Failure to take consolation of FA Cup puts King Kenny’s crown on a shoogly nail

IT HAS not been a good year for Kenny Dalglish. His team have been rotten in the league, there have been question marks over his business in the transfer market, and his handling of the Luis Suarez affair left plenty to be desired. What he needed more than anything was a victory at Wembley yesterday, a domestic cup double to silence the critics, but he was denied it in agonising fashion.

When Andy Carroll’s late header was controversially adjudged not to have crossed the line, after Petr Cech had brilliantly pushed it on to the crossbar, a dramatic comeback from 2-0 down was thwarted, and a whispering campaign about the future of Dalglish started. His team were unfortunate here, but when the dust has settled, the record books will show that, in season 2011/12, Liverpool were a mid-table side who won the Carling Cup, after a penalty shoot-out with Cardiff City.

By their own admission, Liverpool needed to win the FA Cup if they were to claim that their campaign had been a success. Their failure to do so raises questions about the suitability of Dalglish for a job that he took, for the second time, 16 months ago. His employers have backed him until now, but they have so far refused to confirm whether he will remain in the position next season.

Dalglish will always be idolised by the Kop, but new admirers have been hard to come by, especially after the Suarez controversy. The club should have done more to protect their manager as that crisis unfolded, but there is no denying that his reaction to allegations of racism by a Liverpool player was insensitive. By repeatedly defending the Uruguyan, a consequence perhaps of his unswerving devotion to all things Liverpool, Dalglish sounded like a dinosaur with no concept of the global context in which clubs such as his now operate.

Neither have his team responded to the demands of modern football. For all the headway they have made in knockout competition, Liverpool’s league season has been nothing short of a disaster. Currently eighth in the Premier League, three points behind Everton, and 34 behind the Manchester clubs who are vying for the title, Liverpool are in danger of posting their lowest top-flight finish since they were relegated in 1954. Remarkably, they have won only five home matches in the league this season.

It is often said that the biggest problem for Roy Hodgson, now in charge of England, during his ill-fated spell at Anfield was that he wasn’t Kenny Dalglish. If the latter was being honest, he would admit that being Kenny Dalglish has been his biggest asset. Any other manager would be lucky to have lasted this long.

Fenway Sports Group, the club owner, can’t be happy with how its money has been spent. Andy Carroll made an impact as a substitute yesterday, but he has yet to prove that he is worth £35 million. Charlie Adam cost £9m, Jordan Henderson £16m and Stewart Downing £20m. Damien Comolli, the director of football who was sacked last month, was responsible for recruitment, but Dalglish had the final say in every signing.

The hope was that a visit to Wembley would recreate some of the magic that made Dalglish a legend. As a player, he won 13 trophies at the iconic venue. He made his Liverpool debut there, and at the end of that season, when the European Cup final was held there, he scored the winner. His goal also helped Scotland beat England at Wembley. A win here would have eased the pressure on Dalglish. Sure, the FA Cup final is not the showpiece occasion it once was, shunted to a teatime kick-off eight days before the end of the league season, and playing second fiddle to a thrilling title race, but it is still regarded as one of the world’s most famous cup competitions.

It wasn’t to be. Having just revealed record losses of nearly £50m, Liverpool need to be challenging for the title, and competing in the lucrative group stages of the Champions League, but all they have to show for their investment is a trophy that was won a year earlier by Birmingham City. And look where they are now.

Dalglish said beforehand that he felt he owed Liverpool for the abrupt manner in which he ended his first spell as manager in 1991. Unlucky though he was yesterday, he is still in debt.