Roy Hodgson - A New Era or a False Dawn?

A new era, a false dawn or just same old, same old!!

I accept your scepticism Huyton Red, but i doubt very much it will be same old, same old sir. I accept that it is hard to try and envisage what Roy will bring, but it will be different to what Rafa had to offer. Whatever we are left with at the end of the transfer window will determine how our season pans out, i accept that.

The point i am trying to make is that Roy will give us a new direction, whether that direction is the right direction is yet to be seen.

Definitely it's not a New era.

New era was Rafa era.

This is just a transition.

The Rafa era is over mate, that era is now passed. Whatever way we look at it, this is a new era really. New manager, new ideas, new philosophy.

Not a new era, but he will set us on our way again, and for me that's all I'm asking from him.

Just had a thought... What happens if we do actually get a buyer by the end of the transfer window and their first action is to sack Roy and bring in their own manager. Would be a devastating turn of events and possibly the shortest managerial reign ever. Eh hello is that Fulham. I hear you need a manager. F**k off you say. Fair enough

With every change comes opportunity. New ways of looking at and doing things. Some will work some will not. We all crave for stability and progress at the club. We will know by Christmas how things are panning out and at that time we will have our answer.....

I quote uncle Woy. "players will be played in their correct positions" for this alone I am excited

With every change comes opportunity.

Have you been stalking our lass again for Avatar pictures

I know exactly what you mean mate to be honest it's very hard to see whether its a new era or a massive step in the wrong direction at the moment, I believe come the close of the transfer window we will have some sort of idea of what to expect one way or another.

I'm excited either way.

As far as i'm concerned the only is up, so here's to the START of our rise to the top again.

Theres a bit of Optimism!
I dont ask for much.

Forget the good times the picture has changed

When Liverpool supporters argued and debated about Rafael Benítez and whether he was the right man for the manager’s job,  there was an unspoken assumption that the arguing was all for football reasons and the good of the club.

Sadly, as time went on, fellow Liverpool supporters were starting to hate each other even more than the owners.

But Rafa’s sacking saw unity start to return. Supporters looked at the sacking of Benítez and the appointment of Roy Hodgson, including the contempt shown to supporters and the legend known as King Kenny. They realised that football had very little to do with those decisions.

The club is being run like an ailing supermarket chain, and that tends to get fans’ backs up.

Save for the bleating cynics who were on Rafa’s back the day they realised he was Spanish this club has a fan base with masses of respect for Benítez. All the more so when looking back to how it was before Christian Purslow arrived and made up new rules on transfer budgets and magical “player accounts”.

Benitez won the Champions League in his first season at the club; he turned Liverpool from a side worried about their opposition in Europe to a side respected once more in Europe. He won the FA Cup in his second season and came second in the league in his fifth season with a points total that would have won the league a year later. He brought us players we’ll always look back on with fondness, including Torres, Reina, Alonso and Mascherano not to mention key players who might not attract crazy bids from clubs with bottomless pits of money – but players like Dirk Kuyt, now a World Cup finalist, are worth more than money to a club like Liverpool FC.

But it will be Istanbul we remember Benitez for with most fondness, Istanbul we will forever feel indebted to him for. Istanbul is the yardstick for everything good that happens to Liverpool supporters these days – new fathers being some of the few that actually feel able to utter the phrase “better than Istanbul”.

He left with the genuine best wishes of large swathes of the support, but we move on; we’ve got a new manager now and new targets in mind. But if we do move on, does that mean we have to forget Benitez? Do we have to pretend Istanbul never happened?

Nobody expects Benitez to have gates named after him in the way the absolute legends like Shanks and Paisley have. Nobody really expects the club to allow him a Kop mosaic for the first home game.

But surely the night described as a miracle, the night he made possible, is a night we should always remember? We sing about it – do we have to stop? They’ve made films about it, written books about it, put plays on about it. When we’re in the Champions League again, if we get in again, we’ll wear a special badge on our sleeves that lets the world know we won it five times. Are we going to ditch that?

Of course not. Are we?

From what Anfield Road has been told, some figures at the club want to erase the memories of what Rafa and the team did in 2005. At Melwood, Liverpool’s training ground, there’s a big mural of Rafa Benítez and the lads in recognition of Istanbul. Or at least there was.

Anfield Road has been informed that Paul Tyrrell, recently installed as head of press and described by some as Christian Purslow’s attack dog, has ordered that the mural be ripped down. According to what Anfield Road was told, he was acting on the orders of Purslow.

Save for a new, improved, version going up in its place – and as far as we know there isn’t going to be – there is absolutely no reasonable excuse that comes to mind for doing this. Not without using words like “petty”.  Money’s tight of course, so it’s not like we can afford to go round having murals done on a whim. And with money tight, if it’s not being taken down out of pettiness is it being taken down so players and staff aren’t reminded of what we can no longer aspire to?

Is that it? The end of the Champions League years? Is that what the club meant when it slapped “the start of a new era” on the official website?

When we went to Athens in 2007 we were gutted not to win it – but we never felt we’d never get to the final again. In 2008 and 2009 we pushed hard and put in some memorable performances, pulled off some heroic victories. It feels arrogant to say it, but we should be proud – we were bloody good. Last season saw us go off the rails in that respect, is this an admission we’ll never get back on them?

If it isn’t an admission of sights being lowered then it really does smack of a petty desire to rewrite history by someone who had to fight to keep his own job after the absolute failure he made of his first year in the role.

Christian Purslow told us he was here to find £100m of investment. Yet he turned people with money away without even the courtesy of saying “thanks but no thanks”. He left the manager with the wrong impression of what his transfer budget would be last summer then spent the months that followed watching him like a hawk at press conferences just in case he decided to mention it.

