Roy Hodgson optimistic about Stevie’s and Jamie’s stay with Liverpool
The new Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson is convinced his team’s captain Steven Gerrard will not leave the Liverpool Football Club this season. He stated this after a meeting held at the practicing grounds of the Scrousers.
After the conference at the Melwood training grounds Hodgson revealed that he had already met the skipper of the Red’s Gerrard along with another prominent member of the team, their star defender Jamie Carragher. He told that the discussions with players were extremely fruitful and he hoped that the players will stay with Anfield this summer after a poor previous season.
Hodgson also exposed that he had met the Liverpool legend and its academy ambassador Kenny Dalglish around a week ago. It was assumed that after the appointment of Hodgson for the coaching post at the Merseyside there would be severe conflicts between the two. The reason to that were earlier statements made by the Dalglish who was appointed to seek the new coach for England. Dalglish stated prior to Hodgson’s appointment that he himself would like the job of coaching at Liverpool as he thought he was better than Hodgson at the task.
Hodgson’s appointment saw Dalglish withdrawing from the committee, a situation in which the chairman Martin Broughton and owner’s Tom Hicks and George Gillett seemed helpless.
The previous Fulham manager told that he hoped and was confident that Anfield would see Gerrard stay with them despite the massive news floating around that Gerrard would be transferring himself to Real Madrid before the start of the coming season.
In a press conference Hodgson stated about the talks as, “I think they went splendidly. I was very happy to meet the players and, of course, Kenny who I already know so well. I was delighted to see how positive they are. Everybody is looking forward to the new season”.
Hodgson also told that he no way undermined the fact that if the Reds want to succeed in the next season then Gerrard and Carragher were extremely important to the club. He commented on them saying that Stevie and Jamie were the “heartbeat” of the club and it was very important for Anfield if they stayed.
He also mentioned that he knew other clubs were trying to sign in the stars of Liverpool and he hoped that they would stay. He claimed that he was trying his best to keep all the players happy at Liverpool so that they can stay with the club and help it thrive.
Hodgson however hasn’t had a chance to talk with Spanish ace, Fernando Torres who is with the Spanish team participating in the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa where his team is now in the final facing Netherlands.
The man who led Fulham to an amazing campaign facing a similar situation to the one the Merseyside is in right now. About Torres Hodgson told, “Fernando is a wonderful striker and I understand the fans' concerns about his future. When I do meet him, I will be doing everything I possibly can to convince him that Liverpool is the place to be”.
The 62 year old Hodgson told that Torres understands the city and the club and he hoped that the he would stay at the club and recognize his potential with them. As the Reds are planning to introduce club bred players this season Hodgson also revealed that Dalglish would be having new and heavier responsibilities this season of communicating and linking the academy with the players from mainstream squad.
On the issue between Hodgson and Dalglish, Hodgson exclaimed, “I never doubted that Kenny would leave. He's been offered a role, which I believe is a crucial role for the club - not just in the short term, but in the long term. The club will benefit from Kenny's work long after I've left Liverpool and long after he's left as well”.
He praised the legend by adding that he has accomplished an exceptionally well job with academy and he saw a couple of really promising players in the future. He also stated that it would be in Dalglish’s responsibilities to keep him informed on the updates from Melwood and Kirkby. Hodgson stated, “There is a bridge between the Academy and the first team that needs to be created and I believe he can help build that bridge”.
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