The Return Of The Messiah

Ive seen this so many times down the years. A player or manager returns to a club where they once had huge success and nine times out of ten it doesn't work. They cant quite reach the levels they had before. Of course John Still at our club is probably an exception, but it doesn't always work out. The latest to return is Kenny Dalgleish. I used to love watching him as a young lad and remember the haggard face when he quit Liverpool all those years ago. It seems a shame to me that he has gone back. I'm sure he is doing it for the right reasons but I'm not convinced it will work.

Dalgleish was part of an era long gone at Anfield. A club that dominated English football for decades that all the best players wanted to play for. Those day are gone. What they have now is a club, a former shadow of itself and the fans and the people at the club need to realise that before its too late. Its hard for anyone to accept that they aren't at the level they once were. We see it so many times with different sportsmen in all sports. There comes a time when you get over taken and this has happened to Liverpool. Until they accept this they will never move forward.

I grew up watching Liverpool in the late 70's and 80's. They not only dominated the domestic game they conquered Europe almost at will. They did this on foundations set by Bill Shankly and the way that he set the club up. The famous boot room. Shanks, Paisley, Fagan all sitting around and discussing the way the game should be played. Stuff of legend. You went to Liverpool not expecting to go straight into the first team but to play in the reserves for the first year, to earn your place in the first team. It wasn't a given and all the players signed knew this and were prepared to do it. I know the finacle rewards are far higher nowadays and players expect to play every week, but would they better for this experience rather than what they get now? I think they would.

Don't get me wrong there are players that deserve to go straight into the first team as they would improve it, but what about youngsters from the lower leagues? My guess is that most of them aren't interested in that. Is this me being unrealistic about the modern player? Perhaps but it worked at Liverpool and it worked for many years. The reason? The club was bigger than the player simple as that. I believe in the modern game manager's aren't given enough time. It takes time to turn a club around, to lay foundations that will lead to bigger and better things but in this 'we must have it and have it now' society we live in this isn't going to happen anymore.

So it begins, the constant changing of managers, the pay-offs and such forth and for what? The unrealistic expectations of supporters on their manager. I hope Kenny Dalgleish is a success at Liverpool I really do. I hope that they allow him to rebuild a broken club. To bring back that famous boot room where managers of the future are helped and bred and brought up to believe in what Liverpool FC stands for. Only then will they begin to regain their position in the game and satisfy the fans needs for what they have been spoilt with. The odds unfortunately are against him. As I said at the start it doesn't always work out and taints supporters memory's of what great players and servants these guys were for their clubs. Good luck Kenny, I believe you are going to need it.