Brendan Rodgers has been sacked as manager of Liverpool – this is Neil Atkinson‘s reaction in the immediate aftermath of the news breaking…
AFTER Liverpool beat West Ham United 2-1 at Upton Park on 6th April 2014 I recorded a show at the top of the tower. While recording the show I was getting texts about where the drink was happening. The Saddle on Dale Street. I couldn’t believe it. With Steve Graves I walked across town. “I mean, it’s not a good pub this, Steve. There must be some mistake. Maybe it is a holding position boozer.”
When we opened the door it hit us. The heat. The sweat. The glow, the effervescent glow of smiles on faces, the joy making the light shimmer. And the noise. The wall of noise. Adam Melia and his brother Daniel glorifying “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan on the karaoke and an entire room of Liverpool supporters and lesbians chanting the chorus back at them. South Central does it like nobody does. People on tables, roaring, laughing, dancing, carousing.
This was the happiest I’ve ever been in my whole life.
—
When Liverpool made Brendan Rodgers manager I didn’t really know what to think. Let’s see, I thought. Let’s just see. And, I thought, it will also be nice to have a manager I don’t wake up in the night anxious about, you know, like the bloke who nearly died or the bloke who fought for the soul of the club or the bloke who closer than anyone else alive personified the soul of the club. I thought maybe this will help. A bloke coming in from outside who no one knows much about. Someone not infected with our nonsense. Maybe he’ll get us playing. And if he doesn’t, well we just get rid of him. Which ever way it goes, it’ll be nice to get a full night’s sleep.
In the February of his first season we went to Bray and the night before I spoke to Tony Evans and said I thought Rodgers might have to go in the summer. Just too inconsistent. Tony was adamant that he should be allowed three years. He talked me round.
What transpired to be the key positive transfer window of Rodgers’s time had just happened. Liverpool had signed Phil Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge. The latter, especially, inspired an upturn in form and by the time the campaign had finished Liverpool had been able to look genuinely dangerous and had gone just shy of two points per game for the second half of the season.
Rodgers then spent the summer highlighting the importance of improving the goals scored column but very few people anticipated what was to follow.
Because of what has happened since Daniel Sturridge got injured on international duty in September 2014, the 2013-14 season has suffered a ton of revisionism. Hopefully now that Brendan Rodgers is no longer Liverpool manager that will stop and the most remarkable league season of my adulthood can be remembered for what it was. An incredible collective effort across the entire season that very nearly became Liverpool’s most remarkable title win since 1947, if not ever. Not one big push (Liverpool were top on Christmas Day) and not due solely to one player.
Footballers will always be the most important part of any football team, especially across 38 games. In 13/14 Luis Suarez was remarkable. From having been desperate to leave he was entirely committed and played the best football of his Liverpool career by a mile. His form from October to December was the finest sustained spell I’ve ever seen any Liverpool player hit. After the turn of the year he dropped off a couple of rungs to being simply incredible.
But he wasn’t the sole reason for Liverpool’s success, the season before had shown the way. Rodgers brought the best out of both Suarez and Sturridge, he gave them able support in Gerrard, Henderson and Sterling from whom he also coaxed the very best and he committed wholeheartedly to an attacking approach which allowed all to shine and Liverpool perpetually improved.
If you take any run of five games from when Rodgers arrived in 2012 up to when Gerrard fell over, the performances, results or both were better than any other given five. This, more than anything, is indicative of Brendan Rodgers’s remarkable abilities as a coach. This, more than anything, marks him down as the sort of momentum manager which would be part of this eventual failure at Liverpool. No backward steps wasn’t just an attitude, it was a lifeblood and since they were taken Liverpool haven’t been able to stride freely again.
Rodgers created something which could be got behind. Liverpool were about something in a way they arguably hadn’t been since September 2009. In the first month of Rodgers’s reign John Henry was having to pen open letters to the support. The stench of Hicks and Gillett, Purslow and Hodgson, and yes, in part, Parry and Moores still lingered about the place and even Kenny Dalglish hadn’t been able to wipe it clean and him being sacked had dirtied the place up again.
Liverpool’s football was zipless, seamless, mustard. The approach, watching young lads play and play and play, lightened everyone’s mood. Lightened everyone’s life. The purpose of the enterprise suddenly back.
Liverpool Football Club was suddenly unfettered.
For too long, since 2007, possibly 2005 and perhaps even before then, Liverpool Football Club had been fettered. Supporting Liverpool, going the game, talking about the game had been to have an argument, a perpetual argument. Over ownership, finances, protests, Benitez, our place in the world and our direction of travel. Supporting Liverpool had been supporting a thoroughbred race horse beladen with baggage. Suddenly, through the approach of Rodgers and his men, as much as anything else, that baggage had gone and the horse was striding.
Suddenly everywhere you went in the city, everyone you spoke to, everything that happened had a buzz. Everyone was talking football, talking The Reds. It helped that Everton were playing well too. The whole city was alive with the sound of togger.
Suddenly Liverpool was having a pint. Even more of a pint than normal. The Saddle tableau wasn’t unique. All over the city parties were being had every weekend. Boss were putting on Boss Nights which were boss. The whole city bounced to the weekend’s rhythm, boozers packed for almost every game which had any sort of an impact at the top, boozers spilling over before, during and after when The Reds played. This wasn’t limited just to the city of Liverpool. The worldwide diaspora were going out and watching it together. Suddenly it was football that made you want to be with your mates, football that made you want to make new mates. Because these Reds.
Suddenly it was a joy to be alive.
—
It is important not to forget what 13-14 felt like. There is a history of football which is handed down to us through record books and television. It’s a history which is predominantly written by the grey-bearded and the distant and by the cynics. Some of these dwell within our own parish, a darkness in their souls uncleansed, consistently unable to forgive Brendan Rodgers for not being the bloke who nearly died or the bloke who fought for the soul of the club or the bloke who closer than anyone else alive personified the soul of the club.
