Roy Hodgson isn’t fondly remembered by the Anfield faithful; the league’s oldest manager spent six months with the Reds in the 2010/11 season after leaving Fulham.
Fernando Torres left us for Chelsea shortly after Hodgson’s departure and, in 2016, he opened up on his time with Liverpool. Comments taken from Simon Hughes’ book ‘Ring of Fire’ – published by the Anfield Wrap – are very honest.
“It was a pity because Hodgson was a great coach and a great guy,” Torres said. “They didn’t let him work. They brought in all these Australian people [a new medical team] who controlled everything: who could play, who could not.
“He wasn’t able to use the players the way he wanted. From that pre-season to the January when I left, it was a nightmare. Not just for me but for everybody, for Hodgson too.
“He was not allowed to work properly — the situation was more difficult for him than it was for anyone else. Everything was a mess. We were not good enough. In the middle of that, they finally sold the club.”
El Nino is talking about Liverpool’s owners at the time, Tom Hicks and George Gillett, and the Spaniard was concerned that the Reds were losing too many of their star players.
Xabi Alsono, Alvaro Arbeloa and Sami Hyypia all left in Rafael Benitez’s last season at Liverpool and Albert Riera, Diego Cavalieri and Javier Mascherano were sold in Roy’s first transfer window at the club.
Hodgson left us in January 2011 and with signings like Joe Cole, Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen it’s not hard to see why it didn’t go to plan for Roy on Merseyside.