After the fun of the previous post, I decided to trawl the BBC archives to find more gems from our favourite ex-lfe Scouse, Alan Hansen.
There, in black and white and web-compliant html, I found several remarks which cheered me no end.
In the 27th October column, just days prior to lfc’s first defeat away to Spurs, Hansen claimed that although “there is a long way to go yet, [...], but the signs are good”. He continued:
They have really impressed me at times, none more so than on Sunday when they defeated Chelsea, and I think they have got a real chance of winning the championship.
Then, again, on the 24th of November, after the 0-0 stalemate at Anfield between his beloved club and Fulham, Hansen had this to say:
I do believe Liverpool are genuine title contenders this season.[...] They do not look like a side that will fall apart under pressure and their best XI can compete with anyone.
I’d love to read his thoughts now.
Finally, in answer to the question “Why don’t ex-lfc players get a proper job”, I found this column in which Hansen recalls the moment when he “was 6/4 favourite to succeed Kenny Dalglish when he resigned as Liverpool manager in 1991. I was never going to take the job and there were very good reasons why”. Nonetheless,
It didn’t stop me going into the dressing room and telling the players that I would be taking over after Kenny’s departure – and that things were going to change. I told them certain pubs were totally out of bounds, there would be extra training every afternoon and we would be back every Sunday studying video tapes of matches. I effectively presented my “former” team-mates with the three things I would have hated being told by my manager. The faces in front of me were an absolute picture until they were put out of their misery and realised I was not in fact taking over (italics added)
While I laughed at Hansen’s “wit”, his hilarious “joke” at his team-mates’ expense, I wonder if the decision was Hansen’s to make, though.
1 Comment
March 13, 2009 at 3:06 pm
i like watching alan hansen on the tele, there’s an obvious bias on his part. as man utd fans, we’re programmed to hate his views but we still do sit in front of the tele and listen to what he has to say.
so far, i haven’t anything by him on bbc prior to saturday’s match at old trafford.