FOUR Candidates tipped to replace Roy

Third favourite position falls to a man that has been linked to the Liverpool job since the day he was born – Martin O’Neill. The former Villa man has a wealth of experience managing in Britain, and relatively impressive track record at Celtic and Leicester, with a good trophy haul. He has strong experience in Europe too, with both clubs and regularly over-achieved with Celtic. However, problems arise when you look at his record with Villa – his first ‘big’ club – with no trophies of note, no Champions League experience and a fairly turgid, counter-attacking style of football to boot. He has since blamed a lack of board backing, but when you consider that Randy Lerner is easily the easiest owner to work for (and seemingly quite a generous one, despite O’Neill’s claims); he does not look such a promising prospect. Added to this, is his obvious desire to succeed Alex Ferguson at United (and his membership of the Sir Alex Wino’s club), and he looks like an option best left unemployed. Given his previous and his long-time love-affair with the English media, he would be a good PR choice but I get the distinct feeling that we have made that mistake before.

The fourth choice, cited by the bookies, is Guus Hiddink; another man whose name is often mentioned when the manager’s position at LFC is called into question.  As a coach, he is top-class, easily one of the top 5-10 in the world, and has steadily built up a track-record over the years.  At the age Hiddink is at, any club job would probably be his last, so he would want to give it one good, final crack.  He – as we witnessed at Chelsea – takes no messing from his players, or from the boardroom, and is a strong-willed, single-minded man; much in the same vain as our two previous foreign managers.  Like Rijkaard, he has an attractive, very Dutch ‘Total Football’ philosophy, and has brought this to countries such as South Korea, Australia, Russia and now Turkey, to great success.  However, it is this final point that would be the sticking point: Turkey.  He only recently left his post as Russian coach (no June 30^th) to take up the role, and given his reluctance to commit previously to Chelsea, whilst coach of Russia, it would be a huge surprise if he was willing to leave a job he has only recently taken up.  As we’ve seen in the past, however, Liverpool are not a club easily turned down; it is not an opportunity that comes your way every day.

A couple of the more unusual choices include Steve McLaren, Mark Hughes and John Toshack. But perhaps the strangest name mentioned is Sam Allardyce at 20/1, with Rafa Benitez rated less likely at 25/1!

Needless to say, this time, any choice of new manager will not be made lightly. There is a lot to consider. However, given the teams current predicament, it is a choice that needs to be made sooner than later. As our former manager is unlikely to return at least until his contract expires, the best bet for Liverpool would be to opt for a Dutchman.

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