'Kenny Dalglish told me Liverpool were too big for me - that's why I left after just six months'
Former Liverpool defender Paul Konchesky has opened up on his ill-fated six months at the club.
Paul Konchesky has revealed how his disappointing spell at Liverpool came to a conclusion.
The left-back joined the Reds in the summer of 2010 for a fee of £3.5 million. He followed manager Roy Hodgson to Anfield, having reached the Europa League final together with Fulham the previous season.
However, both Konchesky and Hodgson had an ill-fated period at Liverpool. Hodgson was sacked from his post after just six months, with the Reds winning just seven of 20 Premier League games and languishing 12th in the Premier League table.
Liverpool legend Kenny Dalglish returned to replace Hodgson in the hot seat and it led to the end of Konchesky’s brief stay. He was loaned to Nottingham Forest for the second half of the 2010-11 season before completing a permanent move to Leicester City the following summer. He made a total of 18 appearances for the Reds.
What’s been said
Speaking on podcast Undr the Cosh, Konchesky confessed that Dalglish told him he was a good player - but being at a club the size of Liverpool was too big for him. The ex-West Ham and Tottenham Hotspur defender said: “I thought for the first six months, I did all right when Roy was there. Then Roy left, Dalglish came in and I went to Forest... in and out.
“I thought he [Hodgson] would do well working with him for the last three years. I look back now but maybe that step every day with big players was too much for him. Joe Cole was in the same predicament as me, and maybe got tarnished with the same brush, being from London.
“What I would say is I learnt loads and loved my first six months there, being at as big a club as big as Liverpool and what the pressures bring. The pressures are different and the expectations are different day in, day out.
“Kenny was really good, to be fair. He was like: ‘I think this football club might be a bit big for you but you are a good player and deserve in the Premier League but I need to keep the team happy for whoever comes in as manager after me (after initially being appointed caretaker manager)’.
“That’s why I left to go to Forest because, probably again, I was 31-32 and wanted to play and with that conversation, I was probably not going to play. I think Glen Johnson ended up playing at left-back and someone else came in at right-back. “It was really tough because what do I do; stay and not play and be miles away from my family and unhappy or just go and play and be happy again?”
How Liverpool move transpired
Konchesky also revealed that he almost never joined Liverpool because Mark Hughes, who replaced Hodgson as Fulham boss, did not want him to leave.
"I went out to knock on Mark Hughes' door and said: 'Listen, you've played for the biggest clubs in the world - Barcelona, Man United - I've got an opportunity to do that so please just let it happen. You've had this opportunity, I've never had it... it's never going to happen in my lifetime again'," Konchesky added.
"He said: ‘You're not going anywhere, if we don't get anyone you're not going anywhere, so you're just going to be here until the end of the transfer window'. So I didn't play right up until August 30. August 30, my agent phoned and been like: 'We've been told we can go and have a medical and talk to them but you're not allowed to sign because they've still not got their player they want. So I had my medical in Liverpool - just in the hotel, really - and that night that deal fell through and [I got told] I had to go back.
"I said 'I'm not going back, f*** that, I'm not going'. The next day they ring my agent and say 'right, we've got this...' - it was a Mexican boy they signed (Carlos Salcido). My medical's done and my terms are agreed, all I had to do is sign.
"It's the 31st and it got to about midday and my agent went 'They're going to call us by 2pm', so by 3pm it was done. But it was just weird how it happened - I didn't play and then on the 30th I get told I'm allowed to go and have a medical but still might not be allowed to go. So it was really weird and my head was f***ed and all I wanted to do was go and sign for Liverpool, really."