Kenny can save Reds from spoofer Hodgson

IN 1998, Arsenal won the Double playing some of the best counter-attacking football the English game had ever seen. Arsene Wenger, whose arrival had been greeted with scepticism verging on derision, had transformed the club in less than two years.

He had made a series of brilliant foreign signings, swept away Arsenal’s boring image, even helped Tony Adams to give up drinking. So when it was time for the League Managers’ Association to hand out their prestigious end of season award, the choice was obvious. Step forward Dave Jones, who had led Southampton to 12th place and a third round exit in the FA Cup.

The LMA Manager of the Year award is a bit like that. Wenger eventually won it after his second Double in 2002, but to date he remains the only foreigner to have done so. Really the award is about giving British coaches a dig out and a leg up. Rarely has it succeeded so admirably in its purpose as in 2010, when the prize carried Roy Hodgson all the way into the manager’s office at Liverpool.