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View from the Kop

Can FSG Really Win?

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I wrote about a week ago that my personal choice for the next Liverpool manager was Rafa Benitez and I would stand by that regardless of the other potential candidates. From various polls across a number of sites it would also appear that around 60-70% of Liverpool fans would agree with me. However, at of the time this article is being written Brendan Rodgers had edged slightly ahead of Spaniard Roberto Martinez as the favourite [Editor: With Rodgers now all but officially confirmed].

FSG were placed in a very difficult situation. The short-list that was muted contained perhaps 2-3 that would whet the appetite of most Reds fans, but the rest – the above mentioned included – were not exactly popular amongst most of us and understandably so. This isn’t about disrespecting what are no doubt talented young managers with potential; this is about finding an experienced pro with a proven track-record, so we’re allowed to feel some slight trepidation when Brendan Rodgers jumped ahead of Martinez as odds on favourite.

Because no matter which of these two ended up managing us, they were signing up to a managerial position which couldn’t be more difficult. On the one hand, we’ll be moving on to our 4th manager in little over 2 years – something practically unheard of at this club but we’ll be appointing a man with little experience at any level, nevermind the top level, so they will have an almost impossible job of convincing fans and every move, every substitution, every transfer rumour and move will be scrutinized for some indication of whether they are doing a good job.

However, the situation just got more difficult because they will be following on from the clubs’ most legendary man, and a man that many will still feel should have been given more time. So regardless of which of the two men was appointed, they would constantly be marked against their predecessor and judged even more harshly. Much like Hodgson was more harshly scrutinized at every step after stepping in to Rafa Benitez’s still warm managerial hot seat, Rodgers or Martinez would have been taking over from King Kenny and will feel the heat instantly.

Not only that, but whoever was chosen ahead of the overwhelming fan favourite Rafa Benitez, the fans will be looking down upon them from the stands thinking ‘Rafa wouldn’t have done that’. When a player is signed and he isn’t believed to be Liverpool quality, people will begin to say ‘Rafa wouldn’t have signed him; he’d have spent that money better, etc.’, so the pressure is looking to become three-fold by the time the new man is put in place and should the leading candidate for the DoF position end up getting the job, then they will also have the massively intimidating figure of Louis van Gaal breathing down their necks and that alone is something I’m sure none of us would wish on anybody.
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So really, whoever is our manager by the end of the week couldn’t really be stepping in to a more difficult job as there is pressure coming from all directions and they will be judged on the tiniest of details. If they can handle the pressure and do a good job then they will only receive more respect though, given the gravity of the situation they will be in.

There was only really one way that FSG couldn’t completely lose and that would have been to appoint Benitez, as out of the blue as that would probably seem, but even then there would be that 30% of fans that are vehemently against his appointment and never really accepted him to begin with.

While my personal jury is still out on FSG, I really feel for them with this decision they’re currently about to make because it really seems like there really weren’t any right decisions, only varying degrees of ‘less wrong’ and unless they appoint Pep Guardiola (and even then, there’d be some who’d rather have had Jose Mourinho!), they just wouldn’t be able to please us all.

So regardless of who the man is when that very eagerly awaited press conference is staged, it would be wrong to not get fully behind him, despite our reservations and who knows, in 12 months time we may be unashamedly praising FSG for their genius and foresight and hailing our new manager as the next Red messiah!

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I'm a 32 year old Liverpool fan, living in the heart of the City Centre. I've supported the club since the day I was born and have been writing articles for L4L for over 3 years, writing close over 350 articles in that time. My favorite player of the past generation is Sami Hyypia.

I am the current editor for L4L, with my day job being in R&D for the NHS.

30 comments

  • tony says:

    i know support your manager fine. I would like to ask everyone two question if you have hazard messi ronaldo looking for clud rodgers and capello rodgers or Rafa Rodgers or guadiola every single time he would lose . I was not dalglish fan what was the point sacking him for a toss of the coin manager is he going to be good or bad 80% bad i thing wolves sacked reading swansea to liverpool seriuosly.The owner dont care if we finish 4th 8th because they want club to make profit to sell it they dont care champions league or english premier league

    • Steve S says:

      I’d suggest you learn how to construct a sentence before commenting. This made no sense at all!

      • tony says:

        sorry i spelt club wrong doesnt or dont who gives a f..k so f,,k yourself english teacher

        • Reality says:

          I’d suggest you learn how to construct a sentence before commenting. This made no sense at all!

        • Onbeyondzebra says:

          Nope…didn’t understand that one either. FYI, the misspelling of ‘club’ was probably the most comprehensible bit. In future, if you start off by saying you want to ask two questions, then at least two question marks (?) are necessary in what follows.

        • Shibashis says:

          oh tony…sorry but you actually are in need of an English teacher, badly. Even more than LFC needing Rafa!

      • Willybobs says:

        Tony – It’s not just that you spelt club wrong, its really hard to follow anything you wrote. Maybe if you hadn’t said the same to your actual English teacher, as you did to Steve, we would understand what you’re trying to say.

