Topic: Brendan Rodgers is no longer Liverpool manager

[redmark]

By my reading of the situation Toure and Moses were Brendan's signings. And I think that Lallana was not the TC's first choice and certainly not at that price. They seem to have wanted Firmino quite strongly instead given they were willing to go up to 29m including add-ons even though his productivity dropped from 13/14.

Moses certainly, but I left out loans. Toure I've never heard speculated on in any of the relevant articles; yes, Rodgers wanted experience at the time. But we'd also just acquired Fallows and Hunter from City, so he may have come highly recommended as an individual (everyone could see his fading ability).

I do think the committee were okay with Lallana, though they'd have preferred Firmino. We bid for Lallana right at the start of that window; I think the more 'disputed' targets are generally the ones we've seen linked but without apparently bidding (Shaqiri? Chernyshev), or have bid later in a window.

[conman]

By my reading of the situation Toure and Moses were Brendan's signings. And I think that Lallana was not the TC's first choice and certainly not at that price. They seem to have wanted Firmino quite strongly instead given they were willing to go up to 29m including add-ons even though his productivity dropped from 13/14.

his productivity dropped as the team adopted a defensive approach in the last season.

[jooneyisdagod]

his productivity dropped as the team adopted a defensive approach in the last season.

Sure, that's an entirely different matter altogether. But it seemed like they paid a higher price the following season than they would have had to the season before.

Moses certainly, but I left out loans. Toure I've never heard speculated on in any of the relevant articles; yes, Rodgers wanted experience at the time. But we'd also just acquired Fallows and Hunter from City, so he may have come highly recommended as an individual (everyone could see his fading ability).

I do think the committee were okay with Lallana, though they'd have preferred Firmino. We bid for Lallana right at the start of that window; I think the more 'disputed' targets are generally the ones we've seen linked but without apparently bidding (Shaqiri? Chernyshev), or have bid later in a window.

I think the committee were okay with Lallana too but get the feeling they would have much rather had Firmino. Besides Lallana is a good player and I think with a more settled style of play, we might see his ability come out a bit more than it has.

[stevensr123]

Rodgers was a complete tosser at times, and a very capable well spoken person at times as well. Loved the media and his own voice too much for my liking in the end. Still can't get over the excuse for taking gerrard off against Chelsea to give Chelsea fans the chance to say goodbye. That was one of the major reasons why I waned him gone. You give nothing to those scummy little twats. They have given the 96 far to much shit over the years, racist little twats. People on her defended him saying he was just using it as an excuse, but even that was down right wrong, you give them fucking nothing.

[Jon2lfc]

I don't disagree with your view on his private life, but as the father of a young daughter myself, seeing pictures of him carrying the baby (baby!) of another man's daughter, in the context of how that relationship came about, really upset me.

I'm also a father.
I haven't seen the pictures you mention, but what is wrong with carrying the baby of another man? Especially if that child is now your step-child in a way?
I'd say it's a positive isn't it? Not only looking after the mother but also her children?

I'm just trying to understand your angle. No judgement.

[justsean]

Ha, I've never heard that before.

Rodgers is a pretty respectful guy, it's a shame he has some limitations as a manger. Maybe he can iron them out in time.

Said yesterday by Giles. He comes out with garbage a lot of the time, but I thought that was a funny one.

Think he'll definitely be able to iron out those limitations myself. As far as managers go he's still an infant.

[conman]

Said yesterday by Giles. He comes out with garbage a lot of the time, but I thought that was a funny one.

Think he'll definitely be able to iron out those limitations myself. As far as managers go he's still an infant.

He'll need to be genuine with himself if he is to improve. He seemed unwilling to recognise his faults while with us.

[warrenpe]

Some kind of fully divided documentation of a list like this would be AMAZING if anyone has seen something of the like or compiled something close.

Since Rodgers' sacking, Bascombe has written the following:

Liverpool have signed 30 players under Rodgers. At least 23 of those he was convinced to sign. The other seven he enthusiastically pleaded for – most last summer.

A day later, James Pearce went on to name eight 'Rodgers signings':

Rodgers was the driving force behind signing the likes of Fabio Borini, Joe Allen, Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren, Rickie Lambert, Danny Ings, James Milner and Christian Benteke, while the other members of the committee championed the suitability of players such as Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho, Sakho, Emre Can, Moreno, Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas, Lazar Markovic, Divock Origi and Roberto Firmino.

They're two of the best-connected journalists covering Liverpool out there and Pearce has been almost farcically pro-Rodgers since he came to the club. Pearce went on to say the following in the same article:

There were times when he was out-voted and blocked from signing his first pick. He wanted Ashley Williams, but got Mamadou Sakho. He wanted Ryan Bertrand, but got Alberto Moreno.

