Source: PA
Barnes predicts improvement from new Reds boss
Liverpool legend John Barnes has backed Kenny Dalglish or Roy Hodgson to succeed Rafael Benitez, insisting whoever gets the job will enjoy a "win-win situation".
Benitez parted company with the Reds by mutual consent last week and speculation continues over the contenders to step into his shoes at Anfield.
After guiding Liverpool to a remarkable Champions League triumph in 2005, success slowly dried up while relations with the club's American owners soured, culminating in Benitez's recent departure and subsequent appointment by Inter Milan. A lowly seventh-placed finish in the Barclays Premier League last season was the lowest of his tenure and Barnes believes the next man in will benefit from the bar being set so low.
The former league and FA Cup winner told Press Association Sport: "Whoever comes in will finish better than seventh, regardless of whether there is money to spend.
"To be honest, I would like there not to be money to spend because if there is, it means you have sold Gerrard or Torres. So under those circumstances, I'd rather have no money!
"Even with no money to spend, if you finish fourth you have done better than last year. The same if you finish fifth or sixth, you have still done better. It's a win-win situation. I hope Liverpool fans don't expect a manager coming in saying 'we're going to finish first or second' and I don't think they will."
