Warning: The following is not an attempt at heresy, merely a cautious thought.
With Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson seemingly caught between a rock and a hard place, a huge decision rests on the shoulders of John W Henry and his chairman Tom Werner. Roy Hodgson, despite coming here with the best of intentions and a decent if unspectacular record over his many years, has found himself downstream without a paddle.
When NESV took over Liverpool FC, they preached about the long term goal and how they want to do things in the right way. But the amount of pressure that is building on Hodgson, is now building on NESV, and I feel like there’s something not right about that. I would be disappointed if NESV bowed to the fans wishes so easily, fans are fickle, and one thing a chairman cannot be is fickle. A well known website recently posted an open letter to Henry with what was effectively an ultimatum; sack Roy Hodgson or lose the respect of the fans. This kind of thing I find out of order, there is no way someone in the position that Henry is in should give credence to ultimatums and blackmail.
Those in charge are clearly astute businessmen, and Liverpool FC, whether we like it or not, is a business. There are countless factors to consider with replacing Hodgson. Things ranging from the new manager, to the pay out, to the effect on the players and to the image the club gives out. One problem which might occur, is the appointment of someone who may become too powerful. The man who springs to mind is obvious; Kenny Dalglish. The child inside me pines for the return of the king, the atmosphere and energy he would bring back for those initial games would be worth every penny. The concern however, and maybe I’m being a bit too cautious, is what if Kenny doesn’t work out?
Say, for instance, Kenny gets us playing half decent football but by the summer we still languish in 5th or 6th. Could we bring ourselves to replace him? What contacts does Dalglish have in the modern game? Could he work with Comolli? Will he be able to establish a modern sports science approach which is essential these days? Would the fans be able to see common sense if it wasn’t working out? However, most importantly, if a relationship broke down with the board, the fans would inevitably come down on Kenny’s side. The board must see the potential for trouble here.
We know that Dalglish is a gentleman, he’s proved it time and again, but put your business heads on. Would you hire someone with the potential to have more sway and power than yourself? I would hope that, if Dalglish does end up with the reigns, that it works out. I would like nothing more than a legend to come back and restore the club, it’s fairy-tale stuff. But maybe, as a Liverpool fan, we’ve been subjected to too many broken promises.
For this reason, I think the best the board may do with Dalglish, (if Hodgson was to go), would be to give him a contract only to the end of the season. There would have to be some kind of gentlemans agreement that Dalglish would go quietly and by mutual consent. It seems silly to even be considering this kind of thing now, but I want a long term future, not a short term answer. If Liverpool get beat by Bolton, Hodgson will surely be sacked. But if he stumbles on to the summer, I won’t be too upset (just disappointed).
The ultimatums to the board must stop though, we need a strong board who prove they have faith and an eye for the future. Besides Dalglish, there are no managers available at this time of year. God forbid we end up with Allardyce or O’Neill, although O’Neill would no doubt have us a bit more motivated than Mr Roy. The biggest decision comes in the summer. Regardless of what happens from now til then. We aren’t going to finish 4th, forget about it. We probably won’t finish 4th for a couple of years, but Henry has a tough decision to make in the next couple of days.
It’s a fine line between a weak chairman and one who answers the fans. It was a strong board who stuck by Ferguson in the 80’s despite fan calls for a sacking, we need to be prepared to accept that Dalglish might not get the job, and if he doesn’t, then the summer will be the time for change. For now, we may have to just grin and bare it. A. A. Milne said it clearly for us all: “The third-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the majority. The second-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking with the minority. The first-rate mind is only happy when it is thinking.”
Maybe we need the board to do what they alone think is best for the long term, for Liverpool FC in the next 25 years, not the rest of the season.
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Only Kenny can unite the fans and players at THIS time. The key is not that the King stays long term but that he is a figure that unites us all in the short term. We are in serious danger of relegation as it stands. Hodgson has taken sides down. He is currently drawing on one of his greatest achievements to ‘rescue’ the situation: that of saving Fulham from relegation on the last day of the season in 2008! We are Liverpool for goodness sake! Roy must go in the next couple of days; that is the right decision no matter who started the impetus to achieve it. Kenny would unite us and so long as the team around him were empowered to do their jobs and were strong enough to debate and discuss with him (Red legends such as Thommo, Sammy, Rushie and the like)then we would be successful. Back to the Boot Room mentality combined with the 21st century sports science ‘technology’. How would any of these other overseas coaches do better than Rafa or Hou? None have better credentials. Let’s get our soul back. Why not be ruled by our hearts? It is where our hope is. Walk on.
