The Soccer Blog: Hodgson Rumours, Poll Wrap, and Other Monday Notes

Monday, 13 December 2010

Hodgson Rumours, Poll Wrap, and Other Monday Notes

By: Noel | December 13th, 2010
Stark and Stache

Killer ’stache, classic cars, classic rock, chronic
alcoholism, and hating Rupert Murdoch
–is there anything Dan Stark can’t do?*

While you were killing your liver in response to the various sad displays of the weekend, at least a couple of people stayed sober enough to string a few semi-coherent sentences together. In case you’re too hungover (or still too drunk) to follow the threads and chase the ledes around the internets, here’s some of what’s being talked about from a Liverpool point of view…

* For a few hours yesterday wishful thinking got the better of Twitterpudlians everywhere as rumours about Hodgson’s immanent departure caught hold. In the end it turned out to be somewhat less than true, which let’s be honest, isn’t all that surprising, rumours being what they are and Saturday’s display being nowhere near as bad as some of the ones he’s survived previously. The more interesting–or at least amusing–part of the whole kerfuffle comes from Tomkins’ speculation on how it all started: “Assume the ‘Hodgson leaving’ rumours sprung from Babel’s tweet about a ‘CEO meeting’ (which, it transpired, was about his record company).” Oh Ryan Babel, is there anything your hilariously 1337 twatterings can’t do? Hell, give the man and his iTwitch or whatever he posts with a buddy-cop show and ride that rocket to ratings gold.

* Last week brought momentary happiness when it turned out that Dani Pacheco had signed on for a new contract that would see him with the club until at least 2014 (in a world where players always saw out their contracts, that is), but though he says he sees his future with the club, he has publicly stated his desire to go out on loan in January to get more playing time:

In order to get some playing time, and if it suits the club, the best thing would be for me to go out on loan.

I had talks with Damien Comolli when signing a new contract and he told me that young players like myself and Martin Kelly are central to his vision for the club.

I’m training well and Roy Hodgson is happy with me; he’s seen what I can do in the Europa League. However, we will have to see how things stand in January and if the club are in agreement, then a loan move might be best for everyone.

Perhaps if Hodgson doesn’t see room for him in the first team then it would be the best move for everybody. Still, it’s hard not to remember countless rumours about a January loan that would lead to a permanent long term move. At least Comolli is involved now, and even if he’s a bit of an unknown that’s still an improvement over the known awfulness that was Purslow and his “lists.”

* Speaking of loans, Daniel Ayala continues to be Hull’s best defender, and unsurprisingly Hull City manager Nigel Pearson will seek to extend his loan beyond January. Probably the only thing stopping his move from becoming permanent is that Hull has no money and the aforementioned no more Purslow thing. Have I mentioned before that for all the credit he may deserve for helping to get rid of Hicks and Gillett, his little run playing football manager did long term damage to the club he claims to love? Not only would Aquilani and Insua have been on that list of disposable players over the summer, but the man he handed that list to was the first on his list of replacements for Rafa Benitez. So yeah, apparently TalkSPORT callers sometimes get to run football clubs. I imagine I’d have indigestion like I’d just eaten a bucket of bad chili if many of our frequent commenters had a similar approach to football.

* And last but not least, last week’s poll about which referee Liverpool’s followers kinda weren’t huge fans of the most wrapped up, and unsurprisingly the top vote getter was Martin Atkinson, who received just over 54% of the vote. A bit of a surprise was that Howard Webb only garnered 19% to claim a distant second. Also, it should be mentioned that Lee Mason and Andre Marriner, who weren’t eligible as neither had officiated a Liverpool match this season at the time, were mentioned as strong contenders in the comments.

Well, I know we’re all waiting for Roy Hodgson to hop into his Trans Am and ride off into the sunset, but in the meantime…

*Not be cancelled by the aforementioned Rupert Murdoch, actually. He has a bit of trouble with that.

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Poll Wrap, Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson Roy Hodgson EditionFriday Whatsit and Poll Wrap-UpHodgson Presser and Friday Wrap-UpMonday News and NotesXabi is Classy and Other Monday Notes
Category: Team News Tags: Causes of Alcoholism, Christian Purslow, Dani Pacheco, Daniel Ayala, George Gillett, Love Your Local Referee, Paul Tomkins, Roy Hodgson, Rupert Murdoch Is The Devil, talksport, Team News, Tom Hicks is a Motherfucker
« Ay, There’s the Rub | Home | RedLiverBirdFCEnough! This is enough!!! ... I would like to see "Gimme shelter" by the "rolling stones" in your next post.... I would be very offended otherwise....

I also hate Hodgson btw.Oladaposolomon1why can't NESV sack this man 4 goodness sakes. Are they that dumbLiver-damageEd and Noel. After having an awful week almost everything liverpool related, i would greatly appreciate, and i probably speak for other readers on this blog, if somehow, somewhere, the authors (ed and noel) can find to write something positive about liverpool, which i may enjoy a whole lot more rather than the anti-liverpool press circulating in the media. Its a tough task, but i desperately want to read some positive news regarding our club. anything will do!EdMy god, the impossible task!

I'll see if I can scrape something together in the next couple days that's not entirely patronizing or bullshit (but I think we all know it would end up as that, based on my previous writings). Don't know what Noel's got planned--be forewarned though, I'd be writing whilst surrounded by -20 temps and blowing snow. An environment not entirely conducive to positivity.RedLiverBirdFCYou in the midwest, Ed? I am and I love the solitude that -20 Celsius provides. Not to mention, the lack of populace.NoelWell, I thought my post yesterday was relatively positive. So there's that. And whether my weather compares to yours largely depends on if you're using celsius or fahrenheit there.EdYes to the Midwest, and Fahrenheit. That's after wind chill, though, so that's cheating. Bonus points though for sheets of ice forming on the inside of windows.PyroRoy Hodgson is just too much of a mediocre manager to lead a club with the status of Liverpool. We need to start working on our promising CB youngsters because Carragher and Kyriakos are not getting any younger. Something has to be done about our club, and with a mediocre man like Hodgson at the helm we are going to explode.Red2deathIt's sad that mediocre performances are enough to keep him in his job. Does he really need to give us more Evertons and Northamptons and Stokes in order to be sacked? Thought Liverpool's standards were a lot higher.

It used to be that first is everything and second is nothing. But right now top half could buy Hodgson another season and top four would be worthy of a big pat on the back. Compare with just last year when 4th was bare minimum and 7th disastrous enough for Rafa to pack his bags.

Are standards at Liverpool so inconsistent? When someone's proving to be arguably the worst manager the club has ever had, we decide "Hey, let's just wait and see. Maybe with the right support he'll improve to become only the 3rd worst manager of all time. That'd be wonderful."blog comments powered by Disqus
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