How long before you lose patience with Levy?

[LexingtonSpurs]

I don't know enough about Levy's mandate from ownership to know whether he is doing his job well enough to keep it. I assume that since he still has his job, he is doing what ownership wants in terms of delivering bottom line financial results. If that is what the ownership group wants, replacing Levy is not the answer to any reasonable question.

 

[jambreck]

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/19/liverpool-brendan-rodgers-tottenham-cardiff

Brendan Rodgers has claimed he had "a close shave" in rejecting the chance to manage Tottenham Hotspur as he launched an outspoken attack on the hierarchies at White Hart Lane and Cardiff City.

The Liverpool manager delivered his scathing assessment in response toAndré Villas-Boas' sacking by Spurs and Malky Mackay again being undermined at Cardiff by the owner, Vincent Tan. Rodgers was approached about replacing Harry Redknapp as Tottenham manager in 2012, only to cool on the vacancy once he studied the club's track record of hiring and firing managers. He was ultimately lured from Swansea City to Liverpool that summer while Villas-Boas succeeded the discarded Redknapp.

Lots of quotes later on in the article, and he says one of the reasons he refused the job was the number of managers that Levy has fired.

Yes I am sure

Quite apart from the fact that FSG had sacked two managers in eighteen months since taking over Liverpool (so much for his supposed reasons for choosing them), his mere claim that he rejected Spurs doesn't prove that he really did. It's just one of those "he would say that, wouldn't he?" moments.

Spurs' modus operandi when seeking new players or managers is almost always to sound out a number of different options. In much the same way, it seems that we have sounded out De Boer and Prandelli as well as Van Gaal to take over manager's job in the summer, in the event that Sherwood is relieved of his duties.

Rodgers would have been just one candidate on Levy's list - not necessarily the first choice. It's quite possible that Spurs did speak to him but never followed up their initial contact because they were waiting on a decision from their first choice, AVB.....and then Liverpool made a firm offer to Rodgers which he accepted. Thus he could claim that he turned us down despite never having actually been offered the job - especially since such a claim will have ingratiated him to Liverpool fans (butt hurt after losing out on a few players to Spurs). Rodgers is big on that kind of thing.

I'm pretty sure that there was also a Levy quote at the time of AVB's appointment, claiming that AVB was always his first choice. I appreciate that you could easily say that that too might be a lie. And that would be fair enough. But, at the very least, it does show how Rodgers' quote isn't to be taken as gospel.

 

[jambreck]

Liverpool absolutely stopped their best player from leaving, seemingly irrespective of money and are reaping the rewards by leaping up the table and don't tell me we had to sell Bale, as it wasn't as if Suarez didn't nearly take Liverpool to the courts!!!

We sold the best player in the league and are just about standing still. It is all we do at the moment, stand still. Just when we have the right ingredients we sell them. And no one give me this crap that Bale had to have his move, as look how many applaud Liverpool's stance on Suarez. The media especially are totally 2 faced on this.

I can't believe that there's still talk about this Bale / Suarez comparison.

There is no comparison.

Bale was the subject of a world record offer from the biggest club in the world - a club that isn't a direct rival to Spurs in domestic competition. Suarez was the subject of an insulting joke of an offer from a Premier League rival.

If Real Madrid had offered £85m for Suarez, does any sane person think that he would still be at Anfield? If Man Utd had offered £40,000,001 for Bale, does any sane person think that he would now be at Old Trafford?

Of course not.

So enough of this. Please.

 

[ultimateloner]

I'm struggling to fathom the critique on Levy.

1) That he failed to hold onto the best players e.g. Berba/Carrick/Modric/Bale
2) That we signed the wrong players
3) That we have a merry-go-around in managers.

Against 1 he got a good price so i think he did his part. We are not a club that can resist a sale if a bigger club comes knocking and willing to pay the right price; the combination of player power, internal pressure and commercial gains are good enough reasons to sell.

Against 2 our record in player purchases have improved since his reign. The major flops (ones that led to significant losses) are only Bentley thus far; i dont think we lsot out a great deal on Bent. Maybe Jenas coutns as one. This seasons new recruts haven't had enough time yet to be deemed success/failure (e.g. Lamela/Soldad).

Against 3 this is what modern management calls for. If someone's failing (or not reaching the required standards) then it makes more sense to change than to stick with it; at least thats how things are in other high profile/big money industries like Finance. Don't see why Football should be any different.

 

[hodsgod]

Quite apart from the fact that FSG had sacked two managers in eighteen months since taking over Liverpool (so much for his supposed reasons for choosing them), his mere claim that he rejected Spurs doesn't prove that he really did. It's just one of those "he would say that, wouldn't he?" moments.

Spurs' modus operandi when seeking new players or managers is almost always to sound out a number of different options. In much the same way, it seems that we have sounded out De Boer and Prandelli as well as Van Gaal to take over manager's job in the summer, in the event that Sherwood is relieved of his duties.

Rodgers would have been just one candidate on Levy's list - not necessarily the first choice. It's quite possible that Spurs did speak to him but never followed up their initial contact because they were waiting on a decision from their first choice, AVB.....and then Liverpool made a firm offer to Rodgers which he accepted. Thus he could claim that he turned us down despite never having actually been offered the job - especially since such a claim will have ingratiated him to Liverpool fans (butt hurt after losing out on a few players to Spurs). Rodgers is big on that kind of thing.

I'm pretty sure that there was also a Levy quote at the time of AVB's appointment, claiming that AVB was always his first choice. I appreciate that you could easily say that that too might be a lie. And that would be fair enough. But, at the very least, it does show how Rodgers' quote isn't to be taken as gospel.

It was reported at the time of his appointment that AVB was third choice, I didn't report it, but it was out there. I brought it up in a post and found those quotes as evidence to back it up.

You can choose not to believe direct quotes if you have to, but try finding quotes to back up your theory. If your theory has any realism out there you may be able to find it.

I do love your whole scenario though, and the fact that you would imagine Rodgers would say he rejected Spurs as a "he would say that" moment. Why would he say it if he hadn't? Why would Spurs allow it to be published in a national daily and not deny it?

It's ok dreaming up a scenario like yours to suit how you see the world, but you have to apply logic to it, and I don't see the logic personally. No logic for Rodgers to make a spurious claim.

 

[Mullers]

That's not why previous managers have been sacked.

My take.
Jol sacked because it didn´t look like he was going to get us top 4.
Ramos sacked for the same reason.
Harry sacked because he didn´t get top four.
We´ve had this discussion before and I know that you disagree so I am just going to agree to disagree.