ACCORDING to former 80’s Liverpool legend Jan Molby, there is only one man to consider for the vacant manager’s position at Anfield – and it’s not one of the various high profile names that have been bandied about the press.
In his article for the Liverpool Echo, Molby believes that Norwich Manager Paul Lambert should be at the forefront of FSG’s mind, ahead – in merit – of the publicly touted Wigan boss Roberto Martinez.
“Lambert would be the only one I would consider. Martinez seems to be being lauded for guiding Wigan to survival, but both Norwich and Swansea finished above them this season,” Molby wrote.
“Lambert, for me, is heading to the top. I’m not sure if he is right for Liverpool at this moment, but he is going to be a top, top manager.”
The Great Dane also had words on the AVB speculation, with the former Chelsea boss installed as new bookies favourite for the hotseat:
“Scores of names have already been mentioned, and I’m sure more will crop up over the next few days. I don’t think Andre Villas-Boas will be far from FSG’s thoughts, for example. And I can understand why. For me, he is the unluckiest man in football. He arrived at Chelsea with a job to do, to try and restyle the club and to make some tough decisions in doing so.”
Molby concluded that although he is generally seen as a failure at Chelsea, he might end up leaving a legacy of sorts:
“He wasn’t given the support or backing to do so, once results began to wobble. He made some mistakes, no doubt about it, but his record – in terms of games won, goals scored and goals conceded – is superior to Roberto Di Matteo’s, and some of the players – think Romeu, Lukaku, Cahill, Mata, will be mainstays of Chelsea going forward.”
In further management news, the boss of Molby’s former club Ajax, has also distanced himself from the vacant role at Liverpool FC. When questioned on the possibility, Frank de Boer stated:
“I am honoured by the request, but I am only just starting with Ajax.”
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Jan is a legend, and who am I to question his judgement, but surely the only man for LFC is Rafa?
Listen to the fans yanks!!!! Rafa or do one!!
Rafa my arse…!
I read a lot of Jan’s articles and although he was a great pro, his views to me seem to be outdated. Lambert may be a great coach or he may be another Coyle, Mcleish or George Burley – one good season followed by relegation. Let him have more time at Norwich to see what he can build. I don’t enjoy Norwich’s style of play and reminds me of Hodgson’s Fulham. Would be a bad move for us right now.
Hes havin a laugh or what. So he thinks that he’s better mngr than Benitez, AVB or Capello. What a f****** joke.
i disagree with molby, he has no past experience at higher level, benitez is the man
I hope FSG include Michael Laudrup on their shortlist. His philosophy is forward thinking free flowing football, he rejuvenated Brondby when in charge there and let them to domestic hounours, he took a young Getafe team to the final of the Copa Del Rey and the quarter final of the Europa League, he has good knowledge of the continent, speaks english, spanish, dutch and obviously danish. In addition to this he is regarded as one of the games finest ever players, which would command respect. All in all, I think he has got as much, and I’d argue more, pedigree as the current favourites Martinez and AVB.
Lambert is an upcoming promising manager. J.Mobly obviously knows what he is saying and its based on facts too. However, i have one reservation about Lambert – he obviously build the whole Norwich squad. In liverpool it wont be the case. I just fear that it doesn’t become the case similar to Roy Hodson. It is better to see what he does next season managing expectations. All said, IMO AVB is probably the best option if available.
rafa couldnt manage money…and neither can he work with the squad available…he doesnt beleive in the british philosophy and at such…should not be considered here… infact he mainly his past…lets move on to avb, capello or deschamps…TOTAL NO>>>… to rafa come on Kopites lets come and grow with the evolving world…no more past glory, lets start over and build a new legend, shankly built is own..let someone else also build his own
Everyone is entitled to an opinion but you don’t offer any support for your opinion. Rafa is a world class manager who not only kept us in the champions league until the final season, challenged for the title, took us to two champions league finals but also rebuilt our accademy and fought against H&G and Rick Parry.
Add to that he is familia with the club and loves LFC. He did wonders with the resources available to him and often did not get the players he wanted. Instead he got stuck with alternative options that when they didn’t work out copped the blame for. We made plenty of money on his purchaces like Torres and Alonso so his handling of money should not be criticised without facts.
He deserves more respect than that!
Well said!
Finally some supporters talking some sense. What amazes me is how ungrateful these so called fans are of the one man that last got us to where we should be and closest to the title.
I’m speechless really. I have lost hope and confidence in what we were once known as “The most knowledgeable fans”! Even with all the blatant obvious statistics which are either distorted or mis-represented to spread false accounts of our last World Class manager.
