By Robert Nevitt Well, it wouldn’t have been the name at the top of the wish list for most supporters. In fact, it probably wouldn’t have featured in most people’s top five. But despite the reservations, the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as the new manager of Liverpool Football Club has been met with a surprising optimism. The reason for the positivity? Maybe it’s purely down to relief that the whole managerial saga is finally over and we don’t have to listen to Dave Whelan spouting off anymore… It’s only been two weeks since King Kenny lost his crown, but it’s felt much longer. Since the issuing of a club statement in which John W Henry announced Dalglish’s departure and the subsequent city centre interview with Managing Director Ian Ayre, as a club Liverpool have been silent in regards to the search for the Scot’s successor, something which cannot be said for the media circus which accompanied the search. With the press seemingly out of the loop as to what was going on behind the scenes at Anfield, they chose to cast their net wide to try to predict the name of Liverpool’s new boss. A ridiculous notion of interviews for 12 different candidates helped make it appear that FSG didn’t know what a) they were doing, or b) what they wanted. Random links to managers, such as Jurgen Klopp and Frank De Boer, resulted in public rejections before any Liverpool move had been made, whilst Rodgers himself, with the Reds still to register a formal interest, declared himself happy in South Wales in order to save burning bridges with his employers. As the days progressed and Liverpool remained silent, the media frenzy went into overdrive with names ranging from Pep Guardiola to Paul Lambert all linked. Supporters groups didn’t help to paint the club in any better light when they demanded to be informed on the goings on behind the scenes or petitioned for talks with a certain ex-boss who has Spanish roots. Then, in stepped Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, who provided anyone who would listen with running updates on the Reds’ interest in Roberto Martinez, whilst also lambasting FSG for their apparent lack of footballing knowledge. When a leaked photograph captured Martinez with Henry in Miami, it looked like the Spaniard would become the new boss. FSG were apparently impressed with the Wigan boss, but be it his reluctance to work in the structure on offer or FSG’s desire to talk to Rodgers, the Swans’ boss was formally contacted and ultimately offered the job. Hopefully now, Whelan will be silenced once and for all! .. or maybe it is actually down to Rodgers himself .. If, as they trudged away after the cup final defeat, someone had told any one of the travelling Kop that less than a month later we’d have replaced club legend Dalglish with Brendan Rodgers, there would have been a fair chance that they’d have contemplated climbing up the Wembley arch and jumping off. The problem was that at first glance, Rodgers, along with Martinez, didn’t appear to be anywhere near ready for us. Part of the reason was that people knew little about him apart from the fact he had worked at Chelsea around the time of Jose Mourinho, had got the sack at Reading, but then masterminded Swansea City’s promotion to the Premier League and subsequent debut season. It’s only when you take a detailed look at his career-to-date that you realise just why so many people inside football rate him so highly. After injury cut his playing career short at the age of 20, Rodgers’ early years in coaching were served with the Reading youth team. During his nine years at the Royals, he continually strived to improve his coaching skillset, gaining valuable knowledge from trips to the likes of Barcelona and Ajax, principals which you could clearly see in his Swansea team last season. When Jose Mourinho arrived at Chelsea one of his first acts was to headhunt Rodgers and give him the role as youth team manager at Stamford Bridge. Such was Rodgers’ success, he was soon promoted to reserve team manager, where he also helped provide dossiers on first team opponents. By the age of 35, he had served his apprenticeship, so when Watford offered him his first crack at management he jumped at it. After a shaky start, his principals paid off and Watford finished in a respectable 13th position in the Championship with a 40% win rate. Old club Reading soon came knocking and after an initial denial, the Ulsterman left for the Madjeski stadium, much to the upset of the Watford faithful. However, it was there that Rodgers faced his first and to-date only setback as a coach. Only six wins from 23 games left Reading languishing in the Championship relegation zone, resulting in Rodgers being dismissed only six months into his reign. Seven months out of the game was eventually ended when he succeeded Paulo Sousa at Swansea City. Immediately things clicked into place, with the Swans free-flowing football a joy to watch. Promotion to the Premier League was achieved via a Wembley play-off win over old club Reading before a superb debut season in the top flight saw Rodgers gain a number of plaudits. .. or maybe it’s the thought of Jordan Henderson having a successful pass rate of 93% .. