It is a well-known fact that Kenny Dalglish has been keen to bring back the famous Boot Room to Liverpool FC. From the start of his temporary tenure he has always been keen to bring in talented and knowledgeable men but also men that will be well-liked and respected by the players.
With the announcement a couple of days ago that Rodolfo Borrell has been promoted to Reserve Team coach, things really appear to be falling in to place. The turgid, ‘old-school’ set-up that Rafa Benitez was in the process of deconstructing during his time, finally appears to be on it’s last legs and a new, more up-to-date, more modern version of the highly successful Boot Room structure appears to be being put into place with young, hungry talented scholars being drafted in to important positions throughout the coaching side of the club.
With Sammy Lee already well-established – and well-liked by the players and staff – and the introduction of Steve Clarke over the past few months, the base is already there for the first team. Sammy has a successful track record as a top coach with a real ‘hands on’ methodology, getting down and dirty on the training ground with the players. While Steve Clarke is a top-class young (still only 47) coach, with highly successful and notable stint at Chelsea and then West Ham in his recent past. Noted as a very technical and tactically astute coach, the Scot can fill in the gaps where for Kenny there may still be a few cobwebs after years of inactivity.
And with Rodolfo Borrell and Jose Segura heading up both the Reserve Team and Academy, the youth team players’ progress and progression through the ranks would appear to be as secure as it could be. The two highly thought of Spaniards have almost a more glittering past than their manager, given that they’ve both had a hand in starting off the career of the likes of Messi, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas, Bojan Krkic and Giovanni Dos Santos, as well as Liverpool’s own Daniel Pacheco. If these two can’t make the most of Liverpool’s high-tech, expensive Academy facilities and now extensive scouting network, then nobody can. Segura has even shown some future potential as a manager, given his successful – if short – stint as manager of Olympiakos – leading them to a League and Cup double in recent years.
Continue Reading on Page 2 . . .
Not sure about your dig at Rafa, if you look at the set up they are the men that Rafa hired. Remember the fuss about steve highway been sacked? Rafa had to deal with people that did not know football. The boot room is an ideal because to be successful you need a team. I will conclude that Rafa did not have a team that stayed around long enough. I’m happy KK can get things back to basics
Agree,moreover i would love to see a place for Rafa
among the `Knowledgeable`new bootroom as i am sure its where his heart is too.
Kenny has now proven his worth to LFC,and i feel if he surrounds himself with people with LFC`s interests at heart a few bootroom guy`s could be around for years!!! It starts here and now YNWA
agree ken08 – I am a Rafa fan too
I think you are misinterpreting David Tyrer, who in fact is praising Rafa for kick-starting the reform of the club from a “turgid, ‘old-school’ set-up”. His exact words: “The turgid, ‘old-school’ set-up that Rafa Benitez was in the process of deconstructing during his time …”
Edwin,I didn’t think it was a dig at Rafa – thought the writer was meaning that Rafa was clearing out that set up and now it looks like it’s being completed by Kenny and the new regime.
Exactly!
Rafa is not a team player and would not fit in a boot room set up.
stupid comment. is there evidence thar rafa is not a team player?
rafa is all about individual brilliance. 1 man rock band if u ask me. even his striker nando cant play with anyone
Unfortunately the site does allow idiots like Jon and dimitri to post comments, but we all know there is one born every minute, and some will become Liverpool fans, but please if you nothing good to say, keep your ill informed mouth shut. Rafa is a liverpool legend and always will be. The people of Liverpool will always welcome Rafa back to the club, no matter what a few numbnuts think !!!
I for one would love to see rafa as part of our boot room set up, I think his heart is at the club he has experience and he was the man that brought kk back to the club, also his european experience would probably be most valuable to kk in years to come
Rafa was too stuburn, just look at Alonso we lost probably 1 if not are best player because Rafa was stuborn in getting Gareth Barry a player who never wanted to come to Liverpool and was simply after money. We ended up loosing a player we could have built a winning team around and would have stayed for life. Rafa got rid of Garcia with no replacement in mind and left us with a team with little creativity. He complained about a lack of investment but spent too much on players who would struggle to get in to any top team in Europe. We have some very good players and one or 2 great players, and several not so good players. Rafa should have been increasing the 1st and 2nd set and not the 3rd as he often did.
As for the article it wasn’t a dig at Rafa the aticle simply states that Rafa started the good work of rearranging the support staff and that Kenny is finishing off this good work…. This will be the legacy that Rafa leaves us with, and this is what he should be proud of, setting the foundations for future improvements with a better stream of first team players coming through…. Eg Flannegan, Cody, Shelvey etc.
Rafa was never the same after PaKo Ayestaran left.