Is Roy An Exemplary Liverpool Manager?

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This question stems from a persistent issue surrounding Roy Hodgson, namely, his unquestionable strong bond with Alex Ferguson. As if to add insult to injury after the disastrous on and off-field debacle against Wolves, Roy was photographed in good spirit with Ferguson at the Wigan – Newcastle game. This brought the umpteenth barrage of criticism by a large section of the Liverpool community and who could blame them?

Hodgson and Ferguson, best of friends.

It is no secret that there is no love whatsoever between arguably the titans of English football, Liverpool and Man. Utd. The hatred is not only a side effect of the intense rivalry between England’s most decorated clubs; the spite has been amplified by Ferguson’s historic quote stating that his aim was to “knock Liverpool off their f***ing perch”. Some suggest the bad feeling towards the Reds of Liverpool was borne during the triumphant days when the football World was accustomed to Liverpool steamrolling past opponents. It has been stated that Ferguson was left reeling when one Liverpool fan approached the Scot and bravely uttered the words “You Manc bastard, come to see the champions?”

Ferguson has denied having any grudges towards Liverpool managers and has shifted the blame to Benitez when questioned about last season’s war of words between himself and the Spaniard. Evidence suggests that Ferguson feels “threatened” by a Liverpool resurgence, which only really happened during Rafa’s reign. It must have been welcome news when Ferguson’s old pal was chosen for the Liverpool’s hotseat.

Back to Hodgson and the current Liverpool boss feels that “football teams have battles with other football teams” rather than “battles with other managers”. It is incorrect to encourage personal litigation between football managers but it is also hard to stomach two rival managers “drinking wine in secret”. Put it simply, Hodgson’s enthusiastic friendly relationship with Ferguson is a particular disappointing aspect which will never, ever be accepted by (the majority of) Liverpool fans and will only serve to worsen the strenuous relationship between fans and current manager.

Taking Liverpool back to where the club historically belongs, that is the pinnacle of English and European football calls for a passionate manager who’s primary focus is to overthrow the one club that has consistently been on the up ever since Liverpool’s decline became a harsh reality in the mid 90s. I just can’t see Roy Hodgson fitting such a requirement, more so when he states that Alex Ferguson is the “greatest manager in English football”. How can he achieve such a goal when he regards the manager of Liverpool’s fiercest rivals as the best around? Hodgson is entitled to such an opinion, but voicing this out publicly is an insult to the Liverpool community so appreciative and proud of two masters of the game, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley.

Hodgson is clearly not fit for the job. Players need to be injected with passion, that little bit of arrogance and belief that the team – as a whole – can rule above the rest. When Shankly stated that there are only two teams on Merseyside, Liverpool FC and Liverpool reserves, I am sure that his aim was to instill drive, security and focus in his squad. Liverpool players need to be recognized and told that they are the best. They need to be given support. This is not how Hodgson operates, sadly enough and that is why he cannot be relied on any further; the buck stops here.

Evidence suggests that Mr Hodgson would be fitting as Ferguson’s number 2 rather than Liverpool’s manager. Enough said.

See you next time.

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54 Comments

  1. you know what – im not a fan of Hodgson, but this article is clearly ridiculous. If you don’t see Ferguson as the best around, then maybe you need to look at the league table? Sites like this make it easy for the Mancs to take the piss out of us.

    1. Gav, the point was not about Ferguson being the best – it was about Hodgson’s statement that Ferguson is the best which is a direct insult to those of us who regard Shankly as by far the epitome of football management excellence. OK?

  2. i have had enough of the abuse and stick roy has been getting what has happened to this liverpool legacey support the mangaer to the end. well i certinaly am because i think he is a good manager lets be honest he couldnt make any good sigings because we had no money. he signed merierals who is a very good player, joe cole is also very good but had a dissapointing start to the season. and the rest have been average at best!. so lets back roy because know he has got money and hopefully starts putting some results together soo come on the reds !! he came to the club when there was a very average squad to work with. roy im backing you.!!

