Once again this weekend Liverpool failed to win or impress. The side is ravaged by injury, and critics are once again calling for the head of Rafael Benitez. When a football team slips into an unprecedented run of poor form, pressure to sack the manager is almost certain to follow. This is true of basically any team you’d care to mention in any place in the world, let alone an ailing, title-starved football juggernaut that has just seen its record of domestic championships matched by their most hated rivals.
Sometimes firing your manager works. It clears out not only his influence, but often that of his coaches and the players whom he appears to favour over others. Of course, it really only works when the man you bring in to replace the fallen gaffer is actually better at the job than his predecessor. This isn’t a given, seeing as the man Liverpool would be firing has won them the Champions League. No matter what your opinion happens to be about the club’s recent form, the Spaniard’s past selection policy, or the way he keeps playing Kuyt over Benayoun, Bnitez still ranks in the top 15 managers in world football. Finding a man to replace him and surpass him does not represent a simple task.
Assuming he is fired, however, and assuming we’re playing ‘fantasy football club owner’, who would be the prime candidates to take the job? Looking around the Premier League it’s tough to find anyone with the stature to step in at Anfield. The level of competition that the club is facing to win the league coupled with its 2005 success in Istanbul has meant that the standard of manager that the club is looking for has been raised to such a level that there are no longer many men who fit the bill at all. A Gerard Houllier-type appointment probably wouldn’t satisfy the Liverpool faithful, given that it would be at best a sideways step from the incumbent Spaniard.
Several names have been thrown into the hat, but one that keeps popping up is Jose Mourinho - the man who conjured for Chelsea what Liverpool desire the most; Premiership titles. It’s odd that he’s being linked with the job, however, given Liverpool fans’ past problems with him on what was basically a personal level. There’s no doubt that Mourinho is one of the top managers in world football today, but seeing him manage the Merseyside club after the ‘Shhh’ incident would be almost too bizarre for the eyes of many on the Kop, though sheer fickleness would probably see the entire episode forgotten after two months atop the table. Mourinho is contracted to Inter until 2012, however, and though he may be ostensibly the best option, Liverpool’s chances of convincing him any time soon to come to another club with ownership troubles is a long, long shot.
One man who may be unemployed soon and who has already shown talent for Premier League management is Guus Hiddink. After Russia were dumped out of World Cup qualifying last week by Slovenia (I bet they’ll be a blast to watch next summer), the Dutchman may shortly move on, and I’m sure those who want Benitez fired would love to have him; he only lost one match as Chelsea manager- vs. Tottenham Hostpur 1-0. Hiddink seemed to have the touch of dealing with top-level footballers that his predecessor Scolari lacked. The thing that makes him becoming Liverpool manager a little less likely is that after his great success in south-west London, Hiddink was made a technical advisor at Chelsea, a post which he still holds. I’m pretty sure that Liverpool would want him to give that up before taking a spot as their manager…
The club could of course look to Europe, but as we saw with Juande Ramos, managerial appointments even of highly successful men can result in failure, since the structure of football clubs on the continent differs from the structure here. The director of football role at many of the continent’s top clubs holds a sway that similarly titled positions in England do not; as such esteemed coaching capability does not necessarily equate to managerial prowess where transfer, contract and disciplinary responsibilities all come into play. It’s all well and good suggesting that Manuel Pellegrini (Real Madrid manager, always in danger of getting the sack), Manolo Jiminez (Sevilla manager, currently third in the table) or Unai Emery (Valencia boss, fourth in the table after recovering from an epic financial shambles) could take over, but the fact remains that high-profile appointments are still open to failure.
This leaves us with the riskier, younger propositions, and if I’m being honest, were Liverpool to really sack Rafael Benitez, this is the type of appointment I’d love to see. I’m no Liverpool fan, but it would arguably be the most entertaining from a neutral perspective. Michael Laudrup? Genius ex-player, currently unemployed, brought attacking football to Getafe and speaks English? Sounds great. How about Laurent Blanc? Tipped for the hot seat at Old Trafford when Sir Alex Ferguson retires, surely the opportunity to get one over their Mancunian rivals is something worth considering? .
But there is one man who is currently making a name for himself who actually has experience of life at Anfield, along with a penchant for scarves and a passion for heavy metal. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Markus Babbel! Last season Babbel took an initially shambolic Stuttgart side from the lower reaches of the table to the Champions League, and very nearly the Bundesliga title. This season has seen another rocky start from which the side is only now starting to recover, but that can at least partly be attributed to a) the loss of main striker Mario Gomez to Bayern Munich and b) the fact that Babbel is having to spend about half of every week studying for the appropriate UEFA coaching badge that allows him to manage a top Bundesliga side. How can you argue with a man that says ‘Heavy metal is a way of life’?
As is flagrantly apparent options exist for Liverpool. However, nearly all the suggestions above are fraught with complications, and that’s before we get to speculating whether the man brought in will actually bring stability and competency, let alone a league title. Managerial sackings have worked in the past, but they have also failed. In his fourth season at Manchester United (1989/90), Sir Alex Ferguson endured a terrible early-season run of six defeats and two draws in eight games. There were calls for his head, naturally. But following an FA Cup win over a strong Nottingham Forest side, Fergie managed to save his job, and things have worked out quite well haven’t they? Firing the manager, especially a high-calibre one, isn’t always the best option, and Liverpool would do well to remember this with Benitez.