My footballing heroes are Billy Wright, the Busby Babes, the entire 1966 World Cup team. Latterly, only Kevin Keegan and Bryan Robson come close in the last 35 years. For Charlton, it would be Derek Hales. I have never liked Brendan Rodgers for one simple reason. When he got the Liverpool job, I watched the "Being Liverpool" documentary on Channel 5, which the Club subsequently pulled because it was such a PR disaster. Not only did Rodgers invest in a sunbed, he also replaced his entire set of teeth in a bid to improve his "image". Hard to imagine Sir Alf or Shanks doing the same. Worse than that - and I am not making this up - he had a 8 foot mural of guess who....Brendan Rodgers....on his lounge wall. He pointed to it proudly in the programme. When news then slipped out that he was having secret Spanish lessons - as if Barca were about to call - the image was cemented of a self satisfied d1ck head. On BBC radio this morning I heard a Liverpool fan call Rodgers a "snake oil salesman" . Seems an apt description.
I think he's a decent manager. Liverpool are a club that appear to have many problems under the surface and will require someone coming in to understand it's probably a 5 year project at a minimum. But they'll go for Ancelotti or Klopp who will receive an offer to move on before that time. Over the years the pattern appears to be the players not being able to handle the lofty expectations of the fans. Apart from Hodgson - he was simply clueless.
I hate everything about the club and it brings me great joy seeing them struggle. The deluded ****ers should realise they aren't and haven't been a big club for 10 years now. Hope they keep falling.
I follow Dortmund, been several times (less we say about Sundays match, which I watched when getting home, the better), and Klopp was a magnificent manager. Got the best out of talented youngsters like Mario Götze, Marco Reus and developing players like Mats Hummels or Robert Lewandowski, Champions League Finals too, only to lose out to the team that always purchases their talent. Subsequently why they ended up falling outside the top four. Thomas Tuchel think has done well, getting Aubameyang playing well, having scored in every Bundesliga match. Klopp will be wasted at Liverpool, Manchester City, United. The only club that he'll probably thrive is Arsenal, as they have a very similar set up.
As a city, isn't Dortmund very similar to Liverpool? The Kop is probably more comparable (or as much as you'd get near the sudtribune) than Emirates too. But I still maintain, any manager has to be for the long haul. Klopp will be a target for Germany and possibly BM before his job would be anywhere near complete. Seeing him in the Premiership would be fun though
I wouldn't know. I've never been to Liverpool. I've always said to people, I've seen most of this world, but inside my own country, rarely been outside of London (well, for a brief 3 hour stay for football match here and there).
I had to spend the night once in Arden House Liverpool, when the lorry I was driving had a problem. It had 3 floors for homeless men and one for lorry drivers. In the morning one of the homeless men grabbed the sausages off my plate on the way through, leaving me with a plate of beans. I just had to get on with eating the beans. I couldn't go and ask for my sausages back, could I? This was my only visit to Liverpool, and I also had to pay the local kids to "mind my lorry"
. Great story. Liverpool is a fine city, but I always make a point of staying in Ellesmore Port when I'm up that way. Dortmund is super, too. Check out Leverkusen. It's nestled between Dusseldorf and Cologne. The Bayer Arena is a wonderful venue. The Bayer works is an eyesore of epic proportions, yet look carefully and you'll discover the most mesmerizingly beautiful Japanese garden. A bizarre city is Leverkusen.
Having had Rodgers as a former manager at our club, I can see one trait which obviously didn't leave him during his time at Swansea between Reading and Liverpool: transfers. Like Liverpool, he was hit-and-miss with them with us. Proof could be that he was trying to get Reading to play in the same shape that we are finding successful now, but he didn't have the players to make it work back then. I feel he could have been successful with us if we had given him more time, but such is life when you are heading toward relegation mid-season. I personally wish him all the luck in the future.
