COMMENT: The players want it. The ex-pros too. Even the man himself acknowledges how such an approach served the club so well in the past. So why has Pep Lijnders been so insistent that he'll follow Jurgen Klopp through the Shankly Gates and out of Liverpool at the end of the season...?
When Liverpool are successful. When they're on top. The club promotes from within. The Klopp era has been a success for Reds, though it has nothing on the 30-plus years of glory Liverpool enjoyed at home and in Europe last century.
From Bill Shankly to Sir Kenny Dalglish, the club promoted their managers from within. Or from inside the Boot Room. Shankly was replaced by his No2 Bob Paisley. Paisley succeeded by his assistant Joe Fagan. And Fagan was eventually replaced by Dalglish. From 1959 to 1991, Liverpool had a continuity in Anfield's dugout. And by this approach, the club kept winning and winning and winning.
Now, with Klopp's decision to step aside, the opportunity to revive the old Boot Room culture is there and available to the Reds board. And as we say, the players want Lijnders to step up. Indeed, former Reds striker Dean Saunders stated last month that he'd been told the dressing room would prefer the Dutchman take the reins.
Former captain and fellow assistant manager Phil Thompson also told talkSPORT: "I don't think he'd [Lijnders] have too many objectors [to replace Klopp], Liverpool fans, if they know enough about the club and the people behind the scenes and the back-up staff for Jurgen.
“Pep Lijnders is a fantastic coach and if you watch him on the training ground, he is full of it, full of energy and ideas. I would have no problems with him being it. If they announced it I would say yes."
And such claims were all but confirmed by today's club captain Virgil van Dijk. The centre-half, when speaking to Dutch media, eager to highlight that the blow of Klopp leaving Anfield this summer only tells half the story.
"It is not only the manager who is leaving the club," stated Van Dijk a fortnight ago. "It's more people. Pepijn (Lijnders) is a really important figure in the dressing room and I could go on and on.
"I am not looking forward to saying goodbye at all, but we still have the chance to win more trophies together."
So as we say, the players want him. The ex-pros like Thommo, who are so close to the club, say it's the best solution. Indeed, even Lijnders himself admits tapping the Boot Room brought the club unmatched success.
"No-one can replace Jurgen Klopp but the past showed already a few difficult transitions," said Lijnders. "What was the most difficult transition inside this club? Bill Shankly saying 'That's me [done]'. Who stepped up? Bob Paisley. He was different from Shanks.
"It showed that we as a club we have to search for someone who wants to grow, who has the mindset to develop but it is not for us but the owners, they can make the decision. We made the right decision to announce this early, to give the club time to get this transition smooth."
But can it get any smoother than appointing the most obvious candidate?
Lijnders, we know, won't be short of offers. He may've lived in Klopp's shadow, but his reputation inside the game is as good as it gets. It's why Mikel Arteta made that attempt to nick him away from Klopp when taking charge of Arsenal. It's why he was head-hunted by Manchester United a year before agreeing to join Liverpool's academy staff. Lijnders - sans that spell with NEC Nijmegen - is coming up to a decade as part of Liverpool. He knows the place, the players, the culture inside-out. The idea that he's going to be allowed to slip away without any attempt to persuade him otherwise makes little sense.
Is it just modern football? Today's way of covering it? The shiny keys? The lack of scrutiny in the local press about Lijnders' position is baffling. Why is there no debate about it? Just sweep ten years of experience and success aside for something shiny and new?
This isn't 2015. There isn't another Jurgen Klopp out there. Not with his record at the time. On Merseyside, there should be a greater push about the situation. Was there an offer made by FSG to Lijnders? Would he apply for the job if encouraged? Would Klopp actually recommend him?
Top of the table. A Carabao Cup winner. And a team which boasts so much youth. Liverpool aren't in need of an overhaul. Of new ideas. A fresh approach. From next season, it really should be business as usual. The chance to see this young team further mature.
Lijnders again: "The past has shown it is possible. Barcelona...Pep Guardiola announced he was done and then Tito Vilanova took over and got them the most points ratio over. That was probably the hardest transition in the past 15 years."
The late Vilanova stepped up from being Guardiola's assistant to taking Pep's team to a new level. If the players want it, is it really so fanciful that Lijnders could not do the same with this group?
