“I cant do this job on three wheels”.
This is one of the hardest jobs around, there are no conspiracies for me, Jurgen says he’s tired and cant do it anymore, I believe him. The above image came after the 4-1 win at Brenford and it said it all for me.
I always thought Bill Shankly’s departure was shrouded in mystery too, but having read several books I came to the conclusion that after 15 years he too was tired and couldn’t do it anymore.
When Jurgen Klopp announced he was leaving at the end of the season I spoke with my Dad, he is old enough to remember the old days of Liverpool. I surmised:
“This job has taken it out of the best of them, even Bill Shankly”
He didn’t argue.
When I researched this I found some less obvious names that seemed to have found the job too much.
Tom Watson- After leading Sunderland to three league titles in four seasons, Watson moved to Liverpool where he would win league championships in 1901 and 1906. A year after leading Liverpool to their first ever FA cup final in 1914, friends reported that Watson complained he felt unwell at a match. Within a week Watson had passed away from the effects of pneumonia, he was still manager of Liverpool and his 19 year reign to the year 1915 is the longest in the clubs history. He may have been the first but he certainly wasn’t the last.
Matt McQueen- Guided Liverpool to the league championship in 1923 following the surprise departure of David Ashworth who had returned to Oldham Athletic. Ashworth lead Liverpool to the league championship in 1922, and surprisingly left top of the table Liverpool in February 1923 for bottom club Oldham.
McQueen took over the reins and finished the job off, he was the first former Liverpool player to take over as manager. Twice McQueen was part of a Liverpool side that won the old division 2 title (sandwiching a relegation). In 1923, Liverpool were champions under McQueen but 5 years later things turned for the worse.
The gospel according to Wikipedia says he was involved in a car crash and lost a leg whilst undertaking a scouting mission in Sheffield. Wiki said his health “remained poor” at the time of departure in 1928. He retired in February that year as Liverpool finished 16th. McQueen’s house was said to have been on the current site of what is now the Kenny Dalglish stand, more about him later.
George Patterson took over the job in 1928 having previously acted as assistant manager and secretary. Liverpool finished 7th in 1935, but the following year the club hurtled towards relegation. Patterson was still combining the secretary job with the managerial post, in 1936 Liverpool survived relegation, but the pressure was too much, and Patterson resigned. Although he would continue as a club secretary Patterson retired due to ill health just two years later.
George Kay was next at the helm. He lead Liverpool to the 1947 title, more can be read here
https://tomkinstimes.com/2014/05/star-crossed-champion-the-tragedy-of-george-kay/. During his time at the club he made two significant signings in Billy Liddell and Bob Paisley. Kay resigned in 1951 following a long stint in hospital. Again Wikipedia described him as “clearly not a well man”. In the above article it is clear that Kay found managing Liverpool a tall order. He was the third manager in a row to step down on health grounds.
After the unsuccessful spell of the next manager (Don Welsh) the job was taken over by former captain
Phil Taylor who was part of the 1947 title winning team, but after failing to achieve promotion, he resigned in 1959 stating:
"The strain of trying to win promotion has proved too much. No matter how great has been the disappointment of the Directors at our failure to win our way back to the First Division, it has not been greater than mine. I made it my goal. I set my heart on it and strove for it with all the energy I could muster. Such striving has not been enough and now the time has come to hand over to someone else to see if they can do better."
Bill Shankly took the baton and with it came the legendary backroom team of Reuben Bennett, Joe Fagan and Bob Paisley.
He stunned football in 1974 with his resignation coming just weeks after an FA Cup win, a decision I believe he regretted, but as I said above, my belief is Shankly was a tired man who in his own words put everything he could into the game, to the point where he said his family suffered, he famously stated football was more important than life or death.
With Shanks it was all or nothing, eventually it took its toll on the great man leading to his retirement. That’s my belief. There was nothing sinister. However Liverpool had become his life, his retirement was spent yearning for involvement with the club again, it never really came, certainly not in the way he hoped. I am sure Shanks would have jumped at the chance to take over again but the opportunity didn’t come.
"I wasn't feeling ill or anything like that, but I felt though that if I was away from the pressures of Anfield for a while, and rested, it would make me fitter and rejuvenate me. I felt I could contribute more later on. I would never leave the city of Liverpool, and still wanted to be involved in football.”
If it could happen to him it could happen to anyone.
Bob Paisley was maybe one of the few who came out of the club unscathed as manager, the same couldn’t be said for
Joe Fagan, although Fagan was already going to retire anyway prior to the 1985 European Cup Final, the Heysel disaster was not the way to go for such a wonderful man and the sad abiding image of his departure was Fagan disembarking the plane in Liverpool after the game with tears streaming down his face. The Liverpool job had again left a mark on a great man who lived not too far from Anfield.
A day after the awful events of Heysel, Fagan said
"I wanted to leave with my head held high. I can't,"
His grandson Andrew once said
"I think he was heartbroken after the 1985 final,"
Here is Joe speaking after the events of the Heysel Disaster
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om9SgvtcRx4
Kenny Dalglish came in then, fresh faced at 34 and still playing to a very high standard, 6 years later just short of his 40th birthday, King Kenny cut a sad figure and was clearly a broken man in his final press conference. Dalglish could hardly speak as he sat ashen faced, he later admitted the effects of Hillsborough two years earlier has broken him. His autobiography detailed snappy behavior at home, excessive drinking, allergic reactions brought on by stress to the point where he was having injections after every training session at Anfield.
