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It was mid July, and I was tired of unemployment and watching football (referring to the Euro 2004) rather then managing, when he was contacted by Rick Perry, the Chairman of Liverpool Football club. I was asked to be present at a meeting; they wanted to assess his receptiveness to being the next manager at Liverpool.
Once everybody had sat down at the meeting, my first question was quick and direct. "Since Liverpool have just appointed Rafa Benitez as manager why are you looking for a new manager? At this moment you have a great manager and you want me to take over his job?"
I knew that it was almost impossible to do any better than Rafa could do.
I needed to understand what the Liverpool directors were looking for. I was sure that they weren't considering a new manager... or were they ?
They'd explained that Rafa felt that the threats from the Valencia fans had gotten so out of hand that he was in some sort of danger so he decided to step down. They also explained that they liked my profile (Won everything with Ajax, promotion with QPR, RBC and Genoa). They also explained that 2 other coaches were under consideration. They asked me to study the possibility of taking charge of Liverpool and they emphasised the need for complete secrecy about the meeting.
I decided to draw up a plan for Liverpool and present it at the next meeting, where I would set up my plans for the club.
I managed to write up a document within a few days and handed it in to the board. Without great delay, I was informed by the Liverpool board that they'd chosen me.
Edit: Just noticed I wrote chairman Rick Perry, should be David Moores of course
Taylor Is Liverpool's New Manager
The 9th of July 2004 is a date I will forever remember. I became manager of the club I loved and adored. But now it was down to business. The players had been given the day off so I wouldn't meet up with them until tomorrow. Rafa's 3 main men Pako Ayesteran, Paco Herrera and Jose Manuel Otxotorena said they would gladly stay on even thou Rafa had to leave. I was glad to see that Rafa's leave hasn't upsetted the staff too much and that they would stay on.
Dave Shannon, John Owens and Alex Miller were staff that were already at the club before Rafa arrived and know alot about the players already there. I also took the chance to explain the way I wanted to have the pre-season. I wanted to split the attacking player into one group and the defensive players into another. Hughie McAuley is the youth coach and so he shall remain. James Russell, Brian Abbott, Julian Holland, Mark Browes and David Galley were part of the Physio Team and informed me of the players with major injuries which happened to be Antonio Nunez and Vladimir Smicer.
The scouting team consisted of Ron Yeats, Graham French, Roy Archer, Ryan Syers and Terry Berry. I told them I would be strengthening the scouting department by 2 more scouts. I told them that we'll be looking for both players to strengthen the squad and promising youngsters.
In the evening I decided to sit down with both Paco Herrara and Pako Ayorestan and discuss which players would make the first team. I knew the squad quite well and Rafa's buys: Xabi, Garcia, Josemi and Morientes we're all welcome additions to the club.
After a few hours we came up with these players -
Jerzy Dudek : Through and through professional. Would be making his 4th season in the club and would be first choice. He has a will to win and is quite a physical presence in the box.
Chris Kirkland : Backup to Dudek. Also quite a good physical presence in the box and also a young englishman which is welcome.
Steve Finnan : Also a big will to win and has a very good first touch on the ball. Knows how to tackle a ball aswell.
Josemi : The young spaniard has a long throw which would make your jaw drop. Will probably just be a rotation player but can also play centrally.
Jaime Carragher : One of the best english defenders in the prem. Lacks some pace but can stand a head balls out of the box over and over and over..
Sami Hyypia : Big Sam is a commanding man in both boxes, althou 31 he'll be good for 2 more seasons and will be a great rolemodel for younger pros.
Mauricio Pellegrino : Experienced and will be purely a backup to the other 2 centrebacks. Very very slow player..
Igor Biscan : The strong croatian is one of the players to survive the Houllier era. Not going to be in the squad for a long term but will get his share of games this season.
John Arne Riise : This pacy Norweigan knows how to cross a ball and will give 100% in all games. Can also play in left midfield.
