Liverpool's Decline

Liverpool’s Decline-The Lost Generation

Even though Kenny Dalglish is a highly successful manager, winning 3 league titles in his 6 years of reign, this had utterly disrupted the blueprint of domination for the last 30 years. In the 1960s, Liverpool was then an under-achieving team in division 2. Following the appointment of Bill Shankly as manager, did we rise from the wilderness. This had mainly due to the setting up of “boot room”, a place where backroom staff gathered to discuss team affairs.

There was also continuity as new manager was often appointed from among the staffs, already familiar with the club’s operation. However Kenny’s appointment broke the template and Ronnie Moran was bypassed in the process. Although Kenny manage to build new team from Paisley-Fagan aging ones, the “boot room” culture was ignored but relied on Kenny’s individual management ability. Maybe we could even win a few more European Cups had it not been for the ban on English clubs from continental football for 5 years following the Hillsbrough disaster.

However the same could not be said of Graeme Souness when the rot began to show. The slow evolution gave way to the revolution that shakes up the whole club. Just as Gorbachev led to USSR’s break-up, Liverpool Empire dismantled. He does not have the individual ability to succeed in the top flight.

Although Roy Evan, being one of the “boot room boys” shows that the Liverpool management is trying to go back to the tried-and-tested formula. However he failed to get the best out of his player, of which many arrived with big names.

Poor man-management was also evident as then Liverpool players had poor discipline, and know more for their scandals rather than football ability. In the past, potential Liverpool players must not only have superior ability, but also good character. However even this practice was lost, leading to endless trouble. This eventually made Robbie Fowler, once dubbed the “God”, to be just another average players.

At that time we did not even qualify for European football regularly, languishing in mid-table. This also means that we lost considerable revenue from regular continental football, putting us at the back foot financially. It was in this context that Steve McManaman leave on a free transfer.

By then Liverpool Empire collapsed, handling the dominance to Arsenal and Manchester United.

Although Gerard Houllier left a much better team and a good foundation for Rafael Benitez to work on, we are already too far behind. His defensive style suppresses the attacking instinct, which may be lost forever.

Indeed he wasted considerable resources buying reputable players only to put them on the bench. If he had been more prudent, we would by be able to really buy the top players such as Damien Duff. He pulled out of the deal as “there was not enough budget”.

Lesson: Continuity and Evolution is essential to long-term success. Only have a revolution when it’s absolutely necessary. Finding another success formula may elude you forever.
We had probably failed to adapt to the modern game which eventually led to stagnation.