SOCCER PREMIER LEAGUE:KENNY DALGLISH has been given the biggest indication yet that his short-term role as Liverpool's new manager could develop into a permanent appointment despite the disappointing results in his first three games in charge.
Dalglish is still waiting for his first victory since replacing Roy Hodgson but the club’s captain, Steven Gerrard, has spoken of wanting him to be appointed on a long-term basis and the chairman, Tom Werner, confirmed yesterday that it was under serious consideration.
Asked whether Dalglish could stay in the role beyond the end of the season, Werner replied: “Sure. He’s extremely competent, he’s excellent at man-management, he knows the philosophy of the club and he’s been everything we could have hoped for. We are looking at what we can do to strengthen the club in the long term and he would be a candidate.
“You have to be thinking for the long term and he is, as everybody knows, an iconic figure in our club’s history. He’s got many of the qualities that we admire. He’s been in the job only for a short time, but he’s quite aware of the challenge. The players are quite supportive of Kenny and I’ve been very impressed with him.
“I don’t like to play hunches, but he certainly is a candidate. He understood that it was a short-term position but he’s certainly done everything not just to impress us but our fans and players.”
Werner reiterated that Dalglish would be given the financial backing to make big-money signings in the January transfer window, although the club are finding Ajax difficult negotiators as they try to bring their prolific striker Luis Suarez to Anfield. The Ajax coach, Frank De Boer, has said it will need “an absurd amount” to persuade them to sell but Werner said he would be “devastated” if Liverpool did not bring in at least one signing.
Werner said Liverpool had the means to secure a marquee signing similar to Fernando Torres, who cost €26 million in 2007: “Yes. Look at our history. The Boston Red Sox have the second-highest wages in baseball and we have been as successful, if not more, than the New York Yankees. We are coming from a market that is somewhere like Liverpool. We are not New York or London, and we have been successful in generating revenues which we have ploughed back into an excellent team.”
Aston Villa have strongly defended their conduct in relation to Darren Bent’s acrimonious transfer from Sunderland and insisted that at no point did they make an “inappropriate approach” to the striker. The Midlands club were moved to issue a statement yesterday after Niall Quinn, the Sunderland chairman, implied that Villa had tapped Bent up several weeks ago.
Bent, who has joined Villa for an initial €21 million fee that could rise to €29 million, expressed disappointment at Quinn’s remarks as well as the comments Steve Bruce, the Sunderland manager, made the day before. Bruce said everyone at Sunderland had “the right to feel massively let down” and suggested Bent’s transfer explained his poor form in recent weeks.
Quinn, in a TV interview in Ireland, did everything but accuse Villa of making an illegal approach for Bent. “Two or three weeks ago maybe, I went into the training ground and there was something up with him,” he said. “I looked at his demeanour and I thought: ‘It’s not right.’ Having been in the game, you kind of know when someone’s got something going on in their head. It transpired that that’s what had happened. They were setting him up to try and come and he took the bait.”
Villa are furious with Quinn’s comments. Bent became aware of his possible transfer only on Sunday, according to Villa, who have pointed to the speed with which the transfer was completed as evidence of Sunderland’s willingness to sell.
Guardian Service