Djimi Traore : Merely a backup for Riise but can tackle a ball very well and has bags of pace.
Didi Hamann : This experienced achorman will be operating behind Xabi and Stevie and just doing what he does best, mopping up.
John Welsh : A talent that never blossemed under Gerard Houllier. Still very young thou and seems very professional.
Luis Garcia : One of Rafa's buys. Can do the unexpected and that is always a good thing in a midfielder. Can pull off wonderous long shots.
Richie Partridge : Backup. Has pace and can cross but not good enough for a first team spot I'm afraid.
Harry Kewell : A Leeds player that hasn't found his old form in the red shirt. A very flamboyant winger and can pull off the unexpected but a bit too inconsistant.
Xabi Alonso : Born a winner, will probably die one aswell. Xabi can sit and pick off passes all day. Definatly one of the Prem's best midfielders and I'm over the moon he joined Liverpool. Thank you Rafa!
Steven Gerrard : Does he need an introdution ? Worldclass midfielder and together with Xabi he makes the best inner midfield in the prem.
Djibril Cisse : Unproven in the prem but 70 goals in 128 games in France makes me a bit optomistic for hte future. Pace and power with a good finish!
Fernando Morientes : Another Rafa buy and will aid with his experience. Give him one chance and he will score. However he'll be battling with Cisse for that 1 top spot.
Florent Sinama-Pongolle : Merely here to watch and learn from the pro's. Still very young but has good potential! Lightning fast.
I felt there was alot of fringe players that weren't going to fit into this squad and some youngsters who weren't going to ever play at this level. A total of 14 players were going to leave Liverpool within the next month and we'd be replacing them with young promising players.
The next day was when I met the squad for the first time. I only had today with the squad before we left for a tour of Denmark the next day and for our first game against Hvidore. I basicly talked the players through what kind of formation we'd be playing and after that I left Paco and Pako to train the team according to my instructions I gave them the day before.
I spoke with Ron Yeats about those 2 possible new scouts and he had 2 names he knew very well. Dave Colley and Yves Bare who were friends of his and he said they know talent when they see it. I asked him to give them a call and see if they were intrested. He said that they would be very excited of being a part of this so no doubt they'll join.
After my conversation with Yeats, I went round talking to the players I would be asking to leave Liverpool. It's a tough business but it has be done. Jones, Smith, Raven, Wilkie, Smyth, O'Donnell, Whitbread, Potter, Mellor, Carson, Harrison, Otsemobor, Warnock Luzi and Baros would all have to leave the club.
In my second busy day I even managed to talk to McAuley about any promising talent coming up the ranks. He sais Willis, Peltier, Woods and Hamill were all going to be promoted to the reserves for my assessment. He also pointed out that Medjani, who is out on loan, is a very exciting prospect. I told him I wanted him to report on any good players he'd see lower down the ranks.
Originally posted by RedmanJB:
Very nice updates. Enjoying them..
I'd just look at who you are looking at selling. I see some good prospects in there. But you are the manager! Good job.
None of them really gave me a reason to keep them, they are just taking up valuable space and money. Woods however, the D/M C looks very very promising tbh.
@ kennedy
hehe We'll all be in here by the end of the week me thinks
The next day it was off to Denmark we go. The friendlies had been set up by Rafa before he left but I saw nothing wrong with the tour and the added 2 friendlies he's picked so I decieded to go along with it. In Denmark we were to play Hvidore, Herfogle, AB and Aab. The two additional friendlies after this one was Boavista and Antwerp.
We finally arrived in Hvidovre and as I stepped out of the coach that had brought us here I could feel little beads of rain falling down upon me. It was quite warm in the air but I got a feeling we'd be playing in mud towards the evening. Hvidovre Stadium was quite small, only seating for just under 5000 people but from what I could understand it was going to be a sell-out and the people of Hvidovre said it was a pleasure to see the mighty Liverpool...
