The Return of The King

So it's finally happened, Roy Hodgson and Liverpool have parted ways by mutual consent or so we're told, an lets face it, mutual consent is just the polite way of saying 'sacked'.This is undoubtedly the decision that the supporters have wanted most for some considerable time now, a few things need to be stressed about Roy Hodgson before attention is turned to the return of the king.


Roy seems to be a genuine man and im sure he is a true gentleman, and the behaviour of fans towards him is in no way an attack on him as a person. Personally i never wanted him to be Liverpool manager, but from the moment the decision was made, i, like most supporters got right behind him, unconditional support for the manager of Liverpool Football Club. In an ideal world we would currently sit four points off the top spot rather than four points above the drop spot and Roy Hodgson would be the man who steadied the ship, the leader we needed etc etc etc.


But it seems that we so not live in an ideal world and things have not gone as supporters would have hoped, nor as Roy himself would have hoped. When a manager is not performing well, which lets face it, he wasn't, poor tactics, poor substitutions and media statements that left a lot to be desired (Vs Wolves - dissapointed we couldnt get goal second half and obtain a draw ~ should be playing to win, ALWAYS, this is LFC. Roy was, quite plainly put, out of his depth. He lost the supporters due to his failing managerial abilities and that alone, most supporters, in fact most people in the game will acknowledge him as being a genuinely nice man. So thats that, Roys a nice guy.


Then there is the nonesense that has been spouted by past players, the mass media, supporters of other clubs, managers of other clubs and Roy Hodgson himself, and that nonesense is that he didn't have time to put his stamp on the team and that he didnt have a proper transfer windown in which to do business. Talk like this is utter crap and completely untrue, as i said in my previous post (http://mixedreception.blogspot.com/2011/01/roy-hodgson-saga-continues.html), Roy had more money to spend than Rafa did in his first window, brought in more players than Rafa did, and had a full TWO months in which to do business, and the team he inherrited was far superior to the team that Rafa inherrited. I'll paste in my comments on this matter:


'Now we turn to the issue of the transfer window that Hodgson has not had in order to build his own team. That quite simply is utter dogshit. Hodgson joined Liverpool on 1/07/2010, he had a full 2 months worth of transfer window to work in. He inherited a team that contained both World Cup winners and finalist, European Cup winners, UEFA cup winners and FA cup winners, he inherited a team that contained the likes of Gerrard, Mascherano, Torres, Reina, Kuyt, Agger, Carragher, he inherrited a very experienced team with most of the starting 11 players being pretty much the same starting 11 that enjoyed a fine season in 2008/09, a team which had struggled the season before but a team which undoubtedly contained a talented bunch of players with many that would be welcomed at most if not all of Europes top clubs.

Now im not an expert on transfer fees paid or received and most sources sight different figures, figures that are only marginally different, but for the purposes of getting this post out before Hodgsons out i've taken firgures from LFC site lfchistory.net. Hodgson spent around £23.8m in the summer on 5 players, Wilson, Meireles, Poulsen, Konchesky, Jones, with Cole on a free and Aurelio resigned for free. Now two of those signings have failed to make the grade so far, and one wholly unneccessary when you consider the fact that Aquilani who Hodgson farmed out quite quickly is a far better player and far younger and faster, the unneccessary transfer is of course Poulsen who at around £4.5m has proved thus far to be a bad buy.

Now, flashback to the summer of 2004, the arrival of Rafa, the dawn of the rafalution an all that. The team Rafa inherited had experience but did not contain even half the quality in the starting line up as the starting 11 he left. He inherited a team that contained the likes of Gerrard, Carrgher, Hyppia and Hamann but also a team in which Diao, Traore, Cheyrou and Biscan were regular staters. Rafa made 4 signings that summer, Josemi, Nunez, Alonso, Garcia, spending around £20.2m in doing so. Now two of those players can be considered bad buys but they combined only cost around £3.5m - less than Poulsen. And the other two had a huge impact on the clubs fortunes in the following seasons. Rafa made 3 additional signings in the January market, Pellegrino(free), Morientes(£6.3m) and Carson(£1m). This squad that Rafa assembled was certainly not in his image with a huge overhaul coming in the following seasons, but he took a largely inherrited squad, supplemented with a handful of transfers to European Cup glory. I dont think there is any manager past or present who would say that they would rather have inherrited the team that Houlier left rather than the one left by Rafa. Short line is, Hodgson has spent more in his first transfer window than Rafa did, brought in more players and has performed very poorly so far with no sign of that changing.'

I wonder would Utd fans be so quick to back Hodgson if he was their manager and if they were in a similar situation as far as the league table is concerned, i would go so far as to say that if that were to happen next season many supporters would be quick to call time on Fergies Utd reign. The comments of several past players over recent weeks also as far as im concerned demonstrates how out of touch with supporters they are, performances are unnacceptable, we had a manager who inspires no faith in fans and players alike, a manager who fails to back his players when they come in for any real criticism, a manager who had openly criticised some players and a manager who was on the whole contributing to the problem rather than the solution. He had to go, and if any past players felt that but did not want to go public then they should have remained silent, this club is about its supporters, we make the club, a club is nothing without its supporters, the vast majority of which wanted Hodgson out, the vast majority of which could not have been wrong.