    • Ben says:

      @ Tony – your argument is flawed though, because to make money they have to be challenging for the PL and CL!! You get more money the further up the league you finish and you are then more marketable and get more TV exposure. Ditto for the CL. However, Liverpool are in a good and fairly unique position whereby they have a big draw regardless of where they finish in the league, but the owners would never consider maintaining this status quo as a business model as that may not last!
      Plus I think you said Wolves sacked Rodgers? Firstly, he never managed Wolves and secondly if you are referring to his time at Watford, then he left of his own accord to manage Reading! Reading he left by ‘mutual consent’, which basically means he was sacked! But anyway, you never know what will happen so we should support him as our manager! Too many people have become bitter and militant over the past few years (and rightly so), but we need to relax a bit and try to be positive for a change!!

      YNWA (remember that???).

    • jeven says:

      wtf is this douche prattling on about….i didint understand a thing about what u were saying tony….either learn to construct proper sentences before joining a debate or go to an english school and dont come back till people stop throwing things at u!!

  • Towson Tom says:

    Maybe its about finding someone hungry enough for success rather than someone who’s been there.

  • kaysayi says:

    We will support BR,we just had hoped the owners would have at least opened their net wider and also,at least, interviewed RB. We talking about a man who made us feared across Europe and in the EPL,made us dream, made us fans count for something cos at anfield we were the “12th man”! What makes it a bitter pill is the fact that Rick Parry and G&H are apparently being consulted(its wrong no matter what capacity). It make this position a difficult one for BR, in the sense that he’ll have to show signs of the perfect end picture from very early on to make the majority of fans put the RB situation behind them. Good luck BR, ultimately, all we want is the best for LFC, as long as you are the gaffer you have my support. By the Towson Tom, i dont think any1 hungrier than Rafa to bring the EPL to anfield,FACT!!!

  • kaysayi says:

    Good article!!!!! Its unfortunate some of our fans have been poisoned by the AF driven media against Rafa, its so sad! People should just ask themselves why Fergie wouldn’t want Rafa back and most questions and doubts will become a vision

  • Jon says:

    I agree, FSG are in a very difficult position! They said from the outset they wanted to bring in a very fluid passing game in the style of Barcelona, preferably with a young manager. Andre Villas Boas was lined up before Kenny did a good job after RH and pretty much forced them to give him a go.. Indeed they allowed him to spend £120 million granted not gross but allowed all of the torres money to be spent and then topped it up. The more I read about Rogers, the more I like.. ‘Tiki Taka’ barcelona style play is what Liverpool used to be about! We were all about keeping the ball.. Possession is key but recently we have been more direct and I for one prefer the pass and move! I think with Liverpools/FSG,s resources.. And TIME then rogers could be the best thing to happen to us. I would have liked to see Rafa get another go but mainly for sentimental reasons.. Some of the football we were playing towards the end of ragas reign wasn’t very good at all and too defensive for my liking. I think FSG would have been better doing what they wanted to do originally, unfortunately Kenny did waste a lot of money on average players.. Hopefully the players we’ve got can step up now and prove they deserve to wear the red shirt and are good enough to play ‘total football’ Just hope BR sticks to his principals… GOOD LUCK Brenan… YNWA!!!

  • Dale Marlow says:

    Having pondered the selection FSG have made, it greatly worries me what we are now going to witness, I’m not too concerned about the qualities of the new manager, I think he is one of the best available, simple test, Name me another (realistic) option that is out there (Guardiola, Mourinho, even De Boer is not realistic).

    What greatly concerns me is the type of football that we need to see and Rodgers will implement will expose the ability (or lack of) of several key first team players. The functional, athletic type of player will be exposed for a basic lack of footballing ability, namely the ability to (consistently) pass the ball well.

    This is going to be hard to watch in the gaems against Swansea last season, KK accepted that Swansea would dominate possession in the pre match press conferences. The players are going to have to hunting the ball and then learn to keep it.

    There were frustrating parts in matches last season (I know there were plenty to chose from), but the ones I’m talking about are the ones at home against sides sitting back where we simply lacked the basic passing ability to build pressure on an opposing defence.

    Getting the right players playing the system may take 2 to 3 years to put in place, I suspect BR will get the time to do that, what it may also do is provide a chance for Joe Cole and Alberto Aquilani to have another crack at making it at Anfield in a more suitable footballing environment.

    YNWA

  • sleeps with angels says:

    I wanted Rafa back too but the owners want to take us down a differant road with this new set up,who knows? it just might be the way to go,only
    time will tell.So i will back the new manager as i
    am sure all true reds will,Cead Mile Faite Brendan!

  • Karim says:

    Well… Rafa finished 7th in his last sesason…. Hodgson didnt even last a year..Dalglish finished 7th and 8th in his 18 month tenure.

    I know KD is the King and we all love him to pieces, but in the last 36 months, LFC have gone backwards in the league. In 2008/2009 we came 2nd, a couple of wins away from winning the league.

    Then G&H decided they were going to ruin this club…

    3 years later we have FSG who are born winners. They took a Red Sox team who havent won a world series in over 50 years to the very top, by appointing a young coach with hardly any experience and they totally revamped their side.

