You're kidding, right? Maybe low-profile in England, but in his 4 years in charge at Valencia, the guy had led them to La Liga twice (first time they'd won it in 31 years) and a UEFA Cup triumph, as well as good showings in the ECL. This in the league with both Real Madrid and Barcelona, whose financial dominance there is massive. He was one of the most sought-after managers in Europe when his falling out with Valencia's chairman saw him leave there.

A real like-for-like replacement for Torres...

That's the fear.

TBH Saint, I think Hodgson is a good appointment. I had the same fears when Bullockchops was appointed - not because of his lack of a high profile, but because of his 'history'. It may yet bite Spurs in the bum due to the upcoming court case. In the meantime he has done a good job.

Something you can clear up for me.

My understanding was that 'King Kenny' was brought in to oversee the appointment of Rafa's successor. He the absented himself from the process when he professed interest in the job himself. Given the board/committe or whatever it's called has gone for Hodgson, what does that tell you about their faith in Dalglish?

If I'm honest, I think Hodgson will be probably the best option for Liverpool. He has established a bit of a track record of getting the best out of limited resources and resurrecting faltering careers (and we have a lot of them at Liverpool!).

I thought it was time for Rafa to go and, despite his moderate success at Liverpool, I never liked the style of play he drilled into the team (apart from, crucially, the 2008/9 season, when he seemed to let the players off the leash a bit - and look where that took us). But there are a massive number of Liverpool fans who idolise him, more for his stance against the Yanks than for anything he did with the team. Any new manager will struggle to win these over unless they win the league playing samba football - which really aint gonna happen.

As I said earlier, my biggest fear is that Torres Gerrard and Mascherano look at the appointment and decide to leave. Saying that, Mascherano's been making 'my wife can't settle' noises for months; and, if the stories are true, Gerrard is leaving for non-football reasons anyway so it wouldn't matter who we got in. Torres would be a huge blow, because he can create goals out of situations very few other players can (although you wouldn't know it, watching Spain this WC). Then again, if we could get in £100m for the three of them and if Hodgson was given that to spend and if he did that wisely on 4 or 5 players in the £20-30m bracket, we may just see a revitalised team. Trouble is, that's 3 enormous 'ifs'.

Dalglish was already at Liverpool in some contrived, non-football-related capacity well before Benitez left. I don't think the board rate him (and perhaps question his mental strength in what is likely to be a hugely traumatic time for the club). Then again, I don't really rate him either. I know it flies in the face of accepted thinking, after he won 3 league titles (inc the double) as player manager/manager of Liverpool, but IMO he began the rot at Liverpool, as many of the players he signed in the latter stages of his tenure were well short of the standard of those they were to replace, often on inflated transfer fees (Ronny Rosenthal, Jimmy Carter, David Speedie). Obviously, Souness took transfer dealing ineptitude to another level, but he was already trying to rebuild a side that Dalglish had allowed to slide. I guess maybe the board also felt that, having been out of the game for long, he'd struggle to adjust to the changes that have taken place in recent years.

Genuine question - why are all these ex Liverpool players turning up on SSN etc talking about Liverpool as if it's some sort of special club with special needs to any other club, and that the supporters are different to other clubs and very special? Until Liverpool get over themselves and realise they are not the side they were two decades ago, they are not special in anyway, and their fans are just fans, just like every other club in the entire football league pyramid then they'll continue to be an epic fail. A sense of reality and perspective required me thinks. Not a dig at Liverpool, just an observation

I think the Liverpool scenario is a unique one. For a 20 year period, Liverpool were the dominant club, assembling an honours haul that almost everyone thought would remain unsurpassed for decades. It's always hard for fans to just let go of a period of success like that when it's happened in your lifetime (hell, it happened in MY lifetime, and I'm just a whipper-snapper at 38).

And yet, there are two things that make it even more difficult than normal. The first is that Liverpool have never just faded away, dropping into mid-table mediocrity or even out of the league. For most of the 20 years since we won the title, we've remained more or less a strong club, and before each season kicks-off most people acknowledge that we're contenders, even if outside ones. In more recent times we've been one of the 'big four'. It's like the title is never that far from your grasp, if only you could up your performances that little bit.

Secondly, not only has another club now enjoyed a similarly dominant period, culminating in them catching up with Liverpool's title haul, but that other club is Liverpool's despised rivals. If the trophies of the last 20 years had been shared between Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, Villa and [reluctantly] Manure [spit, spit] with a win each for Leeds and Blackburn, I guess it would be slightly less hard to take. So there's also that sense of desperation that we need to stop the evil empire of Old Trafford.

That's my take on it, anyway.

For Liverpool fans; here's the good news: Bobby Zamora probably won't be coming to Anfield.

Now for the bad news (according to the Daily Fail) - Hodgson's list of targets include: 

Gilberto Silva, Brede Hangeland, Rafael van der Faart and maybe Danny Murphy. Jesus wept.

Who would you expect them to sign? They`re in debt, have little money for transfers and they can barely hang on to their better players. It`s all media bull, Hodgson has yet to be officially confirmed and already some of the papers know who Hodgson wants!!! As much as the Liverpool owners are greedy and liars, Benitez had a poor track record with the money he was given. He bought some awful players, Hodgson can`t do any worse surely!i Just hope to god he changes their formation, tactics and move away from that god awful football of last season.

I`d have Danny Murphy back at Liverpool. They need more English players for next season and he`s done pretty good at Fulham.

I certainly wouldn't be considering Gilberto Silva for starters - a player whose price tag has probably gone up because of the World Cup but whose long-term resale value will diminish rapidly.

Danny Murphy because he's English? He may well have done well at Fulham. Question is, which Danny Murphy would show up if he went back to Anfield - the Danny Murphy at Craven Cottege or the Danny Murphy at White Hart Lane. Spurs fans shed no tears when he left.

Based on reports that Hodgson is being given a GBP15m transfer kitty, I'd be tempted to go back to Laurel & Hardy and ask for it to be upped to GBP20m. I would then offer that amount to Werder Bremen in the hope it would be enough to secure the services of Mesut Ozil.   

Is Ozil a better player than Gerrard at the present time? Probably not - remember Gerrard is world class right?

From what I've seen of Ozil - and I mean before the World Cup - I rate him very highly. He could easily slot into the Liverpool set-up.

I certainly wouldn't be considering Gilberto Silva for starters - a player whose price tag has probably gone up because of the World Cup but whose long-term resale value will diminish rapidly.

Danny Murphy because he's English? He may well have done well at Fulham. Question is, which Danny Murphy would show up if he went back to Anfield - the Danny Murphy at Craven Cottege or the Danny Murphy at White Hart Lane. Spurs fans shed no tears when he left.

Based on reports that Hodgson is being given a GBP15m transfer kitty, I'd be tempted to go back to Laurel & Hardy and ask for it to be upped to GBP20m. I would then offer that amount to Werder Bremen in the hope it would be enough to secure the services of Mesut Ozil.   

Is Ozil a better player than Gerrard at the present time? Probably not - remember Gerrard is world class right?

From what I've seen of Ozil - and I mean before the World Cup - I rate him very highly. He could easily slot into the Liverpool set-up.