Roy Hodgson a surprisingly good choice
Let's be honest. Would Roy Hodgson have been your first pick to replace Rafa? Would he have even made your list at all? No me neither, but having looked a bit further into Hodgson's CV he may well prove to be exactly the manager Liverpool need right now to bring stability, retain key players (we can only hope) and work within the financial restrictions which is a prerequisite of being the Liverpool manager right now.
I think one of Hodgson's key assets is that he is an Englishman. He understands the importance of success at Liverpool and he respects the supporters. A big plus in my eyes. He also brings extensive and impressive experience since he first started managing the Swedish club Halmstad in 1976. Hodgson has gone on to manage clubs such as Malmo, Inter Milan, Bristol City, Blackburn Rovers and Udinese among other club teams. And what may well prove to be his greatest asset, his experience managing at international level with Switzerland, Finland and the United Arab Emirates. It's an impressive career.
As far as titles & trophies go this is where Hodgson's credentials come into question. He had great success in Sweden winning the league championship in '76 & '79 with Halmstad and then four championships with Malmo between '86 & '89, which is impressive. He also successfully rebuilt the Inter Milan side from '95 to '97. As to his win ratio, since July 1990 (according to the stats in Wikipedia) it looks light at 42% which isn't the greatest, although it is on par with Graeme Souness (41%) but way below Kenny Dalglish (61%). Hodgson will need to improve the number of games he wins at Liverpool if he is to be successful.
Watching his first interviews with the press and with Liverpool TV Hodgson seems to be very realistic. He's making no guarantees about how successful Liverpool will be next season with qualifying for the Champions League being the minimum target. He also doesn't seem to be overly concerned about the amount of transfer funds available this summer with £15m the number being banded about, which of course will suit the Chairman and the board. But with these funds plus the sale of Yossi Benayoun for £6m (I don't know why we let him go) Hodgson is reported to be targeting Gilberto Silva, Brede Hangeland, Rafael van der Vaart and Danny Murphy (be nice to have him back).
However, without doubt his first major task will be convincing the likes of Torres and Gerrard to stay with the club and give him a chance to prove himself. The fact Hodgson has come out and stated he believes the future success of the club is inextricably linked to the American owners selling will surely endear him to both players and fans immediately. Good on ya Roy!
I'm also working on the basis that Hodgson himself is hungry for success. He's 62 and to win major honours both domestically and in Europe would be the highlight of his career. I wish him every success at Liverpool, he's a gentleman and deserves all our support in bringing success back to Anfield.
Barry also writes a blog called LFC Talk - click here to visit
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He's not a good choice, based on media reports he was the only choice, as other top flight managers turned us down.
Talk is cheap, let's pass judgment as to whether this is a good choice after the coming season. Til then ... good luck Snoogy Hodggy.