27 Mar 2012

Rafa, Ranieri and AVB: Is Kenny Dalglish the luckiest manager in Europe...?

Reds fans might not like to admit it, but the uncomfortable truth that dare not speak its name at Anfield right now is this: Kenny Dalglish remains in a job because of who he is, not because of what's best for the club, and any other manager would've been sacked by now. We know this to be true because Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Roy Hodgson were all given the Anfield red card for lesser infractions.

None of the aforementioned managers presided over league form as bad as under Dalglish. Even in Benitez's dire final season, the worst league run he put together was three defeats and two draws in six games.

Gerard Houllier qualified for the Champions League in his final season and still got the sack, and Roy Hodgson was sacked after six months with a very similar league record to Dalglish.

Indeed, if you look through the league record of almost any top flight manager sacked in the last five years, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone with a worse league record than Dalglish.

Looking at the records of several other sacked managers over the last couple of years, it becomes even more clear that Dalglish's status as an untouchable LFC legend is the only thing keeping him in a job:

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish vs Anfre Villas Boas

As you can see, Rafa Benitez, Andre Villas Boas and Claudio Ranieri had:

* A higher win percentage than Dalglish.
* A better points per game average.
* A higher goals per game average.
* A Significantly lower transfer spend per win and per point.
* Lower overall 'failure to win' ratio.
* Much less time in the job to try and get it right.

Despite doing a comparatively better job that Dalglish (in the league), all three were unceremoniously sacked less than a year into the job. Why? The answer is obvious: their respective clubs' owners were terrified of missing out on Champions League football, and took action accordingly.

That ship has sailed for Liverpool, and the club will now risk falling further behind the likes of Arsenal, Man United, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City, all of whom will inevitably strengthen.

The question is this: If Ranieri, AVB and Benitez deserved to be sacked, why does Dalglish deserve to stay? Is the Carling Cup so prestigious these days that winning it is enough to forgive excruciatingly poor league performance? If Abramovich or Moratti were running Liverpool, would Dalglish still be in a job?

To be clear: I am not suggesting Dalglish should be sacked. I'm just highlighting how he is comparatively lucky, despite leading Liverpool to their worst home league run since 1953.

I never want to see Dalglish sacked; after everything he's done for the club, he doesn't deserve it, and it would be damaging to his well-earned legacy and standing. Hopefully, when the time comes, Kenny will stand down of his own accord.

I would say this though: excessive loyalty to managers is part of the reason Liverpool have no won the league for 22 years. Houllier and Benitez were arguably given too long in the job, and the club stagnated as a result.

Yes, there's an argument for creating stability, but if the right manager is not in charge then you end up with instability instead, which is what is happening now under Dalglish.

When Dalglish replaced Hodgson, he said that he was 'lucky' to be given the a second chance in the Anfield hotseat. Clearly, his luck continues to hold.

Jaimie Kanwar


54 comments:

  1. I really don't understand why you have to write articles like this one when you do know that the worst thing in a team is to replace managers every few months. Now also standing and comparing stats is also very silly. Different circumstances for each manager, different owners, different situations.
    They were no right to sack Rafa as they would be very wrong to sack Dalglish. Also if you want to call yourself Liverpool fan you should learn to respect those involved with the club and learn to be patient.
     

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  2. I'm so sick of 'fans' like you. If you can't hack different opinions then that's your problem.  If you want to bury your head in the sand then go ahead, but stop trying to censor other fans for having a different view.  I'll write what I like, and if you don't 'approve' then go to some other website that posts stuff that validates your opinion.

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  3. Tornike Khomeriki10:55 am, March 27, 2012

    On basis of what should managers be leaving clubs, in your view?

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  4. So you don't want to see him sack but come up with such articles... ;)

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  5. FOOLGLISH has set us back 10 years you idiot ? The idiot needs sacking just for paying £35 for donkey Carroll ??? Let alone Adam downing henderson

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  6. Gdgg, I agree. Back our beloved club and our manager that loves this club like we do! Kk will get us there! Faith is a strong word, even stronger feeling. Ynwa.

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  7. Please do not use personal insults towards Dalglish or any of the players. Thanks.

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  8. you should be a Chelsea supporter. Roy sent us from the beginning to the relegation zone. Rafa was sacked because of incompetent owners. Dalglish had to rebuild a whole team , and stop putting Dalglish in the same category as Villas Boas.

