LIVERPOOL is a club that is built on managers.
While some players elevate themselves to a heralded level, the most glorified and eulogised have been those that have managed the team. It began with Bill Shankly, the man who revolutionized the club from top to bottom and a man whose legacy lives on to this day not only spiritually but in the red shirts that still adorn the team on a match day. He was the trail blazer who defined the club like no other man could but he also set in motion a relationship between fan and manager that has remained for half a century.
The supporters of Liverpool football club have always backed their manager and have expected that man to represent the club, the city and the fans themselves without wavering. Yet this has not been the case with Brendan Rodgers.
Rodgers was greeted with a mixture of indifference and derision but with most opting for the ‘wait and see approach’ and while this may be fair given the limited reputation that Rodgers brought with him into the Anfield hot seat, it was not the usual Liverpool way. While many will point to the fact that club legend Kenny Dalglish was axed as the reason that Brendan Rodgers received a muted reception when introduced as Liverpool manager, the real place to point the finger is at Roy Hodgson.
When we trace our line of managers subsequent to Shankly, they were all offered support and time by the people that filled the terraces. The boot room successors of Paisley and Fagan had no experience of managing a club before, they simply knew the ways of Liverpool and they profited from that. They guided the team to domestic and European glory and continued the Liverpool dynasty. Of course, given their success, there was no need to doubt these men, they proved themselves capable of the job immediately but no challenge was made to their credentials when they were appointed. The break in the chain was Roy Hodgson.
While there were few, if any, Reds supporters who wanted Hodgson to be placed in charge of the club, he was given the benefit of the doubt as all who manage our great team should. The myth that has developed is that Hodgson was forced out of the club without being given any chance by the fans. The reality is that he let down the fans with a style and behaviour that went so against the club’s values that the supporters were compelled to hasten his departure.
In the beginning, Hodgson was afforded respect by The Kop as we looked to buy into the ‘safe pair of hands’ theory that the media had offered us. A draw against Arsenal at home was a decent start and there was no barracking of the man as he looked to instil his disciplined approach into the team. A 3-2 away defeat to Man Utd was a close game but the focus remained upon his praise of Alex Ferguson in the build up to the match, a sure fire way to alienate your own supporters. To follow that by publicly criticising Fernando Torres, the man who had slain the Red Devils so many times was baffling and hinted of what was to come.
As Hodgson looked to replicate his two banks of four defensive football at Liverpool, he began to isolate some of the more talented football players. Firstly, he suggested that Glen Johnson was not good enough to be England first choice and Daniel Agger was forced to speak out in Denmark about the quality of football that was being ushered into Anfield. Things did not improve.
A comfortable 2-0 win for Everton in the derby was exacerbated by Hodgson’s conclusion that it was ‘the best performance of the season’. The team had offered little fight, creativity or threat and some Evertonians were embarrassed at how easy it had been for them. This marked the turning point for Hodgson with the fans. Having already seen some fairly mediocre football and with Liverpool lying in the relegation zone, everyone was concerned that the manager’s designs for the team were flawed.
Having lost the trust of Liverpool fans, Hodgson reached his nadir firstly with a thrashing at the hands of Newcastle and the infamous face rubbing that ensued and the death knell of a home defeat to the lowly Wolverhapton Wanderers. When a new group of Americans purchased the club, in the form of FSG, fans needed to be convinced that they would do right by the club, some still do. Removing Hodgson and replacing him with club legend Kenny Dalglish was a sure fire way of bringing supporters on side with the new regime, Dalglish will always draw loyalty from the red fan base. That Dalglish performed so admirably certainly offered no favours to Rodgers.
Instead we were faced with what seemed like a repetition of the past. American owners had dismissed a manager we loved and replaced him with a man we did not have respect for. Not only this, but Rodgers was following the man who had delivered the best moment for the club since Benitez’s title challenge. Dalglish had not only delivered another trophy into the cabinet but he had also taken the Reds to the FA Cup final. Rodgers appointment was comparable to Hodgson in that no-one polled among the club’s supporters would have picked him as their choice of replacement. Most would not have sacked Dalglish but if he were to be sacked fans wanted Liverpool to be looking at the most reputable managers available Guardiola, Mourinho, Van Gaal, managers who had won before and would do it again.
