Owners Line up Dalglish as Hodgson faces a make or break clash with Bolton

Liverpool owners line up Kenny Dalglish as boss Roy Hodgson faces win or bust clash with Bolton

By DOMINIC KING

Liverpool owners have reached breaking point with under-fire manager Roy Hodgson. Only a victory against Bolton at Anfield on Saturday is likely to save him following the shambolic defeat by Wolves which led to fans calling for him to be sacked.
 
With Hodgson seemingly on the brink after just six months, the club have even been forced to deny claims he has already left.

If the patience of owners Fenway Sports Group runs out, Kop hero Kenny Dalglish is a ready-made candidate for a caretaker role with a view to assuming a senior boardroom position once a permanent replacement has been found.

Damien Comolli, the club’s director of football strategy, is responsible for identifying the next Anfield boss and the search has taken on fresh urgency after the appalling display in the 1-0 defeat at home on Wednesday against a team who were then bottom of the Barclays Premier League.

The American owners are populists and their eagerness to make the right impression with fans following their takeover in October puts Hodgson on borrowed time, although his good relationship with Comolli is working for him at the moment.
 
Roy Hodgson was berated by the Liverpool fans during their shocking 1-0 home defeat to struggling Wolves on Wednesday night. A section of Kop called for Kenny Dalglish to replace him at the helm. Does Hodgson need to go? And is King Kenny really the answer to the Anfield crisis?
 
With Liverpool only three points above the relegation zone and having suffered eight defeats in the league already, tomorrow’s game against Bolton has taken on huge significance and a loss will leave the club little room for manoeuvre.

However, Hodgson’s precarious position will not affect Liverpool’s intentions for the January transfer window as Comolli is in charge of recruitment now that chief scout Eduardo Macia has left. Comolli will be backed to sign as many as four players.

A £1.5million deal for Rennes winger Sylvain Marveaux is in place and Comolli will have a pivotal role to play in shaping Liverpool’s long-term future.
Although Dalglish may be given a temporary role in charge he and the other fans’ favourite, Rafa Benitez, are not under consideration to take over on a permanent basis.

Hodgson faces an enormous challenge to raise his badly deflated players for the Bolton game, which starts a defining run of five matches in 15 days.
Liverpool face a trip to Blackburn followed by an FA Cup third-round tie against Manchester United before league games against Blackpool and Everton.

He is adamant the players are still with him but Hodgson is unlikely to find any sympathy from the terraces tomorrow.

The 63-year-old said: ‘I have been lucky. The support I have had has been from the players and within the club. I haven’t had a lot of support from the fans ever since I came here. The fans have not been happy with what they have seen in the whole of 2010.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1342881/Liverpool-owners-line-Kenny-Dalglish-boss-Roy-Hodgson-faces-win-bust-clash-Bolton.html#ixzz19eBkjC5D=]

Whether we win at Anfield against Bolton should not matter. HODGSON MUST GO!!!!

I think he is actually 'en route'. I hope he is. Really, really do.

About time!

Nothing for sure, looks like more speculation.

Nothing for sure, looks like more speculation.

Yeah me too, hope it's true though.

No quotes in there, but thats what you expect these days. Until a major broadcaster starts to bring out reports on it then I won't get my hopes up.

Kenny would work I believe. People may have misgivings because of the length of time but he's been studying the team from the stands week in week out and will be itching to set what he sees wrong on that pitch! Similar to the situation where Keegan returned to Newcastle 3 years ago and for me I thought Keegan did quite well to sort out the shambles of Fat Allardyce and then he resigned.

Come on - it's Kenny or bust!

players have all been asked to report for training an hour early Board meeting 9am

^ From LFC Transfer Speculations on Facebook so no idea of the reliability.

I have to be honest guys, if you check my other posts you will see I was dead against Kenny taking over, for varios reasons, but it has gotten to the stage now where I would let my granny take over rather than Mr Hodgson...and at least I have confidence that, if nothing else, Kenny will get us playing attacking football AND give the players the kick up the arse they richly deserve.
Sound good to me, but I dont believe a word from the papers, I wont hold my breath.
Oh yeah, it goes without saying that on current form we have absolutely no chance of even competing with Bolton never mind winning....and the very fact I am thinking that is indicitive of the situation we are in.

players have all been asked to report for training an hour early Board meeting 9am

Probably so they can get off an hour early to start getting ready for whatever parties they're going to!!

