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