Hodgson in : Optimism out

Even though it’s become increasingly certain over the last few days I didn’t know how I would feel about the appointment of Hodgson when it was confirmed until it actually happened. Then when I saw the headline: “Roy Hodgson is the new Liverpool FC manager” on the Liverpool Echo website, my heart sank and I felt gutted.

It’s not that Hodgson is a bad manager. He just isn’t a special one. Rafa was a special manager. Even though I knew it would require over-performance by Liverpool combined with under-performance by all of its closest rivals for Liverpool to be crowned champions, under Rafa I believed it was possible, however unlikely. I believed that because of his over-achievements in winning La Liga twice with Valencia and winning the Champions League with one of the worst Liverpool squads there has been. Under Hodgson, I don’t believe in miracles.

If our current squad remained intact, I would back him to finish in the top 7 again next season with 4th being as high as he feasibly could take us. Unfortunately, the current squad won’t remain intact. Benayoun is off to Chelsea. Mascherano is most certainly off – probably to rejoin Rafa at Inter. Gerrard is unlikely to be inspired to stay by the appointment of a journeyman with an unimpressive CV as manager and so will most likely move on also. If Gerrard goes, I can’t see Torres staying around and if Gerrard and Torres both go, who of the remaining players would want to stay? Johnson? Agger? Kuyt?

I have faith that under Hodgson things will get no worse than us being a mid-table club and realistically that is the best we could have expected under any manager in the circumstances but I wanted a manager whom I believed could lead us to the title if given the necessary financial backing. If Sheikh Khalifa or another billionaire benefactor pitched up at Anfield, I can only see Roy getting the boot.

As it is, Roy getting the boot is probably the only certainty in Liverpool’s future. On SKY Sports News they showed several fans talking about Roy as the ideal man to “steady the ship”. What exactly does that mean? Under him, we may well witness less acrimony between the manager and the board but what about the performance of the team on the pitch? There are still many fans who believe that we can challenge for and win the league this coming season. These same muppets who believed Rafa was holding us back last season will turn on Roy as soon as we are out of the title race by October (or probably September given our fixture list).

Witness exhibit A, the incredibly annoying liverpooldiehard who bombarded the Liverpool Echo all last season calling for Rafa’s head as well as for youth to be given a chance (ignoring the ages of Ngog, Lucas and Insua) and for the club to sign David Silva and David Villa (easy with a budget of nothing!).

“GREAT NEWS WELCOME IN ROY, PLEASE PLAY NICE ATTACKING BRAND OF FOOTBALL AND BRING THROUGH PACHECO,AMOO,KELLY,SHELVEY. KEEP THE BIG NAMES AND BUY SOME CLASS WINGERS PLEASE” wrote the retard. “ps nemeth must get a chance as well, good striker IN ROY WE TRUST”

Clearly it’s unreasonable to expect that a moron who can’t even use basic punctuation correctly, let alone understand what the ‘Caps Lock’ key is for, to understand that keeping the ‘big names’ and buying ‘some class wingers’ is going to be nigh-on impossible under the current regime. As for bringing through Pacheco, Amoo, Kelly, Shelvey and also giving a chance to Nemeth (who will incidentally be on loan in Greece again), how will the ‘big names’ feel when they are left out of the side in favour of kids and how exactly can having such an inexperienced line up benefit the team?

Fucking muppet.

I predict that Hodgson will become the first Liverpool manager since Phil Taylor to win nothing during his tenure which I predict will be short-lived. I’m not wishing him to fail. I simply don’t think there has been a Liverpool manager appointed since Shankly who has had the odds stacked against him to such an extent and been less equipped to overcome those odds.

He might surprise us with a plucky domestic cup win but the big prizes are well out of our reach and that is such a depressing reality.

Some fans would criticise me for my negativity but I consider it to be realism rather than negativity. I hear the calls for fans to get behind the new manager but I ask, what does that mean?

Will I wish the manager to fail? No. I would always want the team to be successful.

Will I be critical of the manager? Only constructively when warranted but always with a focus on the wider picture and never for circumstances beyond his control.

Will I sing his name on the Kop? That’s an easy one. I won’t be on the Kop or at any games until the current owners have left the club.

Will I take pride in him and sing his praises to other fans or rival supporters? I suppose that depends on how he performs. Again, I will always try to be fair and objective in appraising him.

Will I call for his removal? Only after the removal of the Americans if I believe he is underperforming against realistic expectations.

In many respects, I am probably the ideal LFC supporter for Roy as my expectations are so low, he is more likely to exceed them than fail in my eyes. I just think it’s a sad, sad day that Liverpool Football Club have confirmed with this appointment that they no longer aspire to be the best.