Liverpool FC Hierarchy Fear How Powerful Kenny Dalglish Would Become

Kenny Dalglish is the only candidate on Liverpool FC’s managerial short list that could persuade Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres to stay.

It’s one of the many pressing reasons why the Anfield legend should be installed as boss – but, sadly, also why he won’t be.

Not when the decision is being made by a banker (Christian Purslow) and a Chelsea fan (Martin Broughton) on behalf of American owners that have piled an unsustainable level of debt onto Liverpool.

Debt reduction not trophy gathering has long been the priority at Anfield.

And that is reflected in the emergence of Roy Hodgson as the board’s number one choice to replace Rafa Benitez.

They want a man who knows that under normal circumstances he wouldn’t get the chance to sit in one of the game’s most prized hotseats.

Someone to steady the ship for a season or two while the club is sold, who won’t quibble when his two outstanding players are sold for a combined fee of over £100m – even though he’s unlikely to receive even half of that to reinvest.

Of course, the rest won’t go on reducing debt, we’ll be assured. Just like the fees for Xabi Alonso and Robbie Keane.

Hodgson – whose only title triumphs arrived in Scandinavia – is certainly the man for that job.

The Londoner is a fine coach who has excelled at Craven Cottage. But Liverpool will just be a chance to add another big name on his CV to go alongside Inter Milan, where he performed a similar role to the one he will be asked to undertake at Anfield.

His appointment, though, will be viewed by most as a significant reduction in ambition at Liverpool.

Not least by the Reds’ star players who will flee through the Anfield exit doors.

But it’s not in the interests of the owners to keep Gerrard and Torres – despite their presence in the Reds’ squad making the club more attractive to buyers.

Liverpool lost a club-record £50m last year as they went £351m into the red.

That was with Champions League revenue and Benitez trading at a profit last summer. As well as being an awful competition, the Europa League also offers little financial reward.

With Tom Hicks’ outrageous £800m valuation stalling the sale of Liverpool it’s unlikely the club will change hands any time soon, meaning the blundering Americans will have to find a solution to their rapidly growing debt.

Now that Benitez is out of the way, there’s no-one to stop them asset stripping – by the time they’ve left, they will probably have ripped out and sold on Anfield’s lead piping, lighting and heating system.

No-one that is except Dalglish – the only living man to have won top-flight English titles at two different clubs – and the Liverpool board probably fear how powerful he would become if made manager for a second time.

King Kenny is the only man in the Anfield hierarchy who has the club’s best interests at heart. If he feels he is the best man to take charge, who are the board to disagree?

Naming Liverpool’s greatest ever player as Benitez’s successor would give the club the lift it needs after a wretched season. He’s the overwhelming popular choice, with a poll on the excellent Reds website, the www.theLiverpoolway.co.uk, showing 93% of supporters preferring him to Hodgson.

More importantly, though, it would reassure fans and players that they mean business and are not happy just to drift further into mid-table.

Perhaps the game has moved on since Dalglish’s last managerial role at Newcastle, as some doubters have claimed.

But it is still a sport played by two teams of 11 men – despite some coaches, not least Benitez, making it unnecessarily complicated.

Forget Pro-Zone stats, blood tests and zonal marking, what really matters is the ability to read the game – as Harry Redknapp proved at Spurs this season.

And no amount of time out of the sport will dull a football brain as brilliant as Dalglish’s.

Rafael Benitez was guilty of some howlers in the transfer market as Liverpool manager, but his record was nowhere near as bad as some critics have claimed.

Almost 90% of players he purchased increased in value. Momo Sissoko, Craig Bellamy, Peter Crouch were all sold for a tidy profit, while Xabi Alonso fetched three times the fee paid for him.

Pepe Reina, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres were bought for a combined sum of around £45m. It is not inconceivable that trio would fetch £130m in today’s market.

Liverpool have previously rejected bids of £14m for Dirk Kuyt (who cost £9m), while even flop Ryan Babel (£11m) was generating offers of over £12m in January.