[b]Sunday 11th July 2004, 19.30
Hvidovre 0
Liverpool 3[B/] - Cisse 24, Luis Garcia 35, Xabi Alonso 59.
MOM - Steven Gerrard Att: 14914
1st Half
The rain was coming down hard over the pitch but that wouldn't stop any players from playing tonight. It was still quite warm so it made it a bit sticky to play in. 3rd minute into the game some good passing between Hamann, Cisse and Garcia results in Garcia taking a pop from 25 yards but the shot went wide. 10th minute the Hvidore defence try to cut through the middle but it's cut out brilliantly by Pellegrino who heads it forward to Cisse, he lays off quickly to Garcia who again decides to take a pop. At this moment in time I shouted to Garcia that he shouldn't shoot, obviously he was having difficulty with the wet ball. Goal! 24th minute, Riise cut out a long ball played by the Hvidore defence and sent it straight the other way for the pacy Cisse who had gotten rid of his marker, Cisse feinted to shoot right and shot left instead past the keeper, Hvidore 0 Liverpool 1. Goal! Almost 10 minutes later we get a throw-in on the left which Riise takes. He throws long to Garcia who runs into the box, shoots first time, keeper saves but Garcia taps in the loose ball, Hvidore 0 Liverpool 2. At half time I just told the lads to keep on doing what they were doing, Hvidore are only throwing long balls at us and can't really coup with our class.
2nd Half
10 minutes into the 2nd half and some great play from Liverpool. Pellegrino cut yet another long ball out and played it straight to Gerrard in midfield who in his turn put through a terrific pass to set Partridge on his way towards goal, however he shoots straihgt at the goalie who saves and their defender clears. Goal! 30 yards outside the box, Partridge was fouled very badly and had to go off from some treatment. In the mean time Xabi Alonso took the free-kick and he slammed it straight into the top cornor, Hvidore 0 Liverpool 3. I decided in the 70th minute to take off everyone except Kirkland and Carragher, so on came Josemi, Biscan, Welsh, Kewell, Traore, Finnan, Foy, Morientes and Hamill. I noticed that the substitutions disturbed the balance in the team a bit and Hvidore got a chance straight away, a cross from the right hand side to the far post but Josemi cut out the ball in the nick of time.At this point in time the Hvidore fans start to fall out of the stadium in disappoitment. At the end of the game, 92nd minute, another cross came from the right hand side but this time Josemi didn't cut it out and Dahl shot straight at Kirkland who saved beautifully.
3 days after the rainy game at Hvidore we find ourselves in Herfogle which I believe is further north and by the temperature, you could tell. However the sun was out so I decided to take a walk before tonights game. Whilst walking in the town in I found Carragher, Gerrard laughing hystericly at Hamann outside this cafe. I walked over to see what all the commotion was about. Apparently Hamann had gotten this day all wrong, he thought we were meeting someone called Herr Fogle (a person) and not a team called Herfogle. Since Hamann is German I could spot the obvious mistake but now it seems as if the lads have branded him Herr Fogle. As I walked away from the three "lads" a smile came upon my face after re-thinking what just had happened.
Wednesday 14th July 2004, 19.30
Herfogle 1, Pederson 90
Liverpool 1, Morientes 64
MOM - Jakob Pederson
Att: 7968
1st Half
I was a bit disappionted by the turnout of fans but anyway, it's only a friendly. 7 minutes into the game and Foy had to come off after a nasty tackle, poor lad, so on went Kewell instead. The first 30 minutes of the game, all credit to Herfogle, they were holding the ball very well but then came some great teamwork between Kewell and Gerrard down the left which resulted in a cross from Kewell to the far post onto a on-rushing Steve Finnan! But he fouled his man and it got blown for a free-kick to Herfogle. In half time I told the lads I wanted more passion, we looked like dead beats out there at the moment and I demanded a goal.
