Come home Kenny (Carradona I am sorry)

[aladdinsane]

King Kenny coming back mightn't be as daft as it first sounds. He's probably better qualified for the job now, than he was when he first got it. He's out of football 9yrs or so, but that doesn't mean he's all of a sudden become clueless. He goes to most of our games. How many of us claim to have great up-to-the-minute knowledge, and have never been in the game? Sure, it is a bit misty-eyed to think that such a thing could happen; but stranger things have happened. Kenny never had any break from the game when he took us over, and it took it's toll. I'm sure his knowledge is pretty damn good, and as up to date as anyone. Look, you don't lose what he had. He has a deep understanding of the game that can't be taught, and his bedside manner in the dressing room always struck a good balance of respect, and approachability.

 

His sacking at Newcastle is one that people point to as an example of failure; but who hasn't been sacked at Newcastle by F Shepard? And they never had him in the level of awe as Keegan. He wasn't loved by the fans, so was always on the back foot. He took them from 4th to 2nd, and an FA Cup final the following season: losing to a double winning Arsenal. They finished 13th, but were without Shearer for most of season. He also signed Didi (cryptically the last KD signing to play for us) Hamann, Shay Given and Solano. Dahl Tomasson didn't work out, but he became a Milan legend after that.

 

Others point to the big spending Blackburn and ask - who wouldn't win with all that cash - but isn't this one of the reasons we accept that we are not competing. And who has won without spending money? And this was a pre-Bosman era, when you had to buy English players to compete in Europe. Their style of football was different to when he was Liverpool boss, which shows that he knows how to cut his cloth and adapt to changes in football.

 

Add to all this his ability to deal with Ferguson. Ferguson could never dismiss him as "deluded", as he has with Rafa. He doesn't suffer foolish reporters (read: shit-stirrers), and can make them quiver with a dismissive glare. There is also the X-factor that he would bring as an bona-fide legend.

 

I too would go rasher if the younger blow-in Koppites started calling him Scottish cunt, but there is also the danger that he could turn things round at Anfield. As for if he wanted the job, I have read between the lines in interviews with KD that he would take the job again - "I haven't been asked yet", was one reply.

 

I would endorse that he would stay for three terms, as he's probably no the type to hang around. I am dreaming, I admit it, but it's neither impossible, nor ridiculous to dream this dream.

 

 

Good point mate. I also think all the players would respect him, Torres has said in interviews of how in awe he is of him and his popularity at Liverpool

to this day.

[aiyic]

And I just remembered the second Newcastle 3 - Liverpool 4 game. As an example of the fickleness of the Geordies that hamstrung his tenure, does anyone remember the fan who ran up to the dug-out and threw his Newcastle jersey at Dalglish. Kenny was asked about it later by the Sly reporter, and Dalglish replied, (apply requisite Scottish burr) I thought he wanted me to come on". Classic!

[Dougie Do'ins]

Well if you do exceptionally well on poor resources you are a genius. Rafa hasn't got a cushty number off plenty of people on this site. With a lot of criticism dating back to 2006 (Hermes, Baz, Rashid).

 

Roy Evans is available Brownie we tried to go about it in the right manner then too. As I recall there weren't too many people unhappy when he finally decided to walk.

Although you are only speaking for yourself, but if you hold back on criticism of the next manager if we play good football but ultimately win nowt then more power to you, but experience tells me that you'd be a loan voice in a sea of shit.

Thats one way of putting it.

 

 

Exactly. He's not going to have any real control but give him the current "David Moores role" - whatever that's supposed to be.

Sitting in a office looking fondly at pictures of Rick, whilst wondering why the phone never rings.

 

He's that fucking daft he hasn't realised that Tom + George had the phone disconnected so he cant do any more fucking damage.

[JustTosh]

I serioulsy doubt Kenny would even consider the job under the current ownership. I hope he doesn't.

