WHATEVER the rights and wrongs of sacking Kenny, whether you thought it was rash and premature or brave and decisive, one thing should be clear for all Reds as we move on from that and look to the future: this summer, and in particular the decisions of the next few weeks, will probably define the next decade or more for our football club.
The reality is that the choices that FSG make, on and off the pitch, in the next two or three weeks will establish whether we’re going to be a force in and around the top four and the Champions League places, or whether we’re going to end up battling with Everton and the rest of them to be the best team outside that elite group. With the new Financial Fair Play rules just around the corner, and all of the teams that finished above us last year already looking to strengthen, it really is that significant. They inherited Hodgson and they turned to Kenny to steady the ship. This time, it’s their chance to show what their long-term vision is – they aren’t going to be able to build a structure that they’ll dismantle by Christmas if it doesn’t work out.
There’s no doubt that FSG gambled by sacking Kenny this early. You only have to have seen the home games this season where posts and crossbars have been battered and penalties missed to understand that although the league position wasn’t good enough, our performances were probably a lot better than where we finished.
That’s not to say it wasn’t the right decision, but it does mean that the next bloke (or blokes) that come in to take the team forward have to be better than that, and better at taking the club forward, for the gamble to pay off. It’s not just the choice around the new manager though – FSG are spending a lot of money bringing in new faces behind the scenes, and we are all waiting to see how the ‘new’ structure with a Sporting Director (whether it’s Van Gaal or whoever) will impact on the new manager. You’d hate to see a good new manager come in without the control to make his own decisions, or ending up powerless to influence and create his own team and sign his own players.
Could FSG end up making a brave choice to appoint a young manager like Martinez or Rodgers and end up losing face if they can’t cut it at the highest level at one of Europe’s biggest clubs? Could they end up making a bold decision to bring in someone like Rafa but totally limit his control by giving someone like a Van Gaal too much control? Could it end up being a mixture of the two? Added to that, could the new faces around the boardroom table end up making the wrong decisions, investing in the wrong projects and wasting money on the critical subject of a new ground and higher revenues?
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It’s not just the change of manager that FSG are gambling on this summer, they are making a whole raft of decisions that will set the course of our football club for the next ten years. Get those decisions right, and the gamble will pay off: we’ll have solid foundations, the right structure and the right manager to get us back where we belong. Get those decisions wrong, and with the way the football world is changing, we might be out of contention for a decade and more.
It’s your chance to deal the cards, Mr Henry. Stick or twist?
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LFC is in the course of the most critical days/weeks of its modern history and Principal Owner’s John W. Henry and Chairman’s Thomas Werner era. The decision they will make by appointing a new manager will stigmatize in-depth time the future of one of the most historical clubs/brand name in the overall history of world-wide football! This is the time for a serious decision from serious, intelligent, visionary people with a sharp mind. They do not have the luxury to call it wrong; they know that, they realize that. At this specific moment LFC does not have the luxury for further experimentations as it has been going through for the last 20 years with the appointments of Greame Souness, Gerard Houllier, Rafael Benitez, Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish; all those choices have contributed to the club’s decline. Furthermore, the fans are fed up with psycho-destruction choices that irritate and annoy them. The fans are hungry listen the owners announcing the appointment of a well-established world class manager name with a proven title winner record not the name of an unrated/unpopular manager no matter if he has the potential or not. The owners cannot further build and expand LFC’s brand name worldwide by making such an appointment and cannot increase LFC’s jerseys’ sales. Lastly, an increase to LFC revenues can also come by finishing on the top four in Premier League and participating in Champions League.
They should invest some funds too.
If we count for sales they have invested 30 mil. in to transfers, and we can say they have given the club ability to invest money from the sales-
But we must also consider that Liverpool has some ageing players, no quality winger and CL football to reach so teams like Tottenham and Arsenal have an advantage of CL.
One can argue that Arsenal doesn’t spend as much, but that’s the way it is, those teams are ahead of Liverpool right now and Liverpool has catching up to do, but investing in LFC now will pay off because of huge and loyal fan base that club has all over the world and the owners must not allow the club to fall behind and number of fans diminishes over time.
When fair play rules come in, Liverpool will have better position than City now, if those rules are fully implemented.
But the club needs to be in CL in order for it to happen !!
Tottenham do not have any advantage of Champions league at all as Chelsea took their place by winning it this year.
Martinez strikes me as brave and smart. Go with him, FSG, and give him a big budget.
Roberto Martinez will be a huge flop and a real disaster! Andre Villas-Boas would be the ideal one and under the guidance of an experienced DoF he will turn around the fortunes of our beloved club!
Juergen Klop is the man for the job. He has toppled Bayern Two years running and spanked them in German cup. Out of Martinez and Rodgers I’d much rather Rodgers. He got Swansea to 11th! Great effort and they play attractive attacking football…. They won’t bring rafa back so I’m not mentioning him
Martinez has no experience of winning anything and would take years to get to the level required, FSG arent prepared to wait years as proved with the sacking of Kenny, they want champions league football and the money that comes with it and now.
i agree the manager is the subject on every ones lips who will it be could he allready be working as a international manager who is leaveing there job after the euros
klopp for kop
Why won’t Fsg talk to Rafa? Everyone else is a gamble but you know with Rafa we will soon be challenging on all fronts.
The biggest gamble is Rafa!
/\/\/\/\/\/\Douche
billic or lowe after euros
We have a 20 million pound player who will be worth double that in 12 months – Raheem Stiring, the new Manager must start giving him games.
They wont talk to Rafa or anyone else because they had picked Martinez before the FA cup final.
Roberto Martinez will not be named as LFC manager. They know if things do not work out with him it will turn to a complete disaster!
Martinez will end in disaster
I must need to have my crystal ball tuned up, so many of you seem to be able to predict the future with such clarity. We all thought, hoped, and prayed that Kenny would be our savior and compared to his predacessor, he certainly looked to be so. What he accomplished in the end of that first season cannot be denied, he took us from near relagation to a real success story. Unfortunately over the summer he seemed to lose the plot. The teams end of season doldrums were written in the beginning of the season. Kenny completely cast aside many of those players who helped him achieve his first season’s success. We, the fans, stayed behind him as he continually tried to insert his new, British, square pegs into the round holes of the team sheet. As we all know, a square peg, British or not, won’t fit into a round hole unless it’s considerably smaller (read – less talented) than the hole. This obstinance brought us to an 8th place finish at the end of a dire season. I, in no way, believe that the obstinance was the sole reason for the result but it was a large portion of it.
As FSG continue to do their due diligence ‘the Liverpool Way’ we must all prepare ourselves for a change and do our best to support this change just as we did when Kenny returned to Anfield
FSG probably have this strange imagination that the philosophy that built Boston Red Sox will work at Anfield. Rafa is just the most logical choice. It can never been seen as a step back because all appointments are based on what candidates have done in the past, and 52% fans, in a poll with 7 other managers,incl Pep, Klopp & Capello, voted for Rafa. That tells you we know he did a good job,when he had the chance until G&H tried him for a scapegoat. John please bring Rafa back!!! John don’t risk a fan revolt
rafa has a horrible negative mentality of football, and i dread to think of having to endure his brand again, not to mention his refusal to pick a consistent team and constant upheaval with player coming and goings. thankfully he isnt in the running.