For many of these the hard facts of the matter will always prevail. Hard facts can’t dance. Hard facts have no rhythm. No one wants to get off with hard facts. The football history that really matters is about the stories, the collective experience, the days and the nights, the coaches and the buzz. Remember not the hard fact of the 3-3 draw, your side losing a three-goal lead, but instead remember that they were trying to score 10. Remember they were trying to do the impossible. Remember how proud you were of how close they came.
And at Liverpool, there are others factors, other issues. Those who can’t get beyond having seen behind the curtain, can’t get beyond the back room and the gossip, can’t get beyond what has gone before. Football minds melded beyond what happens on the green thing to obsess only over what happens everywhere else. I know this. It’s hard to get your innocence back. I recognise that. Because that is 2008-09.
Liverpool’s title charge in 2008-09 mostly wasn’t an enjoyable experience. It was fraught. It was stressful. It was about sticking it to people. Not about the adventure and not even really about sticking it to people who didn’t support Liverpool. It was about sticking it to people internally. It’s an amazing thoroughbred, Benitez’s 08-09, because it was carrying all sorts. Mostly weaponry either stuck in it or thrusting weaponry back. Even now too much of Liverpool’s support is about sticking it to people internally.
I’d never go back to 08-09. Not for a second. Not for a moment. Not even for 1-4 at Old Trafford. It was thoroughly unpleasant, waking at 3am wondering if tomorrow is the day Benitez ridiculously gets sacked, arguing in the ground every other week. But I’d do 13-14 again, knowing what I know now. I’d live that nine months over and over and over again if I could. Groundhog season. No one was looking to stick anything to anyone. Not when you could give them a cuddle instead. I’d go back in an instant, back to waking at 3am excited that it is Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. I’d go back in the blink of an eye. I’d do it mostly so I could see my friends that happy again, faces moist with sweat, improbability and delight.
—
On the 20th September 2014 Liverpool returned to Upton Park. Liverpool played the diamond. Borini and Balotelli up front, a million miles from Suarez and Sturridge. Gerrard dominated by Downing, a million miles from the previous season. Liverpool beaten. Liverpool broken. And from that point Liverpool have been nothing but fettered.
Brendan Rodgers can point to external factors. The loss of Sturridge on England duty arguably hurt more than the loss of Suarez but both together was a bitter blow. The reality of extra games meant there had to be an influx of new players and it can’t be underestimated what the run in 13-14 did to the footballers — no one has managed to retain the title this decade and most defences have been very poor. Liverpool didn’t have the depth or the experience of the other three sides that have competed for the title in the last five years; what they did have was the emotional energy. And if that turns…
Yet there was more than just that wrong. It seemed the grey-bearded, the distant, the cynical had got to Rodgers and Liverpool. From a clear, stated commitment to add to the goals scored column in the summer 2013 Liverpool had manifestly gone into reverse. The backwards steps had been taken too early, they were there in the summer with talk of consolidation before Daniel Sturridge gets his knock.
And Rodgers himself seemed like a man who had to prove he was a responsible leader, not a manager who just sent lads out to rip into teams, spoke like he felt had to add more steel. More substance. Martin Fitzgerald likened Liverpool of 2014-15 to a band who made a terrific punk pop debut album but who are looking for a more grown-up follow up, looking for less dancing and better reviews in the broadsheets before releasing something turgid, something the broadsheets wouldn’t applaud and something leaving fans of the band wondering what on earth had gone on — can you just play it faster?
The desire for mainstream acceptance, the startling drop off in quality in attack and the collective physical and mental exhaustion after 13-14 did for Rodgers. He struggled to get his side going and then when he finally did, when they got on their run, it was when they got off it that the rot for his reputation set in. If he wasn’t a man fighting with himself at the start of 14-15 he most definitely was by the end and the thing about fighting with yourself is that you will always lose.
Liverpool lost. They lost and lost and lost. United, Arsenal and Villa with its three formations in 45 minutes, showing a manager unsure of his team, unsure of himself. Crystal Palace. And then Stoke. In many sense Stoke was the final straw — how can you trust the man who oversees losing 6-1? For those who were there Stoke would live long in the memory. What do you do about that? How do you rebuild those bridges?
Rodgers kept his job and he tried — this season started with three consecutive clean sheets but then West Ham happened and West Ham looked so much like Crystal Palace. And if Crystal Palace can happen again, then can Stoke?
In the end Rodgers stayed for only eight league games too long. To have removed him from his post earlier than Stoke away would have been very harsh on the man who managed the side to the most unlikely title challenge since Roman Abramovich turned up. To have kept him beyond that point now feels tougher on him than on us, frankly, and points are on the board.
—
What have we learnt? That our darkness, that our nonsense can infect anyone? That the job is a very hard job indeed? That we want/need everything — all the everythings, more than one man can provide? Perhaps. But why dwell there? That’s one for another day.
The key aspect of Brendan Rodgers’s reign as Liverpool manager is that he came closest to doing what has become structurally more and more difficult since 1990. Closer than the bloke who nearly died or the bloke who fought for the soul of the club or the bloke who closer than anyone else alive personified the soul of the club. And he came closest to doing it in the most electrifying, high-wire act way that none of them could have done, that perhaps no one else in the world would have done.
I’ve learned to love footballers again under Brendan Rodgers, because at his best he so clearly does. Footballers doing amazing things, making children of us, is a wonderful thing. Learned that goals are paramount to proceedings and learned that without them nothing can be achieved. These might seem like straightforward and obvious enough virtues but it had been a dark place for far too long.
It is time he goes because Hope has gone and he’s shown what Hope can do. Hope and her responsible elder brother Belief, her irrepressible younger brother Delusion. This is the holy trinity that any future Liverpool success will be built on and so I’ll say it now: I believe the next Liverpool manager whoever he will be will win the league. You should too. Because if you don’t what’s the point of it all?
Regardless though, this is for tomorrow. For today, I can close my eyes and see Sturridge juggling it on the goal-line against Stoke, Steve Graves on Gibbo’s shoulders after Arsenal, Henderson forcing it in against Swansea. I can see Skrtel rising against Arsenal, Mike Nevin falling off the kerb hectoring me after West Ham, Flanagan rattling into Soldado.