[Dicko]

Well if you do exceptionally well on poor resources you are a genius. Rafa hasn't got a cushty number off plenty of people on this site. With a lot of criticism dating back to 2006 (Hermes, Baz, Rashid).

 

Roy Evans is available Brownie we tried to go about it in the right manner then too. As I recall there weren't too many people unhappy when he finally decided to walk.

 

Although you are only speaking for yourself, but if you hold back on criticism of the next manager if we play good football but ultimately win nowt then more power to you, but experience tells me that you'd be a loan voice in a sea of shit.

 

I spelt lone wrong.

[WaltonRed]

King Kenny coming back mightn't be as daft as it first sounds. He's probably better qualified for the job now, than he was when he first got it. He's out of football 9yrs or so, but that doesn't mean he's all of a sudden become clueless. He goes to most of our games. How many of us claim to have great up-to-the-minute knowledge, and have never been in the game? Sure, it is a bit misty-eyed to think that such a thing could happen; but stranger things have happened. Kenny never had any break from the game when he took us over, and it took it's toll. I'm sure his knowledge is pretty damn good, and as up to date as anyone. Look, you don't lose what he had. He has a deep understanding of the game that can't be taught, and his bedside manner in the dressing room always struck a good balance of respect, and approachability.

 

His sacking at Newcastle is one that people point to as an example of failure; but who hasn't been sacked at Newcastle by F Shepard? And they never had him in the level of awe as Keegan. He wasn't loved by the fans, so was always on the back foot. He took them from 4th to 2nd, and an FA Cup final the following season: losing to a double winning Arsenal. They finished 13th, but were without Shearer for most of season. He also signed Didi (cryptically the last KD signing to play for us) Hamann, Shay Given and Solano. Dahl Tomasson didn't work out, but he became a Milan legend after that.

 

Others point to the big spending Blackburn and ask - who wouldn't win with all that cash - but isn't this one of the reasons we accept that we are not competing. And who has won without spending money? And this was a pre-Bosman era, when you had to buy English players to compete in Europe. Their style of football was different to when he was Liverpool boss, which shows that he knows how to cut his cloth and adapt to changes in football.

 

Add to all this his ability to deal with Ferguson. Ferguson could never dismiss him as "deluded", as he has with Rafa. He doesn't suffer foolish reporters (read: shit-stirrers), and can make them quiver with a dismissive glare. There is also the X-factor that he would bring as an bona-fide legend.

 

I too would go rasher if the younger blow-in Koppites started calling him Scottish cunt, but there is also the danger that he could turn things round at Anfield. As for if he wanted the job, I have read between the lines in interviews with KD that he would take the job again - "I haven't been asked yet", was one reply.

 

I would endorse that he would stay for three terms, as he's probably no the type to hang around. I am dreaming, I admit it, but it's neither impossible, nor ridiculous to dream this dream.

 

Brilliant.

 

I'm a romantic.

 

It would work.

[Whelan]

Haven't bothered reading the thread but I can guess how it has played out. Gutted on Saturday but then again have been going to Boro every year bar three (the only times we have never been beaten!!!) and saw Evans, Houllier and now Rafa struggle to get anything from them, shite ground, shit fans, shithole fullstop, I really hope that they get relegated.

Kenny should stay were he is, and stay the legend that he is. Maybe if Liverpool fans could stop for five minutes trying to ressurect the past we might not be so bloody agitated all the time, we have our future to look after.

The only players I think came out of the match on Saturday were Aurellio, Reina, Skrtle and Mascherano not because they played well but they kept trying.

Carragher, Kuyt and Alonso were a disgrace (IMO) I dont expect Liverpool players to give up the ghost, they seemed give up a lot earlier than we did that is for sure.

[JohnnyH]

Brilliant.

 

I'm a romantic.

 

It would work.

 

Can you imagine 2-3 years of 3rd or 4th (or God forbid lower) and people start calling Kenny a "cunt" and "useless" and others are on saying that he "never had the money to compete with the ever imporving Utd", and all the same arguments as we are seeing now.

