I’ve been struggling with writing a blog about the King, for a while. I never got to see the great man play live, I’m only 31, so he was at the later stages of his career by the time I started following sports. Add to the fact I’m American, we didn’t have English games here in my area (Upstate New York) and television wasn’t what it is now even back in my day. So I really can’t get a good handle on my favorite player/manager. I don’t know if he truly wants it, or was putting his name in, because he loves the club more than a supporter does. I can only go by his words, and he did say he wanted it, maybe just to right the ship. Well it’s time again for him to do it.
With that being said, I think it’s time for the King to take his throne again. The club isn’t playing up to it’s name, and the players aren’t of the quality to make the club worth it in the EPL. There’s too many games where if there was someone at the helm that actually gave a damn, or more importantly was able to coach at our level. Also, would have Stevie G been injured in the friendly if King Kenny was in charge? Yeah probably, but Fabio probably respects Kenny more. Kenny wouldn’t have said “Steven is too tired”, then played him for most of the game.
Now I don’t know Roy at all, and I know I’ve been very hard on him since he took over. But after all, I’m a LFC fan, and an American so I’m allowed to be hard on people. I think Roy is good for the EPL, but it’s at a West Ham, Blackpool, or Fulham level, not a top four club. He’s too damn old for it.
One of the issues brought up about Kenny coming back is how long he has been out of the game. Yeah he was at Celtic for a bit and got another trophy to add to his cabinet. I say to those naysayers, yeah you may not be coaching, or preforming any managerial functions, but he’s been around it in various manners. Once a manager always a manager, so he’s probably thought of the game, and what he would do in many situations. Plus he was taught at the highest levels of management, so it’s not like he’s going to be horrible this time around.
And fans there’s nothing he could do to harm his legacy. He’s too good of a man to do anything bad, and too smart to do anything stupid. He couldn’t do anything that would hurt Liverpool, his family, or humanity, because he was raised at a time which people respected their station.
I dont agree im afraid, bringing Kenny back is only going backwards, if he had come back 15yrs ago even 10 it may have been ok. I dont think Kenny needs the pressure and the pressure would be imense as the expectation would be unrealisticly high, he is not getting any younger and we need to look for a manager who is going to be long term. Kenny would not be long term, one or two yrs max. I dont think i need to remind you that the 2 clubs who have had most success in the last 20yrs are 2 clubs who have had long term managers. King kenny has done his job as a player and a manager and now he can continue in his current role, bringing him back as a manager for me would not bring long term success to LFC.
i’d rather have Rijkaard
i was fortunate to see the great man live and believe as the song went “king kenny play and could he play” he is Mr Liverpool and a hero of mine it was the hillsborough tragedy that proved too much for him he was immense in the aftermath and the whole thing nearly destroyed him if that horrible horrible tragedy had never happened he would never of left and would in my opinion gone on to be as great a manager as Shankley and sir Bob Paisley
“He’s too damn old for it.”
Urrr…. have a look at the current table and check the age of the red nosed manager huffing and puffing on the sidelines…. is he too damn old for it?
“But after all, I’m a LFC fan, and an American so I’m allowed to be hard on people. ”
I’m Canadian so I’m allowed to say that is a typical yankee thing to say, no wonder countries across the world hate you guys lol, typical.
I truly believe Kenny has done enough for the Club and today he is doing what he needs to be doing. Going into the battleground now would be a decision taken out of passion and not rational. If the decision is to sack Hodgson immediately the only and best stop/gap solution is to appoint Sammy Lee! Personally I’d go for Martin O’Neill. I just wish he’d decided to leave Villa a couple of months earlier…he would have been our manager and we’d probably would not be up to our ears in this crappy situation.
Forget Martin O’Neill Tonio, I heard very bad things about him.
Martin o Neil??? your having a laugh mate…. I’d rather keep hodgson…. to be honest all these comments and even this article is the biggest load of dross I’ve read…….
Why is it people are keep on saying to go for O’Neil he is not that good a manger and not good enough for Liverpool simple as.
Tonio, Passion is exactly what we need at Liverpool right now. That passion would flow down thru the players and then we would never see some of the displays of spineless football I have seen just lately. I also agree that, had the hilsborough tragedy never happened he would still be the boss and challenging every year for the league title, Just like Alex Ferguson has. But his heart has always been at Liverpool and once you have a football brain like his, managing comes as second nature. Even when you look at the footage of him playing, he would get the best out of all the players on the pitch with intelligent football. I think he would be the best thing for us even if it is short term.
Caretaker Manager in January?
Totally clueless.
Only a band of fools Whoes’s working night & day for putting Liverpool in risk, can desire this solution….