On other occasions he was left to pick from a shortlist which didn’t include his initial targets. The best example of that was the summer of 2014 when he was given a choice between Mario Balotelli and Samuel Eto’o at the end of the window.

It's curious that while the names of Williams and Bertrand have been reported widely in the media, we're yet to learn the identities of Rodgers' alleged alternatives to Balotelli. The Neil Ashton article makes it clear that Rodgers is briefing journalists and feels resentment towards the TC, so why isn't he using the Balotelli farrago as a stick to beat it with?

[stevensr123]

If Rodgers is indeed starting to brief the media, it just shows how fake he really is.

[Walshy nMe®]

Sean O’Driscoll and Gary McAllister have gone too.

[kasperoff]

I work with a whole bunch of Man Utd fans. Every one of them is totally gutted that Brendan is gone. Which kind of indicates that maybe it was time to move him on.

Indeed. It's like the Moyes scenario. We all wanted him to stay as long as possible.

[redmark]

Source ?

Journalists on twitter. But if you exclude the source, you sound like an ITK .

[conman]

Source ?

Gary Mac is supposed to be mulling over an academy position according to Pearce, it's in the news thread.

[Walshy nMe®]

Journalists on twitter. But if you exclude the source, you sound like an ITK .

Source ?

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/08/liverpool-gary-mcallister-sean-odriscoll

[Loo Pan]

It's curious that while the names of Williams and Bertrand have been reported widely in the media, we're yet to learn the identities of Rodgers' alleged alternatives to Balotelli. The Neil Ashton article makes it clear that Rodgers is briefing journalists and feels resentment towards the TC, so why isn't he using the Balotelli farrago as a stick to beat it with?

Rodgers wanted Wilfried Bony. That was revealed when he was briefing the press last November and trying to distance himself from the Balotelli transfer.

[warrenpe]

Rodgers wanted Wilfried Bony. That was revealed when he was briefing the press last November and trying to distance himself from the Balotelli transfer.

Thanks LP. That probably explains why he decided to stop banging on about it.

[koptician]

what I never got around to understanding was why did FSG not enforce a DoF on Rodgers? They had all the leverage. The TC was neither here nor there and then we have these Rodgers vs TC buys and you could see where that would end up.

All in hindsight. The 2013/14 players...if my memory serves correctly none were Rodgers buys but crucially he didn't mind any of them or have an ax to grind. So he helped create an attacking juggernaut.

Wonder what it would have been like had FSG given all the transfer power to a DoF with an European track record and got BR to be on board.

[Stressmin]

I very much doubt that.

Why?

[vitri]

Player's bought during Rodgers' tenure as manager:

..cut..

So as a bit of fun, and assuming we share Clyne equally:

                      Benteke
       Moses       Lallana       Borini
                   Allen    Milner
   Gomez  Williams?  Lovren  Clyne
                        Vorm?

versus

                 Sturridge    Firmino
                          Coutinho
       Luis Alberto                   Markovic
                             Can
        Moreno   Sakho   Ilori     Clyne
                           Mignolet

[Zeb]

what I never got around to understanding was why did FSG not enforce a DoF on Rodgers? They had all the leverage.

I don't think they did have the leverage. From what's been said, it was the fuss over Dempsey, and tossing the blame for his own decision about Carroll onto them, which triggered them into wanting more control over Rodgers' signings. They had to work with him, or sack him. Ultimately they've sacked him. And they're getting brickbats about that from some, even after a horrid run of form. It's no-win for the owners on this one from the very start. The options in 2012 didn't seem like they were particularly good ones if the ultimate choice was between Martinez and Rodgers anyway. The scuttlebutt at the time was that De Boer didn't want to come, Capello would be short term and expensive, and Villas Boas I think they were right to not pursue (management style even at Chelsea was curious to say the least).

[Stressmin]

A very negative story about Brendan on the latest Men In Blazers Podcast. The Everton fan (Rog is it?) recounted a story of when he interviewed Rodgers back in 2014 at Melwood.  He said before the camera started rolling to break the ice he asked " It must be an honour to follow in the footsteps of football greats like Shankly and Paisley?" Rodgers looked at him and asked "Between you and me, I couldnt care less about them, I care about me".

I know the fellas a bitter but ...... ?

I was absolutely disgusted when I heard that, but somehow wasn't surprised.  The full exchange from the pod is below. For the vast majority of Reds who probably have never heard of these guys, in addition to their weekly podcast "Men in Blazers" they also present a TV show with the same name on NBCSports Network (the Premier League US television broadcast rights holder through 2022). The incident discussed was in connection with an interview that Bennett conducted with Rodgers that was ultimately broadcast on NBCSports. I can assure you, there is no way he is making this up.

