Dalglish the man to steer Reds back

The following story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club:

So Sven was a Liverpool fan all along, was he? The clever chap kept his affections hidden during his six and a half years as England's manager, he says, because he wanted to avoid being accused of favouritism. Now that Rafael Benítez's departure has created a vacancy, and Eriksson's contract with Ivory Coast expires at the end of their participation in the World Cup, the time is clearly right for the Swede to declare an interest.

No doubt he will end up somewhere interesting and lucrative before the end of the summer. But not, one imagines, at Liverpool. No sentence containing the words "Eriksson" and "Anfield" can have the ring of plausibility - and that is to sidestep the fact that Liverpool's current financial position hardly encourages the sort of team-building exercise in which Sven is expert, involving the outward flow of large sums of money.

For those hoping that the next manager will preside over a period of stability and measured growth, the announcement of Kenny Dalglish's involvement as a headhunter provides considerable reassurance. The hero of the Kop is not the sort of fellow to be seduced by the notion of appointing another foreign coach because that seems to be what everyone else is doing.

Benítez and his predecessor, Gérard Houllier, did a decent job for the club, both of them managing second-place finishes in the league during their six‑year terms. The Spaniard brought the European Cup back to Anfield while the Frenchman won an unprecedented five trophies in a single calendar year. Each, however, left in unhappy circumstances, after losing the faith of the players and much of the crowd. Dalglish and the members of Liverpool's board will have to think very hard about their next appointment, particularly in the light of the possible departures of three or four of the club's best players before the start of next season.

If I were a Liverpool fan, I would be accompanying my nightly Hail Marys with a prayer for the appointment of Roy Hodgson. Having just completed an outstanding season with Fulham, only slightly marred by defeat in the Europa League final, the 62-year-old Hodgson is likely to be attracted by the prospect of one last big challenge at the end of a career that has taken him to eight countries.

The potential benefit to Liverpool is obvious. Together, Dalglish and Hodgson could re-establish a modern version of the unpretentious Boot Room strategy that served the club so well from the arrival of Bill Shankly, 50 years ago last December, to Dalglish's decision to call time on his own six‑year tenure in 1991. To draw Jamie Carragher, who has been busy taking his coaching badges, into the set-up would be a significant step; to attract Steven Gerrard to stay at Anfield with the offer of a similar transition might be expecting a little too much, but it would be worth a try.

A root and branch reform of the club's internal coaching structures would be more important, in the long run, than an immediate return to the Champions League. The Liverpool academy, once a reliable source of talent, has been underperforming for a decade, and it should be a new regime's absolute priority to ensure that it becomes attractive once again to young players needing to believe that they are on a fast track to the first team. Existing starlets, such as the central defender Conor Coady, who recently captained England to success in the European Under-17 Championship, should be made to feel that their careers will no longer be impeded by the arrival of second-rate imports.

Benítez made his exit with dignity - "I am very proud to have been your manager" was a genuinely touching valediction - and Martin Broughton, the club's part-time chairman, was right to say that he will always have a place in the supporters' hearts.

But this summer could see Liverpool taking the necessary steps towards re-establishing the granite foundations that made them for so long the dominant power in English football.

This story has been reproduced from today's media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club.