Martin O’Neill? Millions & millions of pounds for Ashley Young, an useless player Who runs surrounding the pitch in an useless manner, as good players like Beye’ and Luke Young They was warming the bench….
I whould stick with Roy… at least he has a famous track record for getting out the best from average players.
I think that some peril fans should only break their mouths, but maybe They aim to see Championship football next season….
Like King Kenny said, We must get behinf Roy until the summer, then We’ll see.
Nesv are avoiding a quick decision for the best interests of the Club: if They want to start a new project the summer is the best moment, and not January, only in order to make happy a band of disgruntled Fans Whoes working 24 hrs a day, night & day, only for destroying our Club…
What we need is clear thinking.
The author has admitted what is true of many of those calling for the return of Kenny as manager. i.e. they are too young to have seen him play or to have experienced him as manager. Their opinions regarding his suitability to manage LFC now are based on heresay.
Kenny is a legend and he ought to be left as such.
If he were to return as manager now he would be under immense and unfair pressure. If he succeeded, great. If not the pride and dignity of a great man could be severely damaged. What a shame that would be.
And the truth is it is by no means certain that he would be a success. Times have changed.
Players have a very different mindset on the whole than they did last time he was in charge.
Also, many seem to have forgotten that Kenny inherited a truly great team when he became manager. When he became manager of Blackburn they were the Chelsea or Man city of their day. They had loads of money and they could buy anyone they wanted. And they did.
Each of those situations is a world away from the disaster area he would inherit at Anfield today.
I don’t know who the next manager should be, But I’m not convinced that Kenny would be the right move, or fair to him.
The only time Kenny should be appointed is as caretaker should Woy get emptied before the end of the season, but I’m not even so sure about that. We need a long term strategy and therefore someone younger and more in touch with the day to day dynamics of a running a team. Given our lack of quality and depth we need a tactician who can get the best of what we have, to which he can add his own signings. Neither Frank Rijkaard or Martin O’Neill are the answer. NESV need to get this right otherwise the job will turn into a poisoned chalice like at Newcastle. I hate to say it, but I think we need to lower our expectations for the next few years until the club is on an even keel and has the structure in place to build. There is no point in papering over the cracks any more, lets start again and build a solid foundation for the future. So what if Utd get to number 19 before us. Lets worry about us and what’s right for the future. Worrying about anyone else won’t help.
I don’t think King Kenny is the right appointment in the long term, but we need to get rid of Hodgson today. I am a passionate Liverpool supporter and always supportive of the club but I very genuinely believe that if Woy is still in charge at the end of the season we’re going down.
He is tactically inept and despite people complaining about the form of Gerrard and Torres the ONLY reason we’ve won games this season is because you can’t take away class. Not once have we won because of Hodgson’s tactical work. Against Wolves and Newcastle and Blackpool we were getting battered for the whole 90 minutes and Hodgson did precisely nothing: just hoped we’d start playing better if he left well alone.
Hodgson needs to be moved on today and I think the best thing NESV could do would be to put Kenny in temporary charge whilst they look for a new manager. Give him a month or so and if his doubters are right and he has been out of the game too long then we won’t be any worse off than we are now but it WILL have galvanised the supporters and shown Kenny how bad the squad really is.
Imagine the passion at Anfield for the first match with Kenny in charge? One game would soon show us which players love the club and which ones are there for the money.
And if Kenny is the right man then it’ll give the owners plenty of time to make the best possible appointment for a long term manager.
The solution for NESV is simple: Roy gone today, Kenny as caretaker, find the right man for the job long term. Otherwise we will follow Leeds and Newcastle as clubs that naively believe reputation is enough to keep them up in the face of appalling management.
will torres save roys job, he actually looked interest5ed yesterday and was a willing runner if this fernando had have turned up all season we would be in the top 5. had the stupid sports scientists had their way and mireles had not got injured stevie would have been on the bench until it was too late, they are a burdon not a help. finally so we beat bolton at home and roys ok, what a joke it will take better results than that to keep he faqns happy.
dalglish is the only man at this moment who can restore liverpoolfc.RH was never good enough, he never will be either iam from liverpool he is the worst manager we have ever had.i have watched since shankly paisley, fagan joe, dalglish souness, evans. houiller rafa… GH IS THE WORST he needs to go asp, dalglish is a class act and class is permnent. age has no part in it look at fergie? kenny would have help aldo? molby? evans? there are many and i belive he will and can restore us to were we belong.too many forget what kenny done for lfc and what he stands for, if he wants the job it should be his and i belive some men are made for teams shanks, pasiley and dalglish its were there hearts, and souls are just like us fans. so welcome back ken….
