the armada of spanish personell currently filling up Melwood and the Academy. Pellegrini or Flores would probably do a good job, but right now Lfc seems to need something new and that might necessitate a discontinuation of the spanish connection.
To me Redknapp or Hiddink would be the ideal choices, taking into concideration their overall managing qualities + player and fan backing.
Not all ‘true’ Liverpool fans wear rosy Rafa goggles and spout continual myopic tripe. There is a large contingent of sensible, rational koppites that are being vastly underrepresented on this board. We’re not all burning another country’s flag and preaching some reverse-shanklyan armageddon. All this “end times,” “mid-table wilderness,” “eternal demise” pontificating is really getting nauseous and annoying. First of all, take a look a premier league standing trends and apply your brain. Teams often have a poor year and bounce back the next season by applying a bit of common sense and graft. Liverpool has a strong squad spine, where if players are properly nurtured, applied, and formulated, you could immediately get a lot more out of them. A top class manager like Hiddink (just one example) would get far more out of our present squad than Rafa did, just by playing players in their proper positions and applying tactics and formations that suit
them. Such a manager would also not continually pulverize the team by making bizarre substitutions and hauling of performing players in preference for those that repeatedly play poorly. A class manager would make acute personnel decisions that would supplement the existing spine rather than detract from it. You wouldn’t get decisions like replacing Alonso with Lucas…. or selling on Crouch, Bellamy, Cisse, and Baros while keeping Ngog and Voronin as your only backup for Torres. A class manager would not habitually alienate players and upset natural team chemistry with displays of petulance. What is the point of buying a Robbie Keane type player – playing him out of positions (or on the bench) for three months – then cut-price selling him when he actually starts to score goals and gel with the team? Class managers don’t do this sort of thing – otherwise Henry and Cantona would have been flogged off before they made their mark in the premiership.
Man-management skills are a necessary trait, especially with English players who can’t rely on technical precision all the time. In time, I hope that the IRWT brigade and the doom-merchants wake up to the fact that Rafa was simply lacking in many areas. The reason he is coveted by teams like Inter Milan is quite simply because he is much more suited to Serie A football and would probably do well there. He is defensive, cautious, and likes a slow, methodic, probing football – all elements that will keep him from winning an English premiership forever. The wallowing Rafa-lovers keep trotting out the line that “Gerrard and Torres will follow Rafa out of the club.” Were you watching any of the games towards the end of the season? Did Gerrard or Torres (or anyone else for that matter) look thrilled with the way Rafa managed the games? By paying Rafa off (he wasn’t going to leave folks!), we have actually invested in our future by bringing about the
best scenario to where Gerrard and Torres (and others) will now probably stay. For all your black prophesy, you just can’t convince those of us that think for ourselves that Gerrard and Torres wouldn’t love to play for a more progressive, positive, attack-minded manager that doesn’t stubbornly keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Before you start playing the ingratitude card and bringing up Istanbul and Cardiff, let me tell you that there is no Liverpool fan that is ungrateful to Rafa or wishes him ill. But ask yourself honestly, was it Rafa’s tactics that won those two trophies on penalties – or was it a team that had to rise above Rafa’s deficiencies in fashioning a gameplan? This is not ingratitude but just pure honest reflection. Many will also cling to last year’s second place finish but just take a minute to analyze it properly. We played the Rafa way for the first half of the season and fell behind due to too many draws. It
wasn’t until we took the shackles off, threw caution to the wind, and proceeded to play in the most un-rafalike manner that we began to become a threat. But did Rafa learn anything from that going into the next season? No, he weakened the squad and reverted back to his failed approach once again. The simple fact is, Rafa had to go and probably should have gone much sooner. His effectiveness in the premiership is long gone and the squad is going backwards. A progressive new manager can come in, buy a couple of smart wide players and a decent forward to work with Torres, and this team could make big positive strides next season. Today was not a black day for LIverpool football club. With a sensible new managerial appointment, some clever acquisitions, this team could attract new ownership sooner rather than later. Stop listening to all the knee-jerk soundbites and apply some reason.