Absolutely right. I do wish the ‘Bring back Kenny’ brigade could think beyoned next week. I love them man, but this move has the potential to cause even more problems. Ans what if hew made no difference? I doubt if he could make much. they’d then have a virtually unsackable manager. A real mess!
Do we leave RH in charge then and hope he saves us from relegation eventually? He sounds like a beaten man in the press today; a lonely and dejected man. I hope he does win today, then beats United and wins the next 3 thereafter, including the Derby. Happy days if he does but I don’t think he will manage it (or even close to it)and don’t think we should be waiting to see. He has lost the fans and the players. We have each other but he has neither. Time to go. If there is a better immediate alternative to KK then I would happy to have that discussion. Walk on.
I think you have got it wrong! The only reason NESV are slow to make decision is because they do not understand football. The day when they do they will make quick decision! There is nothing wrong with the fans putting pressure on NESV because we are feeling the pressure to and we cannot see Liverpool in this state anymore. Something is broken and it needs fixing and it has to be fixed NOW before it’s too late!!! Never forget the FANS are the paymasters without them you wouldn’t have a football club!! We want change and we want it NOW, so John Henry your a business man don’t be shy to make those changes now for the sake of your investment.
If Roy Hodgson had the least dignity and integrity for this football giant club and its fans throughout the world, he would have stepped down. But he is proving himself as a dwarf manager who just care how to lay comfortably on what he thinks might provide him with security, the supposed support he enjoys from the new owners and the players as he claims! But this dwarf manager doesn’t realize that his days are up. This dwarf manager doesn’t realize that the heritage of this club was build up on the fundamental of its fans, “YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE!” He has lost the real sense and meaning of what it takes to be a Liverpool manager. He said, “tt has taken me a long while to get to this elevated position coaching one of the best clubs in Europe.” Not exactly right Mr. Roy! This is one of the best clubs in the world not just in Europe and you can no longer be a disgrace and humiliation to its heritage and fans!
Very good article chris and much better than most of the simplistic/overblown stuff being posted by our fans all over the net.
The problem with holding onto roy until the summer though, is that that means turmoil definitely persists at the club until the summer also – combine that with the fact that under hodgson all of our players are drastically losing value in the market and the club losing further appeal to prospective transfers, and it becomes obvious that hodgson’s reign is untenable.
I’d also like to say that the most qualified candidate IS immediately available – Frank Rijkaard
Hear! Hear!
for me what they are doing is great,they arnt coming out and slagging of the players and the coach,they are doing things behind closed doors and once they are ready then we hear about it,i no they have seen the untold press storys about petitions and such about roy if they havnt then there is something wrong,but for me anyway i dont want them to sack roy to replace him with a half arse name sake just to apease a few fans,i want a manager that is gonna take us forward from what raffa left,i want the same manager to be here in 5 + years time,the rightguards hiddinks oniels of this world just dont cut it for me…….
would people rather them do it fast and screw up or do it right 1st time and make it work,iam sry but i want this next change to be the right change that takes liverpool forward and delivers on there promise and long term views….
best option all round is to let roy take charge today and bring kenny in a temp boss till they can atleast get the ceo position filled and the proper search for a manager to be done
come on red men 3 points today,dont do it cause it might save roy,do it for the shirt your wearing
Let me ask did you Think it was wrong for fans to put pressure on the prvious owners to leave? I thought not and if it’s ok to put pressure on for them to go and stop destroying the club then why not do the same to the manager when he too his harming the club, even if he doesn’t mean too? You also said about what would we do if Kenny took over and we languished in 5th or 6th end of season. I suggest we would celebrate the remarkable increase in form and look forward to next season as under Hodgson we are probably on course for 15th or 16th!!!
Two things that came to my mind in recent weeks.
First of all, how would our many foreign players react to the appointment of a manager they won’t understand. Even Henry and Werner admitted that they understood only half of what Kenny has to say, language wise that is, and they are native speakers.
My second though concerns us, the fans. The saying goes that no player or manager is bigger than the club. The impression I’ve got is that many of us seem to be too big for our club right now. As much as we all hope the glory days return for us they are history. We are not the force we used to be in the seventies and eighties. How come we take stance against managers and players coming in insisting that they are not good enough for our club. We didn’t qualify for the top European competition but still expect to appeal to the very top players and managers. Comes across quite delusional. The very few top players we have seem to think that they are too good for us, namely Fernando Torres and maybe Pepe Reina. Huge sections of us fans should have a major reality check.
