22 Apr 2015 14:06:58
The Poisoned Challice or Holy Grail?
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My posts on here are usually objective fact based pieces but I thought I would do one based solely on opinion.
The question poised? Is the Liverpool managerial job a Holy Grail or a poisoned challice?
Rewind 25 years and there is no doubt that for many it would be a highly prestigious job and we would be very much in demand, we were successful, had great players and a winning mentality and good presence in europe (from a supporters perspective).
Flash forward to now and we have not won our league for a very long time, have only blips of success in the last 26 years - nothing sustained. We have struggled (and still do) to work within the financial constraints of the club while simultaneously competing professionally.
Perhaps the biggest asset (fans) have now become a questionable liability.
So in short an incoming manager will have the expectation of (wrongly)entitled fans, work with a strict budget, and have to compete with three of the richest clubs in the world for a title - yet some here cannot fathom why it's so tough to get a manager interested.
I do know of at least one manager who is interested but I also know those same financial constraints will ensure we cannot get him.
Our choice of the rest? Not much really.
From the perspective of an outsider it's very hard to see Liverpool as an attractive job anymore, and easier to see it as a poisoned challice whereby it is impossible to succeed.
Thanks for reading, comments welcome and appreciated.
22 Apr 2015 14:28:10
It's all very depressing as a fan Nevada, I don't want to sound like I'm whining but I don't think I'll ever see Liverpool win a Premier League title, though that's mostly down to a chance of a pan-European League coming about. ;) It'll be very difficult to pick ourselves up IMO, but we can do it, we just need the right people in place, like (I think Ed001) said, it's not about having the best players, it's about having the best team. YNWA.
22 Apr 2015 14:57:00
There will be no shortage of decent managers willing to take over in the summer.
We are still a huge draw in European football with very supportive owners, just because we might not get Klopp doesn't mean we won't get anybody decent.
22 Apr 2015 15:36:07
It is a poisoned chalice.
The fans put tremendous pressure on a manager.
Yes, we want trophies, but what manager would succeed under the circumstances?
22 Apr 2015 15:37:39
We are a huge draw by comparison to some other teams in europe but I don't think the job at liverpool would rank above, chelsea, City, United or Arsenal in england. You're viewing it from an english perspective. Sadly much as I hate to admit it it's just the most presitigious of second tier european jobs. Though that is just my opinion.
{Ed002's Note - It is a case of finding the best people for the club, which doesn't mean it has to be one of the highest ranked managers - if such a ranking exists.}
22 Apr 2015 15:41:23
Hard to say really.
As far as money is concerned, yes you don't have the budget as the other clubs it isn't as far off as people think. Obviously don't know the full ins and outs (salaries, signings bonuses, etc) but over the last 5 years our net spend is 4th and only like £10-15 million off the 3 above us. Added to that current squad is lacking 2 or 3 players but overall is a pretty strong squad and have a lot of academy players to work with.
Fans can somewhat agree with high expectations but think it is exaggerated but such lowly achievements. Everyone wants us to win the league but CL once in 5 seasons and finishing a fair distance off it most the team makes it worse, if we qualified 2 or 3 times in last 5 years think fans would be far more happy with the manager and would have a lot more funds to spend!
Also think for managers it offers a great platform if you want to manage the top 3 or 4 sides in the world (think this applies to players as well and although is good to hold onto stars think fans need to realise this) because if you get liverpool to finish top 4 regularly and compete for the title will get you noticed.
Main think which makes me worry on whether is is a poison chalice or not is always been unsure of the whole structure as not just under BR but for years just seems like there isn't clear communication between everyone involved. Don't know if it is the quality of people in positions but doesn't seem to be clear plan between players bought in and players required or focusing on weaknesses in the team.
Have bought in players that either aren't premier league players or won't improve the team (aspas, dossena, riera, jovanavic, or borini). Players that are good players but don't see how they fit into the team or played out of position (sahin, mario, markovic, carroll and henderson under Dalglish) or have a poor attitude (mario, aquilini, babel, keane, etc). Worse is this doesn't seem to be improving as last few years have seen a lot of young talent either not used, frozen out or a player bought who will block their path (kelly, wisdom, flanno, suso, ilori, ibe, sinclair, etc).
Not sure if it is to do with coaches but just seem to have weaknesses in the team that aren't identified and worked on. Our most recent long serving managers had the same issues which weren't addressed. Under BR we haven't been able to defend in the slightest, keeper hasn't improved areas of his game consistently, and seem to struggle under high pressure games. Under Rafa we were organised did very well in big games, but were massively inconsistent in games we should have won and had a great starting XI but a terrible bench full of players bought for a lot of money.
22 Apr 2015 17:29:25
The issue for me is leadership, the club needs someone who has a vision and a plan and for them to have the required support to put their plan into place. Whether that's a head coach or dof lord only knows but surely the owners need to recognise this and make a decision sooner rather than later on bringing that person on board.
22 Apr 2015 19:15:10
I want the right manager and not a proven manager who is the WRONG manager. The right manager will always overcome the big YET wrong manager.