The return of King Kenny

Liverpool supporters have finally got what they wanted, with Kenny Dalglish returning to the Anfield hot seat after nearly two decades away.

Many of them – if not the overwhelming majority – have wanted this to happen for months, having been totally underwhelmed by the summer appointment of Roy Hodgson.

The terraces have been passionately making their feelings known by singing Dalglish’s name every time the team has underperformed this season. And that has meant a lot of singing.

But two games into the return of the king I think the fans may now be realising that the club’s problems run much deeper than merely the man running the team.

I’m not saying Hodgson was the right man for the job – although I still believe that, given time, he would have got the club on the right track. But it would be criminally unfair to blame him for Liverpool’s current predicament.

In fact, considering that, unlike Dalglish, he didn’t even have the fans on his side, I think he made a good fist of it.

The truth is, however, that the current team is nothing like Liverpool teams of old, and the shortage of talent must have left Dalglish wondering what he has got himself in to.

They only have two world-class players. Steven Gerrard is now entering the latter stages of his career, while these days Fernando Torres often plays like he wants a complete change of career.

Whoever took over from Rafael Benitez was only going to be a rebound manager, someone to hold the fort, take the flak and hopefully guide them through a rebuilding process until a longer-term successor was found.

Now Liverpool are in the uncomfortable position of having another change of manager at a time when what they really need is stability – no matter how unexciting – to keep things ticking over.

Dalglish may get the team playing better than Hodgson but he won’t be pushing them into the top four simply because the players he has at his disposal are not top four quality. That was Hodgson’s problem and it will be Dalglish’s too.

Over the past couple of years Liverpool have been overtaken by the likes of Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, and it will take some serious investment in players to reverse that decline.

And while that investment should be forthcoming from the new owners, the entire process will not happen overnight. They seem to be a bit more considered and sensible than some of the other people who have bought Premiership clubs in recent years.

Will Liverpool ever get back to the top of the game? I personally have no doubt they will. But they don’t have a divine right to be there and that is something the fans need to bear in mind.

Football tends to go in cycles, and while Liverpool may have been out of the loop for a very long time now, there will no doubt be a time when they are once again a team to be reckoned with.

Getting back there, however, is going to be a long and arduous journey that will not happen in the blink of an eye. While their club has been standing still or even moving backwards, others have taken great strides forward.

And catching up with them will be no easy task – even if Sir Alex Ferguson was picking the team.

Spot the scapegoat

Speaking of Sir Alex, I came across a simple statistic that says a lot about the modern game.

Since he was appointed Manchester United manager back in 1986, a quite staggering 1,023 managers have been sacked in the English leagues.

Equivalent figures for the number of players sacked in that period are not available, but I would hazard a guess at no more than, what, a dozen? And those would probably be have committed a criminal offence of some kind.

Let’s play spot the scapegoat shall we?

A good move by Uefa, but will it work?

The new Uefa financial fairplay regulations, which start being phased in from next season, are a welcome attempt to level the football playing field.

The idea is to tackle the problem of clubs going on wild and unsustainable spending sprees by ensuring those that take part in Uefa competitions have at least broken even on aggregate over the three preceding seasons.

It should encourage all clubs to live within their means, avoiding situations where they spend so much on their quest for glory that they end up going out of business or into administration.

And in theory at least, it sounds like a superb plan. If strictly adhered to, it would make football a fairer, more entertaining and competitive sport.

As much as Uefa will deny it, the rule is aimed, at least in part, at stopping billionaire owners buying teams and then covering the club’s losses as they sign as many players as they can.

The likes of Manchester City, to use the obvious example, would not be able to take part in the Champions League, having racked up losses of nearly a quarter of a billion pounds over the past two years.

Chelsea, although their spending is much calmer these days, would also have problems. (This won’t hamper them next season, as the first three-year period starts then).

But I think there are ways and means around the new rules; loopholes so simple the average English footballer could probably work them out while getting another tattoo.

Let’s say your club is bought by a super-rich owner who wants to spend hundreds of millions on players but can’t because of the new rule. However, he also happens to own an airline, for example. What’s to stop the club signing a sponsorship deal with the airline for 10 times the usual rate? Uefa surely can’t get involved in how much a club charges for commercial agreements can they?

That ‘scam’ would give the club ‘legitimate’ income, instantly making them more profitable and allowing them to spend huge amounts on players. From the owner’s point of view, he only has to pump the money he wanted to spend on players into the airline instead. Backdoor investment.

I admit it is a simplistic view and possibly one with issues, but if I, a corporate finance dunce, can think of this over a bowl of cornflakes, I am pretty sure greater minds can come up with more effective ways of bending these new rules.

Don’t get me wrong, I admire Uefa for trying to do something about the current situation. I hate the idea of clubs buying their success when their turnover and set-up do nothing to justify it.

But I think two things need to happen. Firstly, the rules need to be tighter and more stringent, and any potential loopholes tied up. Maybe a different formula needs to be found.

Secondly, the individual associations within Uefa need to do something similar themselves on a domestic level.

If clubs thought their over-spending could have a domestic impact as well as a European one, they would think twice before taking financial chances.

None of this may eradicate the issue. But something has to be done so other clubs don’t find themselves in situations like Portsmouth did last season – paying the ultimate price for living beyond their means.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com