For Roy Hodgson, getting the Liverpool job was no doubt the highlight of his professional career in England. A troubled time with Blackburn Rovers was later followed by impressive over-achievement at Fulham, but nothing would have compared to the day he walked through the doors at Anfield.
Hodgson has managed Inter Milan in Italy but here, at last, was a chance to make an impression on the home front. Liverpool may not have won the title in the Premier League age, but at the start of every season they are always among the fancied few. Recent successes include the Champions League (2005), UEFA Cup, now the Europa League (2001), League Cup (2003) and FA Cup (2006). Here were prizes within Hodgson's grasp, or so he thought.
Suppose, however, that the Liverpool board had other ideas in mind. That instead of taking Hodgson on as a go-getting manager to win trophies - having come so close to landing the Europa League with Fulham last year - it was a different quality, that of the wise old head, that held such appeal. Suppose, in essence, Hodgson was there to manage decline; to prevent the drop in standards that began in the final year of Rafael Benitez's tenure becoming a ruinous freefall.
It can happen. In July 2002, when Terry Venables took over at Leeds United, it was widely reported that the club was on the brink of financial disaster and there would be no alternative other than a fire sale of the best players. Venables seemed unperturbed. He had been informed by the chairman Peter Ridsdale that only a handful of sales were needed to satisfy the banks, and he would be given half the money for reinvestment.
The doomsayers were right. Leeds sold and sold until the club faced relegation and Venables was sacked. The nature of those pre-season assurances is still a source of bitter dispute between Ridsdale and Venables, but with hindsight it seems plain that what the manager regarded as a great opportunity, was actually crisis control by another name. Leeds did not get Venables in to win trophies, but to stop a runaway fall. What if Liverpool's motives are the same?
Every financial update that emerges from the club is more unnerving than the last. It is going to be almost impossible for Liverpool to rise again in this climate of toxic debt and uncertainty. A foreign coach with no knowledge of the Premier League, or a young manager with a promising track record who has known only success might drown in this environment. Hodgson, 63 and on his 19th managerial appointment across eight countries is the safe pair of hands. If he can maintain Europa League status while the financial future is resolved, that will do. What must be avoided is Liverpool resting among the dead men.
Yet, five games gone and they are in 16th place, sandwiched between Wolverhampton Wanderers and Stoke City. It has been a difficult start, with matches against three of the top four clubs, but there is nothing to suggest that Hodgson has a team capable of challenging the best. Is he merely managing decline? He would be appalled at the suggestion and his employers would scoff heartily; but so would Ridsdale, had the same theory been put to him in 2002.