Sad really…
well rafa did get us close to titles but ever think what happened when one of his playing eleven gets injured??for instance when torres or gerrard got injured? lfc suffered huge because rafa could never prepare a plan B. he would rather use degen in place of gerrard but couldnot use player who was supposed to play in gerrard’s role. AND FACE THIS rafa fu*ked up LFC’s chances in critical times , at times when spurs were buying 18mil luka mordic our rafa was buying 25 mil jhonson. dont forget 25 mil kean, and irritating transfers of frequent transfer loss in names of degen and the most important of them all and MIND YOU THIS BROKE LFC’S RYTHM AND SPINAL CORD he sold alonso and in his direct replacement he bought and already injured 25 mil yes the figure was 25 or so in that cash crunch time imagine buying someone like moluda, then to replace the most stable player of LFC. and he didnt even give that player the chance.he never nurtured youths infact spoiled more , just compare his best youngesters ngog , momo, even sterling and the players he spoiled likes of babel, gongalez, insua .I cant see why people only count cups and finals when they really should be looking for is the way the things got handled in critical times and rafa failed to manage money in the most critical period of LFC and thus is the reason for downfall of LFC along side the then owners
Failed to manage money? Only spent 60m net in his entire time at LFC. Forced to sell assets in his last two transfer windows, and actually made profit in them. I am sick of reminding jack asses like you how the whole Alonso thing played out. You see about 3 percent of the situation, and yet you think you have the right to shred a liverpool manager who is considered by most LFC fans to be a legend? Get lost.
Well hermanta. If you can use paragraphs it might make for easier reading but let me just point out a few fundamental problems with your argument.
First of all, Rafa’s first eleven. He managed to build a World beating first eleven, especially the spine and a bargain at that.
Is it his fault that despite making it into the CL, his funds were diminished to such a state where he could only afford Bosmans and 1-3m class players like Degen which you mentioned.
As for Babel, he was a rough diamond that had potential but never came good. Same goes for Gonzalez and e.t.c. Some gambles come off, some don’t.
If Rafa was afforded the money to go for his 1st choice transfer targets like Eto’o (Yes Torres was his 2nd choice), Vidic, Silva, Villa, Mata, Daniel Alves and the list goes on we won’t be in the mess we are in today.
As for Johnson and Keane which happened at totally different times they did not cost 25 million each.
Anyway I will stop here because I can’t be arsed to reply to this rubbish.
And actually Degen was brought in much earlier. I wanted to refer to the Ngog, Kyriagkos (who wasn’t half bad) and Jovanovic as key examples of why we weren’t competing by that stage.
He’s a competent coach, but really, what’s great about him or what he’s done. Sorry Jan you are way behind the times.
The only one with an exemplary CV is Rafa, and I cannot understand why FSG would not at least talk to him.
Perhaps because they think stubborness and arrogance will not be enough to lift LFC from the bllody awful mess they are in?
If that’s the case why are they speaking to AVB? Arrogance personified
It amazing how quickly people forgot just what a SH1T HOUSE job AVB did at Chelsea??
I mean… Chelsea have one of the best squads in Europe – and finished 6th. But the MOMENT AVB leaves… they win the FA cup and the Champions League!! I don’t think that is a coincidence.
Tactically he got it wrong, In the media he was unlikable, man management wise – shocking. Basically he got everything wrong, and LFC can not afford that.
Baring in mind we are not talking about Guadeola, Wenger or Mourino – and in the real world we are talking about Rogers, AVB, Martinez and Lambert – then it is clear as day that Rafa surely has to be the best man for the job??
Its a no brainer
There is only one manager who is willing to take this job. That shows. He has been more than a year out of job. He can just go aback to spain. yet he come back to Liverpool, attend the Hillsborough memorial and I bet he has been analyzing and doing his homework on football. He has a plan he and he knew he is ready. He is be different. He is none other than Rafa Benitez.
RAFA!!! RAFA !!!! 75% of liverpool fans want rafa FACT !!!!
Don’t you mean 75% of the fans that took part in the survey, I bet a lot more fans didn’t take part so the survey is a true reflection of how all the fans feel… One thing for certain it’s down to the owners who they decide will be the next manager. All those fans he’ll bent on Rafa should just chillout and get behind whoever is appointed, ( or we will end up chasing good managers away ).
please dont go for benitez. we are in this mess all becouse of him and his crazy politics.he is a control monster .all the few good results he achieved were down to paco .since poco left rb lost the plot end of story.
Pako had long gone when we came within a whisker of beating United for the title in the 2008/09 season. In the 2009/10 season when we struggled in comparison to the earlier success the backdrop of H&G and Purslow where causing massive unrest. So in the one full season without Paco and without the cowboys causing unrest we very nearly won the title, the nearest we have come in over 20 years.
Like I said earlier. Complete and utter bollocks from so called fans who are ungrateful to the man who did so much for our Club. It may escape many that it was Rafa not Pako that recruited and moulded the team.
