The manager has risen from club secretary to official face of the club since the creation of football teams worldwide. He has moved from the man that kept the record books to man that is larger than the football team he manages. Commentators and pundits refer to Ferguson’s United or Wenger’s beautiful, passing football.

He even has books written about him. The Manager by Barney Ronay, an excellent book that discusses the rise of the manager into the modern game, unearths some of the origins of the manager’s image and attempts to discuss what kind of person the manager really is. While the book wasn’t ever intended to be an academic study of the merits of various tactical thoughts of managers, it does address some of the often listed character traits of successful managers. When all these traits are put together, to many the manager appears to be a father figure, a scary headmaster, a politician you’d like to have a beer with, or some combination.

Yet despite all this popularity, he is little more than decider of players and positions during an actual football match. His only other real role having to do with a game of football is what he says, or does not say, to the players. While this may seem to be just about everything that there is to do, this is really not much in relation to even one, single football match. Even the purchasing of players has been taken from his list of job responsibilities at some clubs. After talking to the media, amping up / scaring the team, and picking the players and formation (something that many of us feel we could do a better job of), it’s up to the players to get the job done. He is then left to either become the scapegoat for club and player ineptitude or savior for lifting his players (all the while not doing much different in either scenario).

The idea of the manager being wholly responsible or all to blame for results is to make a system with many variables look like it all comes down to the whims of one man. This is ridiculous. To some, suggesting that this is absurd may not come as very controversial at all. I suggest listening to fellow fans and media but understanding that this article may not provide much reflection for you. To others, this begs to ask the question of who is responsible if not the manager. While I refuse to fall into the same trap of blaming one party for an entire club’s woes, I would suggest the players as a possible start.

The point is that the owners (a common euphemism for cash), back-room staff, the manager, a dash of luck, and mostly players play a part in a team’s performance. In addition, former owners and managers often continue to play a role. When a team fails to obtain the results they are perceivably entitled to, the fans and media seem to have a checklist of blame that progress from the manager’s tactics, the manager’s transfer policy, the manager’s man-management, and usually ending in the owner’s lack of investment. Players rarely, if ever, come into play (pun intended) unless it is to discuss the manager’s man-management.

All managers have come under close scrutiny at some point in their career but one of the most extreme examples from a fan-base and the media recently is the demonization of Roy Hodgson at Liverpool.

One reason fans have cried for his removal is, what I believe to be, the myth of his lack of tactical knowledge. Hodgson is, if anything, a man deeply involved in tactics to the point of players at Fulham labeling their endless repetition of team shape at training as tiresome. This is all, however, beside the point for me. 4-4-2, zonal marking, 4-3-2-1, team pressing, or the deep, lying midfielder have nothing to do with what is wrong with Liverpool right now. Jonothan Willson, Michael Cox of Zonal Marking, and like-minded individuals may cringe at the idea of tactics taking a backseat but a quality player will be a quality player in any position without needing to be told what square to position himself in. Tactics come into play and they can definitely give that extra push that is sometimes required. In the Hodgson’s Liverpool example, however, I believe bad purchases have been made in the past and the world-class players are often failing to rise above. Swapping one man’s 4-4-2 for another man’s 4-3-3 won’t change Liverpool’s chance of winning games. Further, tactics often don’t improve a player or team but aim to exploit weaknesses in the opposition.

This leaves us with the question of his ability to both manage players and, to a lesser extent, the media. This is where I will somewhat concede to the critics. While at Fulham, he seemingly could say no wrong. He was polite, soft-spoken Hodgson. This is quite different to his time at Liverpool where he has experienced quite a few moments of idiocy when opening his mouth. One quote that sticks out as especially odd to me was during a discussion about Fernando Torres and an alleged move to Manchester United. Hodgson didn’t exactly express the sentiments most supporters would have wished for considering this is the club’s long-time rival.