Rodgers was viewed as a slap in the face, he was not befitting of Liverpool as he had not achieved anything. The problem for Rodgers was that an element of mistrust had developed around the club. Having seen American owners promise a lot and deliver little, fans had grown wary of those in charge of the club. To see a legend removed for an inexperienced young manager heightened anxiety about the new direction of the club. Most were also worried that the new owners lacked the knowledge to bring success to Liverpool and were fearful of the sabremetrics approach as a bunch of hocum.
With the legacy of Tom Hicks, George Gillet and Roy Hodgson still looming large over Anfield, talk had become cheap, which contrasts with the history of a club that immortalises so many quotes of its heroes. Rodgers marched in and said all the things we wanted to hear from him. That he wanted to re-establish the club, that he wanted to play attacking football and that he wanted to represent the city. But people had become bored by statements of intent. Everyone wanted results first and judgements to be cast later. But this was not the way we had treated managers before.
Many of our greatest managers had done nothing before taking up the Liverpool reigns and the fans supported club and manager steadfastly. The Hodgson flop had made the fans guarded against any appointment that wasn’t a name they trusted which left Rodgers as an isolated figure with only pockets of support amongst a huge fan base. It was perhaps the most difficult circumstances any new Liverpool manager has faced since Bill Shankly himself began at the club. The first half of last season did little to change anyone’s mind, the second half however, saw a dramatic improvement.
Rodgers still has a long way to go to endear himself to all those who follow Liverpool but should he succeed he will undoubtedly join those heralded men of the past. But if in the meantime he wonders why he has not been clasped to the bosom of the Liverpool faithful then he need look no further than the England bench.
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Get……a……….life
Too intelligent an article for you grasp?
BR is a Joke. We are going nowhere with him as manager. His being disingenuous and insulting the supporters with his lame excusers. ( does he think we are idiots ? ) He is vindictive with his blame for his own mistakes falling on Skirtel and Enrique. He turned Skirtel in to a pariah .This was after he was our player of the year ,he did not turn into a bad player Rodgers made him bad with his ridiculous ideas on defending. Good managers can spot the problems even if they are their own mistakes but they then correct them. Rodgers sat and watched but was clueless. It really is time we woke up and realised we are being conned.
i don’t think so. i’m more concerned with rodgers ridiculous decision to play 4 centre backs yesterday. does he feel because he spent a stupid amount of money on sakho he has to play him somewhere no matter what? surely if enrique was on the bench he was fit enough to start? then again, he was dreadful when he came on. jack robinson is a better bet next season. and why was toure playing right back? has rodgers lost faith in wisdom and kelly? he had no qualms playing wisdom at the start of last season. he is still young and made a mistake for swansea’s second goal. so what. everyone makes mistakes. he’s still learning. has rodgers lost his bottle when it comes to promoting english talent? it looks that way. would sakho be dropped for making a mistake? don’t think so. i would like to have seen ibe come on yesterday for the last 30 minutes. defenders hate pace late on in a game.
My Christmas wish: BR be sacked with 2 credible strikers coming in, in January transfer window. BR is pure incapable to bring back glory for us.
BR is respobsible for Liverpool defeat to southampton. He choose the players and he choose the wrong tactics. He lacks experience and he is nowhere near Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan or Kenny Daglish. We need to remind him that he got a lot to learn…
Agreed red . Agreed !
Good artical the people are talking bollax
Rodgers is simply not good enough for LFC. If we want to get back to being a top club Rodgers must be replaced.
I was totally disappointed with our display yesterday. I expected ibe to come on but BR chose clueless sterling. Sterling has been disappointing fans with his displays added with his problems off the field.
Rodgers proved how clueless a manager he is yesterday. Aspas is another terrible signing
Rodgers made a mistake, just like other managers before him. However, we have something like 9 more points than we had after 5 games last season.
Until yesterday we were top of the division for the first time in about 4 years. Some players take time to fit in with the pace of the game. Henderson took at least a season, but now looks an asset, so it will take time for Aspas and Sakho. They dont have EPL experience so the pace of the game will take time to get used to.
