In fact, he's far too honest to even pretend that he ever had a soft spot for the club he manages today. He's always been a Real Madrid man. The Kop, 'You'll Never Walk Alone', the Shankly statue, Hillsborough, European nights at Anfield; it's all new to him. But maybe that's why it's been so much fun for us Liverpool fans to have him in our dugout this season. Even if he tries to convince us with his team's football on the field and his attitude off it ("He never used his injuries as an excuse even though no one would have blamed him for doing so," Ian recently said. St John), we try even harder to impress him from the stands. We want him to feel special and we want him to feel special. Either way, the first season was a resounding success if the traditional end-of-season victory lap is anything to go by after victory over Aston Villa confirmed the Reds missed out on fourth place by just three points.