New manager thread

[kemm1]

By Ben Smith
BBC Sport Liverpool's owners are keen for the club's new manager to be in place for at least four to five years, but there is no front-runner at this stage.

Tom Werner and John W Henry have begun the search for the Reds' fourth boss in two years after sacking Kenny Dalglish and have a number of names in mind.

The new boss is likely to get a transfer budget of over £30m.

Intermediaries acting for the club have spoken with Andre Villas-Boas, but he is unlikely to get the job.

The Portuguese was sacked by Chelsea in March.

Former Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez is also not thought to be in the running. The Americans are known to have been impressed by Wigan manager Roberto Martinez but no talks have taken place.

Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has often spoken of his admiration for the Anfield club and it is thought he would be willing to grant the Spaniard permission to discuss the post with Henry and Werner.

Liverpool's owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are keen to appoint a replacement at the earliest possible opportunity.

Dalglish left for Spain on a planned family holiday on Wednesday night. His wife Marina wrote on Twitter: "Really sad day for us a family but we all remain LFC fans. All so proud of Kenny."

On Wednesday, sources close to Henry were keen to stress the American owners do have a clear vision for the future of the club and are likely to appoint three senior directors in the coming weeks.

Meetings have been held with a number of potential directors of football, including Johan Cruyff and former Barcelona sporting director Txiki Begiristain, while they have also spoken to at least one candidate to fill the chief executive's role.

Henry and Werner are also thought to be close to appointing a new director of communications to replace Ian Cotton.

While the departure of Dalglish has left something of a power vacuum at Anfield, FSG felt they had to act given Liverpool's failure to challenge for a Champions League qualifying place, a clear target at the start of the season.

Liverpool's most recent annual report revealed that the club's prolonged absence from the competition had cost the club a minimum of £30m in revenue each year.

While the owners were encouraged by the Carling Cup victory in February, the first silverware since 2006, it could not cover up the failings of a poor Premier League campaign.

Steve Clarke, Dalglish's assistant, has stepped down out of loyalty to the 61-year-old Scot

There will be plenty of speculation on message boards and in the media but I don't think anyone has a clue who will be appointed.

If I were to take a guess I wouldn't even know where to begin as we really don't know the owners well enough and their thoguht process on these matters at all.

[Slinky Skills]

Rafa's running away with it on the poll, and by quite a distance too.

[Slinky Skills]

Sigh.

[Slinky Skills]

Why isn't Guardiola on that list??

****ing hell.

We all bang on about how we're not happy to settle for mediocrity yet the best possible candidate for the job isn't even ****ing listed.

No wonder we'll always settle for second best.

[Fivex]

Maybe he's so far out of our league we just haven't got the guts to speak to him.

[colin85]

Guardiola should be asked.

[Red_Polo]

Maybe he's so far out of our league we just haven't got the guts to speak to him.

****, man. LFC are the new Slinky

[-V-]

Why isn't Guardiola on that list??

****ing hell.

We all bang on about how we're not happy to settle for mediocrity yet the best possible candidate for the job isn't even ****ing listed.

No wonder we'll always settle for second best.

Not really. Its more so because Guardiola has made it very clear for a long while that he wanted a year off. He has just left Barcelona and said he wanted a break for a year.

So why would anyone think he's going to go straight into another job? He isn't. Thats what it means by a year off

[Slinky Skills]

Maybe he's so far out of our league we just haven't got the guts to speak to him.

It's in our head though, he's not out of our league at all we're bigger and better than most teams.

We've had success in the past and there's no guarantee we can be successful in the future but with him at the helm we have a great chance of doing that.

He's had a month off already, most mortal beings don't even get 21 days off annual leave so I'm sure he's feeling recovered already, I'd even wager that he's bought himself a few more grey suits which will come in handy on the gloomy winter nights at Stoke he'd fit in quite nicely.

We have to "Have the guts" to speak to him, like I've said he will only say yes or no. If he says no then we persist and try and convince him that he can help take us forward.

Just imagine those champions league nights on ITV HD again with him on the touchline and us destroying teams left right and centre.

[Zapater]

Why would we want a self proclaimed exhausted manager whom himself has claimed he isn't in any state to work?

[-V-]

My problem with AVB is the way he handled the issues at Chelsea. He played a 433 which was just too attacking to work in the Premier League and he seemed incapable of fixing it. His defence was getting torn apart because he was playing 3 in midfield against teams that were playing 5 and this controlling the game.

It may work in Portugal because the league is utter ****e

He was completely incapable of seeing where he was going wrong and deserved to be sacked. For that reason I wouldn't want him at Liverpool, he's overhyped and has a lot to learn

[Slinky Skills]

Guardiola should be asked.

****, man. LFC are the new Slinky

[Red_Polo]

Mourinho seemed to do alright with 4-3-3. It's how you play it.

Ahhh, Slinks man you made me feel bad now chin up buddy

[Slinky Skills]

My problem with AVB is the way he handled the issues at Chelsea. He played a 433 which was just too attacking to work in the Premier League and he seemed incapable of fixing it. His defence was getting torn apart because he was playing 3 in midfield against teams that were playing 5 and this controlling the game.

It may work in Portugal because the league is utter ****e

He was completely incapable of seeing where he was going wrong and deserved to be sacked. For that reason I wouldn't want him at Liverpool, he's overhyped and has a lot to learn

I'm not surprised playing 433 players!

Perhaps he's learned from his mistakes?

[MrMichael]

Not really. Its more so because Guardiola has made it very clear for a long while that he wanted a year off. He has just left Barcelona and said he wanted a break for a year.

So why would anyone think he's going to go straight into another job? He isn't. Thats what it means by a year off

Get out of here with your logical reasoning