by SouthCoastShankly » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:53 am
The Times - 26/01/12
Kenny Dalglish restores values - and maybe silverware
Tony Evans
There have been bigger occasions at Anfield, with more glamorous prizes at stake, yet few have been more cathartic than last night. Kenny Dalglish was visibly emotional at the final whistle. Liverpool are competing for trophies once more. It is a remarkable feat.
Of course, Manchester City supporters — and others — will sneer. The Carling Cup is the poor relation of the domestic triple crown and silverware has lost its sheen in comparison with the grubby money of the Champions League. Yet, after the journey Anfield has taken in the past five years, a trip to Wembley is like a dream.
A year ago, when Dalglish took over, Liverpool sat five points off the bottom of the Barclays Premier League, had exited the Carling Cup at the hands of Northampton Town and were about to lose a highly prized £50 million striker. Only three months before that, the club was teetering on the verge of administration.
The essence of the club, the core values, had been eroded, with football decisions left in the hands of people who should never have been allowed to escape from the corporate hospitality areas. Infighting undermined any sense of purpose.
Dalglish, the only man with the stature to regain control over Anfield, was spurned by the captains of industry and the equity traders who sacked Rafael Benítez in June two years ago. They turned to Roy Hodgson and the desperation deepened. How different might things have been if Dalglish had taken the reins in 2010? Instead. it took seven months of confusion and chaos before new owners turned to the Scot.
Yet not everyone appreciates the scale of the problems facing Dalglish, even among Liverpool fans. Over recent weeks, a noisy minority have grown critical of his signings and the team’s performances. Spending £100 million should bring instant top-four success, goes the logic, as if it were that simple.
The Anfield fanbase, bloated by the Istanbul effect and unhinged by the Gillett and Hicks years, has developed an increasingly hysterical wing. When combined with a sense of entitlement, it has led to a failure of logic and loss of perspective.
Some cannot see that Liverpool have fallen a long way behind City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal and that Tottenham Hotspur have leapfrogged the five-times European champions.
Dalglish has arrested the decline. He has quelled the factionalism. He has restored core values. Most importantly, he has begun the slow process of moving the club forward. A possible trophy is a bonus.
He has made mistakes and continues to do so but he is the right man for the job — as he was on the day Benítez was sacked — and the only man equipped to mend this damaged institution. And that repair job has some way to go.
In the meantime, he may deliver a cup. If he does, it may, in time, come to be seen as his greatest achievement.
---------------------------------------------------
Normally not a fan of Tony Evans but this article hits the nail on the head for me. Perspective people...
Last edited by
SouthCoastShankly on Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
