Liverpool balls: Harry Redknapp hopes Milner settles in England and rewrites history for Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodger is out of a job at Liverpool. And here’s Harry Redknapp to explain all. The headline makes his case:
Harry Redknapp: Brendan Rodgers should not have been sacked by Liverpool – he is a victim of modern football
By modern football, presumably, Redknapp means the Premier League, which has not not exactly proved un-lucrative for him and his. Rodgers lasted 3 years and 2 months in the Liverpool manager’s chair.
Before him, the Liverpool’s manager’s job was not exactly a role for life:
George Patterson: 1 June 1915 – 14 December 1919
David Ashworth England: December 1919 – February 1923
Matt McQueen: 1February 1923 – February 1928 229
George Patterson: March 1928 – August 1936
George Kay: August 1936 – January 1951
Don Welsh: March 1951 – May 1956
Phil Taylor: May 1956 – November 1959
Bill Shankly: December 1959 – July 1974
Bob Paisley: August 1974 – July 1983
Joe Fagan: July 1983 – May 1985
Kenny Dalglish: May 1985 – February 1991
Ronnie Moran: February 1991 – April 1991
Graeme Souness: April 1991 – January 1994
Roy Evans: January 1994 – November 1998
Evans & Gérard Houllier: July 1998 – November 1998
Gérard Houllier: 16 July 1998 – May 2004
Rodgers fits a patten, no? So what was “modern’ about his removal?
I feel desperately sorry for Brendan, it is too soon for him to be sacked after eight games, but it does seem to have been coming for weeks. For me, though, he has taken the blame for other people at Liverpool.
He was not sacked after eight weeks. He was sacked after threes years and two months.
In the modern game, it never seems to be the manager who signs the players, it’s just the manager who takes the blame when things don’t work out. It happens all the time and it is exasperating sometimes.
In the good old days, the Government had a say in who played. In 1922 the State-imposed maximum wage for a player set at £8 a week (£6 in the summer), plus a loyalty bonus of £650 after five years. The maximum wage was abolished in 1961.
Managers don’t have the same say on transfers that they used to, but they are still expected to take the blame if the new signings don’t work out. They have these transfer committees, but it’s only the manager who sticks his head above the parapet and he’s the one who gets shot at. The other lot just stay in the background, out of sight, but they have huge power. The only time you ever hear from them is when one of the players signed becomes a huge success.
Redknapp would, of course, never get praise for someone else’s work.
I don’t think Brendan has signed those new players at Liverpool. They’ve brought in players from Brazil and I don’t think he will have known much about them.
Let’s look at Liverpool’s Brazilian players.
Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira joined from German side Hoffenheim
Lucas Leivia joined from Brazilian club Grêmio in 2007
Philippe Coutinho joined from Italy’s Internazionale
If Rodgers doesn’t know much about players in other top European league’s, you should worry.
Redknapp concludes:
I don’t think Brendan deserved to go so soon into the season. I think they’ve got a wonderful chance of finishing in the top four this season… The thing that will frustrate him is that those new players may well go on to benefit the next manager. They will settle in England and they will get used to the Premier League.
Last summer, Rodgers signed:
James Milner – Man City – Free
Danny Ings – Burnley – Tribunal
Adam Bogdan – Bolton – Free
Joe Gomez – Charlton – £3.5m
Roberto Firmino – Hoffenheim – £29m
Nathaniel Clyne – Southampton – £12.5m
Let’s hop Milner and the other migrant workers settle in England.
This, of course, is the same Redknapp who told Telegraph readers in September 2015:
I don’t fancy Liverpool at all. I think it’s the worst Liverpool team I have seen in years. They look bang average. They are lucky to have any points. Bournemouth should have beaten them, they got a wonder goal at Stoke. Okay, they played all right first-half at Arsenal. I think they will do well to finish in the top five. I am not with Liverpool at all this year.
Modern football eh, full of overpaid pundits.
Posted: 5th, October 2015 | In: Liverpool, Reviews, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
