It’s Kenny Dalglish v Roy Hodgson for Liverpool FC manager role
As supporters continue to scour their morning newspapers and a variety of websites searching for some progress, any progress, on the potential sale of Liverpool FC, it is easy to believe that the club are between a rock and a hard place.
Co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks are still holding firm over their inflated – many would say unrealistic – asking price, but the club’s followers are keen to see the right owners come in to replace them, whoever they may be.
Luckily for them, the options for their new manager suddenly look clearer cut, and both are hugely appealing. It’s more like being between a marshmallow and a soft place.
Rafael Benitez wasn’t out of a job for long. The Spaniard will soon be appointed as the new coach of European Champions Inter Milan, walking straight into José Mourinho’s shadow just a week after he cut his ties with Liverpool.
Both he and Mourinho have left behind big shoes to fill, but the two men who now look the overwhelming favourites to fill Benitez’ boots couldn’t be more suited to the job.
Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish is a Liverpool legend. Simple as that.
The club’s greatest-ever player, his goals and magical link up play helped the Reds win trophy after trophy during the 1970s and 80s.
From the delicate chip over FC Bruges goalkeeper Birger Jensen to win the 1978 European Cup at Wembley at the end of his first season, to the goal that won the Reds their 16th league title at Stamford Bridge in 1986, he was always there.
He was player-manager by then, taking over the reins from Joe Fagan after Heysel in 1985, when Liverpool were then at their lowest ebb. Four years later they were lower still, as the Hillsborough disaster rocked both the city and English football to its very core.
Again he was there, guiding the club with the greatest of dignity at its most trying time.
The personal impact that the disaster had on him was never truly discovered, but many blame that for his subsequent decision to sensationally resign as manager following a 4-4 FA Cup draw with Everton in 1991. He has reportedly always left the door open for a comeback, but it has never seriously been considered. Until now.
After returning to the club in an ambassadorial role last summer, Dalglish suddenly found himself overseeing the search for Benitez’ successor alongside managing director Christian Purslow, but reports today claim that he is seeking to step down from his position in order to be considered for the top job himself.
That remains to be seen, but at a time when the club needs to borrow a phrase from another Merseyside institution and “come together” both on and off the pitch, Dalglish would appear to be just the man to do that.
Roy Hodgson could do it too, but in a different way.
Although never previously connected with the club in any way, the Fulham boss – who won so many new fans and admirers with the way he guided the west Londoners into that improbable Europa League final last season – could be just the man to bring a welcome sense of calm and perspective.
Despite the current malaise, he would consider it a huge honour to manage Liverpool Football Club, probably the biggest job of his career, and after the years of boardroom bickering and media-driven managerial madness under Benitez, here would come a man who appears to be universally respected. That sense of calm that the football club used to exude would be back. In a way, it’s a wonder why the club never appointed him sooner; he appears perfect for the role.
Now, his more recent, hands-on experience of the Premier League would give him an advantage over Dalglish, but the emotional ties towards the latter could well win out.
If it is a wonder why Hodgson has never been appointed the club’s manager before, then it is no wonder why Dalglish has.
Few would envy Purslow – apparently a lifelong Reds fan – the task of telling the Scot, surely one of the three most respected icons of the club’s history alongside Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley, that he suddenly wasn’t good enough.
Purslow might have to do just that though.
If he does, then at least supporters can find solace in the likely appointment of Hodgson.
Very few situations in Liverpool’s recent, turbulent history could be described as “win-win”, but this could well be one of them.
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