Petition to Hodgson

To:  Liverpool Fans
Dear Mr Henry and Mr Werner

The undersigned plead with you to relieve our great Club’s current manager, Mr Hodgson, of his duties immediately.

Upon purchase of the club, a key promise you made was to engage with and listen to the fans – we very much hope this was with a view to acting on issues we feel tremendously strongly about. Indeed all have been impressed with your approach to managing the Club and handling of the media to date, however now is the time to take swift and decisive action in respect of a matter vital to our progression.

This is not simply an unconsidered reaction following the loss to Wolves yesterday evening, though this was clearly an unacceptable result, but a culmination of events over the past six months. Liverpool fans are widely regarded as knowledgeable and, crucially, extremely patient, and so the fact recent polls show that in excess of 95% wish to see Mr Hodgson removed from his position is evidence enough that it is time to fulfil your promise. Can a majority this overwhelming be ignored and, more importantly, all incorrect in their views?

The fans all understand the potential argument for keeping Mr Hodgson, namely the importance of stability, however the current regime poses a threat even to this as, should we continue in our current vain, there is both little hope of attracting the calibre of player required to improve our fortunes and little chance of retaining players key to maintaining a solid core around which we can build.

Your willingness to stand by a manager is noble and it is encouraging that owners with a degree of patience still exist in the world of football, however it is crucial that this patience is only offered to an individual worthy of it. Results are clearly a key performance measure for any manager. Results have without question been unacceptable under the current manager. However, Mr Hodgson also falls short in respect of an array of other measures as outlined below.

Mr Hodgson asked to be judged after 10 games. We have given him 18 and he has provided the worst start to a league campaign for 57 years. Even by his own measures, he deserves to go.


Inexperience at the top level

In any managerial position, within football or otherwise, relevant experience is key. Whilst Mr Hodgson possesses experience, whether it is relevant is open to debate.

But for a brief, and unsuccessful, spell with Inter Milan, Mr Hodgson has never managed a leading club in one of the top six European leagues (England, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Holland). In fact, the majority of his career has been spent managing in Sweden and Switzerland which are, with the greatest respect, incomparable to the Premier League.

It could be argued that many managers have proved successful having had very little or no top level managerial experience – Pep Guardiola (Barcelona) and Kenny Dalglish being examples. Despite the obvious difference in quality between our current squad and those at the disposal of the two aforementioned managers, these individuals possessed another form of relevant experience – club specific experience. Having served as players both Guardiola and Dalglish had excellent knowledge of their respective clubs prior to appointment. The same cannot be said of Mr Hodgson and his lack of understanding of the club has been highlighted throughout his tenure and is discussed later in this petition.

Ultimately Mr Hodgson has no experience of winning trophies in one of the elite leagues and minimal experience of managing a club in one of these leagues. This has clearly resulted in some of the major mistakes both in terms of media handling and player signing discussed below.


Relationship with the fans / Communication with the media

We are sure you will agree that it should be a prerequisite for any manager of Liverpool Football Club to understand and immerse himself in the culture of the Club as well as form a strong connection with and act as an ambassador for fans and players alike. Misleading the fans in order to protect your own position, something recently attempted by Mr Hodgson, does not form part of this and is entirely intolerable. He claimed in December “The only team with better results than us over the past five or six games is Arsenal or Manchester United. If you take the last five or six games we are right up there in terms of results” – in fact at this point Liverpool were 11th in the 6 game form table.

Prior to his appointment, Mr Hodgson was often lauded for his handling of the media and general ability to communicate in an articulate and sensible manner. Post appointment Mr Hodgson has, with shocking regularity, contradicted himself and communicated with a complete lack of consistency or indeed sense. The continually changing messages can surely be expected to confuse the players and do nothing for the relationship between the squad and Mr Hodgson.

Contradictions include but are not limited to the following:

1) Description of the squad as ‘unbelievably overstaffed’ before later in the season describing it as being short in a number of areas including central defence, wide positions and central strikers (all at different points in the season).
2) Describing Ryan Babel as a striker before complaining that he is forced to rely on non-specialists such as Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt in striking positions (having had a transfer window to sign a specialist), before again confirming his belief that Ryan Babel is indeed best used as a central striker.
3) Bemoaning a lack of quality before stating he is in fact happy with the squad, that it has far greater quality than he initially believed and he is now unsure whether additions are required in January. This was after stating we required 2 wingers and 2 strikers but before back-tracking and stating various players are in fact needed.