 

Would it be a good idea then?

 

I know that if some snotnosed little cunt was on this forum calling Kenny a cunt I'd actually track him down and kill him myself. I don't want to ever have to hear someone say that about the King.

 

In the current climate of how our club is been managed, no manager will win us the title. I don't want Kenny to be the next to find that out.

[redrosetints]

Irrrespective of United and what they do or don't do I feel that when our manager spends £30 million it should significantly improve the team - particularly when a major reason for getting this manager was what he can do on a budget. That summer money was pretty much completely wasted and for my money hasn't improved the team much if at all.

 

That money could have bought a Ribery or a Robinho or someone else with undoubted quality yet he wasted it by spreading it around three players who weren't good enough. I have no doubt that bringing in the likes of Ribery at this stage of squad development would make a much more significant effect on our progress than spreading it around on squad players. We hve more than enough players who are average to good IMO what we lack is real attacking quality to compliment Gerrard and Torres and help us turn the draws that plagued us last season and this into wins.

 

Id agree with much of that mate. Last summers transfers, with the exception of Riera, were a bust, plain and simple. But thats part of the learning process, sometimes you need a better squad, greater depth, sometimes you need to buy the ready made thing. Rafa has to choose, the mancs have the luxury of being able to do both as they have the money.

 

Nani, Andersen and the two Solvak kids Fergie has signed in the last couple of years cost 55m, thats 4 teenagers for 55m, who are there to increase the squad, they are not ready made quality players. At the same time, Fergies been able to splash out 32m on Berbatov and 10m for the loan with a view to 30m on Tevez, the quality.

 

So the mancs can afford to buy both quality, Tevez and Berbatov, whilst also making speculative buys for kids, in the 10 to 18m price bracket. Rafa has to do one or the other however you chop it up, they have an advantage on us and they will continue to do so until we close the financial gap ! isnt that why we sold the club ? Cos we needed more money ? Why has this been forgotten.

[redrosetints]

He could have promoted Insua to left back at start of season as he looked ready at the end of last season, not signed ngog and gone with nemeth and spent the 30 million on a world class operator, he is obsessed with signing average squad players. He uses the budget incorrectly and if he signs the contract I hope this changes.

 

Yes, but its all hindsight isnt it ? We signed the Italians no1 Left back, for 8m, get in there. But the reality is he hasnt settled to our game, if we didnt address that issue, when Aurelio was injured and Insua in the World Youth Champs who is your left back then ? Rafa would have been accused of not strengthening what we needed.

 

Furthermore, the biggest question about the Keane deal was why, after Crouch turned down his new contract, due to not playing, did we spend all our money on a position where Torres plays ? Though you have to aask Rafa and Parry why they did that.

[WaltonRed]

In the current climate of how our club is been managed, no manager will win us the title. I don't want Kenny to be the next to find that out.

 

People have won titles before when their boardroom has been a mess.

 

Besides, thats all conjecture for me.

 

This squad is good enough to win the league, add a couple and its more than capable.

 

Do we just put any hopes of winning anything on hold for the forseeable then?

 

Oh it doesnt matter if we win fuck all, the clubs in turmoil. Balls to that.

[Tom R]

Yes, but its all hindsight isnt it ? We signed the Italians no1 Left back, for 8m, get in there. But the reality is he hasnt settled to our game,

 

 

No, the reality is that he is shite. I knew he was shite after seeing for no more than 2 minutes. I know for a fact some of our players also thought the same.

 

If I can see it. And other players can see it, then why can't the Manager?

 

I have doubts to whether he ever even saw him play, or whether he just took macia's word for it.

[hamstrung]

The masturbating over Mourinho makes me queasy, if we were to replace Rafa i'd go all out for Capello. I bet he could be tempted here.

 

He'd be my preference, if/when it happens.

