The Liverpool Manager Contenders, Pros & Cons

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Kenny Dalglish and Christian Purslow are currently looking for our next gaffer and the press has already been linking us with some potential contenders. Guus Hiddink, Frank Rijkaard, Alex McLeish and Martin O’Neill have ruled themselves out while Jose Mourinho and Avram Grant are out of the question having just accepted new management positions. The following are the ones that have been mentioned in the media over the last three days in no particular order.

Marcello Lippi:
Pros:
Won the World Cup, Champions League and numerous Italian league titles.
Cons:
No E.P.L. experience.

Harry Redknapp:
Pros: Media darling, good results with Pompey & Spurs.
Cons: Media darling, writes for the S*n, Pompey went bust, Southampton went bust and the taxman is after him.

Roy Hodgson:
Pros: Fulham reached the Europa League final last season, good European experience, wife is a Scouser and can work with a minimal budget.
Cons:
His win percentage at Fulham is 39.37% (Rafa’s at Liverpool was 55.43%).

Kenny Dalglish:
Pros: Last manager to win the league title with Liverpool, successful at Blackburn too, knows and loves the club, fans love him and a Liverpool legend.
Cons:
Some say that he has lack of recent management experience, does not want to end up like Graeme Souness and lose his legendary status should it not work out.

Sammy Lee:
Pros:
Already assistant manager and a Liverpool legend.
Cons: Fired from Bolton when he took over as manager, lack of experience.

Sven Goran Eriksson:
Pros: Claims to be a Liverpool fan.
Cons: Media showman and they love to pick on him, lack of discipline and was fired from his last two management positions.

David Moyes:

Pros: He knows the city of Liverpool, he is Scottish (like Dalglish & Shankly).
Cons: He is Scottish (like Fergie), he is bitter, no trophies.

Mark Hughes:

Pros: Is available and can work on a minimal budget.
Cons:
A former Manchester United player, his win percentage at Blackburn was 43.62% and at Man City 46.75%.

More Stories Harry Redknapp Kenny Dalglish Marcello Lippi Mark Hughes Sammy Lee

33 Comments

  1. I would have loved Hiddink to be in but since he has ruled himself out and out of the list above, I’ll pick Lippi

  2. Your mad marcello lippi. Rafa should still be manager . All these managers you have mentioned. Apart from hiddink could only replace rafa

  3. I was hoping Guus, but then maybe Martin O’Neil
    What about Brandan Rodgers 0r will go with Hughes
    Could dark horse be Pako Ayesteran?

  4. Ok Antoine, this is how I see it!

    LIPPI
    Pros: Master Tactician. Multiple Scudetto winner plus CL and WC with Italy.
    Cons: None. Ancelotti too had no PL experience! :-)

    REDKNAPP
    Pros: Handles stars well. His expresses one of the most pleasurable football to watch in the PL.
    Cons: No one to back much on, he jumps ships faster than a rat with his tail on fire.

    HODGSON
    Pros: Low profile hard working man. Has done very well at Fulham. Not expensive and stays out of the limelight.
    Cons: Antoine, you compared his winning rate with Rafa, but you forgot to compare the spending rate with Rafa my friend! :-)

    DALGLISH (Legend)
    No Pros or Cons here, Kenny should remain the bridge between the squad and senior management!

    LEE (Legend)
    No Pros of Cons here either. Sammy is an excellent coach and is loved by the players, but he is NOT Manager material.

    ERIKSON
    Pros: Can’t remember any.
    Cons: Not Liverpool material. Dodgy character!

    MOYES
    Pros: Excellent Manager.
    Cons: Everton connections, friend of SAF.

    HUGHES
    Pros: Is available.
    Cons: Man Utd man thru and thru!

    My preference is LIPPI for the long haul, and Hodgson as a transitory solution.

  5. It’s unfair to compare Liverpool’s, Fulham’s and Blackburn’s percentages of wins. Seems to me that Hughes had a good time in Blackburn. Best among the lot there for me.

