English Premier League: Kenny Dalglish admits he wanted the Liverpool job
After maintaining his silence for the best part of the whole summer and then for two weeks of September, Liverpool’s legend Kenny Dalglish has finally come out in the open. In the summer Rafael Benitez was dismissed from his job
as Liverpool’s first team manager.
Benitez’s dismissal came as no surprise. Last season, Liverpool ended up at the seventh placed spot in the English Premier League. It was a disappointing season by Liverpool’s standards as they saw a huge slump in form. It was
a dichotomy in itself as Liverpool had finished second in the 2008-2009 season to Manchester United. Liverpool’s fortunes in the English Premier League era have been quite bad.
They have not won a league title in the last eighteen years and now this season under their new manager, Roy Hodgson, they do have a competitive squad but a squad which lacks quality to compete against Chelsea for the English Premiership
crown. Under Rafael Benitez, Liverpool were turned into a Cup football side. They won the F.A Cup in his second season at the club and in his first season at Merseyside, Benitez led the Reds to their fifth European Cup title. The final match of that season’s
European Cup is still remembered fondly by the Liverpool fans.
Merseyside Reds were pitted against the Italian giants, A.C Milan in the final. Within the first forty five minutes, Liverpool were trailing the Italian champions by three goals to nil. But what happened in the second half of the
match will live in the memories of all football fans till eternity. It was perhaps one of the finest comebacks that football has ever seen. Liverpool were driven on by their captain Steven Gerrard as they fought their way back into the game to take it to extra
time by scoring three goals of their own.
Finally, the Reds ended up as eventual winners as they won the penalty shootout against the Milanese club. For what was sorrowful for Milan was a moment of sheer ecstasy for Rafael Benitez’s men. Some Liverpool fans still regard
that instant as Benitez’s finest with their club.
After achieving heights anew with Liverpool in his opening seasons with the club, Rafael Benitez’s Liverpool slowly degenerated into a conservative outfit. The Spanish manager started to adopt more and more defensive strategies
in crucial matches. This turned Liverpool into a pragmatic team rather than an expansive one, in doing so Benitez incurred the wrath of several Liverpool legends as well as their fans.
After Liverpool failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in the 2009-2010 season, time at Merseyside came to a bitter end for the ex-Valencia coach.
The club said thank you to Benitez in the summer of 2010 in quite an acrimonious manner and hired Dalglish as the man to search for their manager. Upon his selection for this task, Kenny told the Liverpool chairman that he was
interested in managing his childhood club rather than playing an auxiliary role but the club’s administrative hierarchy kindly denied his request.
Kenny narrated this story through his book “Dalglish in his own words”. He also remarked about Benitez’s departure from Liverpool which he claims was best for the club as well as the for manager himself. It was widely speculated
after Rafael Benitez’s departure that Kenny Dalglish would be given the manager’s job, however this later turned out to be true as Roy Hodgson was appointed as Liverpool’s manager.
Since then, Liverpool have started their English Premier League season in an inconsistent manner. They won against West Bromwich but lost to Manchester City. They drew in their last game against Birmingham City.
Liverpool’s next league game is away to their big rivals Manchester United, a game that is always played in a pressure cooker atmosphere. Liverpool fans have recently voiced their concern with the financial situation at their club;
the American owners have till 1st of October to pay off their debts, after that the banks will come calling in for their respectively debited amount.
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