Today’s sacking of Roy Hodgson was the final act in Liverpool’s transition from a club of strong traditions and morals, to being just as greedy and commercially ruthless as the rest of the Premier League.
When I grew up as a kid, the Liverpool way was the route everyone else wanted to follow. They backed their team, backed their managers, stood shoulder to shoulder with fellow Merseysiders and respected the opposition and good football.
All this looks a distant memory now. Long gone are the traditions of standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow Merseysiders, something I had long admired.
Also gone is the crowd’s unwavering support for their players and managers. There was a time when if a team came to Anfield and played well and got a result, they got appaulded off the pitch.
Now a home defeat is met with jeers and abuse for the home side. The way the fans have abused the likes of Lucas and Paul Koncheskey is disgraceful.
Koncheskey is guilty off nothing more than being a player Roy Hodgson found to be dependable, and was all that Liverpool could afford at the time. To turn on him the way the fans have is out of order. It shows an ignorance of footballing knowledge.
The way the fans have acted towards Roy Hodgson is also unlike the so-called Liverpool way, in days gone by the fans had a tradition of backing their managers, where has this now gone? Roy has had no support from day 1. He was right when he said this and I wish he had stood by this remark.
Writing abuse outside the training ground, what’s that all about? An absolute joke.
There seems to be a new generation of supporters who simply aren’t interested in upholding the traditions of the club. This was eleuded too by Anfield legend Phil Thompson with his remarks about the “unprecedented” way the fans have turned on Roy Hodgson.
The final act of transition has come from the boardroom. When did Liverpool last sack a manager after 6 months? Before anyone says ‘it was mutual consent,’ let me stop you. That is corporate bullshit for being sacked, it means they have reached agreement on Hodgson’s severance payment.
Lets be honest, boardroom integrity was already a distant memory at Liverpool. All this latest action shows is that the new owners are just the same as everyone else in football.
Liverpool are now officially no different to anyone else. Traditions washed away and no morals left.
It reminds me of the time Newcastle sacked Sam Allardyce, the fans put pressure on the board and they crumbled. The fans knew better, that Kevin Keegan was the man. Hodgson’s sacking has plenty of similarities, the Liverpool fans apparently know that Kenny Dalglish is the best way forward.
Good luck with that one! Deluded, is the word that springs to mind.
Adrian
I totally agree with you regarding the way the fans have handled this situation. It wont help one bit being booed off the pitch after another defeat and it certainly wont boost the players confidence. At those moments, I almost felt ashamed being a Liverpool fan.
However, I feel that this was the right move (maybe a little rushed) by NESV. Roy Hodgson, while a fine manager, may have gotten over his head. I think this job was too much for him, but I dont hate him for what he did with Liverpool. He had good intentions and did what he could. I am more upset with most of the players who arent giving it their all out on the pitch and seem to just be giving up every match.
Something had to be done and I think it is for the best, but I guess it is limited what Dalglish can do, hopefully he will spark some morale and be gutsy and try out some younger players who at least wants to play and not just piss and moan. Love that Kelly made a great effort against Man U today though, some light in these dark Liverpool times.
I still believe in NESV, and hope they are going to be a good addition for Liverpool. I dont think we will become the next City or Chelsea. Comolli and NESV have a policy of only buying young and upcoming talented players, so I hope they stick to their policy, and find a attack-oriented manager who can bring Liverpool back to where they need to be; playing fun football!
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Hi Adrian,
Thanks for commenting, I did think I might get some abuse of any Liverpool fans passing through my site.
I understand that in a way Hodgson’s job was becoming untenable.
My main gripe is that I didn’t think the fans gave him a fair crack of the whip from day 1. These days there seems to be this view (not just at Liverpool) that every big club must have a big name manager from the continent, that any English manager isn’t a big enough name.
Hodgson made plenty of mistakes, but I think he was badly let down by the players. If the players continue to play in this manner for Kenny, there is no way he will get the same treatment as Roy did. But if they respond, it will prove to have been the right decision.
I really couldn’t undetstand the stick Koncheskey got, I know he’s no world beater, but when Hodgson went into the transfer market he was on a budget and couldn’t afford to splash out on a full back. Like Rafa wrongly did on Glenn Johnson. Koncheskey was just a short term signing, not a statement of intent. Thats why I remarked it smacked of ignorance, something you couldn’t say about Liverpool fans in years gone by.
I’m not a Liverpool fan or hater, and Kenny was actually my favourite player when I was a kid, so I have no gripe with him or Liverpool(I’m actually a Coventry fan for my sins).
Over the years clubs like West Ham and Liverpool had a way of doing things that stood them out from other clubs, all this tradition seems to have now gone.
Do you not think that things have changed for the worse at Anfield?
Or is it that it’s just the changing times we live in now and you can’t live in the past if you want to remain competitive in the Premier league.
The other point to this is that this could just be Comolli and NESV wanting to bring in their own man, someone Comolli knows he can work with. He didn’t do too bad with his signings at Spurs, maybe he has a manager in mind he knows he can work with.
I hope it works for Kenny, but he’s a long time out of mangement.
I agree that Kelly did well today, I suppose that was one of Roy’s big mistakes, not giving the youngsters a chance and sticking with the old guard like Kyrgiakos, who kept his place no matter how bad he played.
Fans love nothing more than seeing a youngster come through and do well!
Adrian
I agree that Roy did get way too much flak from the fans. I’m also under the impression that the players need to take some of the blame as well (if not most of it). None of them did any good on the field, and the morale were just in the toilet. There isnt much Hodgson can do about that, and when they already are perceiving him as a bad manager, there is gonna be a problem.
As for Konchesky, I agree that it was a solid signing. He has been playing solidly in PL for some time, and as you say, it most likely a short term solution. I still think he has been kinda unlucky and hasnt performed at his best. The same goes for Meireles, who I look forward to seeing when the rest of the team plays well. Poulson however was a weird signing, and I dont know what that were to accomplish 🙂
As for things at Anfield, I dont think its for the worse. Yes, I think we might see some big signings and people will start screaming “SELLOUTS” at Liverpool, but there is something very wrong with the team at the moment, and lots of changes will need to be done in order to get the team back to the top again, and NESV will probably not just buy 1-2 players a season for some seasons just not to be labeled a buying-team.
I for one are really positive about NESV. I think they are going to do good things with Liverpool. They hired Comolli and have inserted a policy about “only” doing big signings of younger players, not buying older stars. They are planning to listen to the fans about how to build a new stadium (H&G said they were gonna do this as well, so well just have to see). They dont seem to do too much hasty decisions and they keep things quite around them.
I hope that Kenny will do a good job. The main reasoning for hiring him I think is mostly as a motivator, hoping to boost the morale in the team again if nothing else. I dont think this is a long-term solution either. I think they just want to wait untill the summer when there is more managers available to sign, as there isnt much other alternatives out there at this point.
Exciting times at Anfield for sure, and I hope for the best, but there still is a lot that needs to be done. NESV has done it before with the Red Sox, can they do it with Liverpool?