In seriousness I think O'Neill might end up being the best option. I too am wary of Benitez using Liverpool as a leverage tactic, I just can't see him leaving a double winning team to come to Liverpool. Everyone knows that improving on #4 will be difficult with Chelsea, Arsenal, and Man Utd. all above. Liverpool needs a special manager, hopefully the board comes through and Liverpool can regain their place alongside the best and compete for the championship again next year.
The way the rumour winds appear to be blowing (today, at least) Benitez looks to be our man: Echo: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/mediawatch/drilldown/MW6112040526-1240.htm ITV: http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/mediawatch/drilldown/MW6113040526-1421.htm I'm sure this will all change tomorrow. ----
And there we have it: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=301638&cc=5901 Benitez effectively tells us to go play with ourselves. (I'm sure something got lost in translation.)
Wow! It's not even tomorrow in Thailand yet! If Benitez is truly out of the running (and I don't see any chance of Maurinho taking the job), then it's got to be Hitzfeld or Ranieri. Someone, eventually, will figure out that in the EPL we expect to play more than eighteen or twenty competitive matches a year--so that will be that for MON. ----
One one hand Benitez was using Liverpools name to pump up his worth to Valencia. Then on the other he says he's staying at Valencia to pump up his worth to Liverpool. I think maybe it was the former. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headli...638&cc=3888 You know though (Well if you don't you're an idiot!) that the media is selling paper and airtime, they'll print anything to to take up space and and get paid for it. Soccernet had GH staying as the door was closing behind him..!
Which is another way of saying we should rename this thread to, oh, let's say "New Manager Rumors, Tabloid Lies, and Nonsense." Or something like that. ----
Earlier this morning reports were saying that Benitez will be our manager. Now he is saying he is commited to Valencia. I think that Mourhino knows who he will be managing next year. He just doesn't want to say anything until after today's Champions League Final. I'm guessing that Mourhino will either confirm he is going to Chelsea tomorrow or say he has interest in the Liverpool job.
In a post-match interview today (I just saw it on ESPN), Mourhino confirmed that he had definitely just coached his last match for Porto. He did not say where he was going next . . . ----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/champions_league/3746255.stm Mourhino quits Porto. I would guess he is going to Chelsea.
For some reason I have a feeling he will choose Liverpool. Either way, the choice has already been made. We are just waiting for him to announce it.
I'm not so sure. a) Chelsea have been kissing his arse for months now. b) While Liverpool does buy you more time, and more patience, I would see a confident, headstrong manager like that drool at the prospect of an established club with unlimited resources. He just won the CL with a ho-hum team on paper. If he has the guts and ego required to succeed at the highest level, he'll relish the Chelsea chance, sink or swim. Roman has likely made him believe that he can win 5 CLs on the trot and turn the Blues into an English dynasty. We can't make those kind of guarantees, or have those kinds of expectations. I think he's out. Leaving my checklist (in order) at: Benitez, Ranieri, Hitzfeld, my Golden Retriever, MON, Curbishley.
As the days go by I'm really perplexed. Why rush to let GH go if you don't have a replacement lined up? I mean why proceed on the basis of a list of candidates. If they didn't have some one lined up they are really poor managers. And that is probably the case.
Perhaps Liverpool's upper management has class, unlike Chelsea, and doesn't feel it necessary to spend all season going behind people's backs to get it done. If Houllier was going they did the right thing to make the choice early into the offseason. Now it gives them a chance to see who is interested. Perhaps Liverpool's management has targeted Ranieri, kind of hard to announce him while he is still a lame duck at Chelsea.
There is a possibility that we have secured a deal with Mourhino which could obviously not have been anounced until after the Champions League final. If Chelsea had a deal secured for him, I don't think they would have kept quiet about it. And why is Mourinho saying he wants to join an "English club." Why not just say Chelsea. Even if we don't get Mourhino, we will bring in a good manager. It wouldn't have been fair to Houllier to keep him in the dark while we search for a new manager. Its unbelievable that Raneri still has not been sacked by Chelsea.
I think we have already made a deal with either Benitez or Mourinho. I change my mind every two minutes about who the deal is with though! Right now, I say Benitez.
Mourihno is expected to make an announcment in the next few days. How can he announce he is going to Chelsea if Raneiri is still there? Why havn't Chelsea sacked Raneiri if a deal has already been agreed with Mourhino? I think Liverpool may have quietly signed Mourhino. But I could be totally wrong.
Chelsea could just keep Ranieri on as a coach or advisor. He has three years left on his contract and they might say we want you to stay on. Ranieri will then cut a deal, perhaps one years pay, and become a manager elsewhere, rather than just hang around coaching the youth team. If Chelsea sack him they`ll have to pay him in full, £6m. Reading Benitez`s comments, it`s on for a move to Liverpool. There are some internal politics at Valencia and he`s either going to get his boss changed or leave.
On Sky tonight, Mourhino said he wanted a new challenge and was nearly certain he'd be going to England. He added that he didn't want to look back ten years from now and see that Porto had been his only triumph. Benitez, also in a statement reported on Sky, said he was already at a Big Club and had no desire to move on. He specifically denied links to Inter, Real, and (IIRC) Juve--but his list of Clubs he was not going to didn't include either LFC or CFC. They're all having fun jerking us around, I'll bet. For the next ten minutes or so, I think I'll say it's going to be Mourhino. ----
Signing anyone other than Mourinho or Benitez would probably be viewed poorly in the eyes of fans. I think the other names posted are no better than GH. GH was a good man and an above average manager. The fact is Liverpool needed someone who was above above average to compete for the title.