STARING into the bleakest depths of his Liverpool tenure on Wednesday night, Roy Hodgson would have been struggling to find any ray of hope.

A highly respected manager with a proven track record, he could barely have envisaged such travails would greet him at the year’s end.

Rid of the American owners which brought the club to a standstill, Liverpool had a new board and refreshed hope for the future, even if fans knew no quick-fix was immediately on the horizon.

Hodgson’s appointment may not have been met with widespread approval from the stands, but the flashes of hope a comfortable Europa League qualification campaign brought together with four home wins in quick succession appeased some.

However those shoots of recovery were trampled on in midweek as a stumbling season crashed to its knees when Stephen Ward slipped the ball past Pepe Reina to send Liverpool to the dark side of a 57-year club record.

Labelled as unprecedented in Reds’ history, the sarcastic cries of “Hodgson for England” were as coherent as the performance on the pitch was muddled.

For the majority of Liverpool fans this morning, the reign of Hodgson has gone beyond repair and his 29-game rule should not be furnished with another 90 minutes against a confident Bolton Wanderers tomorrow afternoon.

A win percentage record (41.38%) the lowest of any boss since Bill Shankly whipped the club into shape, Hodgson’s statistics make for grim reading.

One win away from home all season, 12th in the Premier League and just three points from the relegation zone are figures which will weigh heavy on Hodgson’s shoulders.

Yet football history tells us the former Fulham manager holds famous company when teetering on the brink of losing his job.

Even suggesting Hodgson’s reign could be allowed to continue into 2011 will provoke outrage amongst sections of the faithful with the 63-year-old having overseen a side who succumbed so meekly to the division’s lowliest club.

When all has seemed lost, stranger events have materialised.

Hodgson needs only to look out across Stanley Park where the most successful manager in Everton’s history tested the resolve of some fans to breaking point.

Howard Kendall was reportedly close to dismissal at the beginning of 1984 with results poor – just nine wins in all competitions at the end of ‘83 – and a famous leaflet campaign calling for manager and the chairman Philip Carter to step down only adding to the air of inevitability.

But a win over Birmingham City - and perhaps more significantly victory at Stoke City in the FA Cup third round - turned the fortunes of Everton around.

Reaching the FA Cup final that season was only the beginning of the Goodison Park side’s dominant mid-decade era where they lifted silverware domestically and on the continent.

Crucially for Kendall, the backing of the board was always his and he survived the wrath of the fans to eventually bask in their love.

Alex Ferguson, too, was believed to be nearing the Old Trafford exit ahead of their FA Cup third round trip to Nottingham Forest in 1990 but Mark Robins’ winner is regularly attributed with saving his job.

The Scot’s record after January that year is clear for all to see.

The question remains whether Hodgson has the ability and squad to summon a rally.

Of course it would be fanciful, after the inept display on Wednesday evening, to suggest 18 months from now Liverpool will win the league by 13 points and lift a European trophy as Kendall’s Everton did, or claim 11 Premier League titles under his reign as United have done with Ferguson.

But football has thrown up such surprises before to offer Liverpool fans a glimmer of hope – if they choose to offer Hodgson that respite that is.

However, history has also taught us that sometimes the fit just is not right, and never was.

This was never more stark than when Brian Clough took on the task of managing Leeds United.

Now documented in film and book, Clough’s 44 days were doomed from the start and for many of the Anfield support, may throw up harrowing parallels.