As far as i am concerned, Rodgers is doing a good job. A win against Manure and again next weekend and you lot will be in hiding again or saying that you were always behind Rogers.
Have faith, we arent in the relegation zone are we.
Sensible man @judgestevep, careful, you’ll be trolled with measured words like yours.
Patience all round..
Total little fool Aaron. Clueless
Really nice read, good article. I do think the criticism Brendan has received gas been justified personally. Signings like Allen & Borini abd claiming they were fantastic players and amongst the best are similar faux pas to Hodgson’s. He’s shown he’s learning, and I like our bargain Summer signings (though Aspas needs to be on the bench). I think cissokho is good competition, I’m a fan of Sakho, moses & toure are pragmatic deals, and Luis Alberto is very young and a longer term bet. We desperately needed a quality attacking midfielder and our failure to get 3 of our transfer targets was a big blow. Let’s see how we progress. We’ve still had a decent start to the season.
What a ridiculous article. Blindly jumping from Fagan to Hodgson without looking at the ones in between is farcical. The first time Kenny was in charge there was a failure to invest in new players and that’s where the rot set in. Kenny coming back and wasting 100 million is a knee-jerk reaction to try and overcome his original disability. Souness was part of the boot room – another disaster, quickly followed by Houllier. We had Sammy Lee as an assistant – another useless individual.
We’ve had nothing since Joe Fagan and one wonders whether the old school could cut it today’s game.
Looking at the frustration on Sturridge’s face yesterday because of a lack of ball, one is reminded of the same look and attitude with Torres. We stuffed up a great footballer by denying him good service – are we going to do the same?
The lack of depth in the squad was shown by the injury to Coutinho and his replacement by Aspas. Once Suarez gets banned again or leaves us in the lurch, we’ll be a nothing side again and Rodgers will get the sack – deservedly
We should have got back Benitez…would some finance and the squad we had I’m sure we would have got back in the top4! He was with us for many years and only had 1 bad season and he was sacked!? Can u blame him? After all the problems with Hicks n Gillet and them selling some of our key players like Mascherano and not replacing them…. Sure he made some poor signings but which manager doesn’t??? Even the great Sir Fergiepuss made a few bad buys!!! Rafa is a manager with great tactical knowledge and can read a game n make changes that change our play! Rogers is clueless!!!
So, the writer hopes, believes contrary to all evidence that BR will become a great and write his own chapter. Well, he is close to doing just that. Writting his final chapter. Manager comes in from a small club, talks the talk, but eventually everyone sees him for whom he is. A fraud.
Writer, i don’t know what medication your doctor is giving you. I really don’t.
it was indeed a poor outing yesterday with no solid mildfielders to replace injured countiho…. Pls and pls bring benitez back…. He is part of us and benitez will neva sign useless player like borini and allen…. He knw wat is d best for d club… Rodger is a disgrace with d signing of 3 defender without any attacker
Yeah he only signs greats like Aqualani. LOL!
TF are you talking about??? Benitez was the most up and down manager out of the ones in recent years. He was the worst manager in regards to purchases. Robbie keane for 21 mil, sell back in january for 5 mil. Tells Xabi alonso he’s not special and says he wants to replace him with gareth barry. In the last 5 years of his career, torres and johnson were his best signings. He had Peter crouch who was in form at the time, never come on. He relied too heavily on torres and as a result, we slowly declined away from the top 4. If I started saying names of player he brought in that were tipped to be the next big things, you would laugh. Remember, Kromkamp? Babel? Baros? Ngog? He had success yes, but there were too many negatives. Don’t say it was because he didn’t have a good team. Please, that’s stupid. Remember, he went to Inter Milan, they had won every cup and championship an italian side could win, he made them a relegation side in six months. The only positive i can take out of that, he signed coutinho. He discovered him. Had he not sold Xabi alonso and signed a partner for torres, we would have broken back into the top four eventually. Before he left, he converted Lucas to holding midfield, which was awful at the time… and sold mascherano so he could benchwarm and xabi to real, so tell me, what good did he do in his last 5 years? If he’s such a good manager, tell me, we came second that flukey year, other than that… again, tell me how he is the man for the job?
So what ? Rafa got results. THATS ALL THAT MATTERS
Is being the number 1 club in Europe not better than the SH*TE we have now ?????!
