One thing that has to be said for Rafa Benitez, love him or hate him, is that he still holds a record as Liverpool manager. That of having won two major trophies in his two first years at the club: the unforgettable Champions League triumph against AC Milan and that unlikely victory in the FA Cup final against West Ham United. There you go. Both were unlikely wins coming from three goals behind with victory secured on penalties. But they were wins nonetheless and further proof that, much as luck isn’t everything, you certainly cannot exclude it.
One guy who lady luck seems to have deserted is Roy Hodgson. I’m a great fan of Roy, despite the malstrom surrounding Liverpool FC, which has of late been repeatedly represented as a fast sinking rat ship. Through wins and losses, Roy always keeps his head held high and his post and pre-match interviews are always a delight to listen to for their articulateness and level headedness. Never will he engage in mind games, nor deliver a cheap swipe at anyone. His tactical nous is also hugely advanced, as has been confirmed by many of his former charges and fellow colleagues. There should therefore be no doubt, except in Fleet Street, that Roy should be in line to succeed Fabio Capello as the next England manager.
His influence at Liverpool FC has not yet reached the field of play but there can be no doubting that Roy will turn things around. Without the need of any tantrums or hairdryer treatments, Roy calmly extended the middle finger at his critics in yesterday’s Europa league clash when Liverpool took on the daunting task of facing a high-flying Napoli side on their own turf. After the doomsday predictions and calls for his head following Liverpool’s away 2-0 loss to Everton, Roy chose to rest star players Gerrard, Torres, Lucas and Meireles, even electing to bring Joe Cole onto the pitch late in the game and to play a trio of babies in the form of Jonjo Shelvey, Jay Spearing and Martin Kelly, without seeing the need to substitute either of them. Despite the pre-match reports of Liverpool fans being stabbed (these really are difficult days for the club's fans), Hodgson’s young charges put on a composed display and earned a creditable draw which might even have been three points with a pinch of Benitez’s renowned luck.
It is clear that there is a sizeable rebuilding task to be accomplished at Anfield and Rome wasn’t built in a day. But Roy (or Woy as he has been labelled by some journalists) will be more than up to the task and Liverpool FC are very fortunate to have him, his appointment being another sound move by Martin Broughton (whose choice of manager and new owner are yet to be vindicated but who has clearly shown himself to be his own man in his dealings on behalf of Merseyside). Roy’s ideas are his own and he will not be swayed by what the media or the public think of his decisions or results. After all, he has found himself under intense scrutiny many times before during his troubled time at Blackburn Rovers and when flirting with relegation at Fulham, a club considered dead and buried under his tenure before securing Premier league safety and going on to become Europa cup finalists in 2010.
Roy has also been at the coal face in the Serie A, renowned for its intense pressure, when twice managing current European champions Inter Milan. Here is a guy who has always shown true leadership skills, who has done things the proper way in good times and bad. He has shown himself to be someone who knows that today’s hero is tomorrow’s zero that might yet become a hero again, meaning one should follow his own path regardless of what others say of him. Roy will never openly admit it, but he has shown himself to be one who knows that the place of sensationalist opinion pieces in newspapers is clearly the bottom of the bin (thereby betraying a Thatcherite tendency). It is this type of resolute cast iron jaw that gets football clubs through 'storms' constantly cooked up by the media.
After Liverpool’s defeat to Everton which came on the heels of their loss to Blackpool, many called for Hodgson’s head and said that his team’s displays were inept. Instead of softening the blow and agreeing with the general sporting public, Hodgson left everyone scratching their heads when he said that Liverpool’s performance against Everton was the best his team had yet produced. And what’s more, he was right. The team showed structure and composure and even an unfit and unconfident Fernando Torres showed glimpses of his former self, chasing and fighting for every ball and trying to tie up his team mates in attacking manoeuvres. Make no mistake, this team are leaving their guts on the field for their manager.
Hodgson knows that a lack of quality should never be faulted but nor should a valiant albeit unsuccessful effort to turn things around. After the Everton game, he could easily have picked out Joe Cole and trashed him to peals of public approval, but he didn’t because Roy’s not like that. He does the done thing and doesn’t do things that are not done. It’s sounds simple enough, but in today’s football world where the only class one might see only comes on the pitch and loyalty is a term rendered quixotic by overpaid twenty-somethings, Hodgson is an aberration. Roy is a throwback to the old school manager, in days when a spade was called a spade. Not that his PR should be seriously considered when judging him, (much as it is heartening to hear his balanced opinions during interviews). After all, it is the results on the pitch that count at the end of the day. But it is far too early to be judging Roy Hodgson just yet, what with all the instability that has surrounded the club during the recent takeover dramas which have occurred (of which enough has already been said elsewhere).
At the earliest, Roy should be judged during the Christmas period. Even though Liverpool are clearly lacking a striker. And if it is true that the new owner is already attempting to replace him with Frank Rijkaard, then he knows even less about football than his predecessors. Yesterday’s game against Napoli should tell John W Henry a few things about his club’s manager. Firstly that he does what he thinks is right, regardless of what anyone else thinks, says or writes. That he has a vision for the club, and intends to bring the youth and fringe players through, regardless of what the media spouts about him. Secondly, and most importantly, this is a guy who will do what is right for the club, regardless of whether or not it is the right thing for him. And such loyalty should be reciprocated, although it all too often isn’t.
Many a lesser manager would’ve gone gung-ho yesterday and fielded all their best players against Napoli, in a desperate bid to get a win which might placate the media and the public. Not Roy. And it is refreshing, refreshing that in a club where so many individuals (be they owners, coaches or players) have taken so much more than they have given back, one guy stands for something and does and says what is right. Despite the respect and popularity he still enjoys in Italy, he’s even ready to stare down the entire pack of over opinionated Italian sports journalists and openly disagree with them if he thinks they are in error.
And if this new owner of Liverpool FC really has any sense, he will give Hodgson his full backing and support if a new dawn is truly to commence at Anfield. This coach has both his own ideas and the brass needed to back them up. Regardless of whether lady luck smiles on him or not. It is that essential quality which marks out a great manager from an average one and the sort of management both Liverpool FC and eventually England could use.