 

 

No, the reality is that he is shite. I knew he was shite after seeing for no more than 2 minutes. I know for a fact some of our players also thought the same.

 

If I can see it. And other players can see it, then why can't the Manager?

 

I have doubts to whether he ever even saw him play, or whether he just took macia's word for it.

 

Dossena is a weird one. He's seemingly managed to fool quite a lot of people into believing he has ability.

[Tom R]

He'd be my preference, if/when it happens.

 

 

 

 

Dossena is a weird one. He's seemingly managed to fool quite a lot of people into believing he has ability.

 

Who? Even the manager doesn't rate him. But he plays him coss he spent big money on him.

He'll be gone in the summer at a big loss.

 

I'd bet the keys to my house on it.

[hamstrung]

Who? Even the manager doesn't rate him. But he plays him coss he spent big money on him.

He'll be gone in the summer at a big loss.

 

I'd bet the keys to my house on it.

 

Prior to him coming here, I meant.

[WaltonRed]

He'd be my preference, if/when it happens.

 

 

 

 

Dossena is a weird one. He's seemingly managed to fool quite a lot of people into believing he has ability.

 

I think he could be tempted as well.

[Tyler Durden]

Who? Even the manager doesn't rate him. But he plays him coss he spent big money on him.

He'll be gone in the summer at a big loss.

 

I'd bet the keys to my house on it.

 

Cant see us making a big loss on him, he plays for Italy and id find it hard to believe an italian club wouldnt pay £5 million for him

[WaltonRed]

Cant see us making a big loss on him, he plays for Italy and id find it hard to believe an italian club wouldnt pay £5 million for him

 

He'll go on loan for a season and we'll get about 2.5m for him.

[Tyler Durden]

He'll go on loan for a season and we'll get about 2.5m for him.

 

Clown face has gone now so for a change we might actually get a good deal as oppose to being ripped off for the past 10 years.

[aiyic]

No, the reality is that he is shite. I knew he was shite after seeing for no more than 2 minutes. I know for a fact some of our players also thought the same.

 

If I can see it. And other players can see it, then why can't the Manager?

 

I have doubts to whether he ever even saw him play, or whether he just took macia's word for it.

 

I too, saw after a few touches, and his pulling out of tackles that he was pants. I couldn't believe after 4 years of "building", we go out and sign this chancer. To be fair, he has improved in recent games, but only to almost the level we had before in Riise.

[RedKnight]

People have gone over it again and again but Rafa spread his cash too thinly, if he'd bought players to go straight into the first team and used reserves, youth players and bosmans as back up, no one would question how he spent his cash. But replacing like for like is just wasting money, needlessly.

[redrosetints]

He got United to second after his first full season in charge and only the dream team stopped him winning the title that season. Yes they regressed over the next few years but why does every pro-Rafa argument always have to be backed up by what Ferguson has doen at United?

 

Who BOUGHT most of those shite reserves? With all the crap he has wasted we could have had the genuine quality needed to bridge the gap if he had been more careful with his money.

 

Under this manager anyway even if he had a midfield of Kaka Ronaldinho et al I still think he would turn them in to robots as well.

 

United are playing in the Carling Cup Final today and are playing Gibson and Welbeck and even put Johnny Evans in the cauldron of the San Siro the other night yet for us Steven Darby can't even get on when we are losing a game 2-0 against an awful Middlesbrough side and he put Skrtel right back. Disgusting.

 

He is just as culpable as the yanks for the mess we are in and he is deluding himself if he thinks him signing his contract or not will have any relevance to other players doing the same.

 

Edit. And no you can't have my ticket for Rome (ASSUMING WE GET THERE) I support Liverpool FC not Rafa Benitez FC.

 

Just because I don't lick the managers arse like you doesn't mean you are more deserving a ticket for Rome you know.

