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Would Pep Guardiola take the Liverpool job?

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ALTHOUGH this is Liverpool’s worst start in Premier League history, Brendan Rodgers’ job seems safe, for now.

However, if we fail to finish even as high as our pitiful 8th last season then it’s possible that Brendan will not keep his job. In the event we are looking for a new manager at the end of the season (rather than in the middle of it) one man who will have finished his sabbatical is Pep Guardiola.

We may be far from Champions League certs at present but, call me a dreamer, if the Anfield job did become available I believe Pep would strongly consider it. And this is why.

Alternative clubs:

Pep will only consider a club of a certain size and stature. He’ll also prefer one of the top leagues (English, Spanish, German, or Italian). He won’t go back to La Liga, and the language barrier in Germany, and Bayern (8 points clear at the top at the time of writing) & Dortmund (Klopp is King) not looking like they’ll lose their managers, makes the Bundesliga unlikely as well.

Chelsea

Pep has said many times he wants a project. He’ll want somewhere he can grow a group of younger players and build a new legacy. He is a man of integrity and he would have viewed the dismissals of esteemed managers like Scolari and Ancelloti with concern. He’s already turned down Chelsea twice (according to Guillem Balague) and it would seem to go against his principles if he went to Stamford Bridge.

Man City

Roberto Mancini has done a terrific job at City. Regardless of the £100’s of millions spent on players, the facts show that Mancini delivered their first trophy since 1976 and followed it up with the Title soon after. They are challenging again for top honours and, despite consistent disappointments in the Champions League, Mancini is adored by City fans so he will most likely still be in charge at the beginning of next season.

Man Utd

Fergie has said only an experienced manager should succeed him when he retires and he recently had dinner with Pep in New York. Fergie hasn’t indicated he’s retiring at the end of the season but as they lead the table again and are looking strong in the Champions League, if he were to win both, or even one, he may well be happy to pass on the mantle. The smart money though is on Fergie hanging around for a couple more years at least.

AC Milan

A distinct possibility. A great club with great history, going through a difficult time (sound familiar?). They have lost (and are losing) reliable old timers and are putting their faith in talented youngsters like Al Shaarawy. Improving (including an excellent win against Juve) after an awful start to the season, if they don’t make the Champions League (or even if they do), they may make a change. Berlusconi may not be the Chairman you’d want, but Galliani is vastly experienced and the most successful CEO in European football.
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Inter Milan

Have struggled since Mourinho left in tears for Madrid. Five managers in the intervening time indicates that little time is given to rebuilding the horribly aged & spent (physically and mentally) squad Jose left behind. A tough job in tough circumstances but Pep may fancy it. Chances are though he won’t want to go where the Special One has trod before.

Juventus

Doing very well, the Old Lady is unlikely to change even if they don’t win the league (which they are still favourites for).

Shalke, Roma, Napoli, Fiorentina, Lazio

I believe Pep will consider these to be in a second group of teams he may look at. Their sides may be stronger than ours at present but they cannot be compared to us in terms of fan base or pedigree.

That leaves Liverpool

• The magic that is Anfield and the great supporters

• The most successful English club in European competition

• A stable and improving financial situation with little debt burden, even if he won’t have a great deal to spend.

• The best group of young players of any Premier League club – our Under 21’s are the only undefeated team in top level U21 competition in England, and that’s without the likes of Sterling, Suso, Wisdom, Shelvey et al even playing!

• A real challenge (or ‘project’ as it is now called) to bring Liverpool back to the top

• More time than he would be given at Chelsea, City, either Milan clubs or Man United

• World Class players like Suarez, Gerrard and Reina plus other very talented players like Agger, Johnson and Lucas

• A Barcelona style methodology of pass and move that has been in place (more or less) since the 70’s, but has been especially prevalent since Rafa Benitez brought Pep Segura and Rodolfo Borrell to work with the youth teams.

• If Brendan does fail then he will nevertheless have left a team that is trying to play football in the right manner

I hope Brendan succeeds. I hope our team comes together sooner rather than later to turn draws into wins and climb the table. I hope we are able to close that 7 point gap to fourth and by the end of the season qualify for Europe’s elite competition (bearing in mind we may have to finish 3rd to do so).

But if we don’t, and Brendan doesn’t stay, then I think Pep Guardiola could do a lot worse than taking up the Anfield helm.