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  9. Ive been saying this for a long time. KD has become untouchable. I hate it and wish it wasn't the case. 
    I suppose it comes down to the idea of not signing the correct firepower up front. We all know that if we had signed someone like, Ba, Aguero etc, we would have been scoring more goals. This is the only reason why we are where we are... GOALS....But one thing i have to say is regardless of how bad we are, KD brought stability to a slowly dying club and with a bit of time he could do better.I saw the Ranieri sacking this morning and thought, damn, if he has been sacked will our manager?
    YNWA

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  10. it will come down to finance. if we continue to miss out on the riches of champs lge, they will act. they are business men not sentimentalist fans. one more season i think, if it does not go well the first 3 months, it coul be earlier, it's just reality of modern football/business world. personally if he continues with the british transfer policy and continually playing a lone striker, he can leave in the summer. kk will always be a god regardless.

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  11. You can't compare Chelsea managers, being Chelsea or City manager isn't real football. If you have completely unlimited resources then you MUST qualify for the CL.
    Back in the real world, you get nowhere sacking lots of managers in quick succession. 

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  12. It serves no purpose to sack Dalglish now,hes got us to the semifinal of the cup and the owners will leave him in charge until the end of the season when he will be politely told to do the best thing for the club and step aside.If a new manager came in now he wouldnt be able to get us in the top 6 even so whats the point.

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  13. Personally, i think dalglish has done a fairly good job, the only thing letting the club down is the lack of goals! Carrol, i think would never of been in any fan's list of strikers we should of bought. Also, a few other players may not be as consistant as we would of liked. Its the same at every club when an entirely new team comes into the fray. Dalglish and the owners have stabilized this club and that is a step forward compared to the two yanks from the past years. Rome wasnt built in a day, neither will this club, have faith

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  14. of course you don't get anywhere sackking managers quickly. but sponsors want to be associated with elite clubs, if we continue to dine at the smaller table, we will get no major investment. history is a wonderful thing and ours is as good if not better than most, but one day it will count for nothing in reality, it will only count for us fans.

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  15. our club was built very strongly some time ago, but we thought we were invincible and did not need to do to much as we would be top dogs forever. mr.moores didn't recognise things were changing and didn't wake up in time to the fact. the likes of manure and arsenal moved with the times in marketing and promotion, we wittered on about our truly glorious achievements, about the past. our 'rome' was built, but we failed to build bigger empires.

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  16. This needs to stop, the Liverpool squad needs more development, sure. But all Liverpool suppoerters need to view this as a long term project. One thing is I am sure, that IF KD suspected for one minuite, that he was not capable of running Liverpool, or IF there was someone better than him; then he would be the very first one to say so...Of that there is no doubt in my mind.

    We have all seen the opertunities we have had this season, the times that shots have hit the bar etc, seasons are won and lost on these things but at the end of the day there can only be one winner and second place is nothing. This will be the ethic that KD is installing into the players, and its ongoing. Lets not forget the absolute damage done by Messers G+H not only to the team but Anfield as a whole (including the resources eaten up by the legal battle to extridite them from the club).

    We are just a few players away from having a championship challenging squad (not including the youth players that are (excitingly) on the verge of coming through). We have owners that are prepaired to back Liverpool, and that is a great thing to have. Judge KD over the long term, not just over poorly written Media articles that play on sensationalist remarks and pointed statistics.

    YNWA.

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  17. A very interesting article!

    Although the stats make for unpalatable reading, I personally don't believe a fourth manager in 3 seasons is conducive to LFC's long term development.  
    There is no doubting that some of Kenny's signings have been a disappointment. People are quick to berate Adam, but he was always just a squad payer. Personally I feel the biggest letdown have been the performances of Carroll and Henderson. Quite simply when you consider the £51 million outlay, the resulting contribution in terms of goal generation is not good enough. According to ESPN they have 4 goals and 2 assists in the PL between them at a cost of £8.5 million per goal created!! (In mitigation Carroll's usage has been erratic)What could save Kenny is the strategic deployment of our talented youth, especially as fourth spot is now not an option. Whilst I appreciate the sentiment of not rushing young players into top flight procedings, Sterling's recent appearance suggests that both Suso and himself should start to be given some game time. Vindication of this argument could perhaps be seen in the recent success of Oxlade-Chamberlin at Arsenal, who is only a year older than Sterling. Frankly I'm confident next season will be better, primarily due to the return of Leiva, the emergence of our rapidly burgeoning youth and the hope we can bag a real top notch goal scorer. With these additions in place surely Kenny and his team can put together a strong bid for a top 4 position!

