Stopping the rot in the Kop

Life as a Liverpool Football Club supporter is often filled with drama, from Istanbul to a 4-0 home win against Real Madrid to a High Court battle for the very soul of the club, (don’t make me go there again, the palpitations are still trying to settle!)

One thing was supposed to be for certain, the certainty of a new era at Anfield. The era of the mumbling man, the shoe gazer, the shuffling gentleman who would ‘put an arm’ around the players. Roy Hodgson was the man that all ‘experts’ hailed as the firm and steady hand that would wrestle the tiller from the grasp of the tactically European ethos that had enveloped Melwood.

As a fan, I was bitterly disappointed that, as a club, we had gone in the direction of a ‘safety net’ manager, someone who would settle down the dust filled moments, soothe aching egos and partake in the nodding-dog act that the boardroom so desperately wanted. I wanted dynamism, brevity of negativity, depth of passion and a sincere, winning mentality. What I got was archaic formations, mediocre home games, appalling away performances and a misinterpretation of the very fabric of Liverpool FC.

Roy should never have been given this job. In his own words, this was his “reward for 35 years in football”. What, exactly, he had done in those 35 years to warrant one of the biggest jobs in world football, is completely underwhelming. The job was obviously too big for him as he lurched from one poor post match interview to the other. Northampton a formidable side? No rebuff to Sir Alex Ferguson on Torres’ perceived “cheating”? Blaming the fans for negative performances and singling out the protests of fans, against the debt accrual of the previous owners, for criticism? The more I think about his time at the club the more I’m reminded of an embarrassed senior citizen who utters something deeply un-p.c. and is forever trying to scratch himself out the hole, unable to fully come to terms with quite how the world has moved on.

Then a strange thing happened. Somebody wanted to buy us, someone saw into the vision of the wounded Phoenix licking its wounds, ready to rise from the ashes of the shackles placed upon the greatest English football team ever. Fenway Sports Group are sincere and have a belief that mirrors our own, they are echoing the sentiments that so many fans shout from the terraces.

The decisions made by FSG so far have been considered, reverential and, dare I say it? modern! The inclusion of a Director of Football is something many fans would have resisted, but I have to say it is both refreshing and reassuring. Too many times we have been burnt at the hands of the transfer market. Damien Comolli seems adroit at bringing in talent and his handling of the Hodgson situation seems quietly impressive. Reluctant to change, but changes when the need is recognised.

As a fan I feel content yet excited by the explosion of Dalglish onto the scene. His immediate impact upon the psyche of the players was evident to see in probably the happiest 1-0 defeat of my life. We played well as a team, great defending and good going forward. You could see the passion return, like a body being coloured back into life. The formation seemed odd to me and belied the rigid structure instilled by Hodgson. A 4-5-1 that sometimes progressed to a 4-1-4-1 was at best hard at the back and at worst stilted in midfield. I do firmly believe, though, that Dalglish will reinvigorate an attacking mindset. His return is like that of The Lord of The Rings, in the shade for many years, away from the club before coming back as the overseer of the youth, but the Coronation of the King is now complete. I can sleep with the belief that my team now has a fire in the belly and suddenly hope abounds across the Fields of Anfield Road.