 

Firstly, Im not saying you dont deserve to go, simply thought you wouldnt want to due to the dull tactics etc. Also Man U is still man U, but if you break Old trafford in half you'll see fergies name all the way through it, ditto Wenger at Arsenal. Both managers have stamped their brand throughout the club, so the Rafa FC argument is a load of old tosh.!

 

Second, Yes United did play a couple of kids on Sunday, however, they still had 90m worth of talent in 4 players, Nani, Ronaldo, Tevez and Ferdinand as well as 2 club legends in Scholes and Giggs.

 

And yet inspite of that it took 120 minutes and penalties, for them to break Spurs down. We battered Spurs, absolutley battered them and yet we LOST ! Im sure we could, with kids, get a 0-0 vs Spurs, but I thought the whole point was that we needed that little bit more to enable us to break them down and win 1-0s in the league.

[redrosetints]

We keep being told the league is the be all and end all.

 

Roy Evans:

4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd.

 

Gerard Houllier:

4th, 3rd, 2nd, 5th, 4th.

 

Rafa Benitez:

5th, 3rd, 3rd, 4th, ?

 

 

The league positions weren't any good for the previous two managers so why should similar league positions be good enough for Benitez after roughly the same time in charge as his last two predecessors?

 

He has failed in the league. Evans was sacked. So was Houllier. So should Rafa.

 

I remember Evans saying in his press conference the day he left. 4th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd would be good enough at most other clubs but not Liverpool. So why is it good enough for some people now?

 

For me, especially in the case of Evans, two things. 1) Competition. 2) Money.

 

Evans had one team to beat, United, he didnt have all these nouveau riche clubs, picking off the creme of talent, Chelsea or Citeh and only latterly did he have Wenger. He spent a British transfer record on Collymore, whilst also breaking the record for a defender not once but twice. Thats over 90m at todays prices right there. Yet inspite of having the money and no real competition, we never finished above third and only won a league cup.

 

In Geds case, it was due to the football. Two seasons of poor results and poor performances. He also had less competition, with just Arsenal and United to beat, yet more often than not he failed to meet that level.

 

So had Evans been 2nd every year and won an FA cup or UEFA cup, Id have been happy with him. Had Ged been 3rd every year and played better football in the last two seasons Id have given him more time.

 

In Rafas case, he's up against Chelsea, United and Arsenal. Arsenal had just gone a season undefeated when Rafa came. And yet he's managed to break into that trio, by having us 3rd twice and by winning the CL and Fa cup. he also has the nouveau riche creeping up on him in the likes of Villa, Citeh and Spurs.

 

So in short, under Evans we punched below our weight, under Ged we punched below our weight. But under Rafa we have punched at our weight and on occasion above it.

 

Its all relative and the league today is far different to the league Evans managed us in. I got fed up with Evans in the 97 season, too much pretty football and not enough end product, you could argue we've gone too far the other way now, but the point is we need to find the balance, not just go back to some misty eyed place, where we'd been champions in the recent past and played 'nice' footie, cos you and I will get pissed off with that soon enough.

[redrosetints]

No, the reality is that he is shite. I knew he was shite after seeing for no more than 2 minutes. I know for a fact some of our players also thought the same.

 

If I can see it. And other players can see it, then why can't the Manager?

 

I have doubts to whether he ever even saw him play, or whether he just took macia's word for it.

 

But the fact he was, er Fiorentinas ? best Left back and indeed the italians best left back indicates he's fooled more than just our manager or indeed Macia.

 

When you think of Italy you think of Pizzas, Pasta and defensive footie, and I can understand why we'd go for Maldinis succesor.

[aladdinsane]

But the fact he was, er Fiorentinas ? best Left back and indeed the italians best left back indicates he's fooled more than just our manager or indeed Macia.

 

When you think of Italy you think of Pizzas, Pasta and defensive footie, and I can understand why we'd go for Maldinis succesor.

 

He played for Udinese. As for Italy... Zambrotta? Dossena's got about 3 caps for Italy, never the best left back.