Since he wasn't available we should have waited until the summer, appointing Dalglish felt like it made sense at the time though.
That's definitely the point it went south like, then there's Ashley buying the club rather than someone who wanted to run us properly, Keegan feeling inclined to pack it in in the first place in 97, to a far lesser extent choosing Butt over Carrick the summer before Robson got sacked.
It's all ifs, buts and maybes but at least we used to make these mistakes in good faith while striving to improve, no matter how flawed the decisions were.