Liverpool legend Graeme Souness believes Roy Hodgson has been handed a poor squad by previous manager Rafa Benitez, and fans shouldn’t blame the Reds manager for the Merseyside club’s poor start to the season. He told Daily Star Sunday:
“Roy Hodgson hasn’t been blaming all the uncertainty about the club’s future on the team’s poor form. It’s not his fault either, because he’s taken on the job at the toughest time in Liverpool’s history since Bill Shankly was appointed. . . There’s already been talk that Roy’s position is under threat – and the spectre of Kenny Dalglish does put him under pressure. Liverpool fans are very supportive and I’d like to think that they would realise Roy has inherited a poor squad. He won’t be able to improve Liverpool’s standing unless he’s handed a lot of cash. And that will only come when NESV are the club’s owners – and the sooner it happens the better.”
Souness believes the team needs heavy investmest to win the title again, and he thinks John Henry’s NESV could be ideal owners:
“NESV have some positives and some negatives. They’ve got great experience of running a sports franchise – and I know that they do it very well. I was at Fenway Park in August to watch the Red Sox play – and you really got a sense that they are a very organised baseball club. They have won the World Series twice since Henry took charge – and off the field they have become very profitable and successful. The Red Sox were the biggest of all sleeping giants before Henry took charge and revitalised them, so there is plenty of reason to believe he could do the same for Liverpool. NESV apparently have the money to wipe out Liverpool’s debt, which is another major plus. But the worry I would have is that, once that debt is paid, they won’t have the money to turn Liverpool into a team capable of quickly challenging for silverware. Henry is a multi-millionaire, rather than a multi-billionaire like Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich or Manchester City’s Sheikh Mansour. So he simply won’t be able to provide the same sort of cash-flow that has transformed those two clubs in recent years. He’s got Liverpool on the cheap for £300m but he’ll need to spend that again if the club is to win the Premier League in the next five years.But it really looks like they have found the most ideal new owners possible at the moment. They know how to be successful in sport but it’s not all signed, sealed and delivered just yet.”
STELLA ARTOIS WORLD DRAUGHT MASTERS
I do not see them spending 300 million unless you want to include sales, i believe the academy can fill a number of places in coming years.
SUNness, who are you to give anyone advice about successful management- you were right up there with Roy Hodgson as the worst Liverpool manager of the modern era. Learn to live with that fact and stop sounding your mouth off.
People seem to forget that John Henry is not alone in NESV so it is irrelevant how much he is personally worth. We are going to be owned by NESV not John Henry, he just happens to be the head of that organisation. It’s not as if he has bought it out of his own cash as Souness seems to imply, and suddenly has none left to spend on players or a stadium. The fact the debt will be all but wiped out gives us around £40m back into the transfer budget anyway.
Who the hell is Souness, of all people, to give advice to LFC? We haven’t won a championship since he took charge and destroyed the winning team Dalglish left him. It took nearly a decade to even partly recover from his ‘reign’. Souey – do us and your self a favour and shut the f*** up.
The squad is not that bad, Souness just can’t handle that Rafa did a much better job than him. He’s a joke rent-a-quote now.
I do not forget that John Henry is not alone in NESV, but John Henry is biggest shareholder in NESV. If other wanted to invest, then the shareholding position of John Henry will be affected. Therefore, it would be mistake to include the wealth of other shareholders.
And, more owners will caused more problems as if some owners wanted to invest but other do not want, then this will caused conflicts.
£40m is not enough to buy player to challenge for the Premier League. We need at least £200m to invest in players in order to challenge for the Premier League title.
NESV do not have the money to invest in players in order Liverpool to challenge for the Premier League title.
I predict that If NESV take control of Liverpool, it will takes Liverpool more than 5-10 years in order to challenge the Premier League. Maybe they will invest initially, but the investments made will not be sustain in the 3rd year onwards. Then, it will all come back to square one.
NESV are yanks how could they have positive aspects???!!! i’ll be happy the club doesn’t go into administration and looses points so if they are the only one available!!! but dam it yanks again
I think Rafa left a better squad than what he inherited in his 1st year from Houllier. Roy’s current problems are being brought on by his own lack of self confidence in tactics and transfers. You can see during matches the look on his face as if he has no idea what to do!
I wonder if Souness ever gets a feedback to the rubbish he has been speaking for the past 3 / 4 years now? Kicked out of every managerial job he held, presiding over the worst period and squad in our history, he still considers himself to be an expert. We were never even in champions league before Rafa came in. When was the last time players of the calbre Torres, Alonso, Louis Garcia, Reina, Masch, etc WANTED to join our club? With Roy Evans in-charge, he approached Marcel Desailly to join but the player did not even consider the option and went to Chelsea! Roy was miles ahead of Souness as a manager. Can someone ask Souness to come out with the names of the squad he left behind at LFC????
Let’s just tell Souness to shut his mouth, if it was Dalglish speaking I would listen but Souness? I don’t think so cause I don’t respect him at all.
sell
Lucas
Joe Cole
Milan Juvanivic
Babel
buy
Mata
Kajer
Aguero
Dezko