    Would you do one for oversea candidates – Laudrup, Pellegrini, the Benfica guy?

  6. If i was going to choose, I would choose either Kenny Dalglish, Roy Hodgson or Sammy Lee, as long as LFC don’t get Sven Goran Eriksson or David Moyes, I will be perfectly happy, as long as LFC get a manager who can win the trophy

  7. I would seriously look at Manuel Pellegrini, the ex-madrid boss.

    last season he won 31 league games and played some good football. He has a great, title winning track record which including excedding expectation with a limited budget at Villareal.

    Compensation would be zero, highly respected in Spain and Argentina and speaks fluent English.

  8. I can’t believe the article mentions Avram Grant in connection with LFC. He managed a poxy country and a small club .. He failed miserably at Chelsea which he managed only because the owner is his mate ..

  9. I love to see Slaven Bilic as Liverpool coach. Good, young and talented manager. If not, then Lippi is the best option.

  10. LIPPI
    Pros: World Class track record
    Cons: Can he speak English? I sgetting on a bit. Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad

    REDKNAPP
    Pros: Proven in Prem, Good man manager
    Cons: Unlikely to want to leave Spurs. Dodgy as you like. Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad

    HODGSON
    Pros: Well respected, great experience at all level of the game, cheap
    Cons: Is getting on a bit. Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad

    DALGLISH
    Pros: Clubs greatest ever player, has won the league with Liverpool, loves the club
    Cons: Football has moved on in the last decade. Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad

    LEE (Legend)
    Pros: World class coach, respected by the players, loves the club
    Cons: Some people are born to be great coaches. Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad.

    ERIKSSON
    Pros: Can’t remember any either
    Cons: Greedy, disloyal, womaniser, tactically shit, not a great man motivator. Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad. Middlesboro 8 Man City 0. Jo £18M

    MOYES
    Pros: Proven in Prem
    Cons: Evertonian, Would need significant transfer budget to improve the squad.

    HUGHES
    Pros: None
    Cons: Too many to mention

    JESUS OF NAZARETH
    Pros: Has the ability to turn £5M of transfer budget into £100M worth of transfer budget
    Cons: Doesn’t actually exist

    Personally I would go with Dalglish, untill our fat greedy American owners lower the asking price and sell. Then we go for a world beater

  11. Personally, to take a team to the FA Cup Final, having endured the turbulence Portsmouth went through this year, plus relegation, is a massive achievement. I’d still prefer Hodgson to him though.

  12. Personally… it doesnt matter either way, especially as he (Grant)has already accepted the West Ham job only 2 days ago

  13. I think the most realistic candidates right now are Roy Hodgson and Sven Göran Eriksson.

    Hodgson is a good manager but he also had unsuccessful spells: Blackburn, of course, but also Grasshoppers Zurich. In Blackburn he spent quite some money and also had great ressources at Grasshoppers (for Swiss comparisons) but he failed both times. He’s good with the media though, has a lot of experience, knows european football and could be a wise choice. He probably won’t win us anything but he could stop the downfall of the club. Eriksson has more Pros than only being a Liverpool supporter. He won titles in different big (bigger leagues than where Hodgson won them) leagues and his England record is not bad at all. He’ll probably get on with the players well but won’t take Liverpool to the next level. Because let’s face it: those managers who could won’t come to Anfield or have just been fired by our board…

    But I also like Guillem Balagues suggestion with Quique Sanchez Flores who did a great job at Atletico and is a promising manager with interesting ideas. According to Balague, Flores is only on a one-year-contract and couldn’t resist if Liverpool came in.

    I hope though that the likes of Redknapp, Hughes and Moyes are a media joke and no serious options…

  14. Martinez of Wigan would be great. A Spanish speaking guy would mean a better hope for the staying put of the Latino contingent.

  15. My Choices

    1) Lippi – He doesn’t need BPL experience(look at Ancelotti).Prime candidate for big job in a big club with a big responsibility to fill.