“I am not naive to believe there won’t be any danger and we will never lose a player like Torres, I understand these things can happen. I don’t believe we will lose him, we will do our best to ensure he stays…”

Having said all that, I still believe this has little to do with a match of football. His man-management / media relations may be lacking and Torres may look at a quote like that and wonder what his manager was thinking but I would still expect a world-class striker to make his supporters proud as soon as the interview is over and the match begins. To say Hodgson’s man-management is wholly responsible is to say that a kind word or two and the proverbial “arm around the shoulder” of professionals is all that stands between Liverpool and former winning ways. Again, this probably has something to do with the trouble at the club but not the sole reason.

Being as unbiased as possible as a twenty year supporter of Liverpool and, while critical of at times, a supporter of Hodgson, I fail to believe that one man can be responsible for the play I’ve seen this season. Any manager on the bench cannot change the fact that the players are making silly mistakes and are not fighting for the shirt and crest they wear. This coupled with a bench that hardly strikes fear into the opposition has seen the club at a historic low. This season I have seen some good football. I have also seen our most often excellent goalkeeper booting the ball right into a striker’s feet, defenders falling over themselves trying to intercept a simple through ball, midfield players spending an entire match passing backwards in fear of mistakes, and strikers not willing to put the work in to hold the ball up. As absurd as it sounds, I’m sure he’s addressing these basics with the players during training but at some point responsibility must at least partially shift. Having said that, when results do turn I will also be the first to point out that Hodgson isn’t the only reason.

The point is that I don’t believe another manager would do much better without improvement in the squad and players stepping up. Removing Hodgson is an especially bad decision considering the need to pay off Hodgson’s contract and find a manager willing to work at a club that will give him little say in who the club purchases.

In the very first chapter of Barney Ronay’s book, The Manager, he discusses one thought on why the manager’s position was even dreamed up in the first place during the late 1800s and early 1900s when, again, he was little more than club secretary.

“The crowd called for blood, and they got it: secretarial blood. Mute, office-bound – but also dressed in the directorial waistcoat and watch-chain – the sacrificial lamb was already on premises. The secretary was about to get his big break. It seemed unlikely to be a very happy experience.

Here we come to a central dramatic irony in the manager’s story. The fact is, his first real high-profile public act was to be sacked. Getting the boot was where it all started. The manager was born to be sacked, and sacked with some sense of cathartic public ceremony.”

This is how it has always worked. It is much easier to take all that dispersed anger out on the one man from whom we have come to expect too much. The owners need not address all these messy issues mixed up with a team’s performance. They can just fire, hire, and repeat.

Buy The Manager: The Absurd Ascent of the Most Important Man in Football by Barney Ronay

Note: This article was written prior to Liverpool’s latest poor result against Blackburn. In the few hours since the end of that match, even more speculation about Hodgson’s job have surfaced and it is very likely he could be leaving the club soon. Though I planned on publishing this later in the week, I have pushed it up because I believe this game was the perfect example of how the club uses the manager as a sacrifice to their fans despite it being clear that fault was literally at the feet of the men that, save Steven Gerrard, seemingly couldn’t be bothered to fight for us, the supporters, on the pitch today.

Steven Gerrard gave us all a timely reminder of his quality with a stunning hat-trick to help Liverpool overcome a stubborn Napoli side. Will this performance mark the general return to form of midfielder and could he be the inspiration for another England star to return to form?

We all know the ability that Gerrard has, and there is no need to harp on about the number of times he has come to Liverpool’s rescue. However even Liverpool’s inspirational captain has struggled to produce displays resembling his usual self this season.

In many ways I think Gerrard has suffered with the same World Cup hangover that has seen Wayne Rooney desperately lacking in form during the opening stages of the Premier League campaign. Excluding the Napoli game, there hasn’t been any standout displays from the Liverpool skipper and generally there has just not been the same intensity in his performances.

Intensity is what makes Gerrard and Rooney so important to Liverpool and Manchester United respectively, and with the pair obviously short of confidence after the World Cup, it is only understandable that they looked to almost play in their comfort zone when they returned to domestic football.