ROGER BENNETT: "I met Brendan, and I interviewed him at length near the height of his power in 2013-14. And when we did the interview, I always try and connect with my interview subject before we start the interview proper. And I'd watched him train at Melwood all day with the guys...Melwood's the old Liverpool training ground...and I said to him just as a soft ball lob, I just said to him 'watched your training this morning, it must me amazing for you to train Liverpool Football Club on the same hallowed ground where Paisley, the legendary Bob Paisley, the legendary Bill Shankly trained those guys.' And he tapped the microphone and he goes 'Is this microphone on?' And I said 'no it's not yet.' And he goes 'I don't give a crap about those guys. I only care about me.' and that.. I thought about that so much afterwards, that, that he was smart enough to not be caught on tape saying that, so he knew it wasn't a smart thing to say...."

MICHAEL DAVIES: "But he wasn't smart enough to say 'off the record' so you could never say it on the podcast."

ROGER BENNETT: "He couldn't, but he couldn't help himself Davo, he couldn't help himself, and that ultimately is probably the measure...there's something very Bobby Valentine-ish [overconfident, verbal gaff and mistake prone former manager of the Red Sox, among others] about that gentleman, he cannot help himself. Anyway, 'if you know enough to ask if the microphone is on, don't say it' is a great rule of life."

[Loo Pan]

Doesn't surprise me.

The more I learn about Rodgers, the more I'm quite sure I wouldn't like him.

I've never criticised him for his personal life, his interests outside the club, or how his character comes across, because while he was manager of this club the football was the most important thing, and the thing that we have the most access to information about.

But I'm glad he's gone.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

Well what can you say to that....

[Chakan]

Well what can you say to that....

To the story? Sounds like something a bitter blue would say?

[Fordy]

To the story? Sounds like something a bitter blue would say?

For what?

You only needed to watch that documentary and listen to Rodgers interviews and see how he treated players like Lucas, Agger etc to realise that Rodgers was all about himself.

And if that didn't convince you then taking Gerrard off against Chelsea to warm himself to the Chelsea fans surely must of opened your eyes.

[sirKennyDaggers]

To the story? Sounds like something a bitter blue would say?

Yep,dont believe a word ,always got the impression Brendan had the utmost respect for our past managers.

[PaisleyPrint]

Well what can you say to that....

If indeed he did say that, well Id hope his fake teeth would fall out.

[Chakan]

For what?

You only needed to watch that documentary and listen to Rodgers interviews and see how he treated players like Lucas, Agger etc to realise that Rodgers was all about himself.

And if that didn't convince you then taking Gerrard off against Chelsea to warm himself to the Chelsea fans surely must of opened your eyes.

I'll disagree with your opinion Fordy and leave it at that.

[conman]

Why?

I realise he is is a bit self absorbed, but i doubt he'd be derogatory to others, especially knowing full well the position he is in and what could happen to him if that got out.

[Hazell]

To the story? Sounds like something a bitter blue would say?

Indeed. This mud slinging is very small time and classless, even more so when it's coming from our own supporters.

[Chakan]

Indeed. This mud slinging is very small time and classless, even more so when it's coming from our own supporters.

Roger Bennett
Columnist for ESPN and talking head for Morning Joe.

    Lover of Everton Football Club

Yeah so pinch of salt and all that.

[surfer. Fuck you generator.]

To the story? Sounds like something a bitter blue would say?

Hopefully, but the guy's confident enough to put it on record through the podcast. Googled Bennett, he does seem to be reasonably well published and in work in this field, essentially has something to lose if he's taken up on it, so perhaps there's a bit more to it than just vengeful bias.

[thisyearisouryear]

This cannot be true, can it? True he talked a bit too much faff but he always came across as pretty respectful towards the club.

[Hazell]

Roger Bennett
Columnist for ESPN and talking head for Morning Joe.

    Lover of Everton Football Club

Yeah so pinch of salt and all that.

Yeah but judging by this thread though...

[Chakan]

Hopefully, but the guy's confident enough to put it on record through the podcast. Googled Bennett, he does seem to be reasonably well published and in work in this field, essentially has something to lose if he's taken up on it, so perhaps there's a bit more to it than just vengeful bias.

Funny he's waited almost a full year and half to talk about it, when Brendan is no longer the Liverpool manager?

Yeah but judging by this thread though...

Ah righto.

[ThePeetmix]

Hopefully, but the guy's confident enough to put it on record through the podcast. Googled Bennett, he does seem to be reasonably well published and in work in this field, essentially has something to lose if he's taken up on it, so perhaps there's a bit more to it than just vengeful bias.

It's easy to say things like that because it's not on record and can't be dis-proven as much as it can't be proven. Doesn't matter if it's true or not, he's put it out there.

I think Rodgers is easily smart enough to never say a thing like that.

[MichaelA]

I think this thread is done.