Below is a poll of 10 potential managerial candidates for LFC. Live4Liverpool columnist Voland picks out five of the best and discusses the pros and cons to each candidate – ed.
Rafa Benitez
Rafa knows Liverpool Football Club inside out, having brought in much of the coaching staff and many of the players (including many of fhe youngsters who are coming through the ranks). One of the best strategists around and a proven winner at both Liverpool and Valencia , with even his short tenure at Inter producing a UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup. Rafa made some shrewd buys during his time at Liverpool, although using his entire budget on Johnson and the injured Aquilani backfired spectacularly in his last season. At 50, Benitez is still on the young side and, with unfinished business in terms of winning the English Premier League, would bring renewed hunger for success to Liverpool. Overall, surely one of the top coaches in world football today – and a low-risk, high-quality candidate for Liverpool in its current plight.
Criticised for his zonal marking tactics (potentially leading to vulnerability from set pieces) and defensive formations, Rafa is a coach in the mould of Arrigo Sacchi rather than Johan Cruyff. He carries baggage in that he has not been afraid to criticise (correctly) the political leadership of Valencia and Liverpool regarding short-sightedness in their funding plans – and also fell out with Inter’s Moratti regarding the latter’s unwillingness to back him in the transfer market.
Kenny Dalglish
Kenny’s management track record at Liverpool and Blackburn – four First Division/Premier League titles and two FA cups tell their own story. A living legend at Liverpool and a supreme motivator of men, Dalglish surely has what it takes to be a winner.
On the minus side, Kenny’s most recent managerial appointments at Newcastle in 1997-8 and 1999-2000 respectively were not happy ones – and a decade outside active management and an age similar to the much-maligned Roy Hodgson may count against him. Appointing King Ken to the Liverpool hot-seat is not without a major element of risk – which is balanced by the potential rewards should he replicate his previous success at the club.
Jurgen Klopp
Young at 43 and manager of high-flying, attack-minded Borussia Dortmund, Klopp has been hailed (most recently by Joachim Loew, German national trainer) as one of the leading, up-and-coming German managers.
As Beckenbauer pointed out however, Klopp is still unproven at the international level and has no major titles to his name. Potentially a great football manager of the future, Klopp would be a high-risk appointment at this critical time in Liverpool’s history. He would moreover not be available in the midst of a highly promising, Bundesliga title bid at Dortmund.
Joachim Loew
Together with Laurent Blanc and Michael Laudrup, Loew is perhaps one of the most interesting managers on the continent. Loew’s German national teams play attractive, free-flowing football – combined with shrewd tactics and a winning mentality. Loew has earned many plaudits for continuing in the successful footsteps of Klinnsmann at the national team and leading Germany to 2nd place at Euro 2008 and 3rd place at the 2010 World Cup.
Although he can look back to a successful time with VfB Stuttgart in the late nineties, he has only claimed a single German cup title at club level and his track record at 50 years of age looks thin compared to top managers like Mourinho (47) and Benitez (50).
Didier Deschamps
Young at 42 and successful at Monaco, Juventus and Marseille, Didier Deschamps can point to one French Ligue-1 championship and two French League Cups as evidence of his winning ways over a surprisingly long career in club management (2001-2010). A leader on the pitch during his playing career – he was the youngest captain to lift a Champions League trophy and won just about everything there is to win as a player – Deschamps has been able to transfer his enormous success to the management level.
Although he spent a season with Chelsea as a player, Deschamps is untried at management level in the Premier League and would still be something of a gamble for Liverpool at this point in time. All the same, surely one of the top names on the shortlist of the Liverpool board as potential replacement to Hodgson. Whether he would make himself available this time round (having apparently turned us down over the summer) remains to be seen.
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I think Andre villas-boas from Porto should be mentioned as a serious contender
Roy Hodgson is the worse manager in the history of Liverpool. He should have never been hired from the start but since a change in ownership has been taken place we still see the new owners watching pathetic the complete humiliation of LFC’s football heritage. Nor Roy Hodgson shows respect to the LFC’s football heritage as also and in its fans specifically. Why isn’t he stepping down? He doesn’t see that he is dwarf manager for this giant of football?
PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION TO REMOVE ROY HODGSON AS MANAGER IF YOU CARE ABOUT THE CLUB – SPREAD THE WORD ON FANSITES, FORUMS, TWITTER,FACEBOOK, MYSPACE ETC ETC ETC BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE – TELL 10 FANS AND GET THEM TO TELL 10 MORE ETC AND WE WILL GET THIS THING GROWING
http://www.petitiononline.com/hodgson/petition.html
I think Andre villas-boas from Porto should be mentioned as a serious contender +1
It is ridiculous that Phil Thompson is not in this list. He knows the club inside out and is a superb organiser of a team. In houllier’s sick period he got the team playing lovely football and winning games at the same time including a 6-0 away win at Ipswich.
Frank Rijkaard.
Bring back Rafa now. He knows the club inside out, worked with most players and staff before and will need no time adapting. He will sell flops Konchesky and Poulsen and recall Insua and Aquilani to replace them. He will turn our season around and get the best out of Gerrard and Torres.
