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Does it really matter who’s in charge?

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Liverpool managersI have little or no use for managers.

I know they can have a significant impact on a side’s performance but I’m not sure that a lot of the devotion they engender is deserved.

Their longevity is more a function of the resources to which the owners give them access and the soar or slump of key players than any managerial legerdemain.

Sure mangers make critical substitutions which make them seem like magicians or cobble together line-ups that carry the day, but, for the most part, there is not much to recommend one of the top fifteen gaffers in the Premier League over any other.

One of the more interesting phenomena I have observed is a feature of the animal kingdom. When a lion takes over a pride by vanquishing its former leader, one of his first actions is to kill any young offspring that were sired by his predecessor. Although this seems somewhat bloodthirsty, it seems necessary so that the new bloodline can establish itself in the group.

When a new manager takes over a club in the Premiership he does much the same thing, culling the talent that the previous Gaffer was nurturing as an essential component of his vision for the team. Under the pretext that these players no longer fit into the team’s plans and by relegating them from the first team, he manages to undermine their confidence and speeds their entry into the transfer market.

One illustration of what happens when this culling is not done is post-Mourinho Stamford Bridge. It is felt in many circles that a failure to move some of Jose’s favourite children, in the form of Terry, Lampard, and Ashley Cole, led to the lack of success of subsequent managers Avram Grant, and André Villas-Boas. These players were apparently loyal to their former manager and did everything in their power to sabotage whoever seemed to be coming in as a permanent (a strange concept for Chelsea) replacement for the ‘Special One’.

In Liverpool, new managers are more readily accepted by the key players though not so much by the fans. In recent history, one player who was an exception is Fernando Torres. As he illustrated with Chelsea this past season, Fernando is a Benitez player.
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He and Joe Cole helped to precipitate the firing of Roy Hodgson with their sub-par play and, with the collusion of the Rafa fanatics among the fans, insured that Roy’s tenure would be troubled from the beginning.

The turmoil of ownership change and the fact that Benitez had been so disastrous in the transfer market, made Liverpool a booby trap for managers, as both Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish were to discover.

Was King Kenny given long enough to right the ship? A little rust had him stumble in transfers with signings such as Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing, the latter of which recovered some of his form this season, but bad luck as much as anything brought him down – that and a typically American shortage of patience by the new owners, FSG.

Personally, I think that Dalglish could have steered the team to at least the finish that Brendan Rodgers managed this year. For one thing, he would not have brought in Rodgers’ young lion, Joe Allen, and even if he had, he would not have played (or, rather, misplayed) him as often as Brendan did.

Does that mean that I want Rodgers sacked and Kenny returned to the Anfield den? Not at all.

As I stated earlier, the success of a club has little to do with the quality of the manager. A top notch scouting system, a healthy budget and a good coach will make a manager look like a magician, whereas a poor physiotherapy team, a niggardly owner, and key injuries can result in even the best gaffer being burned in effigy on Saturday night.

Brendan Rodgers is the new boss and, in the Liverpool tradition I will support him even when he fields line-ups that make no sense to me. I may question his obsession with pygmies but I refuse to join the ranks of the crazies who demand his removal and beheading in favour of either Benitez or Dalglish.

Vision takes time to implement and I am willing to give our manager all the time he needs as long as he is moving the team in the right direction. If he falls short, there are plenty of other lions and talented empire builders in waiting.
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Retired High School English teacher. Coached high school football (soccer) and basketball. Played football (soccer) in high school and at university. Live in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with my wife and 2 cats. Have been a Liverpool fan since we started receiving broadcasts in Canada. Love to golf and read Terry Pratchett.

37 comments

  • Patrick says:

    Rodgers has fallen short. Why should we accept such a poor manager when there are clearly so many better ones out there

    • Dawnga says:

      Because there’s nothing you can do about it DUMBO!

      • Brigadier says:

        Are you a half-wit?

      • Thomas D says:

        Your right patrick – we should not accept such a poor inexperienced manager , we are LFC and should have the best available

        And dawnga – you are wrong . There are many examples of fan power contributing to a managers sacking. Even now there is a ‘sack Brendan Rodgers ‘ facebook acc open. And hundreds of fans have posted complaints on Mr Henrys twitter acc. Unless there is a drastic improvement by Christmas I think the fans will really turn on Rodgers

  • stevieG says:

    Of course it matters who is incharge . It matters more than anything else at the club

    A good manager will win games , attract top players , win prizes and trophies etc and thus generating more money

    A bad manager will do nothing other than waste money and generate a bad feeling around the club

    Choosing a manager is the most important thing a owner will do . And as a fan a good manager gives everyone hope and unites the fans behind the club

    Rodgers is a mediocre average manager , a club like ours needs a top manager not some trainee on ‘a learning curve’…we deserve better .

