Brendan Rodgers and the Liverpool Decision
In 2012 when Liverpool appointed Brendan Rodgers, the Northern Irishman had a statement: “Judge me in three years.”
Well, Brendan’s had his three years, and some fans – Liverpool and not – believe that his time is up as the Kop boss. In all honesty, I believe the Liverpool job is one of the most difficult in the league, but only because fans expect to challenge for the top four each year when the owners don’t back the club with crazy amounts of money like Manchester City, Chelsea, and Manchester United. However, Brendan had over £100 million to spend, and he spent it poorly.
‘But look at the net spending,’ Liverpool fans cry, ‘and it’s really not that bad.’
True, selling Luis Suarez for over £75 million certainly helped to balance the budget, but when you replace a 30 goal per season man like Suarez with the likes of Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli, you’re bound to run into some trouble. That’s where the Anfield outfit find themselves now – in trouble, and while Rodgers went from 150% confident of keeping his job to ready to leave at the request of the owners in just over two weeks, he may still be the best option.
Here are a few signs that Brendan is staying:
1) Liverpool is pressing ahead with transfer targets
It would make almost no sense for the club to continue on with targets if they had no idea whether the manager would be back. It would be risky, and maybe even reckless, to sign a few players without the next manager in line having a say with any of them.
No one really knows how transfers work in Merseyside, whether Rodgers has control, or if there’s a transfer committee, or if the owners themselves pick their targets (though extremely unlikely). What we do know is that a club would be foolish to invest crazy amounts of money in players that the supposed next manager would have no control over.
2) He’s been backed – even if silently
These days, you’re often more in trouble than not of the club president, owners, or anyone in charge says something negative to the press about the manager. We saw Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez comment on Carlo Ancelotti – now he’s gone. With Liverpool though, owners Fenway Sports Group (John W. Henry and Tom Werner in particular) have remained silent on the issue, leaving some to wonder whether he’s truly facing the sack.
Rodgers did his due diligence getting Liverpool back into the Champions League albeit he had a lot of help from a certain talismanic Uruguayan striker, but is a 7th place -> 2nd place -> 6th place finish enough to convince them that he’s their man going forward? Wednesday afternoon should give some clues.
Signs that Brendan is leaving:
1) He’s lost support from the majority of fans
After losing not only club legend Steven Gerrard, but also the chance to go to the FA Cup Final which was played on his birthday, fans had a right to be worried about what was coming. They were set to lose their club captain of 14 years and a leader of 17 years, were to miss out on any opportunity on silverware, and then to top it all off sent Stevie G packing with a 3-1 home defeat to Crystal Palace followed by a 6-1 away defeat at Stoke on the last day of the season.
Fans are infuriated at the fact that Liverpool were supposed to stay in the Champions League, but decided not to replace their goal grabber with a player of a similar mold and instead spent that money on the likes of Adam Lallana, Mario Balotelli, and Dejan Lovren, their most expensive defender in history.
2) He may have lost the dressing room, too
Without players coming out and saying to the press that they’ve lost faith in their manager, it can be difficult to judge exactly how confident the squad is in their boss. Some telling signs, though, are when players want to leave – like Raheem Sterling – and when players simply don’t perform well – like Liverpool all season really.
While the majority of this is purely speculative, Liverpool fans have the right to wonder what lies ahead for their club, especially given that this summer they will be battling to balance offloading unnecessary players while keeping their stars and attempting to attract names big enough to bolster them into the top four. But with the spending of City, Chelsea, and United, and the already talented squad of Arsenal, Liverpool could be on the outside looking in if something doesn’t change.
VERDICT: In the end, I think Rodgers stays. I’m not sure he has failed to the degree that many blame him for, but missing out again on the top four with the money spent last season is definitely a mistake. However, with Jurgen Klopp announcing a sabbatical and Rafa Benitez heading to Real Madrid, the Liverpool owners would be short of quality candidates to replace him with. This summer will be a telling one, and if the club fail to reach the top four again it may be Brendan’s last chance.