2nd Half
Again we started the second half like the first one, no creativity at all and Herfogle were really trying to grab a goal. However we were looking a bit more decisive. Goal! 64 minutes in, Josemi gets a throw in and throws it long into the box for Morientes who is standing on the near post, he then heads it, not into the right side of the goal but the left in bizarre fashion, but who cares, it's in! Herfogle 0 Liverpool 1. After the goal I decided to bring on some subs, Kirkland, Riise, Carra and Hyypia stay on and Pellegrino, Welsh, Cisse, Partridge, Biscan, Garcia and Hamill come on. Then came the cruelty of the game, the ref had said 3 minutes of injury time BUT Goal! 93 minutes and 24 seconds into the game and a cornor is cleared by Carragher, the ball comes straight back into the box to a free Pederson who knocks it skillfully past Kirkland, Herfogle 1 Liverpool 1...
I told the players after the game that they played very very well and that we didn't deserve to concede that silly goal. I told them I felt it was the ref's fault for adding on time to the added time... Bastard..
I could tell the lads were a bit down after that result. Even thou it's a friendly, you can ask any player and he would say it doesn't matter, when playing football you want to win every game! I don't blame them, I would too if I was playing. We are now in a town called Gladsaxe where we are to meet a team called AB. The stadium manager told me that it seems to be a sell out tonight and what perfect weather it was for a football match. Sun was shining and it was T-Shirt weather. But this day was to turn out to be "One of those days..."..
Friday 16th 2004, 19.30
AB 1, Yaro Yaro 69
Liverpool 0
MOM - Ambrosen
Att: 13215
1st Half
Today I decided to let "Herr Fogle" play in the anchor role and move Alonso up beside Gerrard to see who well he'd fair. Dudek is in for Kirkland in goal aswell. 16 minutes in and a clearence from my defence just ends up behind the AB defence and Cisse is on it in a flash, he comes free against the goalie but smashes it well wide, he held his head in shame, and so he should. Cisse has been causing havoc with his runs this first half and their having to foul him everytime but no yellow cards have been dealt, C'mon Ref! Just after that, more controversy, Alonso's got a free kick 25 yards out and one of the AB players if stand 1 yard away from the ball when Alonso strikes it but the ref lets play go on. After he blew the whistle for halftime I took a long talk with the ref and said he better be more awake on the pitch in the second half or else I'd report him. In the locker-room it seems the ref's desicions have taken effect on the players, they seemed very hard-done but I told them to keep feeding balls to Cisse because they can't handle him
2nd Half
10 minutes in and we get a counter attack, Josemi comes out of our box with the ball, passes to Cisse who in his turn passes to his left to a forward running Partridge, he in his turns go a bit backward to create some space for an overlapping Gerrard, Partridge plays a through ball and Gerrard is one on one with the goalie, he tries to round him but one of the defenders slide tackles the ball very cleanly. DAMN! 2 minutes after that Cisse gets thruogh on goal, assisted by Alonso but he blazes it over the bar! DAMN DAMN! Goal! It took 69 minutes to break the deadlock, but it wasn't us who scored. AB's midfielders passed the ball about beautifully and the ball got crossed from the left to the far post were Yaro Yaro won a header against Partridge and Dudek was left helpless, AB 1 Liverpool 0. I was very frustrated an decided to sub some players, Dudek, Josemi, Carragher and Riise stay on and off the bench comes Pellegrino, Finnan, Morientes, Kewell, Sinama, Biscan and Welsh. The subs put more pressure onto the game, Sinama took a cornor from the right, crossed far post to Morientes, cleared by the AB defence to Carra who was standing wide right, he crosses centrally to Morientes who gets a clean header but a super save by the AB keeper. AB are just defending now, 10 minutes later Sinama is put through by Kewell and he tries to shoot low but the keeper parries with his legs and the AB defence clears. The last chance was to fall to Biscan, another cornor from Sinama, this time on the left, finds Biscan along the ground by the penalty spot, he hit on the volley but again the goalkeeper gets his fingers to it. The match ends and the AB fans in the stand go wild.
