On Thursday, Roy Hodgson resisted any possible interest from the FA, by electing to leave Fulham and become the new manager of Liverpool. He has signed a three-year contract and has already begun work at the team’s training base at Melwood, as he tries to revive the fortunes of the ailing Merseyside club, who quite frankly had a season to forget last year.
Liverpool finished a dismal 7th in the Premiership, their worst finish since 1999, were eliminated from the UEFA Champions League before Christmas and embarrassed at home by Championship strugglers Reading in the FA Cup 3rd round in mid-January. Along with uncertainty about the new stadium, and the unrest around the boardroom, which has led to the club being put up for sale, by unpopular American owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, it was a season full of troughs and traumas, rather than glory and joy.
Last month, the club decided to Part Company with Spaniard Rafa Benitez, after six years in charge. Benitez has since gone to Serie A giants and Champions League holders, Inter Milan – taking the whole Liverpool backroom staff with him in the process. Many managers were linked with the job at Anfield, including ex-Manchester City boss Mark Hughes, the recently sacked Real Madrid manager Mauricio Pellegrini, Galatasaray figurehead Frank Rijkaard, Guus Hiddink and Reds legend, Kenny Dalglish. The club have opted for Hodgson, after impressing Dalglish and Christian Purslow, the club’s chief executive at a round of interview.
At Thursday’s news conference, he was beaming with pride at being handed such a fantastic and challenging opportunity.
“This is the biggest job in club football and I’m honoured to be taking on Britain’s most successful football club.”
His first priority will be to sit down and talk to star players Javier Mascherano, Fernando Torres and Captain Steven Gerrard. Gerrard has already given his backing to the new appointment, which hints, that despite the frustration of the club having to participate in the UEFA Europa League this season, Gerrard will be loyal to the club that gave him his break. The futures of Mascherano and Torres are more uncertain. Torres is still at the World Cup with Spain, and has said he will ‘talk to Hodgson’ after the tournament. Mascherano is on his way home to Buenos Aires, after Argentina’s dismal exit at the hands of Germany on Saturday. It is widely known that he has been brushing up on his Italian whilst in South Africa, which suggests he may be linking up with Benitez at Inter. Benitez is also known to want to bring in Glen Johnson and Dirk Kuyt, whilst Ryan Babel is in talks with Galatasaray and Yossi Benayoun has already departed, making a £6.5million switch to Premiership champions, Chelsea.
Fulham have appointed Ray Lewington as caretaker boss for the moment, though the consolation is that as part of the severance package, Hodgson will not be allowed to buy any Fulham players in the summer to Liverpool. Despite this, Danny Murphy and Brede Hangeland are still being linked on a daily basis with the new Anfield regime. Hodgson signed a new 12-month rolling contract last December at Craven Cottage – and guided Fulham to 7th place in the Premiership in the 2008/09 season, their best ever top-flight finish. Last year, the momentum continued, with a sensational journey to the UEFA Europa League final, beating Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk and Hamburg SV on the way to the final, which they cruelly lost in extra-time to Atletico Madrid.
Roy Hodgson’s managerial CV is very impressive, having managed clubs around the world, from Sweden and Denmark, to Italy and Switzerland. He guided Switzerland to the knockout stages of the 1994 FIFA World Cup and Inter Milan to a UEFA Cup final in 1997. After an unsuccessful 18-month spell at Blackburn Rovers in 1997-98, he won titles with FC Copenhagen and Viking FK, plus had international spells with Finland and the United Arab Emirates. His experience could mean everything to Liverpool, and might be the stability they badly need, following the gradual slide they have been on in the last twelve months. I have a feeling this new partnership will work wonders for Liverpool FC.
No comments:
Post a Comment