Wednesday 2 February 2011

Dalglish stakes claim for permanent job

Liverpool's transfer deadline day dealings proved Kenny Dalglish is no 'caretaker' manager.

By Marcus Chhan

The new owners at Anfield may not have officially decided on who Liverpool's 'permanent' manager will be for next season, but their money is on Dalglish to take over full-time - about £57.8million worth in fact.

Of course, the Scot will have to get the right results on the pitch to be able to drop the 'caretaker' tag he's been stuck with since the Roy Hodgson debacle, but everyone in the dressing room at Anfield will have been buoyed to see how much the club has backed Dalglish.

The £22.8m signing of Suarez from Ajax was definitely Dalglish's idea; the Liverpool legend has been scouting the Uruguayan striker for the club for a few years now.

"He'll be a fantastic player and he's fantastic in the dressing room. For a Uruguayan, and a forward at that, to be captain of Ajax tells you something about the personality of the fella," Dalglish said on Sky Sports News.

I am not so sure about the temperament of Suarez - I mean this is a player who just months ago was handed a seven-match ban by the Dutch FA (KNVB) for biting an opponent. However, you can't dispute his goalscoring record (111 goals in 159 matches for Ajax). We shall see how he copes with the aggro in the English game.

Dalglish also took an active role in the record £35m signing of Andy Carroll rather than leaving the task of finding Fernando Torres' replacement at Anfield to director of football strategy Damien Comolli.

The Guardian writes: "The arrival of Carroll hardly fitted Comolli's brief, which is to unearth hidden gems at reasonable prices. Indeed it puts Comolli under a punishing spotlight.

"Caretakers are given mops and buckets, not the most expensive British footballer of all time on a five-and-a-half-year contract."

Dalglish's second reign at the club will live and die by Liverpool's results in the next half of the season, but encouragingly for supporters he hasn't burdened them with a huge debt in order to achieve goals - Liverpool recouped £56m from the sale of Torres and Ryan Babel.

Caretaker manager? No, he's better than that.

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