KOP News # 1269

BRENDAN RODGERS FITS THE LIVERPOOL VISION

Brendan Rodgers celebrating victory that put Swansea in the top flight

Thursday May 31,2012

By Paul Joyce

BRENDAN RODGERS' thinking was simple when he first rejected the opportunity to participate in the 'beauty parade' of managerial candidates flung together by Liverpool in the immediate aftermath to Kenny Dalglish being sacked.

His own interview had actually taken place four days before Dalglish's contract was unceremoniously terminated.

Swansea's 1-0 victory over Liverpool at the Liberty Stadium on the final day of the Premier League campaign, a match in which the visitors barely managed a kick, neatly encapsulated the different directions in which the clubs appeared to be heading.

Factor in, too, the reality that one of the few Anfield matches that Liverpool owner, John W Henry, attended this season was when the Swans drew 0-0 on Merseyside, as they out-Liverpooled their hosts in many respects. And perhaps his stance has ultimately been justified.

Yet, if Liverpool's owners, Fenway Sports Group, caught a close-up view of the man they wanted to replace the King on those two occasions, then Rodgers has also witnessed at first hand the task he is set to take on.

For all the romantic appeal Liverpool still muster, with their history and pedigree, you do not have to scratch too far below the surface to recognise the barriers that exist in returning the club to the heights they once took for granted

Yesterday marked the anniversary of Swansea's 4-2 play-off victory over Reading that propelled them back into the big time for the first time since 1982-83. Rodgers has therefore revived a club once before – now he will endeavour to do it again.

For all the romantic appeal Liverpool still muster, with their history and pedigree, you do not have to scratch too far below the surface to recognise the barriers that exist in returning the club to the heights they once took for granted.

At precisely the time that moves to appoint Rodgers were gathering momentum at the start of the week, Chelsea were winning the £32million race for Eden Hazard and whispers persist that they are looking to add £30m FC Porto striker Hulk to the ranks of their Champions League winners.

Buying success still works for some – Premier League champions Manchester City are the other example. But FSG have so far had their fingers burnt with such a philosophy, as £110m lavished in 2011 rewarded them with a trophy [the Carling Cup] they had not heard of and an inadequate eighth-place finish.

Instead, a re-education is required, building blocks put in place and the appointment of one of the best up-and-coming British managers to oversee that process makes sense.

Rodgers' footballing values, based on possession, passing and moving, fit neatly with the Liverpool of old.

Back in the Sixties when black and white TVs were the order of the day, there was once a banner on The Kop which screamed: "For those of you watching at home, Liverpool are the ones with the ball."

Yet this was not Dalglish's undoing last season. The football Liverpool played was far better than their eventual position suggested, though FSG were less inclined to believe hard-luck stories and insisted instead that more could have been gleaned from the players.

They will hope that Rodgers, a coach happiest on the training ground, can do just that.

There also now falls an onus on FSG to be realistic. They need to offer time and, inevitably, further funding if the new man is to make a proper mark.

Henry dare not repeat last summer's assertion that it would be a "major disappointment" if Liverpool did not infiltrate the top four, primarily because he will not want to put pressure on Rodgers in the way that he left Dalglish with no doubt as to how he would be judged.

This appointment of a man who started in management at Watford and endured a short-lived spell at Reading before re-establishing himself with Swansea seems, at first glance, a gamble.

However, once you accept that Liverpool, unlike Chelsea and Manchester United, are not in a position to be competing realistically for the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho again, then the gamble seems less risky.

Perhaps it is also a gamble for Rodgers, though Liverpool will take delivery of someone who combines humility with enthusiasm and who is also his own man.

"I like everything in him," said Mourinho of the man he promoted from youth academy director to reserve coach at Chelsea before Rodgers got that chance at Watford.

It is that which ensured the hair-brained idea of installing Dutchman Louis van Gaal as a Sporting Director or Director of Football at Anfield quickly faltered.

What will be interesting is whether the much-vaunted changes to the management structure will now take place at all. Some 18 months after buying Liverpool, FSG have finally got, in Rodgers, someone who fits with their vision. The least they can do is let the manager manage.