It’s a question that has been asked multiple times since his appointing: should we hire Dalglish as a permanent manager? No one is going to question that he has the expertise and the ability to get it done. Let’s examine his career as the player-manager for Liverpool from 1977-90 (player from ’77-85, player-manager from ’85-90, managed that ’90-91 year):
7 League Titles
3 European Cups
5 Domestic Cups
Later won (player-manager):
3 League Titles
2 F.A. Cups
Resigned in ’91 in wake of the horrid Hillsborough Disaster
Named #1 on the 100 players that shook ‘The Kop’
But that was then, and this is now.
After the departure of Rafael Benitez over the summer, H&G along with a few others brought in Roy Hodgson from a Fulham side that had just made an appearance in the Europa League final against Atletico Madrid. Many questioned the decision, wondering if Hodgson was truly the right man, and if he was really as good as he looked or if he was just on a hot streak with his then club Fulham. Nevertheless, LFC brought him in and on July 1st, he signed for the club. Now I bet you’re wondering, why is this bloak talking about Roy? Why do I care? Well I need to bring up his numbers for LFC.
Roy took over at the beginning of the year and was fired (or left by “mutual consent”) on Jan. 8. Here was LFC under Roy.
7 W, 4 D, 9 L = 25 Pts
Not to mention our embarrassing crash out of the Carling Cup to Northampton.
So clearly, Roy was not our man. With all the speculation of who would take over, LFC brought in a king named Kenny.
Under Kenny Dalglish, Liverpool have true, gotten knocked out (undeservedly) of the F.A. Cup and knocked out (more deservedly) of the Europa League, but let’s look at to who.
F.A. Cup
Man U 1-0 LFC with no Suarez, no new signings, away match, first game with the new manager, with 10 men for most of the game, and no prominent striking force.
Europa League series
Braga 1-0 (agg.) LFC
More of a rough series but that’s for a different argument. Point was it was tough fought series of games by a capable Braga squad.
Kenny did not have a whole lot to work with for the F.A. Cup tie and couldn’t do much about Braga because we weren’t capitalizing. But this does not affect how we should look at Kenny. After all, it’s not like we got beat in pens by a Northampton-like side in either of these competitions. Now let’s look at the league:
6 W, 2 D, 3 L = 20 Pts (2nd best since the break!)
I’m not questioning whether the Kenny can do the job right, he will have plenty of work to do though. We need:
New CBs
New wingers
To get rid of the deadwood
To attract quality names
To qualify for Europe
To bring home a trophy
But regardless of the facts and the numbers and the stats, everyone knows the King is right for the job! There were a few who were saying that the King wasn’t in touch with footballing reality and therefore didn’t know if he should take the job. He has silenced those critics with the most points since the break, and a revival of the squad’s hopes and spirits sparked by new arrivals and new philosophies. The King has had some unfortunate breaks in injuries and squad availability but there is know question that this man is right for the job.
Will it be one of the toughest footballing tests of his life? It’s very likely.
Do I think the King has it in him? Yes I most certainly do.
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