One of the general rules in life is to never go back.
They say it about boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, workplaces, politics – even the Big Brother house could all fall in to this category. Because as much as memory may fade to focus only on the positive it is never as good.
In the history of football this is even more apt – men with great records on the field and off it, returning older and wiser before realising, often too late, that they should have let their records stand. Clearly there have been the odd enjoyable reunions – but the general theme is that once your time is called you should move on.
After last weeks’ severance between the Liverpool board and Rafa Benitez – the reds are now faced with a managerial conundrum. Unlike in years gone by, the managers job at Anfield is now a poisoned chalice.
The club is for sale (albeit at a ridiculous £800M). The club is heavily in debt (to the tune of £400M). As the past two years have proven the club is no longer one that competes for the best players in teh world – but is now a club that sells players to help fund a staggering £40M interest bill per year. The owners are vilified by the clubs millions of fans for broken promises, wasted millions and downright mistruth’s about their ‘proud custodianship’ of the great Anfield club.
Fans groups are at war with the owners – threatening to hit them hard in the pockets. The customers are reaching the end of their tether.
With each gaffe from the owners there has been an equal measure of PR spinning. The PR men at Anfield are amongst the hardest workers in the business. When they aren’t bending the ear of selected journalists with their ‘leaked’ stories from inside the club they are considering how best to balance the bad news with the good.
Yesterday saw the release of the new away kit – brought forward 2 days because yesterday was also the day the club announced a 7% rise in season ticket prices.
The embarrassment of Tom Hicks sitting in front of his log fire publically telling Rick Parry to resign was attempted to be balanced by the introduction of Christian Purslow – a Liverpool fan they said – a man of the people.
Ultimately Purslow’s arrival may have had more to do with his contacts book – Tom Hicks Jnr for one, and then one of his close friends – Stephen Hester – the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland – the bank that is greedily gorging on the £40M interest per year.
And so on to the return of the King – Kenny Dalglish was brought in to the club as ambassador of the LFC youth academy – his arrival perfectly timed to make us gloss over the fact that there had been no money for players for two years.
In today’s Times Tony Barrett makes the suggestion that Kenny is considering throwing his name in to the hat for the managers job – a suggestion that has been in play amongst fans even before Rafa was kicked out.
My advice to Kenny would be – think wisely, and think again.
My schooldays were spent idolising Kenny Dalglish. On the school playing field I was him. When playing football I even attempted to copy the way he ran. His domestic managerial record at Liverpool was fantastic – and he remains Liverpool’s most succesful manager (in terms of win %). However Liverpool were a very different club a quarter of a century ago. Kenny inherited a fine team and did buy well – although he was competing at the top of the market. When he left, the reds were a team on the slide.
I remain of the opinion that the next Liverpool manager will hold one of the shortest reigns in the clubs history. For many fans the next boss, whoever it may be, will be a ‘Yes’ man for the board. At a time of such vehement opposition to the clubs owners, the Chelsea supporting chairman, the managing director and other faceless members of the board it would be a mistake for Kenny to be the man to be seen as the cuddly face of these individuals.
King Kenny Dalglish was arguably Liverpool’s greatest player and was an excellent manager more than 2 decades ago. For him to come back now would not only destroy some of the magic but would cause much navel-gazing amongst Liverpool fans.
The only beneficiaries of the appointment would be the club’s owners and the Liverpool PR machine. It would buy them more time to run the club in to the ground.
Come on guys, lets think about it , they will not install Kenny , as he will try to keep Torres and Gerrard, if Hodgson gets it, believe me ,(THEY WILL BE SOLD), for the sake of L F C ,we should fight for kenny to get the job , make yourself heard , please . YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOU
Kenny is long past his sell buy date, his record after Liverpool was abysmal,Newcastle,Celtic.I love the guy but he’s had his best days.
maybe you are correct in what you THINK lets not lose sight of that fact its only your OPINION, dalglish is no fool and if he himself thinks he can do the job i would agree with him, he has more to lose than us fans, even though we love liverpool deeply, none of us would lose all credability as a manager, and as a TRUE and proper legend damage everthing he values in his life and his families life, i for one would go sick if we brought in hodgson and kenny ended up at fulham ore elsewhere.
roy and kenny at the moment appear to be the two most likely candidates. lets talk about what we want here. as i loyal lfc fan i have had to endure ten years of defensive poor football lacking in any real enjoyment. the reason i began to support this great club of ours was largely due to our possession based attacking football on which the clubs foundations have been built. our two pervious managers have been anti football and therefore, for me anti lfc. for this reason lets get kenny.
Agreed with most of the above but Liverpool will have to get in some quality players, get rid of Lucas, Ngog, Babel they are all mediocre players. We need some class that can play with the likes of Torress and Gerrard. Its been proven two great players do not make a team. Kenny is a great manager but without descent players he can be mediocre manager.
We have to be realistic in our thinking.With Mourinho my natural choice just having moved to Real and Hiddink disinterested Rijkaard or Van Gaal wouldn’t be bad options.However,i would prefer a British manager who understands LFC history and culture,who better then King Kenny??.IMO Harry Redknapp should be another candidate.
Boring Hodgson having won nothing in British Football doesn’t impress me despite all his good work at Fulham where as O’Neill plays the long ball game that i detest.
Given the poor success and slow demise of Liverpool Football Club over the recent years, attributed the false promises made by the American owners, it may have de-valued the club, but that could, and should place us firmly in the shop Window.DIC where looking very closely at Liverpool Football Club and with good cause, the most successful Football Club in English History, a huge fan base. An Investment now, coupled with some honest and fruitful ambitions would make them a tidy profit.
I would love to see Kenny back as manager,give him a season to steady the ship and see how it goes,theres not mutch pressure on the job in comparison to Rafa who’s goin to Inter after a trebble season,i think he’ll get us back in the top four minimum and hopefully get us some silverware.
Im sure Shankly would give his vote of approval.
Daggers is the only man right now to straighten the boat, and put us back in the right direction.
Kennys record is impecible and he should be reinstaed NOW
i am 64 now and i have never seen the clb in such a mess.i honestly wouldn,t like to see kenny take over as manager, he is too nice a person and after all the pressure he had over the years, i wouldn,t want him to take the pressure what is sure to come.the club wont get anybetter untill the two cowboys….outlaws go
Forget Dalglish at Blackburn he had massive amounts of money to spend, at Newcastle he did a less than stirling job, inheriting a very good side from Keegan and eventually took them down to 13th
But I will never forget the terrible negative defensive tactics he played against Arsenal when Michael Thomas got them the league in 89. Arsenal had to win by two goals and kenny’s plan was defend all match even though we had some of the best attacking players in Anfield history
Hodgson any day for me!
I agree with all but the last line. The club has already been run into the ground.
Logic would suggest you’re correct. Yet Dalglish remains one of only five managers to actually win a Premier League title. I believe he is a superior manager to O’Neill or Hodgson. Were we offered Mourinho, Hiddink or Van Gaal they would get the job no questions asked and Kenny would remain where he is.
But O’Neill and Hodgson are as old as Dalglish yet have inferior records as managers at the highest level. Kenny’s four top level English league titles is a dream to those two. The odds on Kenny relighting the old fires are slim, but I’d rather he be given the chance to rectify his mistake in leaving in 1991 than let route one O’Neill or boring Hodgson in the door at Anfield Road.
Good article. I agree with you, the manager’s job is now a poisoned chalice.