If press speculation is to be believed, then after the best part of a months wait since the departure of Rafa Benitez, Liverpool FC will officially confirm on 1st July that Roy Hodgson is the appointed manager that they believe will take them forward. But do they really believe that he is?
The Liverpool fans have already made it pretty clear that they do not full heartedly believe it is the right decision for the club to take, although Hodgson is by far not the worst candidate that has been mentioned in the decision making process,a stronghold of support remains for club legend Kenny Dalglish given the conditions that the manager will need to work under both financially and in lifting a team left devoid of nearly all confidence across the course of a season.
Have Liverpool really got the man that they want though? Or is Hodgson merely one of very few that showed any form of interest in the position and whose name isnt Kenny Dalglish? Have the club shown a level of evaluation in their decision making that the fans didnt think them capable of, or does it just suit better internally to not appoint someone that has more devotion and support from the fans than even Rafa did and albeit would be still managing a club crippled with debt and in a dire state of affairs in general but would be one of the only few names that could so at a level of power they are unwilling to take on?
Only last Thursday Marseille preident Jean-Claude Dassier confirmed that he had just been approached by Liverpool as to the availability of manager Didier Deschamps, of which he point blank rejected the opportunity to talk to his manager or his agent. Is this because Liverpool were still not convinced that Hodgson would take the job they had offered, or if they were still not convinced he was the right man for the job? If it was because Hodgson was still deliberating over leaving Fulham then is the man himself as committed to the task at hand as the club would like us to believe?
For some of those fans out there that were quick to call for Rafa’s head, did they think that the options for replacing him were going to be from a selection of the leading managers in world football today? Despite the Liverpool brand, its history and traditions the sheer decline that the present owners have put the club in now sees the managers job as somewhat of a poison chalice in the footballing world. A matter that only time, hard work, commitment and new owners is going to change.
It is plausible given England’s early and disastrous exit from the World Cup that Hodgson was purely holding out for a chance at the England position with the countrys fans calling for British blood at the helm and a move away from foreign managers. Many would argue that should that be the case then the England position could be a two horse race between Redknapp and Hodgson, so far it is Redknapp’s name that is being shouted the loudest of the two so it could be argued that Hodgson would be better to take the position offered at Anfield than become a runner up on the National stage.
Either way the club have not shown dedicated commitment to the chase for Roy, with Frank Rijkaard believed to be approached twice aswell and conversations also with the former Real Madrid man Pellegrini. The days are long gone when the queue started to form rapidly outside the door should the slimmest chance of being head of the Kop threaten to reveal itself.
Hodgson may well be the next man to step forward but the thoughts over just how wanted he is by the fans and the club may linger a little longer yet. Desicions from the clubs leading players on where they will be playing their football next season will also be scrutinised as to whether they believed in the decision of Christian Purslow or not aswell.
The clock ticks ever louder at Anfield and questions greatly outnumber answers.