Kenny Dalglish’s win ratio of 47.3% was hardly the worst of any Premier League manager, but finishing behind city rivals Everton may have brought about his sacking. (Image | The Tactician Blog)
It was hard not to feel a tremendous sense of schadenfreude when the news came through that Liverpool Football Club had sacked manager Kenny Dalglish. After a year and a half at the helm, owner John Henry clearly decided that winning the Carling Cup wasn’t enough to make up for an eighth place finish in the Premier League. For weeks now, Liverpool-friendly pundits have been talking up the value of success in this competition, widely derided by most observers. The purpose of this aggrandisement is clear: Dalglish stands as one of the Merseyside club’s great heroes, and it is always difficult to acknowledge faults in an individual you hold in high esteem.
Acknowledge they must though. The Reds have spent big in an attempt to assert themselves as genuine top four and possibly title contenders, and they have fallen far short. In modern football it is the manager who perennially takes the blame for failure, and there can be no denying the fact that Liverpool have failed this season.