    1. Luke, abuse is one thing and I have always preached against this attitude. This is constructive criticism.

  3. Ridiculous article. I used to be proud to be a Liverpool fan, not only because I supported the greatest team in English footy, but because its fans was guided with a morale that was honorable and fair some used to call it the Liverpool way. No more of this, I’m afraid. In any case I’ll much rather have Roy than Rafa’s crazy rants making us the laughing stock of English footy. The way “fans” of this club’s been treating Roy is a shame. I’m quite confident both Shanks and Sir Bob spin in their graves. Sad days indeed.

  4. karl, you can call it what you want to be honest but everybody is a bit to harsh on roy and you can clearly see this is getting to him and the players. it also dosen’t help when we are chanting for hodgson for england. and everybody has there opinion and that is yours and this is mine!! .

    1. Luke, I was badly cheesed off when Torres was never given support by his manager after being heavily lambasted by Ferguson. That’s just one example. Yet I kept on writing against directly abusing Roy as a person albeit voicing an opinion that failure to stabilize matters till January should have led to Roy’s removal. What I am stating are facts.

  5. This is a personal abuse on private life & private friends of the man in charge.
    I like this picture, because this picture sends a fair play message which is the heart of Liverpool’s way.
    Inside the pitch We are fierce rivals, outside the pitch We are good friends.
    Are You trying to say me that no one of us has friends Who are United fans out there?
    Clueless.
    Shame on You, Shame on Empire of The Kop.
    This article is a disgrace.

  6. karl, we all adore torres up in liverpool but he is pure class but this season he is not fit at all and hasen been at the races much this season and 6 goals in 20 games proves that. but, why are we going about this, it isnt even in the article about this incident. yes he should have stuck up for him. but this is just another story to try and sack roy so why dont you go and do the job then? !!

    1. Luke, if I had to gather every controversial remark Hodgson has made since his arrival, I’d have to write another post. We don’t want Roy “sacked” – we want Liverpool back on top and Hodgson has only little to show he is the right man.

  7. Fucking hell. That is why I like Orwell and his totalitarian ideas. Some people on here should have their opinion taken away from them

    Some of you are actually backing Roy ? How low could you stoop ?
    Some of you are actually excusing Roy for saying that Alex is the best ? or that he drinks wine in private ?

    That is why i wouldn’t mind going down to the championship, if it means we’ll get rid of the clueless WUM’s who are happy with Roy at the helm then i’m all for it.

    Good article Karl bdw. It’s more to do with the timing of things though. We all know that Roy considers this friendship too important for it to breakdown because of LFC.

    1. Fair enough Kevin, he considers his friendship too important to breakdown because of LFC – thats a conflict of interest so the obvious thing to do is not take the job in the first place.

  8. Give the man a break, A man need his closest friends in his darkest hours. Remember it’s only a game not a war. A lot of people have got short memories. Hodgson took over Liverpool. A club in its worst state since the arrived of Shankly. Ok he made some big mistakes in his short spell but the stick his is getting is way out of line. I watch some of his UFFA coaching videos on formations the other day and you can see that he has a lot to offer. There was one key thing that his said which was that you can talk all day about formations but its all about the players and he has not had the time to created his own team. After last weeks game I thought that he had to go now but now after the dust has settled. I think they should keep him for the rest of the season. At the start of the season Liverpools target for 4th place which was always going to be tough. Now a top 6th place would be and europa league win would be great return for this season. Do I think that Hodgson can achive this…yes I can as long as he brings in min of 3 very good signings and a change in thought. Roy needs to think like Liverpool football club watching his formation video’s I noticed he is very concerned about letting goals in maybe this is from coaching smaller teams but if he can trust his creative players a bit more Im sure they will responed with bigger peformances and what bigger stage to start the comeback with three away game including a trip to the lions den at Man U before a hosting the merseyside derby. Come on lets stick together fight….that the Liverpool way

  9. roy hodgson who cares more about friendship and drinking wine with alex ferguson rather than managing mighty LIVERPOOL FC. even if roy hodgson turnaround things for liverpool then also he must be SACKED because we dont need a manager who cares friendship about our RIVALS. So please FSG sack this old man and bring an young manager who has PASSION FOR LIVERPOOL FC.