This meant Dalglish was not even able to drive his car home let alone manage, he infamously stated he felt “his head would explode”. Finally putting himself first, Dalglish resigned in 1991 despite Liverpool being top of the table.
Graeme Souness was next to try his hand, just shy of his 38th birthday Souness took over as a young manager following a hugely successful spell at Glasgow Rangers. In truth Liverpool’s slide was well under way before Souness was admitted to hospital for emergency heart surgery, in his autobiography he claimed he almost lost his life due to an infection. Although he returned for the FA Cup final he wasn’t a well man, doctors restrained him from getting over zealous at times and the stress of managing Liverpool (as well as the fall out over his decision to sell a story to the S-n newspaper) had reduced one of the hardest men in football to a shell.
The following season Souness oversaw a 4-2 defeat to Aston Villa (where Ronnie Rosenthal famously missed an open goal), he reneged on an agreement to meet Aston Villa boss Ron Atkinson for a drink after, and hopped in his car. He drove the whole way home from Birmingham to Liverpool in tears. Souness left the club in 1994
Much like Joe Fagan,
Roy Evans departure was noted for his tearful exit. Ironically as Fagan walked across the runway at Speke Airport in tears, it was Evans who he had his arm around. Like many of the above Evans was at Liverpool a large chunk of his life. Roy was unable to bring the title to Anfield after 4 years, the club had a difficult decision when they approached Gerard Houllier. Did they sack a loyal servant? Or did they want Houllier in as a coach and helping hand?, instead they sat between both and made the decision to have joint managers. It was never going to work and you couldn’t help but feel for Roy as he sat in tears in his final press conference.
In trying to be dignified and do the right thing, the club got it all wrong. Another manager was out the door totally broken.
Gerard Houllier would lead Liverpool into the new millennium, having gone 6 years without a trophy Houllier won a remarkable treble in 2001 and the sky seemed the limit. Whether Houllier would have lead us to a Champions League or Premier League, we will never know. Within months of the treble Houllier’s health worsened. He privately complained of tiredness, and during a match with Leeds he was taken to hospital at half time. A torn aorta required life saving surgery, remarkably Houllier was back just 5 months later, whilst his inspiration still rubbed off on everyone the magic soon faded.
In his final two years in charge Houllier cut a more paler and gaunt figure, the ruthlessness he displayed in his early years to improve the squad was gone, he seemed loyal to under performing players who were losing their way and he had lost his. By the end of his reign he had become paranoid of the media to the point where he once showed Jamie Carragher a Liverpool 11 he had made of ex Liverpool players and journalists who criticized the club in one season. He was even said to be running his team past players like Carragher and Steven Gerrard for approval, it was no way for a manager to run things and Houllier was sacked in 2004 having long lost the support of the fans, he was a shadow of himself (as much as I bloody loved him).
His job was taken over in 2004 by
Rafa Benitez, the fresh faced Spaniard lead Liverpool to a European cup and FA cup but by 2010 he had looked tired, bloated and fed up. He had managed us for 6 years and aged more than double that. The constant boardroom battles he embroiled himself in eventually manifested itself on the pitch. I recently read a superb book from Richard de la Riviere.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203086244937detailing our struggle to win the league again, in his final season Benitez struggled to sleep, frequently woke up in cold sweats and the strain of the job had once again broken down a great man.
Roy Hodgson would take over for a short ill fated spell, before Kenny Dalglish made a return, both men left relatively unscathed health wise even if it was not a successful era. In 2012 it was the turn of
Brendan Rodgers to take over, aged just 39 Rodgers probably came out of the job looking healthier than when he went in, having lost weight through a proper diet.
Rodgers looked the picture of health but the job still left its mark. Like many before him since 1990 he had come so close to winning the Premier League but like many he couldn’t take the final step and like a game of snakes and ladders, the dice rolled, and he slithered back many steps in the game, having been just short of the winning line.
Rodgers constantly tinkered with formations in his final 18 months at the club, he spoke of staying up until ungodly hours furiously trying to figure what to do, he had become unsure of himself, and having lost 6 of his first 12 league games in 2014/5, Rodgers lead Liverpool to a run of just one defeat in 18 having seemingly settled on a back 3 formation with midfielder Emre Can playing in a defensive role.
However a defeat to Man United in March heralded a run of 5 defeats in 9 games and again following a bad result it was like he ripped it up and started again.
I remember saying to friends shortly before his reign ended in October 2015:
“I have heard people say about managers, they don’t know their best 11, I don’t think he knows his best formation.”
As soon as anything went wrong he seemed to go into a complete tail spin. Liverpool had again made a manager crumble.
Then came Jurgen Klopp. We know the rest, I have detailed it in the previous post.
Sadly this is what happens in football, the stresses and strains of managing Liverpool have often horrific side effects, we may not agree with managers, we may not even like them. But in an era when they are under constant scrutiny just remember what it is they go through to even try make us happy.
Good luck Arne Slot