But it was inevitable that Gerrard would show us that form really is temporary as his confidence grew. In many ways though you feel he struggled so much because of the general feeling of disappointment around the club during the opening weeks of the season.

In the last few weeks though things have gradually picked up for Liverpool both on and off the field, and it was only a matter of time before Gerrard joined the party.  With United also beginning to reach their top form, Rooney should also find it easier to perform at his best when he returns from injury.

Gerrard’s return to form should give Rooney confidence because it demonstrates that it can be done. As an England fan, and more importantly a football fan it is crucial that we see the both of the England stars firing on all cylinders in the not so distant future, because the Premier League is definitely a better place as a result.

Roy Hodgson finally saw his Liverpool side climb out of the bottom three with a hard-fought win at Bolton. It certainly wasn’t easy for the Hodgson’s men as the hosts frustrated Liverpool for long periods only to be undone by some Fernando Torres magic late on.

Torres’ delightful flick in to the path of an on-running Maxi Rodriguez demonstrated that while he is still lacking in form he can still be a match winner for Hodgson. In fact you could argue that with his assist today, coupled with a winning goal against Blackburn last week, the Spaniard has already earned Liverpool six points.

However the former Atletico Madrid man is still a million miles away from his best. Had it not been for his piece of individual brilliance, then mass criticism of Torres would have been the reaction from most pundits.

So often at the Reebok Stadium, the 27-year-old would miss place a pass or see his touch let him down. This is the reason why he is not getting anywhere near the number of goals that you would expect from a striker of his ability.

I’m reluctant to say “the Fernando Torres of old would have scored today” because it’s not as if Torres is a different player. His flick today was a timely reminder of the immense talent that he possesses.

In time, I think Torres will play himself in to form because his confidence will slowly grow. But I think Hodgson can help him by changing his tactics to ensure Torres gets the best service possible. Torres looked isolated at times in the first half against Bolton, and with his confidence low, a second striker to support him and ease the pressure on him to score goals could really help the striker return to his best sooner.

Hodgson did just that at Bolton with the introduction of David N’Gog as a second half substitute and Torres’ performance did improve as a result. In the long term I doubt whether N’Gog has the capabilities to provide a suitable foil for Torres, but with Dirk Kuyt’s return from injury expected in next week’s clash with Chelsea, Hodgson does have options.

The Chelsea game next week could be the ideal stage for ‘El Nino’ to return to form. The striker has previously thrived for Liverpool on the big stage, and there aren’t many bigger games for Liverpool this season. But you have to feel for Torres to shine he really needs the support of his team-mates and his manager now.

Hodgson would be a fool not to give him this support, because if he can get Torres firing on all cylinders, then Torres will fire Liverpool up the table.

There was finally some joy for Roy Hodgson after his Liverpool side gained a potentially vital victory over Blackburn at Anfield. While it might not have lifted Liverpool out of the bottom three, the result will certainly act as a real confidence boost, and will give Hodgson something to build on.

The former Fulham boss recalled all of his big names after making a whole host of changes for Liverpool’s Europa League trip to Napoli. Hodgson came in for substantial criticism for resting the likes of Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres for the trip to Italy, but the win today was the perfect answer to his critics.

Torres looked like a completely different player after his rest as the striker ended his recent goal drought with the goal that proved to be the winner. While Gerrard was once again back to his influential best.

But Reds boss Roy Hodgson was just delighted to see his side finally get a victory. He said: “It was a deserved victory and one that was really needed. If we had come in at half-time several goals up no-one could have said a word.

“So I told them at the break they were going the right way and if they carried on they would be fine, which they were. It’s the three points that count and I’m very happy with that.”

Liverpool fans will be hoping that this result will finally mark the start of their season. By all accounts it’s been a rotten start to the campaign both on and off the field for the Anfield club, but the performance today was much better.

The question that remains is where can Liverpool finish after such a disappointing start? We all know the quality that they possess in the squad and with Torres looking somewhat like his usual self, there is no reason why they can’t at least challenge for another Europa League spot.