  10. It’s not that he has a friendship with Ferguson that bothers me. It’s his utter lack of care towards the responsibilities of his role.
    A key part of a football manager’s job description is to keep good relationships with the fans (customers) of the club. Roy had already alienated fans with his comments after the Wolves match and had presumably been told to apologise and try to win the fans’ hearts & minds back. So what does he do? Gets himself photographed in a public place having a laugh with someone whom the fans despise.
    How did he not realise that this would be a bad idea and that it would damage his plan to engage with Liverpool fans? For me, either he’s stupid or he simply doesn’t care. Either way, he does not deserve to keep his job

    1. Paul, spot on. Nothing personal against Hodgson. But some things just cannot be ignored and this is one such incident.

  11. Rick please move on. We are LFC supporters. Friendships with rival managers are not on. Respect is a different matter altogether. Which planet are you from, mate?

  12. Luke, Gav, Rick, Roy…whoever you pretend to be, take those red rosy glasses off now. Put them down and think properly for a second.

    When was the last time we found our club in this situation?

    When was the lowest point for you in your support of LFC?

    Excluding Heysel and Hillsborough, our time under Souness showed me how not to manage a team. Yes we had some good times but what he did for most of the time was truly worrying.

    My point is that currently, this great club of ours is going down hill at an alarming rate with Roy in charge. People can blame Rafa or whoever (despite getting us 2nd in the league the season previous to his sacking) but it is clear on a few things.

    The inept tactics, the shocking display of comments towards the fans and the disgustingly blatant disgregard for the club and its history have taken its toll on everyone.

    Roy has taken the fans for idiots. We are not idiots and we can see right through him.

    I hope you can at least see where the rest of the fans are coming from and why such venom is directed towards RH.

  13. Much as I dislike him, Fergie really is a good manager. And for that reason, he’d never accept Hodgson as his number two. Personal shoe-shiner maybe, or club jester, or thorn in his enemies’ side.

  14. this is a indeed ridiculous. for all we know woy could be saying “i’m gonna knock your drunken scotch ass of that perch” and fergie(drunk of course) laughing about it. i despise fergie but there’s little doubt that he’s currently ‘the best manager in english football’ just look at the titles he’s won. ynwa

  15. Roys had no money? He brought in Meireles for 11 mill, Jones 1.5 mill, Konchesky 4 mill, Poulsen 4.5 mill. When Rafa came in he didn’t have much to spend either but he made 2 ‘astute’ signings in Luis Garcia, and Xabi Alonso, we only managed to get Alonso after trying to get Owen to stay failed and he went to Madrid for 8 million, just like the Mascherano situation we got Meireles with the money. What happend in the end we just lost the league cup and won the Champions League, with Roy the only where only going to end up back in the relagation zone.

    I hear the argument ‘what has happend to the fan loyalty which this club is made up of, well 1. we never wanted Roy, 2. we also had a tradition of keeping crticism in house and not in the media where Roy makes comments everyday, and then critices the fans. ( I know Rafa used the media aswell, but when Roy n NESV came in they both said they would go back to the old ways keeping everything in house)and finally 3. We pay a good price to see us play well, but Roys formation, tactics are bad as his decisions, id expect some improvements even if has only been incharge 6 months but there is none.

    SACK ROY, BRING BACK THE JOY……YNWA

  16. You uncle Roy. are you here for enjoying vacation ?????
    now vacation is over, then get lost you *.
    we dont want your pooooor signings, bald one from Fulham and another one is your same aged man(*).

  17. WOUNDER if we leave blackburn tonite without any points..

    WOUNDER IF THE NESV GROUP (FSG) WOULD DARE TO LET HIM STAY ON?

    IF ROY STAYS AS LIVERPOOL MANAGER TONITE AFTER A LOSS AWAY TO BLACKBURN AND GETS OUTWITTED BY THEIR NEW BOSS,

    THATS IT FOR ME…..

    HAD ABOUT ENOUGH, THE LAST STRAW WAS SEEING HIM AT WIGAN GAME WHEN THE TWO BEST PLAYERS WHERE OUT OF THE GAME….