Do you think most of the players at the club(apart from the English guys)understand Gerrard and Carragher? Some foreign guys can barely understand Roy Hodgson and Sammy Lee. We’ve players like Meireles, Jova, Soto and Maxi who’s English level is limited. I really don’t think language is a concern when it comes to choosing a new manager.
Roy’s English is easy to understand. Gerrard and Carra hopefully don’t set up the team tactically so it obviously isn’t as important to understand them as it is to understand those who actually give out the game-plan. Easy instructions like ‘come-on’, ‘fight’ or ‘look’ are to be understood if Carra or Gerrard shout them out.
If players have limited English levels then the language/accent surely matters. Even the easiest of instruction can be misunderstood if the manager/coach can’t put them across in an easy to understand language. There are surely plenty examples out there where the language-barrier has caused in managers or players failing to fulfil their potential. But if you are right and the language didn’t matter then it should be extremely easy to find a very good manager as there must be some untapped talent somewhere on this planet.
The board will never appoint king kenny nor rafa simply because they might be more powerful.
That long term plan is a joke for torres,johnson,pepe.In the next two years,am sure they will leave since we wont be able to fight for any throphy.
I can read lfc is after m’villa.We already have lucas,mireless and gerrard in this position.We need a pacey winger and a good striker.
The only way is to invest massively on the right players.BRING ON DZEKO AND YOUNG.SACK ROY.simple.
LFC is like a ship.
The ship is going the wrong way and Roy does not know the right direction!
Only ONE man can come along and save the ship.
HE IS KENNY DAGLISH.
So let us not wait for an urgency to become an emergency—-Roy must go and NOW.
‘I would hope that, if Dalglish does end up with the reigns’ – it’s ‘reins’ as in the reins of a horse, or even reindeer!
Don’t expect NESV to make big changes yet, they’ve just come in 2 months ago. We all know, and they all know, that they don’t know anything about football. They also appointed Comolli who will make footballing decisions for them and I think whether Hodgson gets sacked and if so who we should appoint is Comolli’s decision. I expect Hodgson to get the sack if we lose to Bolton today but I don’t expect NESV to appoint Kenny. Dalglish has not managed for 10 years and is too important to the club.
Let’s say we give him a contract until the end of the season and he fails and we finish 9th. What do we do with him? Relieve his duties as manager and make him club ambassador again? Sack him?
What if he’s successful and we finish 4th. Do NESV appoint him long-term? Do they make him leave by mutual consent and bring in an established world class manager like Hiddink?
King Kenny is not the answer. No doubt he will steady the ship and no doubt he’ll be better than Roy but he’s not the answer for the long-term.King Kenny is too big a figure for Liverpool. He’s a legend. If he doesn’t improve things, his reputation will largely be damaged. Why don’t they give Rafa a contract until the end of the season and see how he does. If he succeeds then give him a longer contract, if he fails then sack him and bring in someone else.
Bring back Rafa?
Are you joking or are you losing your senses?
What we need right now ,is someone who can unite everybody,someone who is close to the players and the fans,someone who understand the game,who can talk to the players and bring back a smile on the player’s faces and someone who can motivate PLAYERS AND FANS.
Do you really believe Rafa can do this?
ONLY one special person can do this —Kenny Daglish.
Yeah, our foreign contingent of players will have a smile on their face because they don’t understand a word of what Kenny says. I loved Kenny as a player, but we need a manager who speaks proper English.
I think this is a good reflection. For me Kenny is a good interim solution. But in the way that NESV think in other words, the long term, the next 25 years or the “there wont be the Real Madrid type of buys”, they need Managers who would be patient or compatible with that approach are rare. Most credible Managers in the modern game want to spend, are impatient and most are inexperienced when it come to small budgets.
It is a pity that we do not have Rafa in these type of situations. He knows from the time of Valencia and Lfc to work with little funds and with a good vision. I would wish that Kenny takes over in the interim and have Rafa back to continue to work with Kenny. After all, Rafa brought Kenny back to LFC. Rafa for one, understood the Liverpool way, he read and understood the passion and spirit of LFC. He decorated the corridors of Anfield and Melwood. I can say with confidence that RAFA was one non-English manager who was really close to Shankly and Paisley in many ways.