But to do that they need to find consistency, one thing that has been desperately lacking under Hodgson so far, and in many ways under his predecessor Rafael Benitez too. However the signs from today are good, Liverpool managed to grind the result out in the second half, and if they can keep doing this on a regular basis the momentum will build. The whole club needs momentum at the moment, now it is up to Hodgson to create it.

What do you think? Where will Liverpool finish this season?

Liverpool produced an improved display to gain a well earned 0-0 draw against Napoli. Reds boss Roy Hodgson opted to make a whole host of changes for the game, but his fringe players certainly impressed with notable performances from Jay Spearing and Jonjo Shelvey.

While I don’t want to take anything away from the Liverpool display you have to question the Liverpool side that Hodgson put out. He opted to leave star men and Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard at home, claiming it was important they got rest before the ‘crucial’ game against Blackburn on Sunday.  While Torres and Gerrard have both had problems with injuries in recent times, surely a win in any competition would be a just what the club need.

Yes Liverpool are in the bottom three of the Premier League, but in reality we know that it would take a miracle for them to still be there come the end of the season. They are already out of the Carling Cup, and Premier League success does look a million miles away. So surely the Europa League is of quite high importance for Hodgson.

Well apparently not. Despite his success in the tournament with Fulham last season, it looks as if Hodgson isn’t particularly fussed about another challenge for the trophy this term. But given their dreadful start to the season, I don’t think he is in a position where he can pick and chose what trophies he goes for.

At Fulham he could have probably got away with a lack of competitiveness in a European tournament, but at Anfield expectations are much higher and the Liverpool fans who travelled over to Naples will surely have been left bemused at the sub-standard side that Hodgson fielded.

I think in many ways Hodgson is still adjusting to life on Merseyside and coming to terms with the expectations of the fans, and while they may have been forgiving during the turbulent times where a takeover of the club was in the balance they will be expecting to see results improve very soon.

Hodgson can still succeed at Liverpool, I have no doubt about that. But he needs to start turning things around quickly. The new owners will be looking to make a statement of intent, and if the Reds are still languishing around the foot of the Premier League, or out of Europe in December, it would certainly demonstrate their expectations and ambition if Hodgson was shown the door.

I don’t want to see Hodgson used in this way, because he doesn’t deserve it. But unfortunately football is a cruel world, and results talk. Wins on all fronts for Liverpool in the next few weeks will be crucial for Hodgson and in my opinion vital to his tenure.

It might have been a good week for Liverpool off the field, but their on pitch woes continued with a woefully disappointing defeat at the hands of Merseyside rivals Everton. New owner John W Henry, who was in attendance at Goodison Park, might have been thinking what he had parted £300 million for as goals from Tim Cahill and Mikel Arteta sealed a valuable win for the blue half of Liverpool.

When Henry took over he insisted the project was a long term plan, but the ambitions of the Anfield faithful were always going to be high. Today’s result and more importantly performance shows that it may take even longer than previously thought.

Liverpool were desperately lacking in ideas and creativity. While they did create some chances in the later stages of the game, for the majority of the game Everton looked completely in control. It begs the question how many of the Liverpool side would have managed to earn a place in the Everton team today.

Steven Gerrard, Fernando Torres and Pepe Reina aside, there is not many that Liverpool stars that you can say would categorically walk in to the Everton team. Jamie Carragher and Joe Cole might, but other than you have to say most of David Moyes’ side would keep their place.

I think that demonstrates the task that not only Roy Hodgson has, but that the new owners have too. For Liverpool to really challenge at the top end of the Premier League, it will take Hodgson finding the right players, but also real backing from the NESV group.

We all know that they aren’t in the same mould as Manchester City’s super rich backers, which means that this investment won’t come in one big block, and Liverpool fans really need to understand that this won’t be a quick fix to their on the issues on the pitch.

Given time I have no doubt that NESV can do a much better job than the infamous duo of Tom Hicks and George Gillett, but I just hope that Liverpool’s need for immediate success doesn’t hamper their vision and long term strategy, because if it does, you can’t see them lasting much longer than the clubs previous owners.

