Liverpool Football Club remains an enticing professional prospect for any top player or manager alike. Although the Reds have fallen down the pecking order Uefa rankings and have one 1 piece of silverware in its most recent history, the Club still represents ‘an ultimate experience’ for anyone that is asked to play for or manage it: because to be accepted and eventually loved by the Kop is an amazing and unique professional experience which cannot be lived anywhere else.
Managers the likes of Martinez, Rodgers, Benitez, Capello, Mourinho, Guardiola, Villas Boas, van Gaal, Klopp and Deschamps (hoping to not have missed anyone!) are all playing musical chairs in an effort to land the manager’s job at Anfield. Whoever gets the job has a monumental task ahead of him: he needs to be accepted by the players, accepted by the Kop (representing all the fans), and he need to fill in some very big boots, those that Kenny Dalglish left behind!
Now let me try to hit nail with this consideration: Mourinho , Grant, Scolari , Hiddink, Ancelotti all went to Chelsea with much pomp and pedigree, plus the power to spend at will. Who got them to win the Champions League? Roberto Di Matteo! A 41 year old ex-Italian international footballer who’s previous management experience was 1 year at Milton Keynes Dons and 2 years at West Bromwich Albion. What’s my point? My point is that you do not have to have a pedigree, and you do not need to have Champions League experience: what you really need is know a thing or two about today’s game, and most of all make sure you are accepted by the players, especially the old guard!
I kept AVB out of the equation because he was not accepted by Chelsea’s old guard so he never stood a chance, just as Hodgson never stood a chance at Anfield with the Kop sniffing that if he was ousted Kenny would take his place!
If we are going for a manager that has gone all the way then a sensible choice would probably be Capello! I say this because the Italian has won a multitude of titles and the Champions League twice with two different clubs, added to the fact that he has spoken of this desire of ‘managing one of the Premier League’s greats’, knows the language and has been in England for a few years now. This may well be Capello’s last adventure, and he may also be the perfect mentor to give Jamie Carragher the right impetus to become another legendary Liverpool manager when he decides to retire to his beloved Friuli.
With Guardiola adamant of taking a sabbatical, and Di Matteo having secured FA Cup and Champions League triumphs which should land him the permanent job, Capello cannot be lured to London and he may be arguably a less risky bet than with Villas Boas. The Italian wants to stay in England and has recently turned down offers to manage AC Roma or Internationazle as his objective remains to coach in the Premier League. Benitez remains a candidate albeit in the background, while opposing sides of lover and haters of the Spaniard voice their opinions on all forms of social media.
One thing’s for sure, the chance to manage a Club like Liverpool is enticing for any manager, so the list of candidates will never be a short one. My hope is that we get it right, because this Club deserves and has what it takes to be at the top level of domestic, European and world football!
What we really need to do is to support the new manager because whatever the outcome, there is no doubt he will want to prove himself and he will use all his knowledge to make us consistently successful!
Benitez should be brought back to finish the job he started! he has full knowlegde of LFC and already has his plans,and will succeed with PROPER backing!
Dave, I would not be disappointed if he comes back because I too feel he has unfinished business….! It’s a bit tricky in my view….a huge decision! Will he be accepted back by the Kop? Will Gerrard and Carragher want him back? Would we start buying and selling players like there’s no tomorrow again?
The whole LFC scenario has changed and whoever comes in will have to be at FSG agenda and not their own, so in this case Rafa would not have to buy and sell because of money problems as with H&G and the fact that Carra is on the verge of finishing with Stevie not far behind,they shouldnt have a say 5 years down the line.
Because of Europa football we need someone who can hit the ground running and wont take forever settling in either so imo Rafa really is the only candidate. YNWA
I very much doubt that the opinions of the fans will have much to do with the selection after FSG went along with them over KD. They will make the choice their way – whatever that might be!
Musical Chairs? Seems more like a game of pin the tail on the donkey or dodge ball from where I am standing.
Well you can look at it from different perspectives Jill! Personally I don’t see it to be that dramatic. The managerial post at Anfield is as enticing to a manager as ever, believe me!
Tonio, i think that what is just happened with Chelsea is luck, big luck, you look to the facts, they had an easy journey in champions league this year, Napoli and Benfica are good teams but not so good, and honestly with Barca and yesterday they’ve go an incredible luck so i don’t see a point when you say that Mourinho. Hiddink failed to win the CL, sometimes it’s just about luck, especially in few cup games luck can be a factor, and this is what happened two years ago for Inter and yesterday for Chelsea…
Rory, I don’t agree with you completely. Luck is always an important ingredient in success, but you cannot pin Chelsea’s performance under Di Matteo merely on luck. You need to know that under Di Matteo, Chelsea were virtually out of the CL competition and they responded with a 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge. They then took on No.1 seed Barcelona and won at the Neu Camp with 10 men! Like us in Istanbul, they were the underdogs, and like us at Istanbul they were brave, they were resilient, and luck rewarded them! You could say Bayern lost it, but I am sure Chelsea are not complaining, just as we did not complain when Milan were 3-0 in Istanbul and we took the cup home! What I wrote about Mourinho, Hiddink and the rest is pure fact! It is no secret that Abramovich was haunted to win this competition. It might have cost him Stg 1 billion and 7 managers, but he won it, with Di Matteo, the least likely of all generals, in command!