Gerrard with his top off against Fulham, Gerrard with his top off against Fulham, Gerrard with his top off against Fulham.
It can’t be taken away and it emerges in odd places. If I ever need to think of 13-14 I put on “I’m On My Way” by The Proclaimers and think of Ben Johnson and Adam Melia singing it after one of the wins, nailing it, absolutely perfect in every sense:
I’m on my way from misery to happiness today
I’m on my way from misery to happiness today
I’m on my way to what I want from this world
And years from now you’ll make it to the next world
And everything that you receive up yonder
Is what you gave to me the day I wandered
At Glastonbury last year we went to see The Proclaimers all together and they played it. I took this photo of Adam and Ben singing along.
Just look at them there. It’s Suarez hitting the post against Arsenal isn’t it? The best 20 minutes of your life.
These are my memories. If you were doing 13-14 right, you’ll have your own, your own photographs, your own stories, your own moments. (If you weren’t doing 13-14 right, you’ll probably be wondering when I’m going to mention defending). You’ll know immediately the ones I mean and you’ll be able to substitute in your own. You’ll have everything and you’ll know that those days couldn’t have happened without Brendan Rodgers.
It was the happiest I’ve been in my whole life.
All the best, Brendan. All the best.
Just feel sorry for the guy to be honest. 13/14 was a tiny mistake away from being more unimaginable than Istanbul. Hope he goes on to great success as some of the criticism of him has been shameful. But something is clearly wrong and with a lot of the fan base gone, and most of the rest on the fence (myself included, going back to 3 at the back was the clinching worry for me), I suppose it was a matter of time. If we don’t bring in a Klopp or Ancelloti, God only knows what reaction the next manager will get.
Seconded. It’s the right decision but I take no pleasure in it. He took us so close.
Good luck Brendan and thanks for 13/14. It will live long in the memory.
You could do a lot worse??
Great article Neil,
Never wanted Brendan thought he lacked experience and was very very lucky to get the job, but in 13/14 he won me over. Would love to know why Brendan wanted to defend more and score less at the of 13/14 and the lack of desire to buy a Sanches or Cavani cost him and Liverpool. Having done the hard work Liverpool were in the perfect position to kick on and as a collective of owners manager and transfer commitee they bought the wrong players for the wrong positions instead of consolidationg the attack after Suarez left they prioritised the defense. A bizzare strategy and one that smacked of ignorance and arrogance. Feel a bit sorry for Brendan as you feel he was let down by those above in the transfer market, but thats not new at Liverpool and lets hope FSG learn that you need players for today as well as tomorrow.
Having said that Brendan was let down by those above, he did make life difficult by not having a formation that he trusted with the players he had, and he always looked out of his depth once Sturridge was injured and could not devise a plan to score goals. I think he deserved the benefit of the doubt in the summer because he clearly did not want Balotelli or Borini but you still do not get the feeling he knows what to do with Benteke and Firminho or how they would play with Sturridge, and you could argue that Brendan does not know the best position for Coutinho, all of this is a million miles away from any good Liverpool team of the past, where players new exactly what they were supposed to do.
When Rodgers was appointed I always thought it was a way for FSG to buy time, clean the books and build the new stand with a novice in charge that could be manipulated in the area of recruitment, whilst developing young players and not putting up a great fuss if his best players were sold. The aim was top 4 but 13/14 changed that and all of a sudden Brendan was a hot ticket so he was given a new contract but the net spend was always the same. Hopefully now a new experienced manager will come in and be properly backed in the market and quality will replace quantity and potential
What you’re forgetting is that even though BR had the final say on all transfers, regardless of the fact that there was a transfer comittee or not, he wasnt always able to purchase whom he wanted. Yes he had the final say, but most of the time, when he was handed a list of players, none of the ones he wanted were on there. Like at the end of last years transfer window….he was handed a choice between Balotelli or Eto’o. Sure he had the say on which of the two, but he didnt ask for either. Which is why he cant be blamed for Alexis or Cavani.
Cavani is even trickier. He was the first one to call us out when we said Suarez was not for sale. Going to the papers and saying “Liverpool shouldnt hold Luis hostage. If he wants to go, let him go.” So it is highly unlikely he wouldve joined us a week later after making that statement.
Something is no longer rotten in the state of Denmark.Should have happened after the Stoke debacle.
Great piece Neil. Made me feel a bit tearful.
All the best Brendan. For 18 glorious months your tenure was sublime.
Oh god here we go again. Is 1-1 away at Everton really a back breaking draw straw?
Christ knows what happens next.
Thanks for that season Brendan, the most I’ve enjoyed footy since I was a kid, if nothing else, thanks for that. Cheers Brendan you gave it your best, so good luck and all the best.
No thanks to u lot. Hope u have the same passion for outing a rudderless ownership.
I’m surprised yet not surprised. It seems a strange thing to do, sacking a manager this early in the season. However, results have been stagnant; no matter what little spark we see, whatever promise shows itself (however briefly), the same simple mistakes keep happening.
I do feel sorry for him, as it seems that he has lost confidence in himself, in his abilities as a manager. A break will do him good, I think, allow him to refocus and find his mojo again.
Should be an interesting few days for Liverpool. Hopefully a successor is announced soon.
Well I for one am shocked. How could this be? He just needed a bit more patience. The only people criticising him were people who didnt like his tan, his teeth or his new girlfriend. Am I right? Soneone check on Ellie. Hopefully she’s holding up ok.
On a serious note FSG need to get their shit together now. It was pathetic not to have got rid of Rodgers in the summer. They made an absolute balls of that and the whole politics of the committee cs manager signings. What they do next is pivotal for the next 10 years – no more cock ups permitted.
In they want a DoF in, get one in. No compromises to anyone. Then appoint someone who is (a) a winner and (b) used to working under the conditions they want to set. There is only one. His name is Klopp. Jurgen with Monchi above him is the dream team. If it’s true Edwards has warned them off Klopp, he needs sacking too.