Make no mistake about it; it’s been nothing short of a disastrous week for Liverpool. It started with a defeat at arch rivals Manchester United and ended with a disappointing home draw with Sunderland. Sandwiched in between the two Premier League games was a shock Carling Cup defeat at the hands of League Two side Northampton Town.

It was never going to be easy for Hodgson, but I think in the last week he may have discovered just how big of a task he has set himself.

Hodgson took over Liverpool at a recent low. Rafa Benitez’s failure to bring Champions League football had created a gloomy club for Hodgson when he arrived. But nevertheless Liverpool fans would have still thought that a new manager would bring a change in fortunes.

But this was never going to happen quickly. Personally I think Hodgson and the Anfield hierarchy need to wipe this season off because hopes of success are to be honest are highly ambitious, bordering on unrealistic.

Hodgson needs time to kick-start Liverpool. If you look at his time at Fulham, his success was achieved gradually there, and you feel that he will need similar time to achieve any success on Merseyside.

The man himself admits that his side isn’t up to standard yet: “I don’t think we’re playing like a team from fourth or fifth place at the moment. One of the things that is lacking is we need to play and work much more together. We’ve got a lot of new players coming into the team and we haven’t had that much time.

“The more we work and the more the team plays together the better you will see them become. Rome wasn’t built in a day and we’ve got to keep working at it. Certainly I’ve got a group of players here who will work and try to get better and give their all.”

Hodgson seems to me as if he plans to stay in it for the long haul, the only remaining question is will the Liverpool board give him the chance to build something?

It’s already not been the best of weeks for Liverpool. A defeat at Manchester United is never easy to take, but now former manager Rafa Benitez has revealed some worrying information about the clubs hierarchy.

Pressure on the decision makers at Anfield is already at fever pitch, and Benitez’s accusations will only add further strain to the relationship between the Liverpool board and the clubs fans.

Benitez said: “The last year at Liverpool I had directors who knew nothing about soccer and you couldn’t talk about soccer with them. My relationship with [Inter Milan] president Massimo Moratti is good; he is a man who knows his soccer.”

The sceptical side of me looks on Benitez’s comments as a well timed bitter shot at the club who sacked him. Benitez is a clever man that will know that after a defeat to Manchester United will mean confidence amongst fans will be low. When Liverpool fans have low confidence they inevitably put the blame on the hierarchy at the club.

However if there is some truth in the claims it does make remarkable reading. Could a football club of Liverpool’s stature and history really have directors who are that out of touch with the on the field side of things?

If they have then it is nothing short of ludicrous. In an era of where football is a multi-million pound industry, it is often tempting to look at clubs from a purely business side of things. But there needs to be support from high up in the club for on the actual playing side.  It does make you feel slightly sorry for Roy Hodgson.

The worrying thing looking forward for Liverpool fans is that the proposed takeover  at the club seems to have faded away, and that the rumoured disjointed structure at Anfield could be set to remain for the foreseeable future.

It is never surprising to hear Sir Alex Ferguson saying something ‘controversial’. Whether it’s emotional, pointless sniping at a beleaguered enemy or an attempt some kind of Jedi Mind Trick deployed to ‘psych out’ Liverpool and their players is up to you. An interesting point with Ferguson’s ‘Torres is the biggest cheater ever, EVER’ (possible paraphrase) comments is that they made headlines in most of Monday’s (English) newspaper sport sections – and this is indicative of the apparent need for character-centric narratives for much of the English press.

Of more interest however, rather than his ‘diving’, is his lack of incisiveness when playing alone up front. His two integral moments in Liverpool’s temporary comeback (winning the free kick and penalty) came with the entrance of David N’Gog alongside him at 2-0. The former was created largely with N’Gog drawing Jonny Evans out of position, allowing Torres to play off the dozing O’Shea and run behind Vidic. For an hour, without a partner alongside him, Torres was ineffectually drifting along the back-four, as Liverpool’s midfield struggled to find him with the ball. Roy Hodgson’s initial reaction to that may well be to partner Torres with N’Gog for the forseeable future – and it will probably end up being a popular move with the Sky Sports/Match of the Day punditocracy, as it necessitates a change from The Purveyor Of All That Is Ever Wrong With Anything Ever, Rafa Benitez, and necessitates Steven Gerrard moving into his ‘best position’ (where, curiously, he rarely plays well enough to stay for an extended period of time) in the middle of midfield.

