Hodgson, who joined Liverpool from Fulham in July last year,
had been under intense pressure after several humiliating defeats, culminating
in a 3-1 debacle at Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League on Wednesday.
He leaves with the club four points above the relegation
zone in 12th place, having won just seven of 20 league games, and on the day
before Liverpool visit arch-rivals Manchester United for an FA Cup third-round
match.
Liverpool's fans, long considered among the most loyal in
the game, had chanted for Hodgson's dismissal and swamped radio shows and
internet forums with tales of their disenchantment and criticism of his
selections and tactics.
The return until the end of the season of Dalglish, who won
eight league titles as a player and manager at Anfield, will placate the fans
but, having been out of club management for a decade, the appointment is seen
by many as a desperate gamble.
"It's a great honor to be asked to come back (albeit)
in unfortunate circumstances. I will try my best," Dalglish told reporters
on Saturday night after flying back from a family holiday in the Middle East to
take over at Anfield.
Hodgson, named manager of the year last season after he
helped unfancied Fulham reach the Europa League final, was given the news of
his dismissal on Friday night.
"I have... found the last few months some of the most
challenging of my career," he said on the club website
(www.liverpoolfc.tv).
"I am very sad not to have been able to put my stamp on
the squad, to be given the time to bring new players into the club in this
transfer window and to have been able to be part of the rebuilding process at
Liverpool." Former Liverpool player and assistant manager Phil Thompson
said the fan pressure made Hodgson's position almost impossible.
"It has been very difficult for Roy to carry on. It is
unprecedented in the way the fans have turned," he told Sky Sports News.
"Even in the dark days at the end of the (Graeme)
Souness reign there were no chants for him to go. Liverpool fans felt as though
we were different and we stick together — this was incredible what we've
seen." It has certainly been a season of discontent for the supporters,
who began it by campaigning against the club's previous owners George Gillett
and Tom Hicks.
The pair eventually, and reluctantly, sold the club to
fellow American John Henry and his NESV group.
They inherited Hodgson, just as he was stuck with most of
the squad assembled by former manager Rafa Benitez, and neither party seemed
particularly happy with their lot.
In a statement on the website Henry said: "Both parties
thought it in the best interests of the club that he stand down," but the
League Managers Association issued a statement saying Hodgson had wanted to
continue in the job.
"He has not walked away, he was happy to carry on but
at 8pm (2000 GMT) last night he received the news the owners no longer wanted
him to continue," the statement said.
"It wasn't a surprise but it was disappointing and
upsetting news," said Hodgson, who was involved in negotiations with the
club over the terms of his departure until 0300 on Saturday.
Looking ahead to former Scotland international Dalglish's
arrival, Henry said: "Kenny was not just a legendary footballer, he was
the third of our three most successful managers — three giants.
"We are extraordinarily fortunate and grateful that he
has decided to step in during the middle of this season." Former Liverpool
fullback Phil Neal was among the first to welcome the return of his team mate
from the trophy-laden days of the 1970s and 80.
"We are not looking to the past with this
appointment," said Neal. "He's still got the spirit within him and
he's got the experience. He knows what the club was built on all those years
ago.
"Kenny would be the first man to stand in and maybe
create a bit of the old type of togetherness really, along with the fans."
Dalglish, a huge Anfield favorite as a player, was in charge when Liverpool
claimed the last of their 18 English league championships in 1990.
He left in 1991 and had spells at Blackburn Rovers, where he
won the league title again, Newcastle United and Celtic.
He returned to Liverpool as a club ambassador in 2009 but
has not managed a team since leaving Celtic in 2000.
He could not have asked for a bigger match to mark his
return than an FA Cup trip to Old Trafford to face Premier League leaders
United and his old foe Alex Ferguson.