If it means roy leaves and kenny is installed I'd even go as far as to say that I hope we put in another poor performance.
I absolutely hate myself for even thinking that but we have seen no change in the short tenure he has been as the club and we have to think very hard about the implications of a transfer window coming up with that hugely depressing and uninspiring man at the helm.
We need pride and passion restored if only for the rest of the season.
We need to believe again in our club and now is the time for NESV and roy to give us that in their own ways.

 

This is perhaps lazy journalism again, it's early in the morning someone writing something to excited the readers later in the day. Regardless, it's a step in the right direction.

Fans should boycott this match to send message to the owner to sack Roy.
Doesn't matter if we win this match as Roy has asked to give time from 10 EPL matches to until Christmas.
Singing King Kenny's name is not enough.
Owner must decide now.

Fans should boycott this match to send message to the owner to sack Roy.
Doesn't matter if we win this match as Roy has asked to give time from 10 EPL matches to until Christmas.
Singing King Kenny's name is not enough.
Owner must decide now.

Let's no go through that debate again.

i was beginning to think it would be ok to keep roy until end of season until club gets stabilised off the pitch but seeing how roy's actually destroying the club, it's time to act. kenny as caretaker manager would be perfect. least he would make the most of the attacking talents of torres and gerrard.

seriously, just get ird of the old, clueless bat...now.

Dunno how accurate the reports are but even the
most sympathetic of supporters have now seen enough
of this. I wanted us to give Roy a fair crack of the whip
as we have done in the past. Sadly Roy you're just not
up to it.
I honestly cant remember such a display in over 25 years.

Kenny please speak out we need you now...

If it's as bad on Saturday a full stadium showing our discontent should be the final straw.

Is this journo accurate? I knew he used to write for the Echo before, so probably I would assume he's quite well informed?

Is this journo accurate? I knew he used to write for the Echo before, so probably I would assume he's quite well informed?

Would say no and it's made up guess work, if you read his twitter site it was building up to an article like this.

Is this journo accurate? I knew he used to write for the Echo before, so probably I would assume he's quite well informed?

Hope your right ROF, that would be a nice new years pressie!

I imagine the problems owners have are :
 - they had a favorite suiting their vision for the job, probably already contacted but not available before summer (can't be someone like Rijkaard as he would have been signed since the beginning),
 - they wanted Roy to stay untill end of the season to make things easier for their favorite (if they installed Dalgish then replaced him no matter his results, the new manager would have started unpopular) ; they didn't wanted another caretaker as Roy was already one for them
 - they hadn't budgeted money to pay Roy out, nor money to buy out an employed manager this winter, our january transfers plans were eventually ready and would have to be cut for that,

And now they have hard decisions to take :
 - rule their favorite out if he can't be convinced to join now or is contract is too expensive to buy, to avoid to bring more unstability to the club with 4 managers in two years (with a caretaker scenario)
 - either completely change their plans to accomodate Dalgish or Benitez, who would probably ask for the power to be traditionnal Liverpool managers like they were in the past, and so a far more important role than what nesv think a manager should have + a chance to stay next season ; or convince another serious free candidate they weren't wanting either at start, like Rijkaard or Jol, to accept the job in this hard context (not sure many would risk their carreer in a club close to relegation fight) ;
 - or sticking with their favorite for summer, take the risk of unstability they wanted to avoid with a new caretaker ; either also taking the risk of next manager unpopularity with Dalgish  (who would be very kind to accept if offered no chance to stay next season) or taking a more manageable unknown yes man as caretaker, who may do no better than Hodgson

IMO the more likely scenario is the Rijkaard (if we are lucky) or Jol one, an european manager used to work with a director of football and directly signed for several years. But if they are just starting to speak with the candidates, it may take a week or so to convince one.

Win or not, hes gotta go. Just F**k him off for Fowlers sake!

 I am not quite sure that Kenny.d is fit for the job either...
lets say we sack Woy and put Kenny on the throne and yet things are still not straight
what do we do then? I am sorry to say this but since the departure of Rafa I don't fell like we are going any where...even if Rafa decides to come back to us, i am not sure the presence of D.Comoli will be cool for him,
it has to be someone else (Rijkaard  or Hiddink if possible).

