The poor decisions at board room are affecting us.

The poor decisions at board room are affecting us.
A fish rots from his head.

I am finding it very hard to warm up to Roy Hodgson, and looking around me a lot of Liverpool fans feel the same way. It has been a dissapointing start to the league season . From the corresponding fixtures last season we had 8 points compared to this season's 6 points. People will do well to keep in mind that Roy had won just one away game last season.

Fingers should not be pointed to Roy Hodgson alone, but more towards the Board for sacking Rafa Benitez. For all his flaws, he alwayskept Liverpool in contention. Made Liverpool the no.1 team in Europe and competitive domestically. With the boardroom drama most Liverpool fans did not expect to win the league , but he got them 2nd Place running Manchester United very close in the process. Following season Benitez should have been backed in the transfer market. Liverpool were looking for the final push which will ultimately win them no.19 which the fans crave for. Instead Liverpool replaced 3 influential players with 3 new players.
Their were no additions made to the squad. The debt was crippling the whole club. The rest as they say is history. Liverpool went out in the group stages of the Champions League, a tournament that they had done brilliantly in the past, and finished a very disappointing 7th in the league. The manager was not without blame.

The signings of Aquilani, Johnson had not worked as planned and their were questionable tactics employed at times. But was it reason enough to sack the manager?
It would have been if we had an ambitious board that saw 7th place as a complete failure. A board that wanted nothing but good football to be played and wanted Liverpool to win trophies. But Liverpool don't have that. What they have is a board that does not represent Liverpool FC.

A chairman that is a Chelsea season ticket holder, and a investment banker who claims to be a fan of the club but has a thing for playing football manager. (He spoke to Van Der Vaart's agent without the consent of the manager). Then you have the 2 hated figures in Gillet and Hicks. No wonder the fans feel alienated
from the club.

Benitez did not have a board that understood LFC or understood football. They started believing the media claims, who were out to sell stories, that Rafa Benitez was not the man to lead Liverpool. The media continuously maligned the Liverpool manager. Zonal marking, rotation, the lack of understanding of the English game
were things that were used against Benitez. They needed to make a quick buck, and stories on Liverpool sell. The sad thing is that the board bought all the bull****e, and went ahead and sacked the manager. Many Liverpool fans did not like the decision who they considered as one of their own.The Anfield faithful had warmed up to him in a way they'd probably never do with Hodgson. He was a humble man, who loved the club, who did his best to get results, and made a team which was feared across Europe.

It was the best times for a Liverpool fan, who did not see the hay days of 70s and 80s. Liverpool were the no.1 team in Europe for a short while. The supporters and players feared no one in Europe. Their was a feeling that on a good day, Liverpool can thrash anyone. Scoring 4 goals against teams like United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Madrid was not the exception but the norm. When it used to click, the Liverpool machine was hard to stop. The fans recognized that,and at times it genuinely felt that Liverpool were 2-3 players short of dominating world football again. In a way Benitez was a victim of the name Liverpool Football Club.

.The press and the people expect Liverpool to win major honours just because of who they are. While in reality Benitez had a net spend on 16 million per season, and with that kind of resource, he did a fairly decent job. Many people accused Liverpool fans of trusting him blindly, but the man had earned that trust.
Wtih nights like Istanbul , Cardiff ,Old Trafford , Bernabau, Nou Camp, San Siro and Stamford Bridge.

They went and Hired Roy Hodgson, who has immediately came out and said that expectations need to be lowered. I don't think many Liverpool supporters had much ambition to start with this season, but in a funny way a 4th place would be considered as an amazing season , while last season the failure to achieve that resulted in the
manager getting the sack. A manager that had a proven record in getting Liverpool to the top 4 spot. Liverpool had turned into Newcastle and it was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of ' The Liverpool way'. The play so far has been uninspiring, with teams like Sunderland, Birmingham and Northampton Town dominating
Liverpool for vast periods of play. The loss of Mascherano has been hard to take, and the new signing Poulsen has been so bad that even the ardent Lucas hater would much rather have Lucas starting before him.

Maybe things will pick up soon, maybe the team will 'adapt' to Hodgson's style of play, but so far it looks like
the honest Englishman cannot inspire the players. Roy's a good man, but he has alienated the Liverpool supporters. His remark on the protest as an 'unecassary distraction' did not go down to well. His constant bigging up the opposition is another pet hate of most LFC fans.