    WHAT AN EARTH WAS HE DOING AT THAT GAME, WHEN HE WAS WITH RED DRUNK FERGIE?

    LETS SEE WHAT NESV ARE MADE OFF TONITE?

  18. Jesus Christ, the man is doing a piss poor job, agreed BUT we don’t have to stick the boot in at every opportunity. He’s in his death throes now, lets just wait it out with a bit of dignity.

    For all his failings, Hodge doesn’t deserve this. Bad manager but not a bad man. A foolish one perhaps, but he doesn’t deserve the daily barrage of abuse or in this case criticism for criticisms sake.

  19. Guys I couldn’t give a toss about the relationship between any Liverpool manager as long as he gives 100% in trying to win every game. Whatever criteria you judge a manager by, it shouldn’t be their personal relationships, who cares!! I know i’d be just as determined to beat a friend as an enemy.. Ridiculous anti-Roy propaganda!

  20. the photo of them 2 laughing with each other means nothing i want Hodgson gone but not on the back of a photo of 2 men who have worked in the same industry for all there adult lives and have been very good friends for 30+ years i’ve got mates who are bitters and mancs its not ideal but they’re my mates lol just because he got the Liverpool job we expect them to not be mates what about Gerrard and Rooney or Joe Cole and the donkey Ferdinand its a job to them where as its a passion for us so behave with the pathetic attempts to bring anything else into it hw needs to go but thats all to do with football and nothing to do with his friendships grow up

  21. hodgson is bad but what about the new owners, they are doing even more damage to the club. fire comolli, install dalglish as director, villas boas as manager, mcmahon as asst and ayestaran as head/fitness coach. hand them 70mils and with the guidance of dalglish, villas boas will return liverpool to the top

  22. karl v-grant good post!!! Luke, Gav, Rick are you roy in disguise ? i have no belief in roy he might be a nice guy but whether he is nice or not that can not keep him in his job. annoyed me the other day how he clapped the kop at the end after slagging the week before he only clapped because we didnt give him any hassle but he would of got it if cole didnt get that goal. am not looking forward to sundays game at all and thats how roy has made us all feel i think we will struggle tonight and that is because of him. his choice of words in interviews doesnt help anyones confidence. we have some hard fixtures coming up and the only way we are gona win them is if we have a new manager. if king kenny steps in he will inject a bit of pride back into the club and the kop myt rock again. ynwa

  23. karl,i bet if we get a result tonight and against man u and finish in the top 4 everybody will be singing roys name and all of this will be forgotting lets be honest. i believe roy will be at the club for a long time so in the end he is going to win us over like benitez did !!

    1. Luke, if Roy gets us in the CL this season, which is pretty much were we should be (a) to attract the big names, (b) to strengthen our financial muscle and (c) to retain players like Reina and Torres then I will be the first to admit I should have judged Roy in May rather than January – And honestly, for the good of the club, I SINCERELY HOPE AND WISH we’re in the top four come May even if Hodgson is still on. I’m just not convinced Roy has the Liverpool managerial characteristics. No problem, we disagree on this.

    1. PD – Shankly’s famous quotes may be regarded as “petty” too then. Seriously, would you imagine Shanks having a laugh with a rival manager?!

  24. Bburn 2-0 Liverpool HT with the Blackburn fans singing “your getting sacked in the morning”.

    We have alot of fans at the stadium and i feel sorry for them because they are watching a team thats not doing shit.

    Another away game and at the moment it looks like another away loss. This man is absolutley clueless.

    If Chelsea sack Ancelotti get on the phone to his agent and bring him to Anfield……YNWA……SACK ROY, BRING BACK THE JOY

  25. Good article karl :)

    Someones are backing roy till the end because of the liverpool way. We’re talking about his friendship with fergie. We’re talking about how we will loose agger. We’re talking about how konchelsky and poulsen are bad. We’re talking about how pacheco has no chance to play. We’re talking about how roy lost supporters. We’re talking about how our team play shitty foitball under roy. Should we accept that because of the liverpool way? Accepting that is the liverpool way? If roy was in love with liverpool fc and the team playing badly we could at least apologize . If roy had no passion for lfc but making the team playing interesting football we could apologize. But we don’t see any passion and any good football . For all those reasons he should be fired

  26. LOL, if Ancelloti get sacked, let us snatched him after sacking Roy, this morning let’s hope the sacked news will come to my ears.