This league is shit. Proper filth. Klopp will deliver top 4 this season. Not next season. Not in two seasons. This season. I havent been wrong about Rodgers or anything Liverpool related for well over a year so you can take that to the bank.
PS: I told you he wouldnt see xmas. This is a good day for our football club.
PPS: I hope with Rodgers removal FSG catch a grip of officials and the leaks stop. It is an utter disgrace we’ve known for days Rodgers was getting sacked. It is a farce we know the team 2/3 days before every match. This doesnt happen at top clubs.
Comment on the news and not people you argue with.
It’s about time we out what is going at our club
Two sentences out of 30 odd were on the news. And why is it for others, like Ellie, to mention me but I can’t do likewise? Why are certain posters allowed to call me a cunt and you say nothing, but you are pulling me up over something as innocuous as this? A little bit of fairness is not much to ask for in your moderation.
I’ve told you before – among the many things there are to do, moderating the comments aren’t top priority. I’ve banned loads of people, mainly for getting personal. You’re doing it. Don’t.
To the TAW moderator: Thank you.
Imagine my surprise when I came to read these comments many hours after they were written and discovered that I’ve been mentioned twice when I haven’t even ventured an opinion. There’s nothing for it but to laugh at the lengths a person will go to to embarrass himself on a public forum.
Only thing I agree with is this EPL is absolute CARP right now. Its there for the taking EVEN BY US. With a top guy helming the ship, who knows eh.
‘The search for a new manager is underway and we hope to make an appointment in a decisive and timely manner’
Underway? Is this some sort of joke?
It’s hard. Would you rather undermine the existing manager by interviewing behind his back or would you rather wait and risk not finding someone better?
Like all things Liverpool these days, it’s a halfway house. Probably have assurances of interest, but no concrete talks.
Excellent Piece (must have been stored in the hard drive for a while, just waiting for this moment to press “upload”?:).
this should be printed, framed and presented to BR. well done.
Thank You, BR, for trying your best for all of us. You will no doubt go on and be successful. All the best!!!
He has lost two games this season ffs….
Agree. Let the spotlight turn its gaze
Four points off 2nd place. 30 games left to play. The players clearly behind the manager. Sturridge back. The first and third most expensive signings in club history with the ink still wet on the contracts. With 134 goals between them in the past 3 years. Coutinho in a bad patch, but certain to return to elite form. A return to the diamond we’ve all been howling for. Really seems premature to pull the trigger. Should have been given at least until Man City to get the side to properly click.
The meds really kicking in tonight, Walter?
What LFC have you actually been watching the past 8 months??
The one that went 18 matches last season with only 2 losses prior to a series of massive disruptions, including the loss of Sturridge, Lucas, and Sakho, the first team return of Flanagan cut short, and red cards for Gerrard and Can.
The one that had a record of 12-2-4 with Sturridge in the side before he was injured the 2nd time.
I’m not effing blind or stupid. I know that we’ve had massive problems, some of which Rodgers is wholly culpable for. But it is entirely possible to acknowledge that and consider the mitigating factors are valid enough to see what was possible until the Man City match. That was what I said at the start of the season, and I don’t see any reason why it should change.
I look at Rodgers’ 61% win ratio with Sturridge in the side and see how the striker could transform the side once he regains fitness. If he gets injured in a couple months, it is not so bad because the side will have developed an understanding and we have strikers who can step into the role without having to completely rewire again.
Honestly, I think that if FSG had backed Rodgers with either Sanchez or Bony, there’s no effing way we are discussing his sacking. If we had Sanchez, I honestly have no doubt that we would be in the CL this season. The was a pot that was not sweetened nearly enough given we had just lost Suarez. Before any other deal goes through, that gets resolved. Even with Bony, I’d say that we would still have had an excellent chance of making the CL.
So, FSG make amends and get Benteke as the most expensive player in club history. And proceed to sack the manager after 6 games with the record signing, just 45 minutes of which have been played alongside Sturridge.
If they were going to do it, they should have done it after Stoke. They didn’t, so they should have waited until the Etihad. If we were still 4 points off 2nd place – as we stand right now – I’d give Rodgers the full season. This is just stupidity.
I think all of the positives you mention like 30 games left, 4 points off second etc are exactly why its right that he goes now. There is still time to save the season. Sturridges brace aside, this season ive seen nothing to suggest that Rodgers could get the team playing consistently enough to challenge for top 4. With the defence leaking goals like it is we would be either relying on Sturridge to produce a miracle season or other teams to continue to implode. Instead we need to be able to take control of our own destiny again.
I agree Rodgers shouldve gone after Stoke. And as awful as it is to see a manager lose his job now there is no room for sentiment in these decisions. Its better Fsg corrects their mistake now than leave this scenario rumble on any longer.
One final positive from this is it looks like we have a free run at two managerial giants Klopp and Ancelotti. Theres no guarantee both men would still be free agents in two months time despite both being on sabatical.
Excellent article TAW by the way
No way. BRs track record must be looked at in its entirety. If FSG had of waited until December, and we were languishing in 13th or worse, many would criticize for not doing this earlier. This was inevitable and as much as I supported BR, he had to go. Drawing against teams like Sion and Carlisle and the semi final last year were too much. Stoke and the Utd games just piled the crap on top of a shit sandwich. 2015/16 will be a season of damage limitation now.
A very good send-off. The surest sign this was a good send-off is that I laughed with the memories.
I hope he goes to Spain and spends a few weeks staining his teeth red with jugs and jugs of sangria, then finds the job he’s made for right now.
I’m partly relieved it’s all over , but only to escape the negativity of listening to people spout complete and utter bollocks.
Still, tis done.
Good luck Brendan, and thanks for the best season of pure unadulterated joy, i’ve ever had.
Right, then, so Klopp or Ancelotti guarantee us top 4 then ? is that how it goes ?