Aside from the above, it is the duty of any manager to protect his players when they are attacked publicly by an opposing manager. When this happens to be the manager of the side who are historically your fiercest rivals, and the comments are without any foundation, the responsibility is made greater still. The comments made by Sir Alex Ferguson following our 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford in September demanded an immediate response from Mr Hodgson. The decision not to defend Fernando Torres, a key player who was suffering a lack of form and confidence at the time, illustrated an astonishing rejection of what should be considered an inherent obligation and, furthermore, an unbelievable lack of understanding of the feeling Liverpool fans have in respect of Manchester United. Ultimately there is no doubt such poor management of the situation is likely to have impacted on team spirit and led to some level of damage in the player-manager relationship.

Further comments likely to be detrimental to team spirit include but are not limited to the following:

1) Describing the squad as containing too many expensive flops and not enough good cheap players. This wide-arching comment could easily be interpreted as an attack on each and every member of the squad and unlikely to foster confidence in a visibly under-confident team.
2) Describing the reserve players (i.e. youngsters and squad players) as ‘a bunch of also rans’ when discussing potential use of Fernando Torres in the game versus Utrecht. Hardly a comment likely to encourage and fill such players with confidence.
3) Public criticism of players such as Glen Johnson which, although justified, should be discussed with the player rather than the media.

Alarmingly Mr Hodgson has attempted to drag the expectations of fans in line with his own lowly standards. The undersigned are conscious that you have limited experience of the football world and whilst there are similarities across all sports and you have great experience within Baseball, there are intricacies within each that take time to understand. We therefore urge you not to take all that Mr Hodgson says on face value. Whilst some level of expectations management is reasonable, the defeatist attitude and acceptance of mediocrity so often put forward by Mr Hodgson are not.

Comments highlighting this acceptance of mediocrity include but are not limited to:

1) Description of our solitary away win at Bolton as a ‘famous’ victory.
2) Describing our current form (i.e. the past 5 of 6 games) as ‘right up there’ when Liverpool lay 11th in the six game form table.
3) Describing our 2-0 away loss to Everton as the best performance of our season.
4) Describing fans expectations as too high and suggesting they need to be revised (“"I know that I am capable of doing this job, but maybe the expectations and ambitions of the club were too high and weren't lessened by the fact that I came off the back of such a good season”). Liverpool fans are realistic and did not expect a challenge for the title this season. A strong challenge for a top four spot is however perfectly reasonable to expect.

Mr Hodgson appears unwilling to take any responsibility for the disastrous situation in which we find ourselves. He has consistently blamed our current position on the players, previous manager and even the fans (re protests against previous owners and following the Wolves result) at various points in the season. The continual talking up of his performance and satisfaction are hugely arrogant.

Comments illustrating this arrogance include but are not limited to:

1) "People may have thought I would turn it around and unfortunately that's not been the case... but I am certainly very satisfied with the job I have done here.”

2) "Of course, my track record, if people bothered to study it, would put me in the same category as [Mr Ferguson] Ferguson enjoys today”

3) “Unless there is a major influx of cash into the club and the team is going to be changed from one moment to the next, then whoever takes my place will be doing a similar job with similar players”


Signings

The ability to identify weaknesses within a squad and signing the players to resolve these weaknesses as well as improve the overall quality of the side form a key part of the role of manager. Clearly Mr Hodgson had a limited budget with which to work during the summer, however his use of this budget was nothing short of appalling and did not address key areas of weakness, namely in forward positions, which even he had highlighted as areas needing recruitment early in transfer window. Mr Hodgson’s transfer activity is assessed below, figures used being approximate and based on those extensively reported by the media.

Paul Konchesky (PK) – the signing of PK for approximately £3.5m is perhaps the most confusing of all Mr Hodgson’s transfer dealings, on a number of levels. PK’s performances over the course of the season have been nothing short of shambolic, with a number of individual errors leading directly to the conceding of goals and loss of points (versus Man United, Tottenham and Everton to name just three). What makes the signing most absurd is the fact part of our small transfer budget was wasted on a position in which we already possessed a player of at least equal quality to PK, namely Emiliano Insua, a 20 year old already capped by Argentina, who was subsequently released on loan. Insua qualified as ‘homegrown’ due to the period of time spent at the club and so there seems no logical basis for the decision. Even more baffling was the fact a 29 year old broadly seen as a stop gap due to a lack of experience outside mid-table clubs and well below the expected quality of a Liverpool player was given a 4 year contract. This is incomprehensible. When Mr Hodgson complains of his inability to move on sub standard players due to their contracts, I assume he includes this signing?