    1. I’m totally stunned. Won’t even bother writing a post-match piece; nothing to write about really.

  27. I feel sorry for Roy cause I just watched the game and some of these players are a total joke and are not fit to wear the red shirt…. gutless wonders. we need new hungry players.

  28. so, latest update: Blackburn 3-1 Liverpool.
    Roy supporters: you still think he’s the man to get us in the top 4?
    I too wanted to give him until end of season. But, his attacks on the fans, his bad tactics, his lack of motivation techniques to get the best out of his squad are all his doing and no one else. He slates his players in public!
    And then the icing on the cake, the photo with Fergie.
    Granted, Fergie is currently the best manager in the business but when Roy is the manager of Liverpool doesn’t he know the heated relationship Liverpool has with Man utd? He slags the fans that are coming to the games and then goes off and has a laugh with Fergie. Nice Roy, really really nice!!!
    Having a mate who supports Man utd and getting together and having fun is one thing, but a manager of Liverpool who slags the fans and then goes and have a wee bit of niggle with Fergie is something else. Sorry, but its not acceptable.
    Roy maybe a nice guy, but right now, Liverpool doesn’t need a nice guy, we need someone ruthless and can give it to the opposition and NOT to the Liverpool fans.
    And, you know who is happy with all this shite, it’s Fergie. He’s happy Roy is here taking us back. He’s having a real jolly time.
    Roy needs to go, in a respectful manner.

  29. NESV were threatening to walk away from the Liverpool deal if we got deducted 9 points. They’ve kept Hodgson in charge and we’ve been deducted 18 points instead……YNWA SACK ROY, BRING BACK THE JOY

  30. Shankly and Paisley turning in their graves at the critcism of Hodgson? More likely at disgraceful performances that the club have given since this clown took over.

    He never had the qualifications, the pedigree, the hunger or the ability to manage LFC. I dont care if he’s as nice as Ghandi, thats not what I want in a manager. I want somebody thats going to send out my team and make sure they win. In that he has failed miserably. He has Torres, Gerrard, Reina – an abundance of riches – still at his disposal. They may not be a title winning squad, but there sure as hell not a relagation one either.

    Sack the man now, get a new guy in, give the new gy $25-$30 million and we will finish 6th.

  31. man wat the **** owners are doing… dont they have a mind bastards …. they r just to earn money and nothing more..they dont care about fans and they even dont understand wat a junk the hodgson is.. or the owners dont have the guts to say GO to roy..assholes bastards

  32. You stupid idiots. Keegan is bang on Roy Hodgson, that easy scapegoat, is nothing to do with our problems. The conveyor belt of players who were routinely phased out as soon as they passed their peak – the system as perfected by Paisley, as soon as that stopped under Dalglish we were in decline. As for that turd Benitez he makes Hodgson’s buys look good if Benitez had 1 billion he would still spend it badly and claim he’s underfunded. It’s all very well banging on about all the class players Hodgson had, what happens if the spoilt little boys do not want to perform such as Mr Torres and how do you explain the fact he was dropped by Spain and produced sweet FA in the World Cup. The new owners don’t know what they’ve walked into so they appointed Damien Commolli a jumped up scout and not a very good one at that and all of a sudden he is running the football at Anfield. Roy, you’re best off out of Liverpool it’s not your fault so my advice is resign and sit back and watch the next ten years of fuck up.

  33. And on the subject of Mr Benitez he spent multi millions of the club’s money with a few exceptions bought a pile of shite then played politics to mask his incompetence by claiming they weren’t backing him. “In Rafa we trust” said we like lambs to the slaughter and backed the asshole to the hilt until it was too late and he had devoured the club bit by bit. He tried the same “back me or sack me” bollocks at Inter so they sacked him. Stupid Liverpool, smart Inter.

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