Are Liverpool serious? Are they really thinking of giving the manager's job to Kenny Dalglish? There's no denying his record when in charge of clubs - he even took Newcastle to second place - but it is 10 years now since he was in the top job and, in the time he has been away, the game has moved on. Yes he is still God in the cities of Glasgow and Liverpool but elsewhere? It's more a case of "Kenny Who?" I'm afraid.
If Dalglish is appointed, it will be to placate the fans and minimise criticism as Liverpool settle in to mid table obscurity. Would the Scousers ever turn on King Kenny? Bad season could follow bad season and the fans would still bow down at the altar of Kenny. Look at the way they tolerated, nay revered, Benitez! Yes Hicks and Gilette have spit roasted Liverpool FC, but Rafa still had funds to buy players and he bought badly.
"Bought badly?", the Scousers will squeal, "What about Torres?" It always comes back to Torres, but as good as Torres is, he does not compensate for all the other expensive duds Benitez bought - as last season showed. How many years is it since Liverpool won the title? Back to 1989-90 when, surprise, surprise, Kenny was in charge!
It would be great to turn the clock back but sadly pretending it is 1990 will not make me 31 again, and appointing Kenny will not restore Liverpool to past glories. The damage has been done by Moran, Souness, Evans, Houllier and, most of all, Rafa Benitez. Liverpool fans stood by their man for far too long and he has led the club up a blind alley.
Dalglish is the easy choice, his appointment will make Hicks and Gilette heroes for a day or two. But Kenny will walk away from the job when the pressure mounts and where will Liverpool be then? Up Mersey Creek without a paddle!
6 comments:
kevin in Manchester writes..
Liverpool; the new Newcastle.. substitute Daglish for Keegan and there you have it.. he's the new Messiah .. except of course he isn't..I'm afraid liverpool fans will never accept that they've been clawed back into the peleton and they they will stay .. if they are lucky .. unless someone gets to grips with systemic problems at the club and is prepared to wager huundreds of millions of pounds in the process. the harder they come the harder they fall. and before any scousers get upset; west ham have been in the same boat, albeit at a lower level for ten years.. but at least we are in the process of facing up to our demons- time will tell etc.
Give Dalglish 3 years of failure and then turn to Gerrard, returning from Real to walk on the Mersey!
I agree, Dalglish would not be an ideal choice.
But your assessment of Benitez's record is, like most commentators', miserably researched, laced with lazy, puffed-up cliche, and alarmingly divorced from fact.
Why doesn't anyone actually look at the stats? Look at Rafa's spending, for instance - the most accurate figures (95% accurate) tell us he had a net spend of just over £10m per annum (£223m spent with £160m recouped from player sales), not much to replace not just an entire team but an entire reserve squad. In the last four transfer windows he was required to make a profit on player trading.
He bought duds, of course - like every manager (what's the point of even listing their duds when no one bothers to mention them) - but he leaves the team having bought (when no one else was interested in them) one of the best goalkeepers in the world, one of the best holding midfielders, and one of the best strikers. And what about players such as Xavi Alonso, relatively unknown when bought (for c.£10m), one of the most cultured midfielders when sold for a profit of c.£20m.
I could mention many more shrewd buys of his in the first team and reserves, many more players he was developing into success stories, but I ask you, what's the point? Hardly anyone expressing an opinion in print on Liverpool FC has the faintest interest in the correct information when it comes to budgets, player dealings, zonal marking, shots on goal, pass rates, players' performances -their actual effectiveness as measured by statisticians - even the clubs debt.
And why is this? Well - you tell me...
I'll tell you why, because he hasn't won a Premiership title, hasn't won anything of substance since a frankly fortunate Champions League victory over an old and complacent AC Milan (never mind the come back, look at the half time score!) and last season couldn't even finish above Tottenham to secure a Champions League place. I can't challenge your transfer fees point because I haven't got all the stats to hand but I will say that the Alonso money last summer was NOT invested wisely.
Ah I get it. You're not looking for debate. You're looking for opinion.
Tell me, then, in your opinion who should Benitez have bought to replace Alonso?
Tevez. Then he could used Gerrard deeper.
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