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it, but if Rodgers was capable of turning ex-Sheffield United misfit Leon Britton into Swansea’s version of Xavi Hernandez, then surely he is capable of doing the same with the more talented Henderson. The key to Rodgers’ success at Swansea has been the trust in his philosophy of keeping possession, but then pressing high up the pitch when his team hasn’t got it – both important traits of Liverpool’s all-conquering teams of the past. “Our idea is to pass teams to a standstill so they can no longer come after you, eventually you wear them down.” Even when under pressure, Rodgers has instilled it into his Swans’ team to continue to play possession football to take the sting out of their opponents, rather than surrender the ball and retreat deeper and deeper, something which we were guilty of on too many occasions last season. Every one of the Swans’ starting line-up is comfortable on the ball, particularly the midfield triumvirate of Britton-Allen-Gower (and later Sigurdsson). When Rodgers brought his team to Anfield before Christmas, so good was the performance of his side, that Anfield offered them applause when the final whistle signalled a 0-0 draw. Of course dominating possession doesn’t guarantee you win football matches, you only have to look at Chelsea’s Champions league victories over Barcelona and Bayern Munich to confirm that. It’s what you do with that possession that counts and, on too many occasions last season, Swansea were guilty of not penetrating their opponents, scoring only 44 league goals. But, with no disrespect to the likes of Danny Graham, Scott Sinclair and Nathan Dyer, Rodgers should be working with better quality at Anfield. It remains to be seen whether or not he sees the likes of Downing and Carroll as part of that improved quality, but if not, armed with a significantly bigger transfer budget than at Swansea, Rodgers is sure to be able to bring in his own players. .. or maybe it’s the prospect of the new structure about to be put in place to assist Rodgers .. One of the main doubts levelled against someone like Rodgers’ was the worry that the Liverpool job may be too big for him this early into his managerial career. With that in mind, it’s encouraging that FSG look set to introduce a structure designed to help their young boss. Previously, Dalglish was assisted by Director of Football Damien Comolli. When poor signings at exaggerated prices heralded the end of Comolli’s tenure at Anfield, it was expected that FSG would simply look for a replacement to step into the vacant role. However, the plan seems to be that rather than have a Director of Football, FSG will instead introduce a new management structure, including a sporting director, of which Rodgers will be focal point. He will still bring with him three of his trusted backroom staff from Swansea, but the introduction of the new US-style management roles will ensure Rodgers gets all the help he needs, whilst still having the final say on footballing matters. .. or maybe it’s just a case of plain old blind optimism once again In any walk of life, a new start is accompanied with a hope that things are going to get better. For a football fan it’s no different. At the start of every season we expect a successful campaign, whilst the arrival of a new player offers hope of that the career of a new club legend is about to begin. Optimism was at a record high when Tom Hicks and George Gillett strode into Anfield flush with money, vowed to make us the best in the world and declared that work on a new stadium would start ‘within 60 days’. It was on show again for Roy Hodgson’s first game in charge against Arsenal in August 2010 and even when Stewart Downing put pen to paper last summer! Hopefully this particular bout has a better ending than on those three occasions. Whatever the reason for the optimism, only time will tell whether or not the appointment of Brendan Rodgers as manager of Liverpool Football Club proves to be an inspired decision or not. What is certain though is that we as fans have an important part to play in order to help make it a success. Regardless of whether you think Dalglish should have gone or not, and no matter who you believe should have been hired in his place, we must all unite and back Rodgers. One of the main traits of Rodgers’ footballing philosophy is patience, something which we will need to adopt as well.

A news article on 2012-05-31 22:46:00 from: The Anfield Opinion

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