Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has claimed that he would have been sacked as Reds boss even if he had led them to the 2013/14 Premier League title.
The Northern Irishman was manager at Anfield for three years between 2012 and 2015, and he led his side to within three games of the Premier League title in his second season, eventually losing out to Manchester City.
The 45-year-old was then dismissed from his role just 18 months later in October 2015, being replaced by current boss Jurgen Klopp, and Rodgers has now made an extraordinary claim about his sacking by the club.
In an interview with The Times, he said: “I would still have been sacked for sure. You only need to look at the evidence all around. Not in modern football. Not in new football.
Pointing to his mobile phone, he continued: “This little thing here means the world has changed. No one wants to wait for anything. At the end of that season I signed a four-year deal. I was going to be the one, the person to take the club on. Eighteen months later that’s it.”
OPINION
It is highly doubtful that Rodgers would have been sacked if his team had gone on to win the Premier League title in 2013/14. Being the man to bring a first Premier League title to a club like Liverpool would have had a massive impact, and Rodgers would have been revered in the red half of Merseyside. Another factor to consider is the momentum that the club would have taken on if they had won the title, with more trophies surely to have come in the following years. As it was, Rodgers’ side let the title slip away, and he has to take some responsibility for that. Former captain Steven Gerrard claims the Northern Irishman was over-confident, something which Rodgers denies, but whatever the reasons behind that failure, Rodgers seems to want to devolve himself of any responsibility. Furthermore, fans will not have begrudged the decision to replace him with Klopp considering the fact that the club are on the verge of a first Champions League title since 2005.