It doesn’t take much imagination to work out how Benítez would feel to read in a national newspaper that he’d been warned to change his managerial style, or that he’d been given £20m net to spend on players when he’d actually brought more in than went out. Or how he felt to hear his boss had been talking to reporters about transfer discussions with Real Madrid that Rafa knew nothing about. This in a season when Purslow saw fit from time to time to invite select members of the press round for tea and biscuits.

When Martin Broughton was brought in as Chairman, above Christian Purslow, it ruffled the feathers of someone who acted like the club was his own personal empire. There was no point Rafa meeting Broughton, the would-be emperor said, because Broughton wasn’t here to deal with issues like that; he was only here to sell the club.

So the emperor kept the momentum against the manager going in the press. We saw leaks about cancelled meetings and unhappy players; he saw no problem in leaking that they were trying to ditch Rafa on the cheap before the deal was even struck – but when those leaks were later confirmed by an official announcement it would be his new boss’s name on the statement. Kenny Dalglish’s name was also on the statement – although we understand he wasn’t asked or told in advance.

When the new manager was officially appointed – after weeks of leaks claiming it was a done deal already – Purslow lurked out of sight of the press conference cameras. He left his new boss to introduce the new boss.

He doesn’t have the power all on his own to hire or fire a manager, even if he can push for the decision to be made. But he has got the power to move photos and paintings from the walls of Melwood. For “Cecil”, as he’s known to many fans these days, that’s an important responsibility. So down the mural came. A show of strength from the little man.

And anyway, it must be quite unnerving to have the eyes of the man you betrayed following you around the room every time you arrive at work.]

http://www.anfieldroad.com/news/201007073751/forget-the-good-times-the-picture-has-changed.html/#more-3751

I quote uncle Woy. "players will be played in their correct positions" for this alone I am excited

Take it this has been okayed by Purslow's PR.

Whenever you change manager it is always a new era. As for 'false dawn' well only time will tell. At the moment Hodgson will have all the problems that benitez had to deal with. Hopefully a change of ownership soon, as well as good results on the pitch and the club being run properly again will signal a new era, but a familiar one all the same. We have to get behind the new manager and the team, like we always do. We are LFC, the greatest club in the world, and I would expect nothing less!

The new era will only really begin with the departure of the yanks.

Thats true!

Once they have fu**ed off, is when we can truly look forward.

I think that people are misinterpreting the topic title here. The question posed is with regards to Roy Hodgson, as to what he will bring to the footballing side of the Club. It has nothing to do with the owners or anything else, just football. Will he get us playing a different brand of football?, will he get more out of the players?, will he bring back the old ways?, will he improve team morale?, will he instil a new mentality?, will he give the players more freedom?, you know where i'm coming from.

Apologies if the title was misleading, though i don't think it was personally.

I dont think roy brings anything to the table that our previous manager never.

Well it's a new era, one way or the another.
Don't think dawn has come yet. It's still about 5:15am, but season starting soon
One thing I hope he can do is increase the playing time of players like SG and Torres. Super players but Torres in particular has been struggling with niggling problems. And SG played alot of games not looking fully fit. Maybe different training patterns might help. Dunno, just thinking out loud.

I am undecided:

My heart wants Roy Hodgeson to be a superstar and what our club needs, for him to get our team playing again, like a team, like they really care, for our star men to stay, for us to start winning games (in a row would be nice!) to get our Champions league place back, to be competitive again. To make up for the shambles that was last season.

And my head...well!
My head is not sure about Hodgeson, i had every faith in Rafa- and im not sure Roy is up to the job, for many reasons that i will leave to your imaginations!
I have those thoughts- just like everyone else: slipping further down the table next season.

But he is our Manager now, and i will support him regardless- because thats what we do.
I hope my heart is right!

P.S:  Sorry for going off topic!

I am undecided:

My heart wants Roy Hodgeson to be a superstar and what our club needs, for him to get our team playing again, like a team, like they really care, for our star men to stay, for us to start winning games (in a row would be nice!) to get our Champions league place back, to be competitive again. To make up for the shambles that was last season.

And my head...well!
My head is not sure about Hodgeson, I had every faith in Rafa- and im not sure Roy is up to the job, for many reasons that I will leave to your imaginations!
I have those thoughts- just like everyone else: slipping further down the table next season.

But he is our Manager now, and I will support him regardless- because thats what we do.
I hope my heart is right!

P.S:  Sorry for going off topic!

Good post MsTorres. Not off topic at all. You've stated what you expect from Roy in a footballing capacity, exactly what i've asked myself. If anything, your post was completely on topic 

Easy,"false Dawn".New manager no budget to speak of,f*ck all experience at the top level in the EPL,bent on signing,bargain basement English players,my arse.Mid-table here we come

Hate to sound so cynical, but I believe neither, a steady-eddie who won't rock the boat & who has probably got a cast iron settlement figure in the event that a takeover actually occurs and the new owners don't fancy keeping him on.

Easy,"false Dawn".New manager no budget to speak of,f*ck all experience at the top level in the EPL,bent on signing,bargain basement English players,my arse.Mid-table here we come

And what experience did Bob Paisley have of managing at the top level (or any level for that matter) when he took the reigns?
And what experience did Joe Fagan have of managing at the top level (or any level for that matter) when he took the reigns?
And what experience did Kenny Dalglish have of managing at the top level (or any level for that matter) when he took the reigns?
And what experience did Rafa Benitez have of managing at the top level in the Prem (or any level of English football for that matter) when he took over?

I'm not saying Roy is gonna achieve even a quarter of what those four did, F**k he'd do well if he did, but saying he's had no experience of managing at the top level of the Premiership is a bullshit reason. This club has saw people with even less experience of managing top level football go on to achieve greatness.

Roy, hopefully, can do something similar.