    • Dawnga says:

      Let me spell it out for you

      Rich owners——->good scouting——> good players ———>win games——->good manager. Try to make Mourinho win the league with Wigan…what do you think about that?

  • djr says:

    “The turmoil of ownership change and the fact that Benitez had been so disastrous in the transfer market, made Liverpool a booby trap for managers, as both Hodgson and Kenny Dalglish were to discover”???????????????????

    This is what 10 minutes of research finds. Your answer below.

    While in charge, Rafa spent £230.76 million approx on transfer gross. £151 million approx gross was recouped with the transfer of players out of the club, leaving a net total of £79.76 million (Telegraph figures. My research indicates similar figures from most other sources, however these figures are not as favourable to Rafa as some other sources are). This equates to an average net spend of £13.29 million approx per season which is undeniably stunning considering the level at which we were playing/challenging. How many LFC fans wish we still played at that level?

    Where it becomes an even greater accolade is what happens after Rafa leaves (i.e. his legacy). Let’s look at how much money the players that were signed by Rafa have been sold for since Rafa left. LFC has generated £93 million approx from players sold that were originally signed by Rafa. That means Liverpool have recouped a total of £244 million approx on players sales from players signed and cultivated by Rafa, which would indicate Rafa achieved an overall net profit of £12.5 million approx on all his transfers in and out of LFC in monetary terms.

    If you look at playing assets left at the club. You also have to take into account the players that are currently in the Liverpool squad that Rafa signed which have a conservative value of £60-70 million (Lucas, Agger, Johnson, Skyrtl, and Reina). This clearly shows Rafa has left LFC with approx £60-70 + million net assets in the playing squad. Let’s also not forget the Academy (Rafa’s brainchild) where there are some extremely talented youngsters which I have not included in my calculation. Of which 4 or 5 of them could quite possibly be worth £10 million each or more in the next few years. Open your eyes wider you might see what Rafa left.

    Why do people like you insist on rewriting history, and then do it inaccurately? You can certainly argue that some of the players signed by Rafa were duds, but you have to be on drugs to call Rafa’s transfer record a disaster.

    • kav says:

      Well said. Excellent analysis. It is a very biased silly article

    • djr says:

      correction

      Rafa’s overall net profit £13.24 million on transfers (not £12.5 million as in my post)

    • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

      “LFC has generated £93 million approx from players sold that were originally signed by Rafa.” Take out the £50 million for Torres and It doesn’t look nearly as impressive. It also turns Rafa’s overall profit into a loss. But that’s the thing about numbers – you can make them support anything you like. Perhaps I could have left out the Rafa references (because there is a lot that I admire about him) but it would have been so much less fun and I wouldn’t have elicited your thoughtful response..

      • djr says:

        Not questioning the figures then?

        Rafa signed Torres didn’t he? Why would I take out the Torres profit. Liverpool received the cash didn’t they? I haven’t changed any numbers, but you are trying to remove some to confuse the debate, and not a small amount either JUST THE ODD £50 mllion.

        The highest profit LFC ever made on a single player.

        What is wrong with you?

        • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

          We bought Torres for £20 million. We sold him for £50 million. That generated a profit of £30 million. My point is that a large portion of the profit under Benitez is attributable to the windfall that resulted from Abramovitch’s megalomania. Again, I am not saying that Rafa was a bad manager, just that he wasn’t God’s gift to the team or to the premiership. You obviously feel differently and you certainly have a right to your point of view.

          • djr says:

            This has nothing to do with Abramovitch. This point is to do with you trying to manipulate the figures to justify your argument. I have not used any magical numbers to bamboozle you. The figures are public record.

            You said Rafa’s transfer record was disastrous, and I challenged you on it. I have given you the approximate brekdown, but you keep trying to avoid the real issue. Upto now you have failed to produce any evidence to qualify your claim. You have used a throw away comment which discredits Rafa’s transfer record.

            It time for you to put up or shut up. Any decent writer worth his salt would always justify or qualify his claim. You simply do not have the courage to admit your wrong.

            What you should do is retract your statement. Then if you still have access to this article you should rewrite the paragraph in question. You know your statement was misleading. Have the gut to admit it.

  • Abraham says:

    djr well said. Friez like potatoes :-D, the writer of this piece is a dud clearly. Its people like him that are responsible for our 23yrs drought in the EPL. We need to get rid of them asap.

    • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

      Abraham, sorry about what I’ve done to the club. Could you remind me exactly what I did to thwart its ambitions? Thanks for reading my duddery, though. 🙂

  • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

    My overarching intent in writing this was to bring all the Rafa and Kenny acolytes out into the open (besides having a shot at managers – who I do feel are sanctified and demonized out of all proportion). As for profits and losses, a £12.5 million return on an investment of £230.76 million over 10 years is about 5%. But that’s beside the point. The issue is that, although we each have a manager who we want at the club, ascribing the magical properties to them that we do is a little bit silly. I’m sure that QPR had visions of mid table when they managed to snag Harry but he couldn’t ‘manage’ a club into respectability – nobody can. If managers are so essential, why not just get adequate (and low priced) players and manage them into contenders. I am not a Rafa hater, I just think that he is not special and will not cure Liverpool’s current ills. I appreciate him for his deep love of the club but refuse to live in the past and would be disappointed in a Benitez second coming because I very much doubt his divinity.

    • Sam says:

      You talk a hell of a lot of arrogant bulls@it . Are you Brendan Rodgers ?

    • djr says:

      Just to correct you again.

      • £13.24 million net profit (cash) on all players signed by Rafa then sold whilst manager, or sold after Rafa left.

      • Those players left in the playing squad (Lucas, Agger, Johnson, Skyrtl, and Reina) value at least £60-70 million.

      • The academy (Sterling, Suso and Adorjan) how much are they and the others that Rafa brought to the LFC academy worth?

      You could say MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.

      You’re welcome to check the figures for yourself. Use any source you choose, there won’t be much difference, because I’ve checked.

      To compete with an average net spend £13.29 million per season over 6 seasons under extreme working conditions is simply stunning. That’s why you need managers like Rafa Benitez.

      You called Rafa’s transfer record a disaster. Do you have the courage to retract your statement?

    • David Tobin says:

      Fritz . You talk absolute nonsense and make no sense . By your childish logic we might as well do away with managers altogether .
      …really . Get a grip and stop writing such drivel

  • stephen says:

    pls mak una gv B R break pls

    • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

      I may have overstated my position but then that’s what writers do. I realize that there were many pressures and constraints on Benitez in his last transfers so ‘disastrous’ was an unfortunate hyperbole to choose. Will that suffice?

  • Thomas D says:

    It’s a silly meaningless article , poorly written and thought out .

  • mario says:

    sack BR already, bring back Rafa..u stupid FSG!!

  • CHUKWUEMEKA says:

    Let me guess……u are the same or brother to the guy that wrote the silly article on liverpool following the dortmund way or whatever………… anyway u made no sense in the current article………… just the kind of crap ferguson or any of his cohorts wld do. turned the truth upside down nd still cant find the courage to apologize. let me it easy for you cos we are lfc nd 4give who deserves to……….try nd remove the scales blurring ur vision or better still GROW UP. you are free to ask 4 4giveness.

  • Tommy says:

    Can I just say WELL DONE DJR for not letting this writer get away with the rubbish he wrote

    Well done lad

    • David Tobin says:

      What nonsense are you on about ? So every club that has a rubbish manager should stick with them , and then everything will be ok ??

      Are you insane ? . Damn we should have stuck with Hodgson , we would be top of the world by now !!

      • Fritz Kropfreiter says:

        Perhaps another way to look at your question is: would another manager going through the troubling years of going through the transition period from Hicks and Gillette to FSG could have been better under any manager? Benitez, Hodgson, and Kenny were all victims of the turmoil and their relative skills would have made no difference at any stage of the turmoil.
        I am really heartened by the fact that so many have chosen to respond to this but rather than floating speculation I seem to have danced rather harshly on a number of raw nerves. As I stated in my opening remarks in the article, there is not much to choose between the top managers in the BPL, although Mourinho will no doubt beg to differ. They are all special which makes none of them exceptionally special. One thing that seems a constant is that they all need time to implement their vision for a team. I am not a BR fan but I am willing to give him the time to allow his vision to gel.

        • Liam says:

          There might not be much to choose between the ‘top’ managers in EPL.

          But there is a HUMONGOUS difference between the top managers and a championship level clown like Rodgers

  • Daniel says:

    “does it really matter who is in charge ?” lol.

    That is one of the stupidest questions in the history of football. What cabbage wrote this ?

  • Liam says:

    Congratulations Fritz. Dumbest article of the year award goes to you . And there has been plenty of competition on this site

Comments are closed.