My believe is still that RAFA is the right man for the long-term job at LFC!!
I’m with you jb but unfortunately, some fans prefer to have Roy Hodgson than Rafa
Fenway are astute business men and as such will have no qualms over sacking RH but only when the time is right. A loss today will pile on more pressure for immediate action. A win will buy some time. What they cannot do is leave it until we are facing relegation; that would be catastrophic both emotionally for the fans and financially for them. More performances like the last one and we will be in this position. RH has lost the fans and contrary to what he says he has lost the players too. He must have done. They must be confused by his tactics as they look bereft of ideas and even at home against a team at the bottom of the table, seem frightened to play possession tight-passing football which is our hallmark. This ultimately has to be down to the manager.
Pschologically Dalglish would give a lift to the fans and the emotion would be passed on to the players. Pschology is of massive importance in any team game. Dalglish has not let modern football pass him by. He is a canny scot. He loves his football and lives and breathes for LFC. He will have an understanding of whats required in the modern age and will have a great support team behind him. Players playing in their preferred positions with positive fan support will enjoy their football and up their game meaning we will get the results we should be getting with this squad. We may not make Champions League but we will not be anywhere near relegation.
When we achieve this Dalglish and the fans will not stand in the way of a new manager coming in next summer. Why? Because this is for the good of the club. Dalglish is not some power hungry fascist dictator waiting in the wings. Indeed Dalglish will be instrumental in the selection process as he is the link to the traditions of how this football should be run. Fenway have got to understand this and not be afraid.
In brief we need a short term solution, planned properly, that will stop the rot so that the correct long term solution may be found. I think Rijkard would need too much time for this at this time and would be more of a bull in a china shop.
Of course if the King took over and we won every single game left this season I might change my mind over replacing him. Oh but that would be a nice problem to face…
Roy has not lost the fans. They were against him right from the start. He has not won over them and our current state not only reflects him possibly not being ‘Liverpool material’ but also lack of backing from the fans. We are in it together and we can only get out of it together.
Ok I was being polite 😉
Stop writing articles now, and support your local, london team instead.
Lets just stop and think a moment reds firstly the owners are buisness men they give orders they dont take them so by sending them threatning emails about this, that and the other would only rub them up the wrong way meaning they wont come to a decision on the current manager as it would be like they were giving in to a lynch mob secondly these men seem to me very upstanding men who have given the manager there vote and word that he would be given every chance when they took over so they will want to give roy that chance of turning it around thirdly Kenny would be an obvious choice of most fans to replace roy in a caretaker positon but that may not be the choice of the owners what you have to take in to consideration and I no baseball is not football but the owners had to replace the manager of the red sox they took there time and choose wisely and this brought them two pennants so they know what is needed when the occasion arises . I would just like to remind reds about oneil when he was being touted as houliers replacement he stated he had no intentions of ever managing liverpool fc and was going to take legal action over claims to these reports so why would we want to employ martin oneil. I must state I am not happy with the current managers performances or the players and I have screamed sack him sack them but on the cold light of day its not my decision to make and as King Kenny states we need to back the manager the players but most of all the great name of our club I think the horrible frenzie we are all getting in is just not good for liverpool fc or the reputation of our fans I no it is hard to except that were liverpool fc and we dont expect things like this to happen but unfortunatley they do ask leeds united fans.I am not saying dont have your feelings about the manager or the team but vent them in a diffrent way by getting behind the club as a whole as the wolves fans were shouting were is your famous atmosphere lets show the world our atmosphere is still there .
Don’t understand why dalglish accent can be a constraint to be Liverpool manager. Remember Guus Hiddinks led the Koreans to a World Cup semi final? I don’t think he speaks Korean and I don’t think the Koreans understands Dutch…
Hiddink and the Koreans probably speak English.
Hiddink also led the Russians to the Euros semi final. I don’t think he speaks much Russian and I don’t the Russians speak Dutch either and their English would be very limited. Accents and language should not be a constraint.
I hope you are right, but from my own working experience (not as a professional footballer) it surely helps if everybody on board shares one language. Otherwise an interpreter is needed.
What language do you need to read a white board? Come on professionals will always read from the same playbook hence the phrase “on the same page”……. I also believe the owners had pressed the ejector button on the HOT SEAT after the WOLVES debacle & the players were informed before the BOLTON clash. It might explain why the team showed more passion, grit & determination and why they never gave up.