Why quit so easy and hide behind it? This mind set is suicide. Sorry to put this too u but your response to adversity is to panic and fall in with the crowd. God help the next manager if he is expected to win with this wage bill. Look at the owners is my next question? ??????
Was that directed to me ? If it was, it makes no sense at all, feel free to elaborate.
Agree lad, just needs sorting quickly and decisively.
Big fan of your goalkeeping work and hair (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Agreed.
Weird timing though, you’d have thought they would have waited to see the effect of Sturridge and the other major players currently out returning. Maybe Rodgers this season was always a ‘caretaker manager’ ? Who knows.
And good article, I hope the decision was properly thought through and not a reaction to ‘the darkness’. Its a shame he ran out of time – but thanks for all the great footy and All the Best indeed !
Sums things up very well, that. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a tad upset at this news. Best wishes to Brendan.
The remarkable story of the 13/14 season came immediately to my mind as well when I heard the news. A piece written from the heart, which is where all football should be played – thanks.
A sad day but an inevitable day – thanks, Brendan, and good luck.
I have this feeling driscoll will take over. SIGH. Was rodgers an i8mprovement over king kenny? no. Will driscoll be an improvement over rodgers? no. If FSG keep trying taking shortcuts to success LFC WILL NEVER GET BACK ON TOP. Rodgers himself in the everton post match said we lack quality. Well quality would be getting someone like ancelotti or klopp in. Players will want to work for them. If FSG are scared of klopp or ancelotti then LFC have no chance to move forward.
Driscol and Garry Macca are on the out as well. Dont be ridiculous. It’s already been confirmed by some people with connections on the inside.
Lovely piece Neil. I think just about everyone was united in thinking he probably deserved to go at this point, but I do feel a quite sad at hearing the news. I’ve immediately stuck up a (slightly romantic-looking) selfie of me and Brendan as a my facebook pic, taken after we’d walloped spurs 4-0 and gone top in late March 2014. What a day that was.
Before the inevitable clamour over who the next man is, let’s take this moment to salute a man who gave us his best, and his best was fingertips away from incredible.
Cheers Brendan and thanks Neil.
100%. If I felt a bit frazzled before reading this – and I did – then I’m a lot more fragile now. Just sad that it came to this, that it didn’t work out. He’s a good man, and some of the personal attacks have been disgusting. It’s not that he should have stayed in the job, as I think there was some indistinct point-of-no-return reached, but it’s just that the highs were so incredible, and the end so mundane. Reading this piece brought back all the exhilarating memories of that season. Christ, it was amazing, it would have been the best league victory ever, and there’s a parallel universe where Mamadou doesn’t play that square ball and instead just hoists a hopeful one in the general direction of the area and God knows what happens from there. Just to get that close really meant something, it always will and that’s how we should remember the BR era – that, and not his leaving of it. Thanks for everything Brendan, YNWA.
It wasn’t Sakho’s fault.
This news has made my day. Rodgers is a good guy but he’s just not good enough to be Liverpool manager. He’s made too many mistakes and its a shame this wasn’t done in the summer. Today is the first time for a couple of seasons that i feel optimistic again. I believe we have enough good players but they weren’t being used the right way. I just hope the owners learn from their mistakes and now appoint a manager with a proven record. I’ll be happy if it’s Klopp.
Obviously he was good enough.. He’s a mid table manager having to polish a turd.. A mid table turd. Perfect match.
Im very surprised. I knew it would happen sometime just didn’t think it would happen so fast. Im a bit relieved tbh, it will stop the rot for a while. The season is still young and none of the teams have looked great. Man Utd top of the table before today and there crap so if we can get some good manager in that plays good football we have a chance to move up the table.
Talksport seem to think its Ancelotti coming in, I would like that, anyone really that is proven in leagues and Europe. Ill tell you right now if we get Gary Monk ill give up watching football.
Thanks for the good memories Brendon and best of luck in the future.
Maybe with the noises coming out of Chelsea and Arsenal made them move a bit faster, thats two jobs that could be well available come the summer possibly sooner.
This. I think (actually, hope) that Chelsea’s loss yesterday was a more pertinent football match than the one today. The Plastics might be looking at Klopp already, so FSG had to act.
I’m sure that if that hadn’t been a factor, the draw today wouldn’t have have affected their decision one way or another.
Anyway, I really hope we get Klopp now.
Thanks for some amazing memories Brendan, all the very best to you (just not when you’re against LFC!)
That’s exactly what the dragon said mate. I think you both spot on.
Oh my God! That Brendan gets the Arsenal job and comes back to kick your a-s!
Please.
Neil, with all due respect, it’s ironic how you speak about revisionism and bearded historians. Rafa’s 2008/09, which competed in four fronts, would’ve thrashed Rodgers’ 2013/14 squad. We lost the chance at the title in 2013/14 because of Rodgers, and his incompetence at setting up a defence, pure and simple.
He’s talking about the atmosphere, the emotions, his feelings. Not the teams.
Your other points are… I can’t even be bothered going into it to be honest.
This epl is completely rubbish right now. Even we stand a chance of winning the damn thing. Fsg have also made huge key mistakes in the past, have they learned? Or will we flog that poor dead horse again and again. I hope Gorden has enough under his belt now to know how this soccer thing works around here and what is needed for a team like LFC to be, at the very least, COMPETITIVE. With a top guy, well at the top, we could do some wondrous things, THIS YEAR, not next year or the next etc etc. At least points-wise rodgers has left us in a fairly decent position and the 1-1 today was good by brendons standards and has done us no harm. So its FSG now who have to make the right calls (like they frequently do at the Red Sox) and get some PROVEN WINNERS in. That will be a catalyst and have a domino effect on everything else at the club. Its not just about selling players or them wanting to leave. Liverpool (and by extention FSG/ new manager) have to create something sustainable, a winning mentality, that makes players WANT TO REMAIN. All that other stuff about weather, life in london is just BLAH. If you build it they will come. If you have the right folks in key positions, pay the going market wage for players etc, players will come to LFC no worries.