The likes of Agger, who is perhaps the best CB in the club not getting a look in before the ageing Carragher or the hard working but less talented Skrtel is an indication to the way Roy wants to play from the back. The defence plays far too deep, just like any Roy's side and it is hurting Liverpool.

I would like to think he will turn it around, but the head says otherwise at the moment. Liverpool have not dominated a single game so far this season.

In a funny way, Rafa Benitez, the current manager of European champions Inter Milan, has nothing to win in his current job. It is Mourinho's team, the only way he can ever shut up his critics is to comeback and win the premier league. Maybe their is a date with destiny.

In the short term though, if results don't improve, its time for another Liverpool legend to step in... Kenny Dalglish.

Gaurav

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6 games into the season and things are not merry at Anfield at the moment to say the least. So many things are going wrong for the club at the moment but hey, at least we are above Everton, just about.

At the top you have the owners, two Americans who came to the club in 2007 beating off competition from Dubai International Capital. Who the hell rejects rich Arabs over Americans? I mean, even without looking at any books or anything, I could tell you an Arab has sh*t loads of money. Some people try to overcomplicate too many things, jeez.

Former Liverpool Chairman David Moores said at the time, "This is a great step forward for its shareholders and its fans." Oh David, how wrong were you? 3 years later and no significant squad investment has been made and there is still no work started on the new stadium, evidence that the Americans taking over the club has not been a step forward for anyone. At the end of the day, you sold the club to the Americans because you wanted to make a quick buck.

"We have purchased the club with no debt on the club," said Gillett at the time of the take over. "We believe in the future of the club, the future of the league, the new TV contracts are outstanding and we are proud to be a part of it.

"This is truly the largest sport in the world, the most important sport in the world, and this is the most important club in the most important sport in the world.

"What a privilege we have to be associated with it and we hope that with the good graces of Rick and his team that we will have on-the-pitch success and economic success."

Ahhhhhh, it was like music to all Liverpool fans ear, what we wanted to hear. Unfortunately though the song that played was something from Vanilla Ice, its sucked...like really bad.

They said the club would consider selling the naming rights to the new stadium. What stadium? I did an extension to my house quicker than these idiots put a spade in the ground.

Gillett added: "If the naming rights are worth one great player a year in transfer spending, we will certainly look at that as a serious option."

And people wonder why Liverpool fans are so angry? Yes, we may complain because we haven’t been taken over by someone wealthy but we wouldn’t mind if the club situation was exactly the same as before, however it is not, the situation is a lot worse than before the Americans.

Although it has been a torrid time for Liverpool fans all over the world during the American occupation, I do believe it is end game for the two most unpopular people on the Kop. If one were to believe what they read, they would have reason to think that there are buyers interested in the club. The fact of the matter is why would anyone buy now when they know they can get the club a lot cheaper when the banks refinance in October.

The best thing now may be for the bank to take over, administration, 9 point deduction and all, with a swift sale to new owners who will invest in the squad and start the building work on a much needed stadium to take this great club catch up with the times of modern day football. However with Liverpool FC, things are not as simple as that. Most likely something will come back to bite us in the backside and say ‘HEY, THINGS CANT GO SMOOTHLY FOR YOU!!’.

On the pitch, things are not going too great either (talk about an understatement hey?). 6 games played, 1 win, 2 losses and three draws makes a grand total of 6 points. The chaos at the top of the club seems to have had a knock on effect. For f**k sakes, I have more points on my licence...j/k I don’t have my licence and only passed my theory today...OLE!

New manager Roy Hodgson has a difficult task ahead of him to rekindle some of the confidence back into this team that two seasons back pushed Manchester United all the way for the title.

Although things are going bad at the moment, all new managers deserve time and patience to impose their system of playing and tactics onto the team. It has to be said that he has not been very well backed in the transfer market and for some reason has had to get rid of Aquilani and Mascherano. Luckily getting rid of Aquilani has meant we have been able to save money due to 99% of medical staff jobs have been cut at the club.

He has not been given any funds; all the money spent has been through sales. Liverpool fans need to be patient and lower their expectations this season because it will be tough until new owners come in, which hopefully happen sooner, rather than later.

My message to Liverpool fans right now is to have a bit of patience, give the manager time and only judge him at the end of the season because we are known for being patient and long may it continue. At a time like this, the team and the manager need all the support they can get.

Times are difficult both on and off the pitch at Anfield but do remember that after hardship there is always ease.

Liverpool fans will hope this is the case in terms of the ownership situation and the team.

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nAz

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nAz