Ian Rush today hailed the inspirational qualities of Kenny Dalglish and declared that Liverpool are better equipped now to challenge for trophies than they were with an unhappy Fernando Torres in the side.
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http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/latest-news/rush-on-kenny-torres-new-boysThe Reds have looked like a team transformed since Dalglish was drafted in as caretaker manager following the departure of Roy Hodgson last month and Rush believes that 13 points taken from a possible 15 with just one goal conceded is testament to the immediate impact his former team-mate and manager has made.
Speaking at the first LFC - Standard Chartered Football Clinic of the year, where he was on hand to help coach 100 disadvantaged and visually impaired kids from East London, Rush told Liverpoolfc.tv: "I think the change in results is down to one thing: Kenny Dalglish's man-management skills.
"Kenny knows everything there is to know about the club and his philosophy is the club's philosophy - attacking, positive, winning football. He knows what it means to represent Liverpool Football Club and he's instilled that into the players. If a few of the players didn't quite realise how privileged they are to get to pull on the Liverpool shirt, they certainly do now.
"No one is bigger than the Club - and Kenny will have made that clear. The supporters are the most important thing at Liverpool and he knows that if you give 100% in every game, these supporters will recognise that and they'll back you to the hilt. We've got some great players at the club but I think Kenny has restored the confidence in the side and we've seen the work-rate and the effort markedly improve over the last month or so and it's no surprise the results have improved too."
For Rush, even the departure of Fernando Torres, the Spanish striker who became such a hit in the No.9 shirt he himself made famous throughout the Eighties, has been turned into a positive by Dalglish.
"Fernando Torres is a fantastic player," admits Liverpool's record goalscorer and now the club's Soccer Schools Ambassador, "but if someone hands in a transfer request and says he doesn't want to play for Liverpool Football Club then you let them go. The way Kenny Dalglish handled the situation was absolutely fantastic - he got two brilliant players in to replace Torres and we'll be a better team for it. As good as Torres was, he was only one player. I wish Fernando success in what he does in the future but the thing that I can't get out of my head is the way he disappointed the fans. I think the supporters felt let down by him. They absolutely loved Fernando Torres and gave him everything they could in terms of their support. He was idolised by the Kop and I think they thought he would repay their support by staying with the Club for a long, long time but he had other ideas and now we've moved on and I think we've got the better deal
"In Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, Liverpool have got two amazing signings who can write themselves into Liverpool folklore in the future. They're both young, they're both hungry, they're ambitious and they're very, very talented. Suarez scored on his debut, hit the bar and hit the post in his first start against Wigan and he's eager. He's running around and closing defenders down which is what I like about him. That's what you want to see from a Liverpool striker.
"You have to remember that even though he's young, he was the captain of Ajax which makes him a leader as well. You want leaders in the dressing room and out there on the pitch. If you've got 5 or 6 captains on the pitch, you're a better team for it and I also have very high hopes for Andy Carroll as well.
"I know Carroll cost the most money and his fee caused a few eyebrows to be raised but he may benefit from all the attention now being on Luis. A fit Andy Carroll could have a massive impact on this Liverpool side. Fabio Aurelio and Martin Kelly can both cross a ball very well and Andy Carroll will thrive off that kind of service. Fernando Torres was fantastic for Liverpool, one look at his goalscoring ratio at Anfield proves that point, but I think we may find that with Suarez and Carroll, we're a more complete team with more options to call on to break teams down."
While Rush is wary not to start shouting from the rooftops that the corner has been turned and we're suddenly contenders for the Barclays Premier League title again, he is convinced that under Dalglish, we're definitely back on track. I remind Ian of our conversation six months ago at the pilot for the LFC - Standard Chartered Football Clinic in Kenya, when we spoke the day after Liverpool had been denied a victory over Arsenal by the cruellest of late, late blows. On that day in August, we both thought if Liverpool showed the same fight and determination as they did against Arsenal, despite going down to 10-men, we could be in store for a good season. So what went wrong in Ian's eyes?
"I think our confidence evaporated too quickly," he says. "I was there for the Arsenal match and even though we drew, we played well and I think a lot of fans, like myself, left Anfield that day thinking positively. We then got hit by a few injuries that we didn't cope very well with and as soon as we started to lose a few games, the confidence just disappeared completely. I can't lie, I thought Roy was a good appointment and I think he's a great coach but maybe he wasn't a great motivator. You only have to look at what Kenny Dalglish has done since he's come in. The results he's achieved and the way the players are playing prove that it's something he has done because he's basically been dealing with the same squad of players. Kenny has got more players moving forward quicker and they're passing the ball quicker and I think that's due to the change of footballing philosophy and the confidence he's instilled in them."
While Kenny looks like he couldn't be happier to be back in the dugout and directing first-team footballing operations from the touchline, his former strike partner is more than content to be working for the club again in his new role as Soccer Schools Ambassador. It's a role that took him out to Nairobi in August for the pilot football clinic and it's a role that has brought him down to London today to lend his vast experience to the first LFC - Standard Chartered footballing event of 2011.