Have to agree with all that, Andrew. The season has a lot left to play for, let’s hope the players react, and we pull together as a club like Kenny taking over from the Owl.
Meant to add great piece….still very gutted. We spent three years letting him learn on the job for another team to get the benefit.
I worry about Kloop, much rather Carlo
Yes. Remember the boot room? it was all about keeping that learning and experience WITHIN the club, not letting it go to other teams. another great example is toyota. They have done the same, they keep all the wealth of their knowledge and keep promoting from the ground up. Of course, those things have to built up, you need a visionary like shanks to start it all up, sadly rodgers was not that man, he is a lot of good things but not a visionary.
Toyota? :)~ quality is excellent (with their JIT and kaiban and 6 sigma etc). But not.much design innivation past number of years, so naturally sales is not as good as it could be.
Hope Liverpoool under new boss will deliver both quality and design (sexiness).!!!!
And it’s a magnificent piece Neil.
Should have been after Stoke’s 6-1. Now we’ll see what these players can really do. Are they clueless sloths like many play as, or is there more to them than we’ve been seeing.
A big moment for FSG too. If it’s not Klopp or Ancelotti, I think it’ll manage out expectations until the flip the club.
Thirdly, the rival fans do not like it. That can only be a good thing!
Can you give me some sources for rival fans do not like it? i would love to read!
http://www.redcafe.net/threads/liverpool-sack-rodgers.410237/
is a starter, then speak to your non-LFC mates.
Who really gives a toss what rival fans think? Mostly they don’t watch us and then just go with the line that the papers are spinning.
Nicely written as always. Some of my memories of that wonderful season was listening to the TAW crew, saying “we’re gonna win the league”. Every show, on every Monday, was a revision on the weekends successes. Football was great, football was wonderful. I saw some of the best football, I ever recall seeing. I have hoped ever since that Rodgers would take us there again, if not there, somewhere near there, maybe a mile or so away, but slowly and surely we travelled further away from that mesmeric place. Thanks for the memories, and good luck.
Brilliant piece of writing, thanks
I will never forget City at home 2014, or following the bus singing down Anfield Road during the latter days of that season with my fifteen year old lad, and I know he will never forget it. My first game was 78, European cup quarter final watching my heroes at thirteen and it was as good. Who have I got to thank for my wonderful memories with my son goin’ the game that season; BR. He was BOSS for a while and I think we will miss him(for a bit anyway). All the best Brendan. Go on a fantastic holiday mate.
Okay, I’ll be the wet blanket on this party: Brendan Rodgers got paid gobs and gobs of $$$ to manage the club; he spent gobs and gobs of $$$ on transfers to make the club better — and failed; Rodgers never missed an opportunity to tell anyone what a “football genius” he was; the author of this post obviously has an Anglo-bend to his writings and memory — ‘cos the 2013-2014 season was the beautiful memory it was because of Luis Suarez. What was the squad’s Magnum Opus that season? That’s right: the 5-0 shellacking at White Hart Lane. For God’s sake, that game got Tottenham’s Manager fired! Suarez finished that game with 2 goals and 2 assists — and neither Sturridge or Gerrard played that day. Rodgers was in over his head as Manager: he never accomplished much anywhere else (to be sure, Swansea City hasn’t suffered without him) and he should have learned to keep his mouth shut. Should Jurgen Klopp come to Anfield, it truly would be the Dawn after the Darkness.
Thanks BR for putting on Suarez, no brainer. Here is my issue, what is Klopp going to do with sub par squad BR Left behind ? What can any of us do ? There is no quality there. I’m FSG, thinking am I giving Klopp 80 million more quid to spend ?
After reading comments on forum many well thought out responses, when we see remainder of season and what any new manager has to work with, and how tied he will be to structures set in place for success, do you foresee any value add in Klopp ? You have to look at ownership, and there implementation of broken processes.
LFC is a massive cash cow that FSG reaps millions on pounds from. Be it brilliant pitch form or not. We have to look to them, and hold them accountable. We’re are the supporter clubs that can stand and get boycotts, were owners/ leaders of organizations to answer or be asked to move on ?
Baseball is sport inbred with mediocrity not this sport of football.
BR thank you
JK write your history with passion for us
FSG – spot light now on you ! Your brilliant enough to make your money through futures and business transactions. Show us how you build and sustain perfection, you’ve done it in the real world, show us in the football world.
Bring the heart and soul of LFC back as player coach he would trade 1000000 days of sun and sand, for 100 days of rain and trophies, his heart beats for it, you don’t let this leave happen on your watch.
Robbie
You are severely mistaken. Check my previous comment. He did have the ‘final say’ on transfers. Thats true. But a lot of the time, when he was handed a list of players for him to choose from, none of the ones he asked for were on it. He had the final say ON THEIR shortlists. Just like at the very end of last years transfer window, where he was made to choose between Balotelli or Eto’o. He wanted neither. This is why we missed out on Konoply, Sanchez, Bony, Willian, Mkhitaryan, and all of those other transfers. Ffs we couldnt even bring in Sigurdsson.
Watch Anfield go into meltdown when when Dick Advocat is announced as the new Manager.
Credit to Fsg on the timing of this and pulling the trigger on their Man without flinching.
Thanks for the first 2 seasons Brendan
U did ur best BR
It’s best to move on
Let’s be honest after nearly winning the title
It’s all been down hill
Liverpool owners remember for success u need to invest full heartly
All the best BR good luck
Plus the run last season where we lost just 2 games out of 18 prior to April’s injury crisis. The 41-15-12 record with Sturridge was a particular pleasure, even the 12-2-4 record with him in the side last season.
Shame we’ll never know what would have happened if FSG pulled out the stops to sign Sanchez or Bony.
Brilliant Neil.
I have a tear in my eye as I type this
Good piece Neil.
I feel a bit sorry for the guy. But at the same time I feel a bit relieved.
I think he should have been given more time, but the pressure on him and the feelings against were making his position untenable.