But that not only moves Gerrard from the position where he has been most effective for his club (in the ‘hole’ behind Torres), but also means Roy has to play a 4-4-2: yes, the very same 4-4-2 that was routed by Manchester City and their fifty holding midfielders at Eastlands. And yes, the same 4-4-2 that became unable to get the ball back off United yesterday once the score went to 3-2. Well, one could argue, he has to leave Torres up front on his own then – to maintain a midfield worthy of preventing a complete massacre – even if it reduces Torres’s efficiency, at least he won’t lose games, and Torres will surely start scoring sooner or later.

But what if he doesn’t? Jurgen Klinsmann stated when in charge of Bayern Munich that he will play two strikers at every opportunity, partly to help keep his strikers fresh. The strain upon a lone striker is so great, in terms of the physical stature, pace, technique and concentration needed to perform the role effectively, that playing the role without a significant break would soon be detrimental. ‘I wouldn’t like to be Torres in two years’ was the general idea, and the strain on Torres may be akin to that placed on Ronaldo at Inter Milan – as from a silky, quicksilver forward he too tried to become a buccaneering lone striker, with injured consequences. And now we look at the Spaniard. From his arrival at Liverpool in 2007 he has been working almost without a break: in 2008 he played in the Euros (a major tournament generally means a truncated break for players), then the next season he spent playing (without a winter break) and working hard recovering from injuries, then the Confederations Cup before the same story the next season, before the World Cup.

And it has taken its toll: once fresh-faced, blond and smiling, then blond and powerful, now Torres lopes around defences, unfit, brown haired and non-threatening, like a late-era Ruud van Nistelrooy for Manchester United. With a partner alongside, the strain is less apparent, as he is not having to work as hard against four defenders – but playing N’Gog or Kuyt alongside him leaves the midfield often unable to cope against teams with 3 central midfielders. Perhaps the solution is give Torres an extended break, perhaps for a month or two, in order to recharge his batteries. Roy can try and muddle through with Babel, N’Gog, Jovanovic and Kuyt – and maybe Torres could well come back refreshed and (at least) as good as ever.

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With Fabio Capello insisting that he won’t manage England past the 2012 European Championships, names are already been branded about as a possible successor to the Italian. But with the FA proudly boasting that their next manager will be English there is hardly a wealth of managers to choose from.

Early contenders are Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, Steve Bruce and Sam Allardyce with current England number two Stuart Pearce also reportedly in the frame. Without meaning to disrespect any of these they hardly have the same statute as Capello.

That is the real problem that the FA now faces after promising an English manager. The FA will be hoping that an English manager will bring more pride and passion from the players, something that was so desperately missing in South Africa.

The worry is though that the FA’s willingness to employ an English manager could backfire with huge consequences. After the 2006 World Cup there was the same urge to go English and Steve McClaren was given the chance to succeed Sven-Göran Eriksson.

What was followed was a drastic failure that lead to England failing to qualify for Euro 2008. If the same was to happen again it would mean England missing out on a World Cup which would the ultimate humiliation.

Personally I see myself more patriotic then most, but I just don’t feel the need for the England manager to actually be English and believe purely in picking a manager who is the most best man for the job.

In an ideal world yes, I’d love to see a top English manager making his national team play with the heart that we saw so many other countries play with at the World Cup.

But the fact of the matter is that we don’t have a top manager. International football is the very top level in football and I wouldn’t want to see England sacrifice the chance of success for an apparent need for an Englishman to be charge. However with the FA already promising an Englishman it means unfortunately this may be the case.