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  18. People dont get it foolgish is as stubborn as a mule. He wont admit defeat in his first year and quit like he should. I dont care what anyone says about it being a long term project. If you spend millions and are worse than previous years you are not going to get your so called project going. Remember money is finite and henry is not going to keep splashing mega cash on donkeys like foolgish has blown. LFC need another 100 million just to get them playing again and there is no way there is money for that. But i wouldnt trust foolgish with that amount, hes proven he has no eye for talent. LFC are on course to break a new record in the least amount of goals scored. Now thats gonna be Foolgish's legacy.

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  19. I just find it sad, KK's comments after the game. Illustrating his reluctance to use the young players. He moans that some of his players have a played a lot of games, despite being on record boasting about the fitness levels of the squad, and is reluctant to use fringe and youth players more like Maxi, Sterling, etc (I don't even think Brazil international Doni has played a competitive game for us, especially considering the erratic nature of Reina's performances this seasons). Though I guess he has to justify signing Hendo, Adam and Downing, though this goes against his (lack of) selection of Carroll. 

    Confusing man-managing.

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  20. i know AVB was better and young, could learn,so that's definetly unfair on him, KD well *facepalm*

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  21. The problem with Liverpool is not the Manager, he a great
    man who has a passion for the game and the club… The problem is the players,
    look at it this way all of them are multi-millionaires and only give a toss
    about themselves (excluding SG, JC,DK, LS) Man u are not that good a side but
    they have a winning mentality… Liverpool can beat anybody on their day but lack
    that winning mentality and there lies the problem.


     


    Ask yourself this…. How would you motivate a spoilt
    millionaire footballer who has everything to perform week in week out…… I know
    I have no idea but it must be a hell of a job.

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  22. well if he drags us down even more in next 3-4 games and there is a big possibility he will, there is no alternative, clarke would take over and we'll go from there, maybe it would be better, clarke wouldn't prioritize the players who were bought for 20 mil or more, if that's not satisfactory we could straight away get borell as an interim manager or Segura, that would be even better

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  23. LOL take Carroll out and we have a net spend of just 2 million! Supposing Aqua and Joe Cole's loan fees would cover that, we are laughing at how much better the squad is compared to Roy Hodgon and Konchesky's s***

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  24. Absolute rubbish. You're really scraping the bottom of the barrel now.
    Do you want to turn us into the poor mans Chelski? get a grip.

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  25. Hmm, don't know about excluding 'LS' from players that only give a toss about themselves.

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  26. The issue is he spent £50m on Hendo and Carroll, when it could have been spent on other players that weren't so 'raw' (maybe they aren't raw, maybe this is as good as they are going to be. Downing is hardly going to rocket up to another level or two at his age) and ridiculously hyped-up British 'talent' (not sure why i use this term in relation to Carroll and Hendo, tbh). 

    Yes, Konchesky cost £5m and he was crap, yet Carroll cost £35m and he is hardly proving to be substantially better. 

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  27. why come out with tripe like this ? i really do wonder if you support Liverpool at all ?? 

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  28. Loan fees ... What you talking about ? We are still paying huge portion of both their wages. Cole of 130k per week and Lille will be paying 50% of less. Plus we did spend 35m on Carroll so we cannot leave that out. Write down values and quickly realise that Suarez apart we have no value at all in the squad. Overall value is now about 100m as no return on player over 30 on high wages. Will JWH fund another big summer in transfer probably not so Comolli will sell Suarez to fund as he did with Betbatov & Carrick at Spurs. If we invest badly we may come off even worse

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  29. it's not just th new signings we need, but also to get rid of the pap in Downing, Henderson and Adam (sorry, but he is not even a squad player - utter dross). If you look at who we could have bought instead of the british players that KD insisted on, it brings shame on KD . .  he has put us back 5 years, we are no longer a top 6 side, we are welll and truly part of the mid table chasing pack. We are no better than Swansea, Sunderland et al anymore

    Cheers Kenny!

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  30. couldn't agree more - but cos of who he is, and not what he can do, we will never be able to get rid of him.

    I hope he does the decent thing and stands down at the end of the season. Otherwise he can stick his legacy where the sun doesn't shine

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  31. tom henry and co are busineesmen,they haven't grown up supporting liverpool.there's only so long that they'll put up with bad results and lack of champs league football which will cost us an awful lot of money.
    i don't want us to see sacking kenny but he has bought poor players with a budget alot of managers can only dream about and those signings are why we won't have champions league football next season.