With the investment in players this summer and the change in management team, he should have been given the season. But he was never going to get that. He was becoming a figure of fun in the media and a divisive figure amongst the fan base…a battle between supporters (those who go the game and support the club) and the others (those who undermine, usually through social media).
He could have won the next six, but losing the seventh he would have been in this position…such was the feeling against him
He got it wrong last year. After coming so close, the fatigue of ultimate failure compounded by the loss of Suarez and Strurridge, just left us running in circles. He finally got hIs shit together and put a run together, but once that went out the window we just deflated like a balloon.
This will be an unpopular view but I think he has been undermined by the shadow of Gerrard throughout. Who remembers that 0-5 at White Hart Lane. That was the future, but he was never allowed to see it out. There was always the pressure to pick Gerrard which would never let him build the team he wanted. (Although I do accept Gerrard played well in the 13/14 run in)
Last season, Gerrard announced his retirement and it cast a shadow over the second half of the season. Wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the new first XI (Tottenham at home) but you felt there was a requirement to pick him, (because he was Gerrard).
Even this season, Gerrards latest book only serves o undermine the manager further.
And on to this season. hEs been unlucky. He’s trying to integrate a number of new players. At the same time, he’s got injuries…Henderson, Allen, Lallana, Benteke. He’s also been given the seven toughest away games in a row to start the season.
In those away games he hasn’t done too bad. A win, two draws and a defeat. Five points from four tough games. I’d have taken that.
That said, I’m not a complete apologist. Some of his buys have been poor, the continued use of Lovren this season and shunting Markovic out on loan baffles me. However, I think that comes from hiring an inexperienced manager who is learning on he job. If that’s the guy we are going to get, then those mistakes are to be expected unfortunately
So much for me putting together a cohesive argument, I’m all over the place (I’m blaming Gerrard!)
I just think he deserved the time to try and pull this team together. I think if we had got through this difficult period, we would have seen a better team come through.
What isn’t in doubt is his commitment and hard work and for the most part belief. That’s goes a long way for me.
I hope he goes on to do well.
Great piece. btw I’m grey bearded, and proud to say i did 13/14 right! and with my teenage son. very best times, tra la la la la. thank you Brendan.
I think the main difference between locals, including obviously regular match-going supporters, and the rest of us may very well be how much more of a ‘high’ the 2013/14 season was for the former than the latter.
I have been significantly happier in my life than I was during even the best periods of the 2013/14 season, and I am not a ‘happy-go-lucky’ kind of fellow.
I cannot get over how incredibly outlandish and unfair I find the notion that somehow the 2013/14 season was in any way, shape or form comparable to (or, gasp, better than) the best of the Benitez period.
I am relieved that the Brendan Rodgers period is over. Good luck to him but I will not shed a single tear for him.
I agree that BR given us a cracking 2nd season but a part from that nothing much !! But with klopp signing and with the league being tied I reackin we will get in the to 4 !!
Been pretty narky here. Just a tad pissed in both senses. Thanks for the continued excellent debate.
Hi Neil, “Grey Bearded Historian” here.Who was the bloke who nearly died? Was that Houllier?Bit disrespectful that isn’t it? Or is that poetic licence or tabloid or twitter journalism? Just doesn’t sound right to me.
So,you had a few months of being happy and going to some pub? Us grey bearded historians have had nearly fifty years of being happy and enjoying the same nights and atmosphere in every pub we cared to go in to after the vast majority of matches.We enjoyed it as much as you if not more but we soon realised that other factors apart from Brendan were contributing.It didn’t take a genius to work that out.
So if that was supposed to be an epitaph or eulogy to Brendan,well I’m sorry,it sounds like one to yourself.
Good point Brian. As another grey beard, the one season of exciting but flawed football is no reason to mourn the end of Rodgers’ Liverpool career. He has made mediocrity a reason to keep his job, he has to turn it around, rebuild, a wee bit of luck, give me the tools, just don’t expect success yet. As a supporter for 50 years it was soul destroying watching Rodgers’ teams for the most part. Clueless on and off the pitch, substandard players littering Melwood before being shipped out to be replaced another batch and the odd humiliation thrown in against no mark sides. I was at Wembley in 1971 at the tunnel end when the players came off. There was a certain young lad in suit who looked almost in tears and he’d never played for the club, a certain Kevin Keegan. He never accepted defeat because he inherited that attitude from his fellow players and the boot room. Defeats were inevitable but never acceptable, standards had to be of the highest and trophies to be competed for (no white flags or B teams against crack opposition)..
Rodgers for all his soundbites and the daily news copy from the usual sources on the playing staff never convinced me that they actually understood the standards Liverpool FC had set since Shankly walked through the doors of a dilapidated Anfield and Melwood. That representing our club was not about, philosophy, flipping triangles or the low block, it was about winning and that is something Rodgers had never done and seemed to think that nearly winning something was acceptable, even commendable.
Neil enjoy your memories of a 2:1 against Wet Ham, and your pints in a packed pub, but by Liverpool’s standards that season, enjoyable as it was, was a failure. Let’s hope that the next man is a winner and will not shout so loudly about nearly winning something.
Best post on here, Frankie.
While well written, Neil’s piece was way too reverential to a man who won absolutely nothing and had the nerve to tell us that he was becoming a better manager – while his team got worse.
The trigger was pulled because the damage was only becoming worse under BR’s reign.
Should have gone after Stoke.8 games in and it was obvious he was clueless.
Could do well at a Newcastle or WBA – not LFC.
“Neil enjoy your memories of a 2:1 against Wet Ham, and your pints in a packed pub, but by Liverpool’s standards that season, enjoyable as it was, was a failure”
There are no words.
Indeed…
Yes there are. You are confusing having a good time, watching some enjoyable football, great days out, flags on Anfied Road with what Liverpool FC is about – winning trophies. I have seen us win Championships and European Cups galore and I wouldn’t swap any for a season where we finished second, packed pub or not.
If this is your criteria for “failure”, you’re going to be sacking a lot of managers in the coming years.