You can catch more from me on my own blog: http://taintlessred.blogspot.co.uk/
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Gabriel Darshan (Writer) - aka Sutha Nirmalananthan aka TaintlessRed. I am a lifelong Liverpool fan who has followed the Reds from near (e.g. living in Kirkby) and far (e.g. living in Johannesburg), though am again living back home in the UK. I’ve watched football in stadia all around the world, from the Maracana to the Camp Nou, though Anfield will of course always be the greatest! I enjoy healthy football debate, preferring reasoned analysis based on sound evidence over gossip. I also write a blog at http://taintlessred.blogspot.co.uk/ on all things Liverpool FC and you can follow me on twitter @taintlessred

111 comments

  • Baz A REAL FAN says:

    Heres an idea…. why don’t all you moaning B*st*rds stop going to the games and let those people who want to support our club have your tickets? Everyone’s a winner!

    • kirbyking says:

      Why dont you demand a decent manager ,or are you ok with Liverpool spending years away from competing at the top . kop on man

    • vickers says:

      Baz you are a stupid + you dont know F.A
      1st you asked who gave Sterling his break – i think u will find it was kenny last season not bullsh*t brendan
      2nd you wondered what Reading have achieved since dumping BR – i think u will find , just like Swansea , they have gone from strength to strength , promotion etc
      3rd you called Roy Hodgson an idiot . Hypocritical no ? Hodgson had a BETTER record at this stage than Rodgers – did you want to give him time and money too ? Did you support him ? and if not , why not ?

      Has alzheimers set in , or do you just not know much about football ?

  • vickers says:

    Rodgers has done a terrible job and wasted our money , and bores us with his boring football and post match waffle .
    We run the risk of the likes of Suarez and Sterling leaving next summer if this guy stays in charge

  • Alex Kay says:

    dont know why u people r talkin bout it . BR needs to be got rid of . bring rafa home & lets push on

  • harry86 says:

    Once again the Rodgers lovers come on crying for more time , patience and spouting out excuses
    Excuses for failure , its all we ever hear on this site
    – he has had no luck ,he is building for future ,blah blah . excuses after more excuses

    “I have faith” , nonsense , how anyone can have faith in this clown , amazes me , no real success at all anywhere and totally failed so far at LFC , yet the dumb yanks at FSG tell u to trust this guy and people do

    And they say “improvement” LOL – totally made up rubbish .Anyone watching LFC for years will tell u its the worst we have been in nearly 50 years

    People see what they want to see instead of reality sometimes , As fans they really want Rodgers to be the messiah , they hope beyond hope , and cling to it when things go belly up ….. they dont want to admit to thelmselves they trusted a fool , so they make excuses for him

    • Jamie says:

      Yeah , sick of hearing excuses from fools on these sites

    • simon says:

      these ‘fans’ of Rodgers are sounding more like religious zealots all the time
      “have faith”
      “we believe ”
      “we trust”
      LOL LOL LOL

  • LFC Mike says:

    Glad to see there a few sane people on here . Those who support BR should be ashamed of yourselves . Supporting a man who is clearly not good enough , who has taken us down to his mediocre standards and will take us even further given more time . Supporting a man detrimental to your club is not supporting your club

    The same fans were probably bellowing for Roy to be given time and patience 2 years ago also !

  • GreenlandicY.N.W.A says:

    Give BR a time he will be a succeeds after the 2 or 3 seasons. Money cant make a club but believe can, players have to believe thier self it is the only way to be top club again. YNWA.

  • redhed17 says:

    Bring Benitez back? FFS, these are probably the people who were clamouring for his sacking. Someone standing up for Hodgson, again probably the very vocal people who were ‘demanding’ he be sacked too.

    I see no one replied about who they would get to replace Rodgers with a proven track record. :-/

    Bejnay may not have been a fan for long, but he talks a lot of sense to me, not like the internet ranting going on in other posts.

    As for attacking any Fan for not being born in Liverpool, you should be ashamed of yourselves. That is many millions of fans around the world you’re disrespecting.

    Dalglish gave Sterling his debut? Yes, but how many times did he play him, same with all the other young players he gave a game to.

    As for wasting money, Benitez wasted loads of money, Kromkamp, Vorinin to name a few.