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  32.  Here's an interesting point, how many fans would be criticizing the decision of Kenny getting sacked tomorrow? A big majority of the fans would accept it and move on. 

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  33. People keep saying that it is so wrong to replace managers, but if it is obvious that he is not the right man for the job, what is the point of sticking with him for years before doing the inevitable?Furthermore, where is the evidence that getting rid of an underperforming manager at a top club is such a negative thing??

    Liverpool have been way too patient, and made way too many excuses for failing over the years, and that's why we continue to stagger from one underwhelming league campaign to another. Hopefully Dalglish will step aside to give the club the opportunity to move forwards as soon as he's concluded his campaign - hopefully with the FA Cup safely secured.

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  34. I appreciate what KD has done in the past for LFC and for what he did in his caretaker role last season but sadly, he's the not man to take the club forward. I hope John Henry will ask KD to step down at the end of the season or face the sack.  

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  35. Dalglish did not have to rebuild a whole team. Mascherano and Torres + the left wing combo of Riera/Benayoun/Babel were the only three starting positions lost from Benitez's CL team.

    Dalglish had +£100m and three transfer windows to replace them and upgrade any other areas that he saw fit in the first team. That was more than enough time and money, yet we're left in the same position (at best) as when Benitez left.

    Sorry, but there is no excusing that kind of failure.

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  36. I agree our league form has been poor this season and hopefully if we can win the FA Cup it will take a little sting out of our league results. Without Champions league football we will not get some of the high profile players where acustomed to, but this maybe a blessing in disguise. If we did get in the champions league then the pressure to do well in it will see more spend and youngsters put on the back burner, i am not saying i dont want champions league football, i am saying it is now time that KD used this poor league position and the rest of the season to good use to showcase  these youngsters for the rest of the season to see how good they are. we may find out that stirling and co adapt to the prem very quickly and becomes a superstar overnight. this means that we dont need to spend for next season or we can use it somewhere else. I am still backing KD and i will give him another season to get it right, if he fails next year I will be surprised and against him staying. Liverpool has always been a club that gives managers time but since the H&G era and the fact that man utd took over us with league championships has given the whloe fan base a bit of anxiety.  

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  37. Love the Rafa Net Spent figure... I would welcome him or AVB to LFC next season....

    I'm in know way saying KD should be sacked, its a terrible modern day reaction to sack a manager after 1 below average season... he needs another transfer window, before we even start to think about a new manager.

    One could argue that KD has added a good depth to our squad and all we need is to add 2 worldclass players in attack. 

    Right wing and Striker....For me Andre Ayew/Loic Remy and Huntelaar would do nicely.

    Maybe upgrade in center midfield, Lucas and SG8 are great but the rest Hendo,Adam,Spearo & Jonjo.......maybe let Adam go and bring in a better option...personally I think Marvin Martin is the answer  

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  38. Dalglish is not good enough and don't compare Dalglish with Benitez.Rafa is a real manager one of the best

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  39. dont live in the past ,i dont care how many goels he scored ,he is manager now and thats his job and he proved he is not good

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  40. Not really sure what the article is trying to illustrate

    Different leagues, different circumstances

    These owners will not allow sentiment to get in the way of getting a return on their investment, don't worry about that

    Kenny surely will be give a decent amount of time to get things right, 2 - 3 full seasons would be fair

    The best possible scenario for the owners would be for Kenny to lead the Liverpool revival, having him onside to deflect any opposition to moving into a new stadium, named after a corporate sponsor

    He's here to stay, unless our form since New Years Day to date is repeated from August to December 2012

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  41. I think that if people are going to advocate Dalglish continuing for another season, there should be something, other than blind faith, that is behind their reasoning. Liverpool is a huge club, the club does not owe anyone unlimited loyalty due to the past. No player, no manager. Better teams than us have moved their legends on once they feel that their effectiveness has dwindled.

    We've heard the reasons for change, poor signings, poor tactics, poor league positions. We can see a number of clubs lining to challenge us, even for 7th place. They look closer to challenging us than we look to challenging the teams above us. So, for the Dalglish loyalists, what is going to improve next season to create the required improvement that is clearly needed? Surely, people don't think we are going to keep winning cups each year? So, what is it that is making some people so optimistic about the future under Dalglish? Which players are going to step up and make the difference? Are we missing Lucas that much that it will propel us into the top 4 when he returns? If so, why didn't we buy a good defensive midfielder to see us through the season and provide competition next year? And, for all the apologists, what point are the club allowed to say that this is not working anymore? Some people sound as if they would support Dalglish even if we got relegated next season.