"People talks about banks and these massive bonuses that you read about in the newspapers but I think what Standard Chartered are doing here this weekend is giving something back to the local community," he says. "Not just in Liverpool, London or the UK but all over the world. To be here in London today and to see these boys and girls running around is absolutely fantastic. They're getting fit and healthy but more importantly, they're running around with big smiles on their faces and you can't buy that.
"Everyone wants to go to Anfield to watch matches but unfortunately not everyone can do that - whether it's too far to go or too expensive for some people. What we've got to do is bring Liverpool Football Club to the people and that's what's happening here. It's what we did in Kenya back in August and it's what we'll do all over the world this year. Standard Chartered are doing a fantastic job in bringing what's unique about Anfield to different venues across the world - so we've got the sound of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' playing over the speakers as the kids are coached and they've got replicas of the Shankly Gates and the 'This is Anfield' sign to touch on the way out to the pitches. To see all the kids with their Liverpool t-shirts on is great and you hope that when they leave here today they go away thinking very positively about Liverpool Football Club. You want these children and their parents to think, 'You know what? That football club is different. It cares'. You want them to go away as fans of Liverpool Football club."
One person who actually arrived here today a Liverpool supporter is Dave Clarke, the blind England international footballer who with 108 goals in 116 games for his country has an even better goal-to-game ratio than his hero. Clarke, who was schooled in Liverpool and followed his dad into supporting the Reds, is here today to help coach the visually impaired children out on the Astroturf pitches - although he makes no secret of his delight at meeting the former Liverpool No.9.
"Football used to be the sport of the working class man standing on the Kop and although it's changed so much over the last 20 years, things like this today make me believe that the game hasn't totally lost its soul," he says. "Liverpool FC is a huge part of many different communities from Africa and Asia to Liverpool 4 and even here, in East London, I've met lots of kids who support Liverpool. To meet the coaches who run the Ability Counts projects at Liverpool is really pleasing for me because I want Liverpool Football Club to never lose touch with the people who make it so great.
"Football's all about big money, big business and big names these days and I think it's a credit to the likes of Liverpool that they haven't just been totally ruthless and said, 'We're only interested in success on the pitch and that's all that matters to us now'. They haven't done that. They are still trying to give something back to fans of all abilities and all ages and that's why it's so important to these kids that Ian Rush is not just here on the pitch but he's actually enjoying himself."
Someone else clearly enjoying himself today is partially-sighted 14-year-old Emmanuel Emakpose. When the invite to attend the clinic arrived in the post, Emmanuel felt like a boy on top of the world, according to his mother Florence.
"Look at him," she points, as her son dribbles a special bell-ball towards goal while an LFC coach looks on. "You can't underestimate just how much taking part in an event like this means to my son and all of the other visually impaired boys. Sometimes they can feel quite isolated at school as the other fully sighted kids can do things they can't do but attending a clinic coached by people from Liverpool Football Club is a big deal. It's a talking point for them, something to tell the other kids in school about and that will boost their confidence no end."
"The kids have clearly enjoyed themselves," claims David Bygroves, LFC's Respect For All Coordinator and the person responsible for organising this weekend's coaching sessions, after the final ball of the weekend has been kicked. "We try and teach them some new skills and we want them to make new friends but we tell them that it's more important to be a good person than a good footballer and even though there's a massive difference between their Cockney accents and our Scouse accents, I think they managed to understand some of what we were saying!"
For Richard Holmes, CEO Europe for Standard Chartered, the whole event was a massive success. Decked out in a Liverpool home shirt with his surname on the back, Holmes got stuck into every aspect of the final day of the clinic - one minute helping with the financial literacy session, in which the kids were taught how to manage their pocket money, the next, kicking a bell-ball out on the pitch with the visually impaired youngsters.
"Staging football clinics is a perfect way of helping us to fulfill our pledge of supporting the communities in which we work," enthuses Holmes. "Football speaks a universal language and with the Bank sponsoring one of the world's most iconic and well supported football clubs, it gives us the perfect opportunity to help contribute something positive to the lives of these children. Thanks to the support of the Liverpool FC Community Coaches we're able to provide the kids with an unforgettable opportunity."
The final word on the weekend fittingly goes to Ian Rush though. After more than one false dawn, are Liverpool FC finally back - on and off the pitch?
"These things take time," he says, trying hard not to get too carried away by the recent upturn in positivity. "We have good owners, we have good sponsors and we have a great manager in charge of the team but as Kenny would tell you, no one is thinking too far ahead. Things are certainly a lot healthier than they were six months or even six weeks ago though. The atmosphere around the club is so positive now. I go to the club's offices in town and people have a spring in their step again. Lots of things are happening at the club that excite me never mind the supporters and I was there on Saturday for the Wigan game and you could see people smiling. Going to watch Liverpool is enjoyable again because Kenny has the team playing attacking football, the players are inspired by him and they're giving their all for the fans. No one's worried about debt repayments or any of that stuff anymore. We're a football club again and one that wants to win trophies. It seems a very obvious thing to say but it feels really good to be part of Liverpool Football Club right now."
To see pictures from both days of the LFC-Standard Chartered Football Clinic in London, visit
http://thekop.liverpoolfc.tv/_LFC-Standard-Chartered-Football-Clinic-London/set/91727/173471.htmlLogged
