Well, following the quotes from the Swansea board it seems inevitable that Irishman Brendan Rogers will soon be announced as Liverpool FCs new manager. Its an appointment that will disappoint many, mainly due to his name being quite low profile, but its one which seems to make some sense when you look at it more closely. I would just like to make clear at this point (i dont think it is any secret) that my preference would have been the return of Rafa, but I can understand the reasons why FSG would have avoided this. I’m disappointed that they decided to not even discuss the role, or seek any discussions with him, but I don't think this is the correct time to discuss that in full. In the same way that we had to accept the exit of Kenny, I will have to accept this and look forward with this new appointment,
Over the last few weeks as the number of names bandied about increased daily, I must admit that one name which i paid very little attention to was that of the (then) Swansea manager. In fact that may have had a lot to do with statements released very soon into the search process which stated that he had declined the opportunity to speak to the Liverpool Owners. After this statement, the odds fluctuated between candidates with Roberto Martinez, Rafa Benitez, Louis Van Gaal and Jurgen Klopp all featuring as the favourite at one time or another. My attention has only turned back to the man who (it seems) is set to be appointed over the last day or two. What I will say is that the more I read about him, the more I like him.
Here’s a description of his early life from Wiki: Rodgers was born in Carnlough to parents Malachy and Christina,the eldest of five brothers.He was educated at St. Patrick's College in Ballymena. He played gaelic football and hurling in Carnlough before taking up football when he was 13. He grew up as a supporter of Celtic.
His career as a player was brief due him being forced to retire at the age of 20 due to injury. From that point on he focused on coaching, first with the youth teams of Reading. He then moved to Chelsea under Jose Mourinho where he also looked after their youth teams. His first managerial role was with Watford, where he failed to make many waves guiding them to a 13th place finish in the Championship. He then re-joined Reading as their manager, but he left the club by mutual consent following a poor run of results after just 7 months in charge.
In his time out of work his spent his time studying football in Holland and Spain, what he learned was that possession is the key. He built his football principles on possession, the ethos being that if we have the ball they cant score. If we lose the ball we get it back quickly and high up the pitch and build again. Hi style of play is very much in the mould of the Barcelona and Spain brand of Tiki-Taka passing. He resolved to commit completely to these beliefs.
QUOTE: “My philosophy is to play creative attacking football with tactical discipline, but you have to validate that with success. I like to control games. I like to be responsible for our own destiny. If you are better than your opponent with the ball you have a 79 per cent chance of winning the game. For me it is quite logical. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are, if you don’t have the ball you can’t score.”
QUOTE: “My idea coming into this club [Swansea] was to play very attractive attacking football but always with tactical discipline,” he said. “People see the possession and they see the penetration, the imagination and the creativity, but we’ve had 23 clean sheets this year. So in nearly 50 per cent of our games we haven’t conceded a goal.”
QUOTE: “The example of the Barcelona model was a great influence and inspiration to me. When I was at the Chelsea academy, that was how my players would play, with that high, aggressive press, combined with the ability to keep the ball.”
He was next appointed to the manager’s seat at Swansea City where he lead them to become the first ever Welsh team promoted to the Premier League. He certainly implemented his philosophy to the Swans, this is evidenced by their statistics this season where they completed 17,881 passes, a figure much higher than Liverpool’s.... or Man Utd’s... or even Arsenal! In fact the only team with a higher number of passes this season were Champions Man City. His team also managed to keep 13 clean sheets in their first top flight season too, this is 2 more than Liverpool managed.
As I said earlier, its not the most high profile appointment and at the beginning of this search its not the one I was calling for, but as I’ve found out more about him the more I get on board. As it seems that we have not got the resources to compete with Man City et al with regard to investment it's going to take a different approach if we are to to reach the summit. I quite like the idea of the new structure of our club, its a forward thinking idea and a fresh new start for the club and the team. If you're doubting Rodger’s credentials, it's not hard to identify other managers who have had huge success when appointed to their first job at a big club, Guardiola at Barca, Rafa at Valencia, Mourinho at Porto, hell even Kenny at Liverpool (first time of course). The appointment is definitely a gamble, but to be fair every one of the linked managers represented a gamble in one way or the other. This may also sound strange, but i've got to be honest here, there is something about this appointment which just feels right. There is no guarantee of success for Rodger’s, but I can guarantee one thing. I am prepared to offer my full support upon his appointment and I believe he has the tools necessary to succeed, whether that happens or not time will tell, but I think we can at least expect to see some beautiful football on the way to finding out.
Brendan Rodgers.... Welcome to L4!
