14 Feb 2026 07:11:53
Our managers since the dominant 80s, what order would everyone rank them? Not including Kenny's second stint or temporary cover.
Mine in brackets
Graeme Sounness (7)
Roy Evans (5)
Gerard Houillier (4)
Rafa Benitez (2)
Roy Hodgson (8)
Brendan Rodgers (6)
Jurgen Klopp (1)
Arne Slot (3)
I'll always have rose tinted glasses for the Roy Evans era. Rafa gets second for that night in Istanbul. Houilliers treble for me lands just below Slots Premier League.
14 Feb 2026 08:21:31
Klopp Rafa (Slot won the league, Rafa won the CL, and I have no doubt he cared about Liverpool more than Slot does.) Slot Houllier (Evans a better coach, Houllier won things). Evans Rodgers Souness Hodgson.
14 Feb 2026 08:29:20
Jurgen Arne Rafa Houllier Evans Hodgson Rodgers Souness.
14 Feb 2026 09:13:45
Same as EM's list, but swap Souness for Roy purely on the FA Cup win.
14 Feb 2026 09:33:30
Jurgen Slot Rafa Houllier Evans Souness Rodgers Hodgson.
14 Feb 2026 09:42:59
Jurgen Slot Rafa Houllier Evans Rodgers Souness Hodgson.
14 Feb 2026 10:07:09
Klopp Evans Rafa Slot Houllier Souness Rodgers Hodgson.
14 Feb 2026 10:17:33
All I know is I cringe thinking about how we compared Slot to Paisley last season. ?
14 Feb 2026 10:26:49
Klopp, Rafa, Slot (league win), Houllier, Rodgers, Souness and Hodgson, but Hodgson had the worst team by far.
14 Feb 2026 10:28:39
I will always look back fondly on the Evans era. I remember the day we signed Stan Collymore, thinking that's it, the league is ours. Oh well. Klopp Evans Slot Rafa Houllier Rodgers Souness Hodgson.
14 Feb 2026 10:58:48
Klopp Rafa Slot Evans Bit of a gap. Souness Hodgson Houllier Rodgers Gonna seem harsh on them, but Rodgers and Houllier were totally rubbish, imo. Rodgers had the best owners we've had in 30 years, but was an arrogant t*** who thought he was the best manager in the world, and only got anywhere near the league title because of Suarez. Either side of that season, we were 6th and 7th. The two managers we had since him both won major trophies - Champions League & Premier League. He didn't win anything. Houllier took over a team that was 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd in the league the previous 4 seasons, gutted and rebuilt it at huge expense for the time, and, arguably, was in the process of rebuilding it again when he was sacked because he fell out with half his players once Patrice Burges left. For that, his league record was 7th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 4th. Congrats, you've spent loads of money to improve on the league finish once. Hyypia, Henchoz and a decent keeper would've achieved at least the same outcome, imo.
A UEFA Cup, FA Cup and League Cup to show for it was nowhere near enough. He coached Heskey & Owen to be the most one-dimensional versions of themselves they could be. The football was awful and got worse year on year, and the team he left Rafa wasn't even half as good as the one he inherited from Evans. The only attacking players he left worth talking about were Gerrard and Kewell, the latter of whom was about to start his sicknote era. By comparison, Souness screwed lots of things up, but at least he had something of an excuse in the sense that he had to refresh an ageing team. Refresh, though, not completely rip it up like he did. Hodgson hadn't a pot to piss in, and had an unfit Joe Cole foisted on him by Purslow, in a desperate bid to try and cosplay as a club that wasn't in serious trouble. As well as the only decent wedge of cash being spent on Raul Meireles, a very average player who the fans made far too big a deal out of, imo.
14 Feb 2026 11:00:33
Houllier has to be higher, he changed the club like Wenger did for Arsenal.
14 Feb 2026 11:05:43
Mine is Klopp, Rafa + Evans, Houllier + Slot, Souness (see note below), Hodgson (bottom because he must have known, through experience, that that style of football did not and would not fit at LFC, as with whoever appointed him). Souness, did it go wrong due to his expectations of the players? Was he demanding the same of them as he gave as a player to the team? At the time, I wanted Souness gone, but I heard him talk about players on a video, and I changed my stance a bit.
14 Feb 2026 11:14:10
From best to worst. 1. Klopp 2. Benitez 3. Slot 4. Houllier 5. Dalglish 6. Bodgers 7. Souness 8. Hodgson (by far the worst Manager we've had in my 45 years).
14 Feb 2026 11:15:24
That run where Meireles was scoring a world class volley every week was pretty crazy, though, Something Red, that was pretty fun, kind of like when Maxi Rodriguez went on an insane scoring tear for a few games out of nowhere. Rodgers not winning the league that year was probably the greatest blessing in hindsight. Of course, I'd rather the team won everything available whenever we can, but if he had won that we might not have got Klopp. Besides not being able to set up a defense, and making everything about him all the time, he was a really poor judge of players in the transfer market. Joe Allen was okay as a squad player, but the other picks that he made himself without Ian Graham and the analytics team's recommendation were just abysmal. He repeatedly insisted that we buy Benteke, for example, when the transfer team expressly advised against it.
Was Balotelli a Rodgers choice? I wouldn't find it outlandish if that were the case. My list would probably beKloppSlotRafaEvansHoullierSouness RodgersHodgson Sorry, Hodgson has to be at the absolute bottom. He is the only Liverpool manager I have ever seen in my lifetime who has told us fans that we need to be realistic every week, and defending poor performances against midtable teams by suggesting that we belonged there too. Even if that was the case, objectively speaking, no Liverpool manager should ever say something like that. He then proceeded to buy players that were fitting of a midtable team. Poulsen, Jovanovic, and Konchesky are three of the worst players I have ever seen play for us, and Joe Cole was one of the slowest and most unfit.
14 Feb 2026 13:15:40
Mine is Klopp Everyone else in the distance. In no particular order. - Rafa won us the CL in his first season, then not a lot afterwards, and the football was boring. Slot won us the league in his first season, and if he stays, then not a lot afterwards, and the football was boring. Houllier: the football was boring.
Rodgers and Souness were both arrogant, and it showed in what they won. Evans: good football, but we were a has-been team under him, never really challenging. - Klopp turned a has-been team into one of the best and most exciting teams in the world. Not seen since Kenny Fagen, Bob, and Shanks.
14 Feb 2026 13:37:26
Klopp Slot Rafa Houllier Evans Rodgers Hodgson Souness.
14 Feb 2026 14:39:14
Klopp, Rafa, Slot, Evans / Houllier, Souness, Rodgers, Hodgson. Yet again, people forget Souness was the only manager who had a UEFA rule imposed while manager. Only 4 non-English players were allowed, he had to sell players he didn't want to and sign English players. Still won the FA Cup.
14 Feb 2026 17:38:49
People also forget that Hodgson was the only manager who literally didn't have a pot to pee in. Granted, he spent his 1 million pounds badly on Konchesky. ??