Liverpool hire new manager
http://cdn.bleacherreport.net/images_root/slides/photos/001/270/577/73225211_crop_650x440.jpg
Legendary defender returns to Anfield
Liverpool Football Club have unveiled their new manager - the one the hope can take them back to the heights of the 80s.
And it will be an emotional return to his boyhood club for Liverpool's new boss, who is viewed as a club legend by most fans.
http://www.empireofthekop.com/anfield/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Ovation.jpg
And so, it will be Sami Hyypia's name on the door of the manager's office at Anfield.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/08/12/article-2187347-1483B0EF000005DC-466_634x373.jpg
Hyypia first joined Liverpool as a player way back in 1998 and spent 10 years at his favourite club, captaining the side for several years.
At the age of 35, he left Liverpool on the expiry on his contract to play for Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Despite his age, he was voted as the best defender in the Bundesliga in his first year at the German club. After two years as a player at Leverkusen, he announced his retirement and took up a coaching job at the club.
But with the sacking of manager Robin Dutt not long after, Hyypia took the reins of the club along with Sascha Lewandowski. Last season, after completing his coaching badges, the Hyypia took complete control as manager, leading Leverkusen to an impressive 3rd place finish, becoming the only team to beat Bayern in the Bundesliga that year.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02672/sami-hyypia_2672601b.jpg
His experience as a player, as a manager, and his inside-out knowledge of the club and the approval of the Kop made Hyypia the best candidate for the job, according to owner John Henry.
But Hyypia's task is no easy one to accomplish. With the club harboring ambitions of a Champions League finish, the former defender will need to massively build on a squad that only managed a seventh place finish last season, which leaves them without an European campaign this term.
With no European football, and Luis Suarez's desire to leave for a Champions League club made public, Liverpool will find it harder than ever to attract world-class talent in their bid for European football.
But hey, if anyone can do it, Sami can.