Then there is all the talk of Rafa, its Rafa's fault, Rafa left a poor spuad, Rafa spent millions, Rafa ruined LFC. Rubbish, utter rubbish. Rafa left in the summer, or to be more exact, Rafa was axed in the summer whilst on holiday, axed by a snake called Purslow who masquerades as an LFC supporter. Rafa never wanted to leave, the man signed a lengthy contract which would have seen his tenure at the club stretch beyond the 10year mark, and i for one would have loved to have seen him stay, i never wanted him to leave. He was, well rather still is a divisive figure but hes all the better for it, his only crime trying to play the media game, and with most of the mass media currently residing in Fergies back pocket there was no way he was ever going to succeed.

Rafa spent millions, but he also clawed pretty much every penny back, and the only money he didn't get back was money spent on players who are still at the club. Under Hicks and Gillet Liverpools transfer policy was pretty much sell to buy, i dont think that when they took over Rafa anticipated that he would have to sell 2/3 players just to bring one in, but that was the reality. So he made bad buys,  but when you consider that in actual fact he bought only what we could afford, did he really do such a bad job? I'm sure he would have loved to spend £15m+ on players every window, but he could only buy in the less than £10m category for much of his transfer windows. He never wanted to leave the club, he never wanted to leave a mess, in fact i believe he envisaged himself being part of the Liverpool revival under potential new owners. People point to his time at Inter, no manager in the world was ever going to go there and match or even eclipse what Mourinho did, it was a bad job to take, ageing squad that let players go and brought little in, decimated by injuries not just to first team players but players who would have filled in for the injured first team players, even Mourinho himself would have struggled with Inter this season. Rafa is a good manager and he left Liverpool in the summer, he had no hand in Poulsen or Konchesky, he played no part in Joe Coles difficult start to his LFC career, he didn't farm Aquilani out to Juventus only to see him playing the kind of football which prompted Rafa to bring him to Liverpool in the first place, he didn't alienate himself from the supporters and he didn't guide us to our worst league campaign since the 50's. Put simply, its not Rafas fault.

Hodgson was not NESV's appointment, yet they backed him right into December, they stood by him even under intense pressure from supporters, they gave him every chance to turn it around. Ultimately business ruled over the football. Supporters arent happy with the manager or the teams performances, attendances drop, attendances drop which means merchandising sales drop, and money rules all in business. The club is not generating enough revenue to be competitive with the big boys even when we sell out on a regular basis, so what chance does the club have to be financially competitive when there are 10,000 empty seats at anfield. This i feel played a huge part in the decision to get rid of Hodgson. NESV gave Roy enough time.

So now the King has returned, a decision i also feel is motivated by business. A real buzz has been generated, the supporters have got their man and i dont think we will see too many empty seats at Anfield for a while. And Kenny is one man who demands respect from players and supporters alike without asking for it, he has earned it, and the though of his return to the dug out and the impact he will have just makes those hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Kenny is Liverpool, his name associated with success.

I feel his appointment is for the time being only a temporary one, and i would expect that once the search for a new CEO has come to an end NESV will draw up a detailed list of who could possibly take charge in the summer, and i think Kenny himself will be on that list. And with unquestioned fan support and a real desire to do the job i think he is the favourite to get the job full time, but only time will tell and i dont expect NESV to give too much away in the mean time.

Optimism that our season can be salvaged and pride restored is higher now that it was when NESV took over last year, and with Dalglish in charge we finally have a man who we can get behind, someone who would fight to the last for the club, a man who knows what it means to play for Liverpool, a man who knows what the supporters want, a man determined to bring the good times back. Sunday against Utd is now a more interesting game, and Kennys appointment will provide a welcome boost, and i for one can't wait, but more importantly i can't wait to welcome the King home against Everton next sunday, you couldn't ask for 2  bigger games to kick off a rejuevenation and with Blackpool sandwiched inbetween there is a real feeling that this could be a very good week for the reds.

One thing is certain, there can no longer be any excuses, the players must now look at themselves and work for each other. In Kenny they have a manager who can bring the best out of them and a manager who they will all be eager to please. Where this leaves the club in terms of January transfers is open to specualtion, should Kenny be well backed in the January window that could be seen as an indication that the job is his beyond this season.

For now reds, lets get behind Kenny and the team, the last remnant of the old regime is now gone, the NESV era starts tomorrow, lets make 2011 a good year and hopefully this time next year im writing about how we shouldn't get carried away sitting 3 points clear at the top! well heres to hoping anyways. This post went on longer than i expected, and was dominated more by the parting of ways rather than the return of the King, but for me, there is nothing anyone else can say about Kenny that hasnt already been said or indeed anything that needs to be said, his reputation is as unquestionable as his love for the club. For me the real talking point is the absurd suggestions from the media that Hodgson was somehow mistreated and not given a fair crack at the job and the even more absurd suggestions about Rafa being the source of the problem, and supporters actually buy into that crap, im more concerned with the truth and all i've said is just my opinion! YNWA!!

Feedback appreciated,, nice one!