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  42. Funny, all the qualities we lack, that you point out, winning mentality, motivating players, are the ones that seperate a good manager from an average one. So, the problem is the manager. And if it is the players, as you claim, then who bought these players and who picks them?

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  43. Moratti and Abramovic are foolish like you ! 

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  44. no one is bigger than the club,kennys words.so let him go,he had a chance in january to add to the club,according to ian ayre funds was available,but he refused to do that,also hes been out of the game for years as a coach.the best thing liverpool could do is to approach mourinho or guus hiddink,or i never thought i would say this but bring back rafa benitez

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  45. LFC are no longer a big club. As fans, we must accept reality. We are a great club, but not a big club. Without challenging for the EPL or Champions League, we will not attract or compete for the likes of Hazard and Huntelaar etc. These are professional athletes who were born long after LFC's glory days.

    KD has unfortunately tarnished his and the clubs reputation this season. Take raw emotion out of it, and most rational fans will admit that the Evra issue was handled very badly. LS did himself no favours either. In almost every interview nowadays, KD behaves in a fashion incongruent with TLW. As a blood red, there were times this season when I could no longer be proud of LFC.

    Results mean everything. When we lose, it is generally ok if every player gave it a solid go. That has not been the case recently, and fatigue is an indefensible excuse when you a professional athlete. Wearing that shirt can never make you tired. What is tiring though is playing when you feel the world is against you : the refs, the PL, the linesman, and the journos. And that is KD's legacy.

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  46. Good point on Henry & co not being supporters but business men. The will be happy to invest if they value of players increases so raising investment/value of club. Take at look at squad values at the moment.
    Reina £10m, Johnson £7m, Enrique £10m, Carra 0, Skrtel £10m, Henderson £5m, Adam £5m, Downing £10m, Gerrard £10m, Carroll £12m, Suarez £35m. About £115m for 1st team some value in rest inc Lucas. But considering Kenny has spent £110 Henry & co's investment not showing any growth. Why invest any more with Kenny when choices like Carroll have proved waste ?

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  47. I really can't stand Dalglish's loyal supporters. Are they really blind or they just choose not to realize the dire downfall we are facing now?? What funnier is that they claimed they are the true Kopites whilst those who want Dalglish out are the plastic fans and should go on supporting another club. Wake up and smell the defeat!! I've been witnessing very mediocre football by the players (majorly by his expensive flops!!) from the beginning of his tenure and the ONLY thing that amazes me about him is his LUCK. He must really hate Maxi for a personal reason probably because he keeps playing Downing whose skills and techniques evidently are no comparison to Maxi. He can't be that foolish not to know that, because he did put Maxi on for most of the Carling Cup matches!! Who is he trying to fool here?? Stop supporting him for who he is and start thinking rationally. "NO ONE IS BIGGER THAN THE CLUB" and I'm sure that was not meant for Torres alone. We all have the club's best interest at heart and obviously Dalglish with his 'all-British' policy has not shown he is best to manage the club. If he should ever be sacked soon (keeping my fingers crossed), his sentimentalist fans should follow him along otherwise all the support would be for nothing - it is after all the most logical thing for them to do!!!

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  48. Agree, they are supporting Dalglish above Liverpool. In the same way that many people follow their boss, at work, over the company as a whole. Its mental.

    Wouldn't mind so much if any of them could explain why they think the team will improve next season and where they think we will make ground on the teams above us and accelerate away from the teams around us. But all i hear is moaning about bad luck and declerations of blind faith.

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  49. I think dalglish should get sacked because he lost us some very serious points and there are fantastic managers thar are avaliable such as AVB,RENIERI,Louis van Gaal AND SUCH MORE

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  50. Kenny dalglish is a liverpool legend, but a clueless manager, who's signings have been poor, and tactics are ten years old. If he thinks buying overpriced British players is progress, then he's the biggest idiot in the north.
    Signing Henderson was the worst in Liverpool history, fact!

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  51. Those liverpool fans who believe in dalglish aren't looking at this objectively. This type of wastage is what lead to this recession. Looking at the statistics he is clearly not the man for the job.

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  52. Liverpool are a spent force and you're all clinging to the past. KK was a great player and had a great record as Liverpool manager the first time round, but then he inherited a great squad and bought well - Barnes, Beardsley, Aldridge. This time he has wasted millions on average players and produced an average team. It's a long way back and he's not the man to do it. The sooner you all wake up to the fact the better for the club you love.

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