I’ve got nothing against Hodgson, he seems like a really nice bloke but I just don’t want him as our manager. The way he sets up the team and the tactics he employs are just horrendous. I personally would not pay to watch the drivel being served up this season by Roys team, no passion, no creativity, no ideas, even the games we win the football is painful to watch.
I don’t know if King Kenny would be the right choice or not but can it can’t be any worse than it is now, if Roy stays we could even have to watch Carlton Cole who can’t hit a barn door or Robert Huth who’s as mobile as a oil tanker.
I don’t want to sound like a moaner but i’m seriously worried about the future of our great club because unless something changes and quick then we will lose our best players and won’t be able to attract the quality of player that we need, and could you really blame them!
Getting Dalglish in short-term would be exciting/galvanising for everyone, if he really felt he wanted to do it. Someone who would love to take over, possibly next summer, would be Mourinho. Old red nose would swallow his gum if he saw him coming.
The game is so different now and I truly think that approaching Kenny is more of a emotional reaction from the fans rather than a professional decision by the owners. I don’t buy this nonsense that we can’t appoint a top, experienced manager now!! Owners have to demonstrate their willingness to the fans, this is the first test for them and we all hope is not going to be another disaster, Liverpool supporters have suffered from bad decision making for the last 20 years or so clearly their are number of good exe lent candidates with good records, Rafa, Frank R, are just the 2 that are evadible. Kenny his a Legend he should always be a Legend of our Club.
Forget passion, playing for the shirt and effort we need tactical awareness, skill and intelligence. We have that already at the club, but Hodgson is the one who is suppressing it to destruction with his antiquated football knowledge and tactics.
I think we need someone who can simplify tactics for the players and prepare them to play high up the field. They need to push teams when we don’t have the ball forcing them to lose it so we can attack quickly. This is something that will benefit Torres and put him back at the top of the goal scoring charts. We need the players who played against Bolton at the back Johnson, Skyrtl, Agger and Aurelio to be the bedrock of our defence. They would be more mobile and able to play the ball out from the back enabling us to play through the midfield. Lucas and Meireles should play in front of them because of their greater tactical awareness, which will allow Gerrard to play closer to Torres in the hole where he will be more affective. I think Gerrard is better playing further forward because he is not as tactically disciplined as Lucas or Meireles, but instinctually he’s probably the best player on the planet. He now needs to accept that role and embrace it. Each side of Gerrard I would play Rodriguez on the left and Kuyt on the right to push back the opposition fullbacks to help us gain territory enabling us to attack on any breakdown, but allowing us space to keep possession. Kuyt will run all day and is a true professional and if the team is playing with confidence he can pitch in with ten or more goals. Maxi is a good reader of the game and his passing is good in tight areas, and he can finish to.
Obviously this is a 4-2-3-1 formation with flexibility that the players know and understand. Kenny Dalglish all but played this system when he managed us and I think he could do it again. I’m not a fan of 4-4-2 which in my opinion is antiquated and backward, unless you have highly technical and tactically savvy players that have great movement and awareness. Even then the best coach’s around the world seem to use flexible variations of 4-2-3-1. We also have the players in place to play this system and until we sign other players that are better they are certainly good enough to put a good run of wins together.
I personally never wanted Rafa to go. I would have given him at least another season, and I would have him back in a heartbeat if it was possible. If its not, then Kenny Dalglish is the only person I want in charge of LFC. Dalglish would have immediate respect and would not have to pander to anyone especially the players.
So what happens if Kenny takes charge and we lose the next few games? His god-like status will start to dwindle very quickly. Fans argue for a manager with passion but Souness and Roy Keane have all the passion you could want but can’t manage. It ultimately boils down to the players in the squad and we are paying the price for many, many millions of pounds wasted in very poor transfer dealings by Houlier and Rafa and to a lesser extent Roy. We have to face it that LFC is a long term re-building project and the next permanent manager has to be right. However, Roy looks so weak right now and everybody agrees that his tactics are poor so it looks like Kenny will get his wish. I have to assume that Kenny is confident that he can do better with the current squad. Let’s hope he is correct.
Regardless of who manages Liverpool between now and the summer it will be very difficult to get into the top four. So the realistic target is top six, we can achieve this with Hodgson in charge if we play like we did against Bolton. I am not in favour and it makes no sense to bring a caretaker manager in until the summer as in effect we already have a caretaker manager in charge until the summer anyway. Chopping and changing managers causes more problems and instability so if the right long term manager is not available until the summmer then we should stick with Hodgson. If we have a few more performances and results like the Wolves fiasco then maybe Kenny or Tommo could step in but for now it makes sense to stick with what we have until the summer.