Kenny is a legend, leave him as he is. I want his footballing reputation to remain intact (Remember Maradona)
Rafa is the best solution for now; he knows us (players, fans, PL, LFC), and loved by the majority of the fans. Still to get the job permanent, he has to come up with results on the pitch. Comolli is responsible for the signings, no one has to worry about us buying an injured player...

Rijkaard and Kenny would be epic. . . Plus we would pay off Roy and not have to buy out another manager. Kenny can educate Rijkard in the way of the Scouse and pass and move would be back with a vengence

It dont make any difference now, even if we were to batter Bolton for 6 we all want the f**ker gone end of, he simply has to go, there is no turning things around, there is no more patience, there is no waiting to see who is brought in in January we want a new man in charge, we do not want this buffoon insulting our club anymore, he has blamed everything and everyone bar himself, he has lost all the  respect he ever had and he has lost the players too, Roy, get yourself to F**k away from our club, you are already down as the the worst manager of our club in the last 40 years, so please, just go and take your negative mediocre style with you and apply it to the level of football where you thrive, YOU ARE the weakest link, GOODBYE!!

If you had a reality check you would realize that you were only keeping the seat warm for Kenny anyway, so good riddance.

  HODGSON OUT NOW!!

There may be a little bit of truth in every rumors, but i should wish that this is so much much more.

Yes! For a very good reason, I want us to lose (if possible be trashed) for the first time. At least our opponent is not some Blueshite.

Yes! For a very good reason, I want us to lose (if possible be trashed) for the first time. At least our opponent is not some Blueshite.

No no no, i'm sorry to pull you on this one Ruthcity, but you never ever hope or wish that we lose, that is bang out of order, you should always baxk your team in whatever state they are in, the reason matters not a jot, whatever happens will happen, and we all want the same, Roy gone, but never ever wish to lose just justify the inevitable, shame on you, and all those who wish the same.  YNWA

  HODGSON OUT    NOW!!

The one good thing I would love to take from this is that Roy Hodgson's departure is iminent.

The owners are far too quiet for my liking. Heard Ray Houghton on Talk Sport yesterday and he intimated that they were showing signs of H&G's behaviour i.e., arriving with great fanfare and then going quiet when there's problems. I don't think that the two can be compared this early in NESV's tenure. However, they need to come out and actually sack or back Roy. Obviously we all want him out and I woulf be happy to see Kenny as caretaker and bring stablility to the club until we get a permanent manager.

Hopefully the silence from NESV means that they are working to sort it out asap. Nevertheless the silence is becoming deafening!!

Here's hoping...

I am not sure about King Kenny even though I'd love him to lead us. Yeah, he won the league with Blackburn and was in charge when we last won the league but what if things don't go the way we want it to under Kenny?

Will his reputation as a legend be tarnished or will we also jump on his back?

I am not sure about King Kenny even though I'd love him to lead us. Yeah, he won the league with Blackburn and was in charge when we last won the league but what if things don't go the way we want it to under Kenny?

Will his reputation as a legend be tarnished or will we also jump on his back?

Ok, Carra then. At least he is from the bootroom. Is he qualified yet?

I am not sure about King Kenny even though I'd love him to lead us. Yeah, he won the league with Blackburn and was in charge when we last won the league but what if things don't go the way we want it to under Kenny?

Will his reputation as a legend be tarnished or will we also jump on his back?

For me, neither hodgson, benitez or dalglish are what we need:

Hodgson -  for so many reasons, is out of his depth and doesn;t deserve to be discussed any further
Benitez - left the club after finishing 7th and fell out with his bosses. An almost identical thing happened at Inter, so no thank you
Dalglish - I really can't believe people think he is suitable after so long out of the game.  It's been 10 years since he last managed and he failed quite miserably in his last assignment to win the league with Celtic. So again, no what we need.

Ok, Carra then. At least he is from the bootroom. Is he qualified yet?

Are you serious?  Is it not a little worrying that Carra had a lot to do with Roy arriving and feels comfortable with 'that' style of football?

Carheex,kenny hardly failed 'miserably' to win the league with Celtic. Barnes had a bad start to the season and Kenny took over till the end. Also that was against a very, very good Rangers team under Advocaat if I remember rightly and a team that went 9years in a row as champions.

Carheex,kenny hardly failed 'miserably' to win the league with Celtic. Barnes had a bad start to the season and Kenny took over till the end. Also that was against a very, very good Rangers team under Advocaat if I remember rightly and a team that went 9years in a row as champions.