Pako was just a middleman coach who may have been more communicative with the players but always spread the gospel. He hasn’t done much of note since.
Unlike Benitez, who was a terrific success at Inter.
great managers dont lose 10 points or so in the last few games to give title to manu
So that’s not what United did this season then……
Also, Rafa didn’t lose the title in the last few games, remember when we beat them 4-1 we were 7 or 8 points behind. He actually gained on united but run out of games. It was the xmas period that killed us that season
Did you say what has Paul Lambert done???
back to back to promotions with a small squad and low budget and finishing comfortably in midtable when nobody gave norwich a chance. He could do a hell of alot better as manager than the last couple of seasons at anfield
There’s no doubt he is a talented young manager. I don’t think anybody is disputing that. Respect to Norwich, and to Lambert s achievements, but managing Norwich is not the same as managing LFC.
25 years ago this probably would have been an excellent move – but in my opinion LFC needs a high profile manager who can use his influence to bring world class players to the club, and command the respect to manage these players ego’s.
For me Lambert and Martinez are not there yet
Get Rafa back but on condition we get Pako Aryastan as well to work as Rafa’s assistant. I know Pako had a fall out with Rafa and quit in 2007 , soon thereafter we lost our first match with Reading after 10 games undefeated , since then we were on a free fall and was sliding down.
We finished 2nd in 2008/09 long after Pako had left.
This is the problem mike… Uneducated so called LFC fans sicken me…
No offence!
for jack
Far be it from me to tell our wonderful owners their job but can I point out that if they had asked for qualified applicants we would not have the club held up to ridicule daily by people turning us down, We would have had only interested people apply (in confidence). now the damage is yet again done might I further add it would be wise for the Club to point out that NOBODY has turned the Liverpool fc Managers job down but simply the chance of an interview.
also for Jack re yesterday – yes Chelsea had a different Manager for two of the games we beat them but then they had their best team out too unlike in the Champions League final. As for bad luck is it impossible for a team to have a run of bad luck, if half the things that went agaist us go for us next season we will get op four with any Manager.
Every commentator has their opinion, I think Molby is wrong in his but FSG are being so contradictory in what they are saying. They want a young diverse modern manager but they also want a manager to get Liverpool back in the top four. In the EPL over 38 games pitting their wits against the vastly experienced Ferguson, Mancini, Wenger etc and yet they expect some young rookie to come in and achieve top four. Apparently they consider Rafa and Capello too old, Rafa is only 52.
If Kenny couldn’t achieve it one season how on earth is some rookie got a chance? I know Kenny had his limitations but if FSG want a manager to achieve top four in only one season they have got to look at vastly experienced managers like Rafa, Capello, Hiddink etc.
I agree! I thought it was criminal Rafa had to leave i the first place.
Rafa was averaging 55.43% with owners and boardroon staff and absolute, ungrateful morons hindering him. That’s including the first and last season which are extremely unfair to include, given the abysmal situation he was in. He managed 53.37% at Valencia in which he manage to mould Valencia into a title winning team on two occasions with much work needed to be done.
Coach comparisons:
Rafa Benitez: Valencia=
53.37%_87-43-33
Liverpool:
55.43%_194-77-79
Inter= 48.00%_ 12-6-8
2. Juergen Klopp: Mainz= 40.57%_104-73-80
Dortmund= 57.49%_96-41-30
3. AVB: Academica= 36.67%_11-9-10
FC Porto= 88.24%_45-4-2
Chelsea= 47.50%_19-11-10
4. Kenny: Liverpool= 60.87%_182-76-41
Blackburn= 52.55%_103-46-47
New Castle= 38.46%_30-22-26
Celtic= 55.46%_10-4-4
Liverpool= 47.30%_35-17-22
5. Martinez: Swansea= 50.00%_63-37-26
Wigan= 26.77%_34-36-57
6. B. Rogers: Watford= 40.63%_13-7-12
Reading= 26.09%_6-6-11
Swansea= 44.7%_43-20-33
7. Paul Lambert: Norwich= 49.30%_70-37-35
Now we are looking at relegation battling team managers lol with no knowledge of Europe, claiming this is the way forwards after getting turned down by many and dragging our good name through the mud. Will Man U or Arsenal consider Rogers, Martinez or AVB after his dire spell? Enough said!
Rafa is the ONLY candidate for me and I’m not a Super Fan! I’m just a supporter/realist that sees things for what they are!
He knows what needs to be done, how to get Reina to keep clean sheets, how ti recruit the Skrtels, Aggers, Alonso’s, Lucas’s and Torres’s for a nominal fee and get the best out of them. He was the one that brought Kenny back into the setup, understood our values, felt emotional at the Hillsborough Memorials, gave money to charity, brought ex Barcelona coaches to revolutionise the academy, to get us to two finals in the CL, bringing us unforgetable Nights like Istanbul, to outwit Mourinho numerous times tactically, to get us within a whisker of the title with 86 points, to get us feared at Fortress Anfield, to rile and worry Fergie and to have managers emulate his “rotation policy” to mitigate demanding seasons!
