The newspapers predicted he would lift the economic gloom by guiding the national team to glory in the World Cup - not as winners, of course, but certainly as qualifiers for the second round.
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has, likewise, been backed by his club's American owners -- Fenway Sports Group -- to overhaul the team and try to return to the glory days of the 1970s and '80s in which the team won four of its five continental crowns and 11 of 18 English championships.