I've been scanning the news sites today as i always do (it's probably an obsession), keeping up with all the latest interviews and media stories, and i have to say i feel that our image in the media is changing. Rafa got up peoples noses, including our owners and especially opposition fans and managers. He didn't have a great deal of money to work with (without going into that big debate again but towards the end he had to sell to buy) so it suited him to bring a siege mentality. He rallied the players around him and it was very much 'us against the world', and it worked to a large degree. It can leave problems since certain players end up being loyal to him rather than the club and it means the moment he puts a foot wrong there is intense pressure on the club, but it defintiely worked. When Hodgson came in i missed this attitude, and it also posed a problem. All those people that had grown to dislike Benitez and therefore us, now gladly stuck the boot in. Our league position was embarassing and we felt like we were losing our identity. The football, the interviews, the atmosphere at the club- there was no overall manifesto. Hodgson did his nice guy routine, but still faced some of the ill feeling towards our club following Benitez' exit and we as a club couldn't handle this. We were suffering on the pitch, noone was enjoying the football, and we were under this intense pressure and criticism as opposition fans claimed we had a 'mid table squad' and all the rest. It was a huge weight on the entire club. The club needed to come out fighting after that 7th place finish, but instead of the fiery Benitez we had Hodgson the mediator. The mediator can be great when it comes to forging alliances that help secure loan deals from the top clubs, and allowing the club to fly under the radar to a certain extent (Fulham) and quietly gain success, but we forgot what that was like years ago. It's no longer in our nature. Enter Kenny, like the freshest breath of air. The King has conciously addressed this identity crisis. The first and most important things he did was to support his players and remind everyone who slated them with joy, to no defence from Hodgson, that we do have quality in this team. He talked of the presence and tradition of the club, and reintroduced the 'Liverpool Way', both on and off the pitch. Transfers are now conducted behind closed doors, Kenny does everything with a joke and a smile- he's even been having banter with the journos who he clearly has no regard for- and he's convincing people we're still the giant of football we fans believe we are, and need to feel we are. It's so clear when you read yet another interview with Holloway today claiming Liverpool disrespected Charlie Adam by making him their 3rd choice target. Nobody cares about this kind of muck anymore- its just not sticking, and instead of Ferguson's cronies jumping on the bandwagon like they would have done under Benitez, the only voices echoing around the newspaper columns are people like Adam's agent, claiming in fact Blackpool let him down and saying how much he wanted to join us. It's just nicer to be able to get on with our football club without the vultures circling. This will speed our return to how we want our club to be seen, and just one of these benefits means being more comeptitive in the transfer market because people will be talking about our attractive football, our dignity, our winning mentality, and players will be more keen to join. Suarez said as much about Kenny alone in his interview today. The benefits will be far reaching and probably immeasurable, and it means we can look forward to every game, but also we can speed towards summer because i believe we will be very competitive heading into the next season. Remember YNWA!
Not only do the trasfers say it, the way we play, the way Kenny handles the press, his demeanor, what he means for the club..... unless something goes terribly wrong that job is his in the summer. Little things like trying to speak Spanish to Suarez, it leaves impressions and Suarez is saying a lot of what we like to hear as well with regards to our manager!
If Holloway had had the chance of Carroll and Suarez before he bought Adam then he'd have Adam as 3rd choice, too. Actually, 4th if you add in Ashley Young.