Voted as the best team in Europe at one point! This was only 3-4 seasons ago on a paltry 16m net a year which was offset by CL earnings and player sales easily.
Rafa if given the time, funding and backing will have the tactics and ability to recuit players that will get us overachieving again. We were close to if not equal to that Valencia team that systematically destroyed us and overachieved against the two Giants in that 2008-2009 season.
I’m sorry but let’s collectively pull our heads out of our arses and see that we went backwards after appointing Hodgson who never understood Liverpool and never had a CV or playing style that befitted the Club. He is good at getting mediocre teams with low expectations to play negative, kick and rush style football.
Did Rafa get Valencia and Liverpool to play this way and achieve the successes he had? He may have concentrated on playing a rigid style to begin with in order to have time to build the spine of the team and eventually progress to a very modern, high pressure, high work rate, quick countering, crushing style which worked more often than not.
Anyway, to conclude I will back whoever FSG recruits but believe that the quickest, sure fire way to regain the gap between our rivals is to give the experienced Spaniard a 2nd chance with 30 million + player sales.
Rafa has gone get over it mate… Are you that desperate to watch negative football..
Rafa was great In the beginning but he lost the plot big time and used the clubs incompetent owners as his excuses for the teams lack of success… I have never herd Rafa discuss the mistakes he made and how he would do it different if he had another go in the managers seat… (enough said)…!!
Negative football? Tell that to the 08/09 team. COMPLETE FOOTBALL. High pressing defense so we continually won the ball back, and then scoring for fun 41 goals in 13 games at one point in that season. If he wasn’t forced to asset sell at that point we may have won the league by now. Only mistake he made was leaving amicably. Should have dug his heels in.
I will support whoever comes in, but as most knowledgeable football fans know, of the managers available, he is the most likely to get us back into the champions league spots within a year…definately two. He still has many contacts in Spain and can attract top talent.
I didn’t hear many people complaining when we were thrashing the likes of Real and Man U by 4 goals! And Torres and Gerrard were tearing the Premiership apart.
Well obviously you must have started supporting Liverpool in his last year in charge.
Agree. Top four has to be accomplished in one season or at the very least in two seasons. But we are far from it now. Sad, despondent and disgruntled. We need experience managers with track records. Rafa is the right choice. But if Hiddink can come to LFC, I would agree also.
Kenny skilfully made his coffin, then went to see a smiling assasin at Boston to pluck him down. Maxi got two hat-tricks when Kenny drove in; however, Kenny would bench him in favor of his British puppies!
I would love Rafa, honestly. We got our highs and the most profound CL finals in history.
What is a profound CL final?
Kenny knows Lfc, it’s fans it’s history, He knows Football being the only player Manager in history to win the league/premiership and one of the very few to win it with two clubs, in all he won it four times. But you must admit the American know more. not.
well, do you think that the americans say, lets try this and that?man they have money on the line, they did appoint kenny on fans reaction but the latter was quite rusty and made poor signing choices. HE will always be a legend but i think that FSG have a vision unless they take martinez or whatever lower table EPL managers.RAFA IS THE NUMBER 1 CHOICE. HIS CV SPEAKS AND AS A FAN, WE KNOW WHAT WE ENDURED WITH PREVIOUS OWNERS BUT THINK AS A MANAGER…
those who want r.b back should remember his stint at inter milan and what agreat job he did there
Yeah in an ageing, innury stricken team that didn’t allow Rafs the time or money to get things going. He did get Eto’o on a goal scoring streak that was unprecedented. Anyway Rafa’s Liverpool beat Mancini’s Inter.
Oh but Mourinho is untouchable. The most luckiest, opportunistic manager who always seems to be backed with millions wherever he goes.
He still lost a lot of duels against Rafa.
Of course, Benitez had no idea of the age of the team when he went there. Strange really, with all that homework and planning of his.
He went there because he was promised money to buy younger players! Jesus!!
Rafa is the Man but The Americans dont want a fans man. Of course they know nothing, fan power is Liverpool. I hope they dont find out the hard way like their predecessors. Of course whatever they do it will be given a fair crack by the fans. unlike Daglish got from them.
Just like Hodgson got a fair crack from the fans, eh?
Liverpool were just above the relegation zone at Christmas when he was sacked. Wolves and QPR both did the same thing this year when in similar positions. Hodgson was never boo’d, and was warmly applauded on his return with West Brom this season. He was always treated with respect.
It was clear he was never the right man for the job, and Liverpool fans knew it. That’s why he wasn’t backed
Moyes please