Kenny Dalglish is the most important signing Liverpool’s owners will ever have to make – let the modern day boot room era begin
Posted By admin on May 12, 2011
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By Wayne Veysey
Damien Comolli and Ian Ayre both used the term “no-brainer”. John Henry settled for “obvious”.
Nevertheless, the appointment of Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool’s permanent manager provoked an immediate outpouring of joy among supporters who have dared to dream again following the revival led by the one they call ‘King’ in the red side of Merseyside.
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It is not just the upturn in results since his caretaker appointment in January – recording 10 wins, three draws and just three defeats – that served to make the reward of a three-year contract to Dalglish and his under-stated but highly influential No. 2 Steve Clarke a formality.
It also is the majesty of the team’s football, culminating in the swagger of Monday’s 5-2 mauling of Fulham at Craven Cottage on Monday.
Interestingly, Comolli compared Dalglish to another consummate football man early into his seventh decade – the Frenchman’s countryman and former Arsenal colleague, Arsene Wenger.
“I think the two share the same qualities,” said Comolli. “The first thing is the quality of the football. Kenny insists on quality of passing and movement on the pitch. Secondly, they both like intelligent players who can see things. When Kenny talks about players, he talks about whether they can see a pass in the final third. What about their vision? That’s something Arsene talks about.
“They both have a massive ability to give confidence to the team and to the players. They bring self-belief into the young players by saying ‘you are good so that is why you are playing’. That gives fantastic confidence to young players. The other thing they say is, ‘don’t do anything different to what you have been doing. It doesn’t matter that you’re at Anfield or the Emirates, just play your normal game. If I pick you it’s because you are good enough’.”
Return of the king | Kenny Dalglish is back on his Anfield throne – to the delight of fans
Some eulogy, that, from a director of football who had been ordered shortly after his appointment last autumn to search the globe for an up-and-coming managerial star around whom Liverpool could build the club for the next decade.
Instead, the man the American owners needed all along had been waiting on their doorstep, aching to pull on the padded jacket that had been untouched for more than a decade.
Sunday’s home game against Tottenham will now be more than just an end-of-season tussle for a fifth spot that Liverpool appear to want more than their north London visitors.
It will be party time, a mass opportunity to celebrate Dalglish’s appointment and rubberstamp the transformation of the club that, back in October, was staring at the Championship, administration, despised owners and an unpopular manager.
Dalglish admitted in his pre-match press conference this afternoon, timed to coincide with his appointment, that there will be plenty of comings and goings this summer.
Speculation will now grow about which players will fill the apparently available wide midfield, centre-back, left-back and midfield anchorman positions.
But, as anyone with any knowledge of the parlous state of the club six months ago will appreciate, the most significant signing the club will make in this or any other year has already been made.
Belief and unity, two qualities conspicuous by their absence during the dog days of 2010, have been restored and the results speak for themselves. Only Chelsea who, it should be noted, relieved Anfield of its prize asset in the final minutes of the January window, have accrued more league points than Liverpool in the second half of the season.
Watching him in Liverpool’s intimate press room josh with Merseyside reporters, here looked a man comfortable in his skin and comfortable with the sizeable task that awaits.
The king is back on his throne, and his subjects could not be any happier.
It may not be the famous Anfield boot toom of Ronnie Moran, Roy Evans et al under which Dalglish learned his trade as a young manager. But the Scot has proved he is no dinosaur by adapting and thriving 26 years after first entering the dugout.
With Comolli’s contacts network, Ayre’s commercial acumen and the Dalglish/Clarke alliance pulling the strings on the pitch, a new backroom set-up fit for a 21st century club has been installed at Liverpool today.
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