Good article on Roy..
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Off the Fence: Why Liverpool FC's new owners have to end Roy Hodgson's reign
Oct 22 2010 by Ben Thornley, Daily Post
BILL SHANKLY once said: “Aim for the sky and you'll reach the ceiling. Aim for the ceiling and you'll stay on the floor”.
It’s little wonder then that after appointing Roy Hodgson, Liverpool FC find themselves in the Premier League basement.
Now the club is rid of Tom Hicks, George Gillett and their debts, Hodgson is the greatest limiting factor on the Reds’ ambitions.
His disastrous Anfield reign must be ended before Sunday’s visit of Blackburn Rovers, a side whose experience under the Londoner should serve as a cautionary tale to the Liverpool board.
Martin Broughton, Christian Purslow and Ian Ayre were rightly feted for their role in ousting Hicks and Gillett. However, their first major collective act – replacing Rafa Benitez with Hodgson – is threatening to undermine all their hard work.
Briefing the press against Benitez last season, a member of the Reds hierarchy described the Spaniard as a man who never took responsibility for his mistakes.
Now’s the moment, then, for the same man to take ownership of a massive blunder of his own.
It has been suggested that it is not the ‘Liverpool Way’ to sack a boss so soon, despite Hodgson making the worst start by a Reds manager since the 1920s.
Those same people, however, mistake the club’s fabled unwritten code for inertia – just as David Moores did for 16 blundering years.
If the new owners are serious about restoring Liverpool to former glories they must act swiftly.
The new manager needs time to assess the weaknesses of his squad in readiness for the January transfer window.
And even his greatest supporters can not believe Hodgson is the man for the long haul at the Reds.
The longer he is left in charge the more time it will take for the next boss to undo the damage.
If the 62-year-old is given until Christmas, as has been suggested, at best Liverpool stand to loose their star men – at worse their Premier League status.
He was the wrong choice from the start and his appointment was a sign of reduced ambitions.
And the most dangerous thing you can do at an underachieving club is to lower sights further – something which Hodgson has continually attempted to do.
From being a team looking to challenge for a place in the Champions League, Liverpool’s manager is now talking about avoiding relegation.
His sympathisers, who claim he should be granted more time having only had eight league games in charge, are missing the point.
It’s no small achievement turning Liverpool into a bottom two side after that number of fixtures.
The former UAE boss’ strength has always been realising the potential of ordinary players – perhaps that’s why he’s tried to sign so many of them.
But he also appears to do a mean line in making stars who once lit-up the Champions League look like Championship players in waiting.
And what is it that those urging patience are waiting to see from Hodgson’s realised vision for Liverpool?
This is a man who has overseen just one Premier League away win in 17 months – and that was against Portsmouth – and has never won a trophy outside of Scandinavia.
Tellingly, Liverpool’s greatest performance under Hodgson was in the Premier League opener at home to Arsenal.
The longer he has had to integrate his ideas on the squad the worse they have become.
Using the quality of the players he has at his disposal as an excuse for the Reds’ poor form just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
Of the players who were available to Hodgson in the humiliating 2-1 defeat to Blackpool at Anfield, eight played in the 4-1 victory at Old Trafford in 2009.
And since then England internationals Joe Cole and Glen Johnson have been added to the squad.
Liverpool’s playing staff may not be good enough to break back into the top four but managers like Ian Holloway and Roberto Di Matteo would happily swap resources with Hodgson.
Under a different manager Sunday’s derby clash, coming days after the completion of NESV’s takeover, would have been the perfect setting for Liverpool to relaunch their season.
Hodgson, however, seems to drain players of passion rather than fill them with inspiration.
After the dismal 2-0 defeat at Goodison, it’s become increasingly apparent that he has lost a large section of the dressing room.
An overwhelming majority of the club’s supporters have certainly abandoned him.
Significantly, it’s not just the West Country kranks who plague radio phone-ins calling for Hodgson’s head – it’s the Kop.
And there are few better judges in the game or fans as patient as the Anfield faithful, who continued to chant the names of Benitez and Gerard Houllier right to the end.
Comparisons have been made with the slow starts made by both the Frenchman and the Spaniard, but after eight games both coaches had made a noticeable impact.
Houllier brought organisation and a defensive resolve missing during the Roy Evans years, while Liverpool began to play with more fluidity and press higher up the pitch under Benitez.
There hasn’t even been a glimmer of hope under Hodgson that things may improve.
The Kop recognise he is hopelessly out of his depth, like a man who has spent his life flying model aeroplanes but now finds himself behind the controls of a jumbo jet he’s tilted into a nosedive.
When the Londoner protests about being one of the most respected coaches in Europe, he means he’s the man UEFA call on to give a seminar on the 4-4-2 formation.
Only once before, however, has the phone ever rang when one of the continent’s elite clubs had a vacancy.
A third-place finish in charge at Inter Milan is the sum total of Hodgson’s achievements at the highest level.
Nothing else in his CV even begins to suggest he has the calibre of a Liverpool manager or the ability to cope with the huge demands of the job.
Just five years ago, he was struggling to guide Norweigian outfit FK Vikings beyond Rhyl in the Uefa Cup.
Seemingly, securing seventh place in 2009 and a run to the Europa League final the following year secured him one of the most prized roles in football.
As impressive as his achievements were at Fulham, though, at no time in Liverpool’s past would they have even put him on the club’s radar. It’s the kind of mistake you’d expect the English FA to make, not Liverpool.
Ending Hodgson’s reign now would probably be in his best interests too, allowing him to salvage his reputation with his friends in the media portraying the dismissal as the knee-jerk reaction of Liverpool’s new American owners.
At least in the short term Kenny Dalglish should be given the opportunity to revive the Reds’ fortunes.
Even in a caretaker role the Liverpool legend’s appointment would galvanise the club, generating a level of excitement among supporters that could only inspire the players.
And if his audition didn’t work out, Dalglish would be the first man to admit it.
Unlike the current boss, who still believes he was harshly sacked by Blackburn. This despite leaving them bottom of the table after 15 games and out-spending all but Manchester United in the summer of 1998.
If Liverpool have that kind of money at their disposal this January, it can’t be Hodgson spending it.
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