Benitez left us in 7th place you muppet, stop trying to re-write history you donut.
Rodgers tactically has been at times bl00dy infuriating. 4 CB’s at home vs an inferior side?!?!?? Where in his brain did that come from??!?? An inexcusable mistake that was always doomed to fail.
His loyalty to HIS guys at the expense of the club is dreadful. He likes to say “Nobody is bigger than Liverpool FC” – then insists on forcing his dross down our throats. First Allen, the Borini (who had the good nature to be forced from the pitch, then loaned), now Aspas.
Good grief what’s next.
Meanwhile – this just in from Italy: NAPOLI IS TOP OF THE TABLE, with a win over defending finalist Dortmund in the ECL.
Hiring Rodgers over Rafa was so daft, it boggles the mind.
People are so quick to judge, nd so small minded.rodgers has had a few bad signings, so did shankley, paisley, fagan, dalglish and ……ferguson, mourinho etc etc!!……rodgers has made good signings too!!….wait till the end of the season then judge.YNWA.
No. Rodgers is awful .
WE WANT RAFA BACK ;
DALGLISH WAS NEVER A MANAGER.HE LIVED OFF PAISLEY !!!
Go support Napoli you plum.
Bottom line!!! BR gets too carried away whenever where in a good run of form…underestimates the opposing teams and fails!
Jordan, bottom line he is a novice, gets excited when he wins a few games in a row, then decides to play 4 centre halfs! A walking talking desaster. The only thing that surprised me, is his ability to do a decent job in keeping the club in the PL!
Trust me it was a pleasant surprise. I feared for my club this time last year
Rodgers is focusing on defending this year and now we dont score goals! The man is an ijiat.
this is why I think Brendan will nover make it as a manager.
1) He has no ability to improvise. He is far too inflexible unable to do the risky imaginitive thing for fear of losing, when in reality he is going to lose the game any way.
2) Yesterday when he needed to play a formation of 4-4-2, that was unfamiliar to him so what does he do he plays 4-3-3 with 4 central defenders. In reality though is was a 6-1-3 formation.
2) His inabolity to adapt his tactics to the team he is playing is causing Gerrard to look his age. He being played in a defensive midfield role, does nto take into account the fact he is 33 not 23, and cant cover the pitch at same pace and stamina as he could 10 years back. Consequently Gerrard is looking phisically jaded and mentally worn out. He is trying to make up his inability to cover as much of the pitch as he could before by trying out the spectacular 70 yds passes which are miraculous when they come off, but when the reality means they never do come off and team is put under pressure again. Gerrard needed to play behind the 2 main attackers yesterday and henderson along side Lucas as he is a good box to box player, if 4-3-3 was persisted with. But to get best out of captain we needed moses on left, Hendo on right next to Lucas and Gerrard.
4) His signing apart from 2 have been awful. Many in pre season were ecstatic at the miracle find in Aspas. My reaction was Voronin also looked like a miracle in pre-season, and I hope it is tactics rather than ability. 5) There seems to be no clue about what the team needs to go forward. The team needed at least one good quality world class midfielder to be able to boss game as a replacement for Gerrard in long term, but to add steel in short term. Instead of paying £10 million for Ericksson our genius manager blows £23 million on 2 centre halves. In fact this transfer window we bought in 5 Defenders 1 winger on loan, and an average unknown centre forward when in reality we needed at least 1 if not 2 Midfield players of world class/good quality. That did not happen in fact we let an average midfielder in guise of Shelvy to go out and leaving us very short
. 6) Finally how any manager can’s see that Sterling is just not premier league qaulity I just dont know. Why in the world does he insist on bringing him on, it is like playing with 10 men when he is on pitch, even worse as he cant do anything other than fall over and give ball away. He has no skill, no vision and no control. Cant pass, shoot, or dribble. Waste of a substitute place. How he is preferred to Suso, or Assaidi I will never know!
I agree with most comments . Despite the good start I feel Rodgers is a very poor manager . We should sack him . Tactically inept !!!
If Rodgers wasn’t such a ly/ng c*nt , and a complete FSG lick@rse then the fans might actually like him.
At this stage I just want the to55er OUT. He is a complete fool