Rafa was terrible. Always defensive football like Roy. But he did somehow knew how to motivate players like Torres. And a motivator is what we need.
I also believe that Thompson should be a stronger candidate, but Rijkaard is easily the strongest of them all.
Revitalised a sleeping giant and turned them into the best team in the world
Embraces an attractive, attacking style of football
Has a good eye for talent when spending in the market
Trusts and develops talented young players
Has experience of delivering success on the biggest stage
Rafa’s ready and waiting. Nesv don’t listen to the media go get him.
if joachim loew is available he is the best in the list above but if not others 2 candidates DESCHAMPS & RIJKARD should be serious considered
PLEASE PLEASE STOP ASKING FOR RAFA BACK,HES DONE ENOUGH DAMAGE TO THIS TEAM WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU’S WANT HIM BACK.
BRING BACK KENNY ASAP.
Why has no-one considered Martin O’Niell, a class act in the mould of Cloughie, bring him in to work with king Kenny and re-unite the clans.
COME ON REDS – HEADS HELD HIGH
Come on the Kop get behind the team not agianst the manager where has the twelth man gone
Martin O’Neill is no better than Hodgson. The guy’s done nothing in his life and only won fans over by playing defensive, counter attacking football at Villa. You really think this guy will bring back the glory to Liverpool. Just like Hodgson, you have no idea what you’re talking bout.
Finally somebody that actually saw how Villa played under O’Neill – just like Hodgson at Liverpool, O’Neill was given an easy ride at Villa, but he spent big bucks on a weak squad that played boring football, based around defending and getting the ball up to a big man as often as possible. No thanks!
Kick off this bloody awful and pittyless manager out
ROY WHAT DO YOU THINK IS IT FULLAM GET OUT YOU BLOODY FOOL
BRING BACK DALGISH
FRANK RIJKAARD will bring back the attacking football we loved in the old days. Give him 2 years and let’s see what he can do.
Rafa has had his chance. No other foreign coaches match him.His tenure was troubled by conflict with clueless and disinterested owners but money was spent and this is his squad (he sold Alonso and Mascherano). Why not reconsider Houllier if we are looking at men who have won with us before? Neither are a good option for me.
Kenny is the man to unite all important forces (fans and players). He should surround himself with like minds by bringing back Thommo, keeping Sammy and the other ex-reds now at the club, bring back Heighway and pull in Stevie Nic as his successor in the longer term.
Time to bring back the Boot Room structure and mentality. This is the recipe for success; it worked for 30 odd years and it will again.
Walk on.
Valencia had been to consecutive Champions League finals before Rafa arrived and got them to win the league twice.
Barcelona had done nothing for several years before Rijkaard arrived and turned them into the best team in Europe.
Rijkaard’s record DOES actually match, and in fact surpass that of Benitez
True, but they did not win anything. On the other hand, Valencia had not won La Liga since 1971 – yet Benitez turned them into champions in 2002 and 2004 (as well as winning the UEFA Cup in 2004).
Barcelona on the other hand were going through a bad patch after winning La Liga as recently as 1999. Barcelona’s success in 2004-6 had as much to do with the stability brought by the new president Laporta and the rise of Ronaldinho as Rijkaard. In fact, Rijkaard was successful only at Barcelona and failed to live up to expectations before and after his time with them.
It is time to leave Rafa in the past where he belongs. Rafa tried to make his profile bigger than the club itself, that is not acceptable. Insua was a disaster at leftback last season defensively and first and foremost a defender must be able to defend. Aquailani had his chance in preseason and did nothing. It is time to put Thompson in charge, he knows the club inside and out and would not pander to the sulking fits of a certain 5 goal this season striker (120,000 a week-what a waste). Rafa the tactical mastermind couldn’t hack it at Inter Milan with their so-called ageing squad that won the Champions League back in May-the squad must have aged a lot in 7 months.
I’d much rather have Insua than Konchesky. Insua can defend and put in good crosses while Konchesky can do none of that. Aquilani proved his worth at the end of last season and showed he was a quality ball distributor in midfield. He was desperate to impress Hodgson and stake a claim for himself but Woy loaned him out before even having a look at him.
Insua cannot defend, any study of the games he played in last season would prove this. Aquilani had his chance in preseason but did nothing. The slower pace of the Italian League makes him look a lot better than he really is. Rafa insulted Alonso but Alonso would have stayed if Rafa apologised. If Rafa wanted funds to buy Aquilani and Johnson, he should have sold Mascherano that summer instead, after all did he not have Lucas who according to some fans had a great season last year.
Kenny Dalglish ‘IS NOT’ the man to manage LFC! His first 3 yrs of success was backed by Paisley who overlooked what he was doing! The so called 9 yr tenure of Bob P should really be 12 yrs! When KD went to Blackburn and they won the title he had Ray Harford doing similar to what BP had done!He failed at Newcastle & Celtic when he was working on his own! ‘THEY ARE THE COLD FACTS’. I along with every other Liverpool fan loved what Kenny did on the field but he is not the man to manage again! He had the ability to attract good players and that is what he shoud be doing now!