By Mark Sproule
on Twitter @MARKIESP
If reports are to be believed Kenny Dalglish will finally be installed as the permanent Liverpool manager within the next ten days. It is hard to grasp which of the finer details have prevented FSG and Kenny’s advisors from already having sewed this up weeks ago. Millions of Liverpool fans around the globe will be slightly concerned that it has taken this long, but as Kenny has admirably batted the questions away in press conference after press conference, citing the return to the clubs traditional manner of doing business behind closed doors and in the “Liverpool Way”, we may never know the reasons why the world has been made to wait.
I want to debate some of the possible reasons why John W Henry, whose Facebook site is inundated by the week with our fans calling for a speedy resolution in naming King Kenny as permanent gaffer, has decided to leave it until the end of the season or very near it, before making any announcement. I am quite sure that JWH and his colleagues have been as pleasantly surprised as all our supporters with just how well the players have responded to the input of Kenny and Steve Clarke under the new regime. I believe that in the early days of Kenny’s interim appointment FSG hadn’t seriously considered Kenny as anything other than a “caretaker” manager. Results and indeed excellent performances with the exception of a few blips have seen great victories over the three of the top four, Chelsea, Man United and Man City, with a draw at the Emirates followed by a total of 13 goals scored past Birmingham, Newcastle and Fulham respectively. Results, which until last night with Man City’s win at home to Spurs had still mathematically given us a chance at Champions League Football next year, with just two games left to play. If Phil Thompson would have made that prediction on the Sky Panel in early January he would have been laughed off the TV, and lets face it even the most diehard of LFC fan would have found it difficult to fathom. Now fifth in the Premier League and a close second to only Chelsea in a league table of the 16 games since KK took the reigns, LFC are playing championship winning football, albeit without the pressure, as some of our critics have been keen to point out. This amazing transformation I believe has given FSG a welcome headache when perhaps their early preference was to bring in a young manager in the Summer such as FC Porto’s Andre Boas, to work closely with Director Football Strategy Damien Comolli.
Having witnessed this dramatic change of fortunes and now firmly grasped the magnitude of the man they had come to deal with as their manager, JWH had admitted by early April that negotiations were under way with Dalglish. Now here we are some five weeks down the line and still no announcement. What are the possible reasons for the delay:_
- FSG are keen to offer only a two year deal with Kenny holding out for four years.
- FSG would like Kenny to begin to blood in a young manager as his replacement in 2 years time
- Dalglish wants the final say on transfer policy over Comoli, yet FSG say it must be a consensus of the two, or that Comoli can sign players without Kennys consent.
- Its down to money (doubt this very much) it was suggested that King Kenny would do the job for free though Alan Hansen laughed this off citing Kenny’s excellent negotiation skills when it comes to pounds and pence, and rightly so.
- FSG are using the rest of the season as a carrot-stick for the players to get Kenny the job with their performances and it has worked, with just two games left to play.
- FSG and Comoli disagree with Dalglish’s way forward on how much money to be spent and in what areas, again very unlikely.
What are your thoughts? Could we possibly get as big a shock as February 1991 when Dalglish left for the first time? Is it beyond the realms of possibility the King Kenny might not be given the job on a full time basis. I fail to see how anyone other than Kenny himself saying he didn’t want the job could prevent the announcement we’ve all been waiting on, and I like millions of other fans will be relieved to see the headlines to say he’s got the job.