OK, so we're in the midst of a BR out frenzy that hopefully stays respectful and doesn't degenerate into ugly personal insults (although he does have nice teeth now)..........and I recall when I first thought that BR wasn't the man for us......and then started to cast my mind back further to recall how I'd felt about other bosses..... Brendan: It was away to Hull, two years ago. An absolute stinker of a game on our part and highlighted our awful inability to defend and our lack of options if Suarez had an off day. We went on to nearly win the league and it threw me off the scent for a while but with hindsight, I now believe that BR and his inability to defend at all, actually cost us the league. King Kenny: I was gutted to see him go. He one us a cup and lost a final in his fist full year. However, I did cringe a little at his poor PR....but imo, he should have had another year. Roy Bloody Hodgson: I recall that his first game wasn't too bad, I think Pepe gifted Arsenal an equaliser (or winner...can't remember)......and then the wheels came off. Abject, dire performances but worse was his demeanor. He tried to set our expectations lower than they will ever be......and from that point, I wanted him gone. Rafa: I loved Rafa. However, I absolutely hated his man management skills in the end and thought that when he went, the time was right. Why he wanted Alonso out is beyond me....it really is but I know that he was fighting a constant battle with the board and in the end, I think that it took its toll. If I'm honest, I'd have like to see him given the investment and time that BR had......he had time although after 2007, he never really had investment which was a real shame. I know they say never go back, but I can see him managing us again and I wouldn't be to disheartened about that either. Gerard Houllier: I also loved Gerard Houllier. He was just a great guy and although we didn't win the league, we didn't do too badly under him either. After his heart operation, he was never the same and probably should have retired from management there and then. Roy Evans: I can't recall ever wanting him out....just that we won nothing bar a cup I think under his tenure. Graeme Souness: Some of his decisions were strange. He dismantled a title winning team overnight and then wondered why it went tits up. It was this time when we lost our way and have never really truly found it again....Wanted him gone when he left Beardsley out in a game that he should played in (can't remember the detail....). I can remember just feeling very disappointed continuously with him......and was glad to see the back of him. Obviously, before Souness, I never, ever wanted to see the back of a manager!
Prior to his final season, Alonso was quite poor. It wasn't until after threatening to sell him did we finally see the world class Alonso we all now know.
Couldn't be arsed doing all of them but with Rodgers it's not been one defining moment but a gradual chipping away. I always intended giving him the full three years , just as I would have with Kenny. I'm still not as certain he's as bad a manager as it may appear. I think circumstances have to be taken into account too...the loss of Suarez at the time we did, Gerrards legs falling off as quickly as they did etc. Now that's not saying he's not failing and I think, like it does with all managers jobs at any club I think this one has gone beyond rescuing. I'd love to be wrong. I think he'll eventually do well elsewhere.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Since Alonso has made clear his feelings on this it's a little hard to paint a pro Rafa revisionist picture of the almighty **** up...interesting though..not ok to alienate average players but ok to alienate a good one?
I was one of the few holdouts wanting Rafa to stay. I'm not sure when it became inevitable he was leaving... Probably my optimism prevented me seeing that until he left. Everyone remembers Rafa fondly now but I remember a lot of fans were very hostile to him (and fans that supported him) towards the end. Rodgers. I thought he was a gonner after that last game drubbing last season. He survived and it's been looking uncomfortable for him since. I think Carlisle has to be the mail in the coffin. I didn't like him first season and everyone said give him time. 2nd season I refused to get optimistic until about Xmas time. Even then had some reservations but eventually let the optimistic mood of everyone infect me. We started Crap that season. Sure we won games but we looked awful. Roy. He made it obvious he was going to be a flop before the first game. I think the first time we got smashed by a nobody and he came out and said that's the best we should expect now was when I wanted him out and knew he was doomed.
I didn't want Evans, Rafa or Dalglish out so they're easy ones. Woy was as soon as he started saying we needed to re-access our expectations because a draw was a good result, plus his friend comments too Houliier was the season he bought Diouf and co. Football was boring but the result were there until that year, what was he thinking getting Diouf rather than Anelka?
I was mixed on Dalglish. Think he deserved more time and FSG were wrong to sack him. 2 finals in first full season in charge is not bad. A lot if it depended to me on who replaced him. Had we got someone good it wouldn't have been so bad. A lot of criticism of the Comolli/Dalglish era was that their transfers wasted a whole bunch of money... We actually earned a profit on the Comolli transfers... Suarez a big part of that. Honestly, is Charlie Adam that much worse than half of Rodgers transfers?
It's odd. I really don't remember Houllier's sacking too well. I feel like I slept through that. I remember Rafa joining much clearer than Houllier's leaving.
Moyes: when you lot beat us 3-0 at Old Trafford. We were lucky to get 0 and you were unlucky not to get 5 or 6. The frightening thing about that game was that the manager couldn't even get his players motivated to play against Liverpool. Talk about losing the dressing room!
Woy lost the dressing room once. Fortunately a member of staff was nearby to give him directions. There again, Woy got lost in the tunnel once too.
Woy was day one for me. Was unimpressed when he was linked with us, annoyed when he was appointed and ecstatic when he was sacked. He was never the right man for the job and shouldn't have been appointed. Rodgers: Its hard to say when really lost it, think the 6-1 to Stoke really highlighted it, up to that point the season was still rather average and 5th wouldn't have been too bad. Could be said however since the Chelsea game (the slip game) the football we've played has been mixed to poor.
The feeling started following the last 3 games of last season did think that this seasons transfers looked like they might be better individually than last years but concerned once again about the problems of integrating so many new players plus the totally unbalanced squad we ended up with.The end came against Carlisle he was already probably a dead man walking but after that in became a zombie shuffle and was the final straw for me . It also seems clear that he has lost the players so for that alone he has to go
There is nothing like a capitulation at Old Trafford to cast the die(dye). I remember that Hull game and the tonking off Stoke but losing to the Mancs was the final nail in his coffin
No defining moments but more of a drip drip drip effect. Games where Rooney was played in CM while Herrera sat on the bench and abject performances in the last 6 games which resulted in United unecessarily crawling over the line when we had a real chance to finish much higher
I knew Roy wasn't the right man in August. Sounds harsh but he called our victory away at Trabzonspor historic or something else equally stupid, and we played 4-4-2 against a massively superior Man City team. He's the only Liverpool manager I've ever hated, the owl faced twat.
Don't hold back- say what you really think. I was willing to give Woy a chance, like I would with anyone, but when I heard him start making noises about we should know our place and not expect to be the team we once were then I knew he had no right to the job. "Know our place"- sounds like UIR. Except Woy was meant to be our manager and UIR at least has the excuse that he's a dirty Manc wum. I thought BR would be gone after the dismal end to last season. They kept him on and gave him more money and tbh, I thought the new players might make enough of an improvement to justify it. I still do think those players are for the most part pretty good- but he just doesn't seem to know how to get the best out of them. Now that it seems the moving finger has writ, I'd rather it was all done and dusted asap before any more horrible performances undermine the players' confidence even further.