    Hodgson wasn’t there long, but he bought some stinkers.

    Dalglish wasted fortunes on Carroll, Downing, and the biggest waste of money, Henderson. OMG.

    Any new manager would want spend to make the team his own, and we don’t have the money, at least Rodgers knows he has a budget to work with, and is making improvements, even if the blinkered can’t see that.

    • Jamie says:

      Imaginary improvements ? Trying watchin instead of waffling , you are blinkered biased mug

    • Brian Sweeney says:

      FFS, redhed it helps if you know what you are talking about , you come on here spouting your nonsense but you let yourself down by not having knowledge of LFC .

      Benitez made many costly errors in transfers during his reign , but not the two you said , kromkamp was a swap deal with josemi ( even heard of him ? ) and voronin was a free transfer . so not expensive mistakes

      if you knowledge of Liverpool is poor , look it up before making a tit of yourself on here

    • simon says:

      another error by redhead is Kenny gave plenty of youth a go . Flanagan ,Robinson , Sterling got runs in team and lots for shelvey too last season

      The only reason Rodgers is playing a few is , because the idiot left the squad so short he had no choice

      • TaintlessRed says:

        Flanagan & Robinson played only because of injuries and no other options in the squad. The moment the Senior full backs got fit they were back on the bench. No complaints from me there as obviously Johnson, Kelly, Enrique are better players. Sterling didn’t get a run under Kenny, he got 3 late substitute appearances towards the end of the season. I believe this was correct too as Raheem was barely 17 at the time. Suso was ludicrously overlooked in favour of the likes of Coady. I like Connor, but he’s a long way behind Suso in my view. Kenny did well with the youngsters, but BR, despite his other mistakes as a manager, has played Sterling and Suso when more experienced expensive players like Downing have been fit. He deserves credit for that and he’s been repaid with the young lads performances.

        • simon says:

          sorry , i think YOU need to get your facts right too
          1. Flanagan started last season in 1st team when Kelly was fit , but played poor and was dropped
          2 . You are totally wrong with Coady , he never even made the bench under KD – in any game – ever – so i dont know where you got that from . and he doesn’t even play in Susos position

        • TaintlessRed says:

          Simon, I’m not trying be confrontational, I take your points, but in Kenny’s 1st season (when he took over from Hodgson) Flanagan was dropped whenever Johnson was fit (and rightfully so as Glen is a better player) . Playing Flanno ahead of a 21 yr old Kelly isn’t showing faith in youngsters as there’s barely a difference age wise. Coady was put in squads by Kenny to feel part of the 1st team picture, although he didn’t make the bench, despite us having many midfielders. Suso was never even in a squad despite being a far superior player and being an attacking player at a time when we clearly lacked attacking quality (as we still do).

  • Hawks says:

    Rodgers has been a let down and an embarrassment to the club since the day he started

    Buying average joes who would barely fit for any premier team
    Binning so many players and leaving squad short
    Trying to lower expectation , i think he thinks he is still at Swansea
    Slagging his own players in public
    Speaking total bull in interviews after matches , saying how great we were is treating the fans like idiots
    Having no clue how to change a game , only has plan A
    Boring us with his slow negative football

    I can handle Liverpool being poor , what i dont like is Liverpool being boring , and the manager lying / bullsh%tting the fans after every game

    Its not right , Rodgers is never going to be a success and should be sacked immediately

  • Alice says:

    BR out . For all the obvious reasons

  • Magic says:

    Rodgers out for me He sucks

  • anonymous says:

    I wonder what you want from the sort of players we had. If you don’t understand he has stabled the ship after Dalglish plunged it with those terrible signings, then u shouldn’t be saying anytthing on here.

  • anonymous says:

    If your short sight can’t recognised the work Rodgers has done then please find another club to support. @Magic I think you are senseless.

  • anonymous says:

    Hawks! Your stupidity knows no bounds, when Rodgers deployed the 3-5-2, wasn’t that another game plan? You shouldn’t come here and dish out basless arguments. You shouldn’t be a fan of this club. We arte not among the elite and it only takes a wise person to find out how behind we were after last season, the team is getting a foundation, and it is looking good. Rodgers has show recently there are 2 sides to the squad we all thought was one dimensional. @hawks it is your reasoning that doesn’t have a plan B.

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