    Why cant this success be replicated in the Premier League? Why cant Brendan Rodgers be the young coach appointed by FSG to bring the good times back to Anfield?

    Lets be honest, our league form has stuttered since 2009 partly down to the players we have signed and sold. But at the end of the day, we are LIVERPOOL FC. That alone stands for so much in anyones book.

    I think its time for Brendan Rodgers to create a new era, a new dynasty and hopefully new history for us.

    YNWA.

  • keith says:

    benitez made 3 good signings in his time with us and about 20 duffers so scrutinising BRs ones against benitez is ridiculous doesnt anyone remember voronin for example or being totally frustrated by his constant tinkering while leading the epl only to drop away and the let the manu scum win it again. I for one would have hated to see benitez back as ultimately it would have ended the same way . lots of mediocre players ,defensive uninteresting football, falling out with the owners and losing the dressing room AGAIN!!!!!!!!
    Every liverpool fan craves the type of football BR will play and i fancy the players do too. If he is given time and money the success will follow. Fair play to FSG they have got the most exciting young manager in football at the minute and i will be backing him 110%.

    • Matt says:

      Could you let me know which three out of these you consider to be the ‘good players’? Alonso, Garcia, Agger, Kuyt, Arbeloa, Torres, Masherano, Lucas…? Also lets not forget Voronin was free.

      • Matt says:

        Oh and I forgot Pepe Reina…

        • keith says:

          sorry 4 good players ALONSO TORRES AGGER REINA . KUYT was a good striker before rafa got him , lucas only came good after he left. i sppose 4 or 5 out of 30+ isnt bad is it.

        • Matt says:

          Seriously? No love for Masch? And Lucas coming good was probably more as a result of being played alongside Alonso and Mascherano under Benitez. saying 4/5 good signings out of 30 is asinine. Not everyone of those signings were intended to be key players. Most of the ‘flops’ were squad players brought in for a couple of million or bosmans. The majority of his key signings were good ones.

  • Jason says:

    I don’t think FSG wanted kenny daglish it was the fans who wanted king kenny now kenny has been sacked . People are moaning do you think FSG really want to go back to rafa he wouldn’t be able to work with the FSG group as the want tiers people above him and rafa would want full control as did roberto martinez. I think all Liverpool fans should get behind the FSG group and support the manager guessing it’s Rodgers anytime soon we need to united and get back supporting the club all LFC love

  • Mike Arms says:

    I am not sure what FSG seem to have achieved, sacking a good experienced manager who made a few mistakes in his first season to replace him with a novice manager who has achieved very little in his entire football career.
    I think it is a massive unnecessary gamble by FSG, surely if this really was their first choice it would have made more sense to give Dalglish another year. Rodgers was going nowhere and would have gained more experience with another season at Swansea. With the pay off to Dalglish and the pay off to Swansea, a lot of money has been wasted that could have been avoided just by giving Dalglish another season. If the league position didn’t improve then we could have made a move for Rodgers next season, less of a gamble, less cash to give in compensation to both parties.

  • CK4505 says:

    I hear everyone say oh Rodgers plays like Barcelona pass and move and attacking,well what manager doesn’t want to play this way, we are in a very dangerous position as a cub, now i don’t know if FSG can really grasp that, i mean lets face it how much do they really know about football, not much so can they really understand what LFC really means, as far as im concerned all they have done so far is made this club less more attractive to any other really gifted talent out there.
    Football today is huge, image is very important, players play for the manager and club, American baseballers play for money, Rodgers will have a problem gaining respect from a lot of our current squad and even less from other future quality targets, in my opinion (which probably dosen’t mean much) we are going to struggle for a while and i believe if LVG is DoF than he will take over.
    If i am wrong than i will be back here eating humble pie, i promise.

    • You heard says:

      C’mon Ck and to every FSG basher – can we please stop with Yanks dont know this, Americans dont know that. I am a “yank” and I have loved LFC for 15 years  so i have been through the good and bad like the rest of you.

      You said, the only thing the Yank owners have done is make the club less attractive. That is complete garbarge. FSG saved our beloved team from 2 stupid owners (yes, i know – yanks), paid off 90% of the clubs debt, got standard charter to sponsor us for alot of money and got a new massive kitty deal with warrior. Oh and handing over major funds last summer to try and bring in new faces. If that is making a club less attractive then i guess im  stupid yank fan.

      what did you expect? For FSG to wave a magic wand?

      Stop blaming the owners, all they did was buy a beautiful football club when no one else wanted to.

      Lets go into this year with a clean sheet and hope FSG made the right  decision to hire Rodgers.

      Can we please do that?

      YNWA

  • keith says:

    well said Karim. i think Rodgers will bring in hard working and good technical skilled players to complement the ones we already have , could be the start of something great and long lasting and bring back the smiles on the terraces. Come on you reds!

    • Pmac says:

      Can all the one-eyed Rafa brigade try opening that one eye, we have stood still under previous managers and systems. FSG are to be congratulated in their bold stance, let’s move on, it’s 2012 now let’s look to the future and the rebuilding of another Anfield dynasty YNWA .

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