That was the question posed by comedian and Liverpool fan John Bishop on Twitter. The club under Fenway Sports Group (FSG) is seen as too willing to hire and fire and both fans and many commentators think that ‘King Kenny’ should have been given more time. He was only 12 months into a three year contract.
That was the question posed by comedian and Liverpool fan John Bishop on Twitter. The club under Fenway Sports Group (FSG) is seen as too willing to hire and fire and both fans and many commentators think that ‘King Kenny’ should have been given more time. He was only 12 months into a three year contract.
He did deliver the Carling Cup and came close to winning the FA Cup, but it is clear that the priority of the new owners is the money spinning Champions League. Trophies, of themselves, are no longer enough. Many think that the team was playing better than the results and final league position suggest.
Mistakes were made, of course. The owners think that they got a poor return for the £110m Dalglish invested in the squad, although £76m of it was recouped. But too much was paid for some players and in particular money was wasted on frankly second rate British players such as Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing. The best buys are often abroad.
A broader concern is that the club has lacked good enough leadership, particularly in Liverpool. Whatever the rights and wrongs of the Suárez affair it was allowed to spin out of control and did not help the club. But no leadership was offered from Boston.
The concern is whether the club can now appoint the right successor. Oliver Kay, one of our shrewdest football commentators, says in The Times this morning, ‘There has been little to suggest, since FSG bought Liverpool in October 2010, that it is good at identifying the right people – or that it is good at working out what it wants as opposed to what it does not want’.
John Henry has always wanted a younger manager to lead Liverpool and there are good younger coaches out there such as Roberto Martinez, Brendan Rogers and Paul Lambert. Dave Whelan said the other day that he didn’t want Martinez to go to Villa as he wanted him to go to a big club. Well, there is one just down the road.
But as Oliver Kay notes, Liverpool would have to show patience and faith in their methods. Moreover, on Merseyside, ‘they expect their manager to be a spiritual leader, dating back to Bill Shankly’s days.’