As Rafael Benitez continues to drag Liverpool further down the Premier League table, the search for his successor is well underway.
Indeed, judging by Tom Hicks' recent actions and well-documented talks with a certain Jurgen Klinsman, you’d be far from wrong to suspect that the search started long ago.
But with the German committing himself to Bayern Munich, Liverpool will have to continue their pursuit of the right man. The Reds need a manager capable of bringing them to the top—a level Benitez has found far out of reach.
Liverpool fans have gone through an array of emotions this season. Great hope at the start gradually turned to frustration, now bordering on despair.
The club is no closer to contention for the title than when Gerard Houllier was in charge.
Benitez supporters can carry on all they like about drawing in the Champions League and FA Cup Finals and winning the subsequent penalty competitions. But failure to get anywhere near the leaders in the title race over the course of four seasons is simply not good enough.
So who should replace Mr. Benitez? Jose Mourinho has long been touted as a possible replacement, but an outstanding candidate who would surely relish the challenge of this big job would be Martin O'Neil.
Over the years he has proven that he can work with the smaller clubs on a tight budget, can boss a big club winning trophies, and can (with reasonable funding) handle the transfer market. He has never been rightly credited as the expert tactician he is. Plus, his passion for the game is unquestioned.
Maybe this is the kind of character Anfield needs, rather than the studious, over-complicated managers of years past. O'Neil can get every ounce of effort from the players who might need just that extra spark to get them going.
It’s about time more British managers were linked with the top end jobs. Too often clubs install the highly qualified and respected foreign coaches who are not fully switched on to the passion and intensity of our game.
Liverpool could do a lot worse than give a great opportunity to an enthusiastic Northern Irishman. He certainly couldn’t do any worse in the Premier League than the Spaniard who's time is just about up.
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8 months ago
I think the players have stopped playing for him. Maybe its the off field stuff unsettling them, maybe its upset at the rotation system, who knows, but the players have to take some responsibilty for the recent form as well.
The dismal performances are not solely down to the manager. Gerrard for example was on fire in November/December, but has been abject in January apart from 1 game against struggling Luton Town. Even the likes of Carragher and Finnan, usually models of consistency, have been making basic errors.
It certainly looks like he will be lucky to still be manager in August next year.
Replacements? Too early to say until there is actually a job available.
P.S - And its Rafael by the way.
8 months ago
On the question of why things have gone so wrong this season a lot of people seem to have forgotten the departure of Paco Ayesteran (on gardening leave) just before the home match with Derby. Problems with the new owners clearly haven't helped.
Who will replace him? It has previously been suggested that Rick Parry and Martin O'Neill have some bad history. He's also untested at a big club. Given the way things are going I strongly suspect Liverpool will be making contact with Mourinho soon, if they haven't done so already, particularly as he is being strongly linked with Valencia.
Aside from these two it is difficult to see anybody else currently available, although I'm sure Liverpools rivals would love it if we took on Steve McClaren, Kevin Keegan, Souness or one of the other managerial clowns who seem to get well paid despite a lack of any tactical ability.
8 months ago
Many football pundits have also cited the departure of Paco as one of the reasons for Liverpool's free fall this season, but clearly no win since 26th Dec last year doesn't refelct a club of such a high stature.
Around 100,000 fans across the globe are planning to buy out the club's stake from the owners.
At lleast in ASia a minority will put their lifelong savings online to save the club, as espnstar.com suggests..
Let's see what the Europeans take on this matter
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