The German dropped the bombshell of all bombshells on Friday as he announced his intention to leave Liverpool, and, as you can imagine, the rumour mill surrounding who will come in next has gone into overdrive.
There have been rumours about Pep Lijnders getting the top job at Anfield for a long time, but speaking on The RedMen TV, Neil Jones has quickly put those to bed.
Jones says that there’s no way Lijnders gets the job after his departure was announced, and he also says that the Dutchman was never actually in the frame for the job.
Lijnders never an option
Jones shared what he knows about the 41-year-old.
“No, I don’t think Pep Lijnders was ever in the frame to be the next Liverpool manager, I think that was always just an easy two and two together. Let’s be fair, we’re dismissing Steven Gerrard’s credentials, Thomas Frank’s credentials, whoever else. Pep Lijnders’ credentials are very short, knowledge of the club is one thing but he’s not been the figure head. There’s no way Liverpool are announcing he’s leaving and then saying by the way we’ve done our due-dilligence and the winner is Pep Lijnders,” Jones said.
Too risky
This would probably be too much of a risk for Liverpool to ever consider.
Of course, back in the day, Liverpool had The Boot Room system that led to the likes of Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan carrying on the good work Bill Shankly started all those years ago, but these days, football is so different with huge money, egos and pressures involved.
Lijnders is a top coach, but nowadays, there’s a huge difference between being a top coach and a top manager, and bridging that gap at a club like Liverpool is a huge risk.