    2)Hodgson – A local. Got experience with mediocre clubs. Media doesn’t pick him because he’s local fellow and not foreign like Rafa.

    These two are the prime contenders unless there’s another name that doesn’t appear here.

    P.S – Sven for the win. Haha. lol .

  16. ACCORDING TO ITALIAN GAZETTA NEWSPAPER, DALGLISH MET LIPPI IN TISLIT,SWITZERLAND YESTERDAY.

  17. My Picks:

    1) Manuel Pellegrini: Knows talent, got Real Madrid its highest winning percentage and points in club history, and great manager with players.

    2) Slaven Bilic: A breakthrough manager who shows fantastic talent but was limited to choice on International stage. Eager to hear from Liverpool as well.

    3) Marcello Lippi: All around he is a fantastic manager, but I don’t think he would want to come to Liverpool and even if he did he’d probably still turn it down because of the finances.

  18. would like to see dalglish step in, have carrager as asst manager while he does badges, in a few years time hand the batton over to carra.

  19. We need to seriously look at Manuel Pelligrini. Good coach with experience at managing stars and importantly his pride might be hurt at being removed after such a good season. so he might be ready to work with low finances to get a shot at working with a Big club like Liverpool, which when sold will be back again to the path of prosperity in a year or so at max. so my choice would be pelligrini.

  20. I doubt dalglish would tarnish his reputation unless there was no other options and that would be made clear up front! Moyes wouldn’t be bad option if he didn’t have the blues connection, but I think he’d do really well at any club as he’s proved puling everton out of the shit numerous times and look to start next year very strong with a low budget.

    Unsure about hodgson myself he has done well at Fulham but unsure if he’d be any good at Liverpool, seems a man of his word and will want to stick out his contract at Fulham!

    Kenny wasn’t in Switzerland at all yesterday as he was coaching the rest of the world squad in soccer aid with redknapp! But rumor have it that Redknapp has been spotted at anfield all day over Twitter so awaitng if there is any truth, but he was in manchester on the Sunday so may have gone with Kenny just for the tour!

  21. I wouldn’t go for any of the managers mentioned.

    I wouldn’t go for foreigners who can’t speak English or struggle to speak English, i.e. Lippi.

    I wouldn’t go for one season wonders like Redknapp and Hodgson (don’t forget the latter got sacked at Blackburn).

    I wouldn’t go for weak managers or managers that sit on the sidelines and just don’t look interested like Sven.

    I definitely wouldn’t go for Sammy Lee who is a poor manager.

    I wouldn’t go for Kenny who was a past manager and needs to stay that way. People need to move on and stop clinging to the past.

    I also wouldn’t go for bitter Everton managers who won’t come and I wouldn’t go for Mark Hughes who still has lots to prove even when he had all the money under the sun.

  22. @Enrique Santiago kenny dalglish was managing the ROW XI yesterday at old trafford so im not sure if its true.

  23. Out of the ones mentioned in the article, Lippi would be my favourite, except that everyone the club’s brought in from Italy has failed (Padelli, Dossena and – so far – Aquilani.) Others I’d like to see considered are Pellegrini (sacked by Real for only getting 96 points in the league this season) or the Atletico coach Flores. How about Martin Jol?
    Still, I can’t help feeling we’ll have to get a stopgap manager to tide us through until the club’s sold, and I don’t think there’d be better stopgaps than Dalglish and Lee.

  24. pdpartington, are you mental or something? Thats the stupidest suggestion I have ever seen.

    Greg did you really say Aquilani is a flop? What a tit. Every time he stepped on the field he made a impact, to say otherwise is just ignorant.

  25. I’d love to see Lippi become the new Liverpool manager, but it looks like Roy Hodgson is the most likely to fill the role.
    I wish the yanks would sell to someone (or some people) who actually give a damn about our great club, along with Lippi, this could lead to great success for us in the (near) future!

    YNWA!

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