Christian Poulsen (CP) – the signing of CP for approximately £4m and release of Alberto Aquilani (AA) on loan provide another example of clueless manoeuvring in the transfer market. Having recovered from injury, AA had shown signs of great promise towards the end of the 2009/10 season. He is widely considered a player of great talent and, at the age of 26, could be considered to have a number of his best years ahead. Despite this, and the fact AA had now had time to adjust to the Premiership and his teammates, Mr Hodgson chose to bring in another player who would require a period of adjustment and who, at the age of 30, is approaching the end of his career. Moreover, CP has gone on to start only a handful of games. Though there is some logic to moving on AA, it could be argued he does not fit the Premier League, surely a permanent move in order to raise funds for areas of weakness would be preferable, particularly if he does not feature in the managers plans.

Brad Jones (BJ) – the purchase of BJ for approximately £2.5m is another inexplicable signing. Whilst the departure of Diego Cavalieri appears to have been inevitable due to his desire for first team football, and though Charles Itandje was clearly not an option for the Number 2 spot due to his well documented behaviour at the Hillsborough service, the wisdom in signing BJ is questionable at best in light of our limited budget. The club have highly promising youngsters in both Peter Gulasci and Martin Hansen however, if a more experienced individual was seen as required, surely a free transfer option would have been a preferable option? Richard Wright, a player with more Premier League experience than BJ and of a similar quality, was available for no fee.

Raul Meireles – Mr Hodgson’s most successful signing who, at approximately £11m, appears to offer reasonable value for money and is clearly of a higher quality than those discussed above. However, despite being known predominantly as a central midfielder, a position in which he has excelled and is obviously suited to, Mr Hodgson has, on occasions, chosen to deploy RM on both the left and right of the Liverpool midfield. This is the same manager who has complained of having to employ non-specialists in positions to which they are not suited. Had the squad been struggling with injuries at the time, this would perhaps be understandable. However RM was used on the right of midfield against Wolves when no less than four players with more experience and recognition as wide players were available for selection; Cole, Babel, Rodriguez and Aurelio. Mr Hodgson has in fact stated that he does not know where RM’s best position is, when it is blindingly obvious to virtually all others who watch even just the occasional game.

Early in the transfer window, Mr Hodgson himself clearly highlighted the desperate need for at least one, preferably two, strikers and another attacking player – a view shared by the fans. Despite identifying this need he failed to act upon the situation in good time. This culminated in an embarrassing last minute pursuit, better described as a panicked scramble, to sign Carlton Cole. If Mr Hodgson is of the view that this calibre of signing will propel Liverpool FC towards the top 4 of the league, he is seriously mistaken. This is yet another example of the mediocrity he has attempted to inflict upon this Club and his inability to adapt the methods which translated so well from Malmo to Orebo to Neuchatel Xamax. In all, approximately £10m was wasted on needless signings (PK + BJ + CP). In comparison, our rivals Tottenham bought Van Der Vaart for £8m. This amount wasted, combined with the cash earmarked for Calrton Cole could surely have been spent far more prudently however the goalscoring burden remains on the shoulders of Fernando Torres.


Statistics

Whilst a portion of the above arguments could be considered subjective in nature, the following statistics cannot be argued with and tell a damning tale.

1) Prior to defeat versus Everton, we had already suffered the worst start to a league campaign since 1953/54.
2) After the Wolves game, virtually the midpoint in the campaign, the season to date remains the worst since 1953/54.
3) We have won on only a single occasion away from home, being the ‘famous win away to Bolton. Mr Hodgson’s away record in a number of previous jobs leaves much to be desired – 1 away win in his final season at Fulham for example. In a recent interview Hodgson also discussed quite openly how despite an awful away record, he went on to win the league in Sweden – another example of how methods employed from Malmo to Orebo et al will not translate to the Premier League.
4) We have lost to newly promoted sides Blackpool (Home) and Newcastle (Away) as well as to bottom club Wolves (Home). Wolves had collected only a single point away from home and kept only one clean sheet over the entire season to date.
5) Liverpool are positioned 12th after 18 league games. This is unacceptable.


Please Act Now

In summary, the undersigned feel it is imperative Roy Hodgson is removed as manager of Liverpool Football Club immediately. The Club deserves a manager of greater quality, who understands it’s culture and an individual who will act as a true ambassador. This is not a reflection of the impatience of fans, merely a statement that patience must only be afforded to the correct individual.

We hope you fulfil your promise of listening to us and act to remedy the situation before it worsens. The current season can be written off and giving a new manager 6 months to learn about the squad, identify areas for improvement and consider potential summer signings is essential to having a much improved 2011/12 season and beginning the long road to recovery.

Please save our club before any more damage is done.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

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