TOP MANAGER`S WIN PERCENTAGE AT RESPECTIVE CLUBS (PREMIER LEAGUE ONLY):
J. Mourinho, Chelsea (2004-2007): 70.81
Arsene Wenger, Arsenal (1996-2010): 58.10
A. Ferguson, Man.Utd (1986-2010): 58.93
M. O`Neill, Leicester (1995-2000): 38.12
A.Villa (2006-2010): 42.11
H. Redknapp, So`ton (2004-2005): 26.53
Pompey (2005-2008): 42.19
Spurs (2008-2010): 52.75
R. Hodgson, Bl`burn (1997-1998): 35.48
Fulham (2007-2010): 39.37
M. Hughes, Bl`burn (2004-2008): 43.62
Man.City (2008-2009): 46.75
A. McLeish, Birm`ham (2007-2010): 38.66
AND THEN COMPARE WITH THIS:
R. Benitez, Liv`pool (2004-2010): 55.43
Obviously, Jose Mourinho stands out supremely. Although he had vast economic resources available AND inherited a very impressive squad, his achievements are nothing short of astounding.
Ferguson and Wenger are the only other managers with higher win percentage than Benitez, bear in mind that the two former have had 24 and 14 years (and financial progress at their clubs mind you) respectively to build a winning culture.
Benitez inherited a squad full of deadbeats, apart from Gerrard, Carragher, Hyypia and to a certain degree Hamann. The rest was more or less rubbish. People have short term memory. Benitez had to rebuild almost the WHOLE squad, not just bring in the occasional two or three players like Wenger or Red Nose. And with 15mill pounds available for net spend per year combined with the fact that the squad he inherited was more or less worth next to nothing, Benitez chose to rebuild slowly with low range and medium range priced players. That`s all he could afford given the circumstances.
And despite all this he managed a win percentage of 55.43, in six years mind you, not 24, all while dealing with the usual media haters and violently hostile owners at Liverpool FC.
Compare Benitez` accomplishment with the track record of some of his touted replacements. AND WEEP! Who could replace him? I`m afraid Kenny and Company need to go abroad to find a suitable candidate. I can`t see any other than Hiddink or Van Gaal being capable of a job of this magnitude.
Hodgson or O`Neill? Forget it.
Hughes or McLeish? Don`t think so.
Eriksson? Must be a joke.
Mark my words, Liverpool FC will come to regret this decision unless they bring about a miracle and usher in Guus Hiddink or Louis Van Gaal. In three years time we can compare Benitez` win percentage with his heir. I`m sure Rafa will smile.
YNWA
And by the way, it took old Red Nose SEVEN years to win the league, and he avoided the sack despite some horrendously appalling seasons. Long live the double standard. Mr. Ferguson and the devils are the darlings of the media. Fact.
In his six seasons, Rafa won 1 Champions League trophy, made one more final, one semi-final and one quarter-final + won the F.A. Cup once.
In Fergie`s first six seasons United won 1 Cup Winner`s Cup, one F.A. Cup and one League Cup. Hardly a world beater either. But the sudden collapse of Liverpool (due to themselves) and the financial mega-growth of United made Ferguson`s new status as leading manager a CAKEWALK.
I think there were massive positives to rafa’s reign but some negatives. He did achieve more in his first 6 yrs than red nose did! Fergie had several bad seasons, coming close to relegation one time, rafa’s worst finish is 7th. But its true rafa stuck with slow measured Spanish type football whereas fergie’s troops learned his attacking style.
So for me it comes down to two things, those bloody owners! And rafa maybe wasn’t as strong a character as fergie so as to take on new ideas, as in second half of last season which was the best I seen us play I’m years
True that. Rafa lacked somewhat in the tactical area, and struggled when having to adopt plan B.
Also, our slow and defensive midfield game have frustrated me for years. The new manager will feel the pressure of applying a more positive approach. However, it will be a balancing act, cause the demand for success will be immense.
But I still feel the sacking of Rafa was a political assassination.