On this day in October 2015 Liverpool took the decision to sack Brendan Rodgers, who was replaced in the Anfield hotseat by Jurgen Klopp
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers recalls how he was sacked by the Reds in ‘Gaffer’, a four-part series on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, presented by William Hill.
Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers recalls how he was sacked by the Reds in ‘Gaffer’, a four-part series on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, presented by William Hill.(Image: Sky Sports)
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Liverpool don't take the decision to sack managers lightly. But on this day in October 2015 they delivered the brutal news to Brendan Rodgers while he was driving in his car.
The Northern Irishman was on his way home after a 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park when he got the phone call he'd been fearing.
His dismissal came just 17 months after he came agonisingly close to leading Liverpool to a maiden Premier League title in 2014. He had clung onto his job in the summer of 2015 despite a disappointing sixth-place finish the following campaign but the Reds parted company with both assistant manager Colin Pascoe and first-team coach Mike Marsh in controversial circumstances after an end-of-season review.
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Liverpool’s fortunes did not improve at, however, and they found themselves 10th in the table after Rodgers’ final match in charge. However, Fenway Sports Group had already made the decision to dismiss him prior to the trip to their Merseyside rivals, with Jurgen Klopp lined up as his replacement,
Looking back, Rodgers admits he was losing the support of the fans as he shared his regret at not being able to turn things around at Anfield.
“One of the real challenges is to convince those supporters. There has to be that connection…” he said in‘Gaffer’, a four-part series on the Sky Sports Premier League YouTube channel, presented by William Hill. “That support, those times were starting to move.
“I think I maybe sensed it from the press and from within because sometimes, obviously what happens in the game is that as the manager, sometimes you’re the last one to find out. Other people can know.
“We finished a derby game where we wanted to win and we just couldn’t break them down. I get in my car and as I was driving back to where I was living in Formby at the time, I get the call to say obviously the club were going to make a change.
“I wish it would have lasted longer and it could have lasted longer. If things were different and we had a better level of quality of player, it could have helped us and it may well have done. It doesn’t always come around like that, it doesn’t always work out that way.”
Rodgers would also point to Luis Suarez’s exit and the signing of Mario Balotelli when recalling how Liverpool failed to push on under his stewardship, admitting they missed out on signing Alexis Sanchez to Arsenal at the ‘last minute’.
The former Reds boss also aired his frustration that he wasn’t able to spend more money on transfers during his time at Anfield, suggesting that he was not entirely happy with the quality of players signed during his reign.
“We had just lost out on the title but I felt real confidence then, at the end of that season, that we could build on the summer and then we could maybe make the next steps,” he said. “We didn’t take the step forward.
“We’d lost a genuine world class player (Suarez) who was brilliant for the club. In my time there, he was amazing. We thought we were getting Alexis Sanchez, that was the sort of like-for-like replacement. But at the last minute…
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“I think Mario came in with potential. I always maintain that he had the talent. But probably sadly for Mario, it just didn’t quite happen for him at Liverpool.
“With supporters, naturally they want to bring in the best possible players they can. We weren’t spending big money on players, it was very much about bringing in a younger player looking to develop that player.
“Liverpool is a club that wants to win trophies. If you’re to win titles and you’re to win trophies then of course you need to be able to spend on quality.
“The general rule of thumb is that the players of quality in the main will cost you money. Some clubs will just operate where they will purely bring in the players into the club and then you have to be like a good chemist and pull all that together and put them out there.
“But for how I work, no matter what club I was at, I’ve always had an identity in terms of how I see the game to be played. Certain players will fit into how I want the game to be played.
“You can’t deny that in lots of leagues throughout the world, the teams that spend the most money will be winning those leagues.”
Rodgers also reflected on Steven Gerrard’s slip in Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea in April 2014 that derailed their Premier League title-charge at the final hurdle, admitting that he had visualised being presented with the trophy but ultimately wasn’t experienced enough to get the Reds over the line.
“You’ve got this vision of getting the trophy presented to you,” he said. “But it may not happen now.
“You can prepare, you can plan, you can do everything. It happens, it (Gerrard’s slip) happened.
“Maybe a more experienced team and maybe me even as a manager, maybe more experienced, it just became too anxious for us. We just lost out on the title. Could we have done that little bit more?”
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