Strip the anger back and there’s a clear point being made: Liverpool can’t afford to drift into a set-up where the head coach is just the front man while everyone else pulls the real levers. Not at this club. Not in this league.
The fear, as laid out, is that it leaves you permanently in rebuild mode. New centre-halves needed, staff and players potentially restless, and the next appointment inheriting a job that feels bigger than the title suggests. Back to square one, again. It’s a familiar worry for any fan who’s watched good sides slide into churn.
Why the job title matters at Liverpool
The argument isn’t really semantic. “Head coach” can work if the football department is nailed-on and aligned, but if the coach doesn’t have final say, then accountability gets blurry. When results dip, who actually owns it? The coach who picks the team, or the people who shape the squad he’s asked to work with?
That’s where this post lands hardest: that Liverpool should be run by a manager in the traditional sense, responsible for the whole football operation and with genuine authority over recruitment. Not “recommended” players. Not a compromise shopping list. His players, for his style, under his responsibility.
The Shankly story still cuts through
The Shankly anecdote does the heavy lifting because it speaks to a culture thing, not a tactics thing. The idea of a board telling the manager the team is almost laughable now, but it underlines the same tension: if the decision-makers upstairs want a yes-man, then you’re not building a proper football club. You’re managing optics.
And Liverpool’s best eras have tended to have strong figures in charge of football matters. Whether you call them managers or something else, they weren’t there to nod along. They had the backbone to set standards, demand specific profiles, and take full ownership when it went wrong.
Rebuilds don’t just happen on the pitch
Talk about a rebuild and everyone jumps straight to centre-backs, midfield balance, and who suits the system. Fair enough. But there’s another rebuild fans can feel: clarity. Who decides? Who is answerable? Who carries the can?
If Liverpool want calm, consistency and proper momentum, it has to be clear where authority sits. Because if the next guy walks in and it’s still a tug-of-war between “head coach” and the structure above him, we’ll be having the same conversation again in 18 months. And nobody needs that.
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Liverpool News Views offers daily Liverpool coverage including match reaction, transfer analysis, EFL context, tactical breakdowns and opinion-led articles written by supporters for supporters.