There is a old chinese proverb. ‘Many a bad step is taken standing still’. In other words, be prepared to see Liverpool in relegation battles if we do not get rid of RH. Who is gonna want to come to Liverpool if RH is the manager????? Who would come if King Kenny was the manager?? All the great footballers today, even if they were born after Kenny stopped playing and managing, would still be inspired to show they best football if Kenny is the manager. Anyone saying Roy should stay needs their heads testing. Even if you don’t like my opinion, look at the stats because numbers don’t lie.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jan/02/liverpool-roy-hodgson-joe-cole
And it’s not the first endorsment which comes from the dressing room, in favour of Roy Hodgson.
If someone wants to see Championship Football next season and get relegated the first thing to do is appointing tomorrow morning a caretaker Who’s been out from the football for almost 20 years.
I love King Kenny, because He’s a great man and I don’t have bad feelings against him, but appointing a caretaker with no power and with no strong position Who whould need time to set his systems in a modern football, it whould be the perfect decision, made by a band of idiot fools to gain the relegation.
We like him or not Roy is just now our manager, and the only thing of common sense that We can do it’s to stick him until the end of season and in the summer We’ll see.
This summer We’ll prepare a clear table for picking the best decision for the future.
Just now The fans the more They talk, the more it will be better for the Club.
Fortunately We have good owners Who’ll avoid terrible decisions..
Fans instead They should start to switch off the negative & deluded agenda
Papa – I agree with you long term and if it wasn’t for the Bolton performance I would agree with you short term. But the players showed on Saturday that they can play 4-4-2 and they can play well under Hodgson so let’s see what happens. Another few good performances and results in January will see us in control for a top six finish, not great by any means but enough to ensure we finish higher than last season.
Realistically what more can we ask of any manager but to finish higher than the season before.
Brian
Don’t be fooled by the media telling everyone we have a poor squad. That is simply not true. We have some very good players, but the depth of the squad certainly does need to be addressed. We now have a youth setup in place that I’m sure will pay dividends in the not to distant future all thanks to Rafa and his vision. Unfortunately some people out there including the media didn’t want us to see it come to fruition.
Let’s not get into the blame game, but even you must acknowledge the difficulties Rafa faced behind the scenes in the last few years from mutineers and the owners.
This squad needs some additions, but it really is down to tactics and approach and belief of the players. If it’s not then why are teams like Chelsea struggling this year with a championship winning squad of players. They are losing to villa as I write this post.
I think it’s important to look at things a bit deeper than just scraping over the top.
if roy is staying for a bit, can the owners put a media ban on him, or buy him a bag of gobtoppers, his upbeat interview included his usual gaffe “i woudnt have been too disapointed with 1-1, were not fulham roy we are used to beating the bolton’s of this world at anfield and a 1-1 would be very disapointing to us.
Dalglish is our Ferguson. He’s opinion is beyond reproach regarding LFC. He’s the only man on the face of the planet to truly and inherently understand whatever is the ‘Liverpool Way’. Add to the that the fact that the only piece of silverware we really crave is the Premier League Title. There are only 5 men on planet earth with experience of winning that Title. Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelloti & Kenny Dalglish. Would Paisley or Shankly be bad managers if they were alive just because the calender reads a different year. We have to stop thinking that we’re being romantic or letting our hearts rule our heads. He’s a Manager who’s a proven winner and is exactly what’s needed, even short term, to bring a sense of unity back to the club. Even with the win at Bolton the attendance was a defeat for the club even before a ball was kicked. The fans feel completely alienated from the club and action needs to be taken before they become completely disenfranchised altogether. If John W Henry and Tom Werner don’t bring the fans back on board swiftly they could find their tenure more challenging than they ever envisaged. Courage is needed at the top.
Anyone notice that once meireles was taken off yesterday
the next 70 mins featured 11 players brought to the club by
rafa….Mmm woy inherited such a poor squad and his purchases have
been quality. Bring kenny in now. He will at least pull the cclub
together. Oh and to those who suggest failure at Newcastle is
sufficient reason to doubt his credentials, he inherited a team
which were indisciplined and conceding goals all over the place.
His 4 buys were all top draw…given, hamann, speed and solano!
Then as per normal Newcastle ridiculously sacked their
manager.!!!
Kevin, I agree with you totally. He has a proven record and
the only thing that has changed over the years is the pay packet
and the inflated egos. Which would mean nothing to Kenny. Like I
said before, he would be respected by all players pulling on the
shirt and they would give their best.