I don't mean to be rude but that's bullshit. Martin O' Neill took over from Kenny and won Celtic the treble straight away, yet most people scoff at the idea of having MON in charge at LFC. If he's a joke candidate then Kenny clearly shouldn't even think about applying.

I am not sure about King Kenny even though I'd love him to lead us. Yeah, he won the league with Blackburn and was in charge when we last won the league but what if things don't go the way we want it to under Kenny?

Will his reputation as a legend be tarnished or will we also jump on his back?

kenny can do no wrong. his reputation will never be tarnished no matter how he performs.

I don't think Kenny risks tarnishing his reputation as I cannot see how he can do any worse than Hodgson. I don't see us getting relegated so a mid table finish (at worst) under Kenny would leave us where we currently are.

Whatever they do, it needs to be done quickly.  If we are going to make some noise in the transfer window, we need a new boss in as soon as possible to get his type of players and to get rid of the lackluster signings.

About time this happened. I think the owners have known for around a month that Hodgson is not the man for the Liverpool job and having been biding their time. Now the time has come and King Kenny will come in after new year and take over I hope. Can't see us getting any more than a draw from the Bolton game anyway. Then I presume Rafa will come back in the summer and Dalglish will take a place on the club board.

whatever the resut against Bolton, I'm sure John Henry sees that Woy is not the man for the job. I'msure they hoped he could steady things fora lot longer and may not be in a position to replace him immediately. What I do like is, they are doing things behind closed doors and not airing thier dirty washing in public.  That's a sign they are very proffesional. Only a matter of time.

I don't mean to be rude but that's bullshit. Martin O' Neill took over from Kenny and won Celtic the treble straight away, yet most people scoff at the idea of having MON in charge at LFC. If he's a joke candidate then Kenny clearly shouldn't even think about applying.

You were rude but that was expected.

Kenny took over in Februrary through a season against a team that was established as the best on the in the league (Celtic only won the league something like 1 of the previous 10 seasons) I don't think ANY Celtic fans would have thought they'd have won the league when he came in so it cannot be viewed as a miserable failure.

If he had been there August to May maybe you could call it a miserable failure but filling in as caretaker in an already sh*te season however then not.

I am not sure about King Kenny even though I'd love him to lead us. Yeah, he won the league with Blackburn and was in charge when we last won the league but what if things don't go the way we want it to under Kenny?

Will his reputation as a legend be tarnished or will we also jump on his back?

I can not imagine anything Kenny could do to harm his legendary status, even if he took charge and we were relegated Kenny would still be a hero for any real supporter of Liverpool FC
 Getting Kenny to take over for the time being does seem the obvious solution.
   

if not kenny as caretaker what do we do in the mean time? keep this gobs***e,lose players,sign has beens,
sell our youth? we shouldn't get a new man in until the end of the season&let whoever it is then let him
build his team,tactic's&idea's. kenny is our talisman to save a season of carnage.

I can not imagine anything Kenny could do to harm his legendary status, even if he took charge and we were relegated Kenny would still be a hero for any real supporter of Liverpool FC
 Getting Kenny to take over for the time being does seem the obvious solution.
    

Even after the debacle that was the Souness managerial reign, I've never lost respect for the player he was, as a manager, possibly, but I'll not forget his contributions to this club.  If Kenny was to take over now, things might go wrong, but the man already has legend status as a player, manager and as a man & it would take a lot more than relegation for him to lose that.  Don't think Kenny could do a worse job, even if he tried.

i know one thing comrades if i were kenny i would be very nervous of taking up the job has to be the toughest position in europe at the moment , with that said roy can"t stay so someone has to do it rather kenny than rafa . happy new year to ye all hope next year improves.

Wanna do first post of 2011.

Wanna do first post of 2011.

Already did so, it's been 2011 in Norway for an hour and 12 mins already

Wanna do first post of 2011.

Beaten by the Aussie reds as well.

Beaten by the Aussie reds as well.

Beaten by the Japanese reds as well! Are there even any on here?

Its great that the sky looks bright for us at the moment, but the fact that Hodgson now has said that he doesn't want to quit is becoming a pain in my A....s and since hes begging now, he might be given the benefit of doubt, and if his tenure at the Kop prolongs any longer I think we are done, we can all go finding new clubs for the rest of our lives ... Liverpool always