Di Matteo Chelsea record
•Games: 21
•Wins: 13
•Draws: 5
•Losses: 3
•Win ratio: 62%
Hey Rory, stil convinced it’s all down to luck?
No wait, i’ve not said that “it’s all down to luck” but that “in few cup games luck can be a factor” that is a bit different, penalty kicks made the difference in Chelsea recent history if you remember the semi final with Mourinho or the final with Grant, that said, with luck i mean: they’ve made two shots on goal yesterday and four in two games with Barca, Robben and Messi have both miss a penalty plus all the incredible errors of Barca in front of the net that you can’t forget, also you can’t put the Chelsea of today with us in Istanbul, we were underdog because we were honestly much more weak than Milan but Chelsea is not weaker than Bayern and Barca in terms of roster, so to me it’s pretty evident that Chelsea doesn’t deserve to win this year because with a top team they played like a small team, they were simply umiliated by Barcellona but they made it because the plenty of errors of the opponents and that’s luck, yesterday pretty much the same, and for me those numbers are not that impresive honestly :/
Rory Rory…’and for me those numbers are not that impresive honestly’ how I would have loved for us Reds to have equalled that ratio this past season! Dalglish would still be our manager!
he has had a good half season sometimes with ten men behind the ball and agood slice of luck,don’t get carried away
Too old to get carried away Adrian. I had two points to make: the first that you do not have to have a pedigree as a manager to be successful, the second is that at the end history will say Chelsea won the CL not how they won it. I am sure you would have loved to see the Reds play with 10 men behind the ball and land a CL spot, so let’s not be hypocritical! Success/failure is measured by results, and how you obtain them does not matter!
True that. If we were to see how Liverpool played, i believe they played well, but the results just didn’t show. We have beaten top teams, pushed them back, dominated weaker teams, but at times, we just couldn’t score. I feel that, the current crop of players just needs a little tinkering to get our goal scoring form again.
However, the sacking of Kenny would ruin this. Kenny trusts his buys and he wants to work with them. The new manager will deny all responsibilities if the players still fail to perform next season. That will lead to yet another overhaul at Liverpool, and yet another season of waiting for the players to gel, and yet another season of possible failures.
Capello and Carra, perfect pairing. For me LFC has become a challenge for any manager who has the confidence and ego to think he can succeed where all others have failed. Forget Champions League, been there done that, no manager has ever brought the Premier league title to Anfield. ( which of course brings CL) 4th, 3rd and 2nd isn’t enough for the fans, only 1st will suffice.
IT has been rumoured that the new owners dont want a kop favorite too close to the fans – well that was how it was whenever we have been top of the tree. the few relative failiures never became kop favorites, Evans was not a kop favorite although he came through the boot room, hodgson enough said, – What they should know is that the two go hand in hand with success. Hire Rafa now.
I also ask myself the same question about a possible return of Rafa: “Will he be accepted by the Kop? Will Gerrard and Carragher want him?”, well, seeing those: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8KvHU8XhVw&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRllRTMU51s&feature=related i’ve no doubt about the first question, also because the Kop are not the only, LFC have plenty of fans around the world (i’m from Italy for example), and if you read, listen, you know that the big majority of fans want Rafa back, and there’s more than one reason, a great person, a great manager, one of us, i think that’s enough, what we can ask more? about the second, well, i don’t know if they want him but i must say, everybody knows they played a part (big or small doesn’t matter) in the departure of Rafa, well i’m sure they’ve already regret it, and honestly, with all the respect, they’re players, they shouldn’t count more than fans in the manager issue, the club counts more than anybody and for me and now Rafa counts more than them
A lot of the people calling for rafa to come back have been having a go at kenny all season,that will lead to the fans being divided should fsg bring him in.
kenny wa out there fighting liverpools corner vs fergie and his media friends fa friends ref friends yet kenny gets sacked and no one helped kenny the men who sacked him made him say sorry to the media over suarez he loved our club and look we should go to anfield and ask for him back and for answers yes league form was bad but kenny was hapred by fergie and his friends!
Rafa is the one for me, and should be the one for Fenway, He probaly would’nt win the title but is almost guaranteed to finish top 4 year in – year out so making a few bob for the club in the process. Fenway must know to win the title costs more cash than they have.
^^^^^^kenny was hampered by fergie
the club i loved from a boy of 5 to 35 is gone now we used to be family not anymore r.i.p lfc! family is what i felt now its all about stabbing every one and thing about the club in the back
Jon, in life everything changes and even LFC has changed. We absolutely cannot expect the Reds to be challenging every honour simply because for a good 15/20 years we were absolutely unbeatable! It takes a lot of work to get back to the top because in the meantime your competition has improved. Just imagine that Man Utd ‘knocked us of our perch’ only the season before last and in that interim we, LFC, have NEVER won the Premier League, such was our might and advantage. In recent years we have showed a glimpse of having what it takes but we always had that missing ingredient. THe H&G tragedy did not help but at least now we are not facing administration and by hook or by crook we won a piece of silverware, and we are back in Europe. Let’s look at the glass half full and try to fill it up more and more.
Our points tally 1/2 full or 1\2 empty still reads 52.