by tubby » Mon Oct 04, 2010 4:24 pm
Tony Evans, Football Editor
October 3 2010 11:18PM
Bill Shankly died 30 years ago this week. The edifice he built at Anfield has been slowly dying for more than three years.
Yesterday, it was clear how critical this club’s condition has become. Liverpool, already dumped out of the Carling Cup by Northampton Town , are now in the relegation zone. Defeat by Blackpool was no shock to anyone who has studied the decline of England’s most successful club.
None of Anfield’s endemic problems can be laid at Roy Hodgson’s door but he has not helped matters. Hodgson is just not up to the job. He does not understand what it means to be a Liverpool manager. That shows in his refusal to take his bosom-buddy Mr. Ferguson to task when the Scot accused Fernando Torres of cheating; it shows in his constant talking-up of ordinary opposition and talking down of expectations; it shows in tactics that waste the talents of Torres and Steven Gerrard.
Kenny Dalglish knew Hodgson was not the man to revive Liverpool. The second-greatest figure in the club’s history said as much when he offered to become manager despite Hodgson’s candidacy.
The Kop know it, too. They chanted “Dalglish” in the wake of defeat yesterday. They know this game. Unlike the men in the boardroom. Christian Purslow, an equity dealer turned club executive, talked up the acquisition of Hodgson as the deal of a lifetime. His opinion was endorsed by Martin Broughton, the chairman, who also fulfils the same role for British Airways. Neither man has even two years’ experience in football. Neither can expect a protracted career in this sport.
After the international break loom Everton in a defining derby. In the meantime, the financial future of the club will be decided by Royal Bank of Scotland, which is owed £285 million by Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.
The carpetbagging Americans owners need to be run out of the club. Their City-gent appointments will follow in quick order. And Hodgson? He shows no sign of being able to handle life at Anfield.
It is time to call on Dalglish, the only man who can salvage Shankly’s legacy.
, and if you compare it to what we had before Rafa there was a big improvement.
by