As I said, it was just one of those days when it starts so well with the warmth, the sun and the good feeling but ends with referee controversy, missed chances, bad marking and super goalies. The players felt the same as me and hopefully we could use this to motivate us for the big danish game of this tour, Aab..
AaB are situated in the city of Aalborg and the whole city is buzzing for this fixture. The match was going to be shown on danish television and the match was a sell-out. The AaB fans were optimistic because we lost agianst AB. But the Danish bookies were predicting an easy game for Liverpool. The kick-off was an afternoon match and the weather was hot and sunny. What a great way to end the tour!
1st Half
Maybe not the first XI the pundits were expecting but I decided to left Traore, Biscan and Sinama show off and convince me to keep them. Kirkland is back in goal again. 3 minutes into the game and I almost regreted putting Biscan in defence, he was pantsing about with the ball and Ericsson nicked the ball off him and hurried hit shot, over the bar. 12 minutes in and we were running the midfield, AaB seemed happy to keep the ball amonst their defenders but once we had the ball in their half we could keep there, Kewell pass to Gerrard in the box who laid it off first time to Alonso how clipped it on the volley and Laursen tipped it over the bar. 30 minutes into the game and Sinama was fouled on the right edge of the area, Hamann ran over to take the free kick and struck it hard and well and hit the crossbar! First half was ours by a long shot and we controlled the game well. In the locker room at half time I told them to up the tempo a bit and try and use Sinama's runs to rip the defence apart.
2nd Half
The match died alot in the 2nd half and none of the teams got going at all. It could be the heat thou as it was going up to 27C. Goal!Just as I told some subs to undress and get ready to come on a big cheer came like a big wave behind me, I turned around to see that AaB had scored. But how?! I asked Paco if he has seen what happened, apparently AaB knocked their freekick high over the defence and Biscan wasn't paying attention and Mikkelsen was totally free and scored, AaB 1 Liverpool 0. I shouted at Biscan to keep focused, I can't understand why he would play so badly now I have given him the chance. The fans settled down and both teams made subs, despite Biscan's poor display on and off the ball I decided to keep him on with Kirkland, Carra, Traore, Hyypia and Hamann. On came Riise, Cisse, Partridge, Welsh and Pellegrino. I decided to put Biscan in anchor midfield and see if he'd do any better there. But it was one of the AaB subs that impressed me mostly. Young goalkeeper Kenneth Stenild who was to make his debut and play for 30 minutes. The subs were immediatly effective and putting Stenild to the test early, a Riise cross from the left was deflected and curling inside the near post but a great save from Stenild kept that out. A cornor was given and Partridge hit a low ball towards the near post to Hamann who decided ot pass it back to Partridge who had moved into the box, his effort was inches away the far post. 79 minutes into the game and a long goal kick from Kirkland caused confusion in the AaB defence, Stenild came to claim but hte defender decided to head it back to him, Stenild got his fingers to it and it went out for a unessesairy cornor, we were really upping the pressure now. The following cornor taken by Partridge was aimed towards Hyypia in the box, his header was goal bound but another wonder save from Stenild kept it out. 86 miuntes in, we keep coming and coming and AaB knock the ball away all the time, Riise put Cisse through with a lovely ball but Stenild came out well and Cisse hit hte shot hard but wide of the mark. Goal! In extra time, a cross from Riise gone a stray was picked up by Finnan and cross into the box at the far post where Welsh slotted it into the far cornor, hit the post and in past Stenild, wonderful goal! AaB 1 Liverpool 1
After the match the players were glad they didn't loose another game and Biscan apologized for the sloppy defending. His performance after that in anchorrole got me curious to see what he could do in that role so I explained that everything was good, no hard feelings. But I couldn't help thinking of Stenild. If anyone was to be dubbed the new Schmiechel, it had to be this lad. I called up Miller and asked him if he could send a scout to look at Stenild and keep tabs on him "No problem, sir, right away!"
Liverpool - The Sleeping Giant Awakens 
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