As I’ve said above, no one group of LFC fans has a monopoly on wanting the club to be successful. We all want to win and when we don’t it hurts people like me as much as it hurts people like you. But that fact remains there is no evidence – zero – that this policy of turfing out managers after a couple of years of “failure” (as defined by you) works. Don’t confuse my refusal to join you in la-la-land with a readiness to accept second best. It’s just that shouting “we want to win” over and over again doesn’t constitute either an argument or a policy.
You are completely missing the point of life.
Well said Frankie. Supporting from Ireland since the early 80s and even though their was some pride to see “one of our own” appointed I always thought it was a job he was under qualified for especially if you’re looking to replace Kenny. 2013/14 was exciting but also deeply frustrating. I remember leaving Anfield after the thrilling Swansea game thinking Suarez was the best player I’d ever seen in the flesh (on a quiet enough day by his standards) but also that was not good for the heart (or my hungover head!) and we’d made Shelvey look like Zidane FFS. In terms of happiness, however, for this 39 year old nothing Brendan did at the helm compares to the joy Houllier gave me when he ended the rot in 2001 or when Rafa delivered the CL. At the back of mind I always figured he’d be too much of a Yes man for the owners for it to work on the field. Gerrard should have been put in his place around the time of the Real away game last year too and shipped off to the US immediately if he wanted to announce his departure before the season ended but (while acknowledging none of us really know what goes on behind the scenes) Brendan wasn’t able to get that tough decision right. It’s never nice to see anyone lose their job but the time had come to make a change. Perhaps it’s a bit late, given the way last season petered out but even so I believe it’s the right move. I wish him well for the future but I really hope whoever is appointed now has the proper credentials for the position. YNWA.
I fear for our club. With delusional supporters like you who continue to hold on to prehistoric comments like “winning is everything, second is nowhere”. Get a grip. The game has changed and we have no divine right based on the past to be successful in the future. Why not enjoy the good times like 13-14 for what they are, over-achievement to be sure, but good times for anyone who genuinely just wants LFC to do well. With the current conservative owners, high spending top-clubs, emphasis on developing talent rather than trying to buy top players to compete, the expectation going forward is that we will not win anything unless we have a good slice of luck as well as a hard working, committed playing staff and manager.
You expect we will simply get back to the top with a new manager because he will rediscover the LFC-way. There is no manager out there who can do this. There is no manager out there who has a prayer to do this with the unrealistic expectations of supporters like you. Whoever is chosen to replace Rodgers will need time, transfer budget, support from the owners and the backing of supporters for some time to turn the decline of the club over the last 20+ years around. This is what Rodgers was charged to do and in 13-14 showed unexpected progress. It is shame it could not be sustained.
Realistically the new manager will not be given the budget to compete with Man City and Chelsea. Based on our recent history the new guy will struggle to retain anyone that bigger clubs tempt away – expect Sturridge and Coutinho to top this list in January. If the new guy is Klopp, I also expect that he will be given nothing of a honeymoon period before the fickle – we should be winning – fans start to question his ability and credentials. Why is he not giving the youngsters a chance like Rodgers? Why does he not “get” the history of this club? Does he not know the Liverpool way??
Great post Neil. I think 13/14 was the most fun I have had watching Liverpool. I loved Rafa but it often felt edgy.
Yeah, it felt edgy. Because he had cancers as owners, because he operated with a significantly worse squad overall, and because we were in multiple competitions and challenged in all of them. That’s why it felt ‘edgy’ with Rafa.
No Europe, out of the domestic cups early, Suarez AND Sturridge available and in form at the same time. And we scored lots of goals.
Even with Gerrard, Mascherano, Alonso and Torres in the team it never felt like we would batter teams and I was always fearful of that home draw against lowly opposition. We went far in all the cups but never really as close in the league and a lot of 08/09 felt like trying to catch up. Like most fans I just want to win the league. Like Neil says 13/14 was just madness and fun. Since then it has been like the mother of all hangovers
Aye that 4-0 against Madrid, 5-0 against Villa, yup never happened.
don’t fall into the media trap that Benitez’s sides didnt batter sides. They did
Brilliant read, totally mirrors my feelings.
People can say and think what they want about Brendan Rodgers, I’m 31and was too young to remember winning the league, but I’m old enough remember the treble, I remember Istanbul and I remember the Gerrard Final. Brendan Rodgers didn’t win us a trophy but he was responsible for me having most fun I’ve ever had going the match and at the end of the day that’s what it’s all about, having a laugh at the weekend with your mates. Thanks Brendan YNWA
Incredible article Neil. You’re so right, 2013/14 was the happiest that I will ever be. I was 16 and I was lucky enough to be at both the Arsenal and Man City home wins and those memories will stay with me forever. I live in Scotland so I don’t get to as many games as I would like to, but there was one thing from that season that struck me most. It was on that warm April afternoon before the crunch match against City. I was perched upon a wall and we heard the coach before we saw it. We heard it because of the noise. Of several songs being sung at once. ‘We are Liverpool’ ‘We’re going to win the league’ ‘Liverpoool, Liverpooool’. The colour of the flares. The heat. The smell. I’d never seen anything like it. Then we saw the coach, and we saw the immense tide of people following. As the coach got closer the noise got louder. I looked to my right and smiled as I realised I’d never seen my Dad look so emotional. He’d seen the 70s and 80s, but now he was back. Liverpool were back. As the coach crawled past where we stood I gazed up at the windows. I couldn’t see through the glass but I imagined that the players were looking out at me. Could that have been Sturridge? Or Gerrard? Or Suarez?! I sang and I cheered. I wanted them to know how much this meant to me. And as the coach drove on I joined the swarm of people who followed. It looked biblical. It felt like something bigger than just a football match. But whatever it was, I was part of it. I may have lived hundreds of miles away from Liverpool, I may have been a lot younger than everyone else but I was part of this. And I realised that Liverpool was a part of me. This was the happiest I had ever been.
Thanks for your article Neil, I’m sitting here and welling up at the thought of that season. None of this would have happened without Brendan Rodgers, the man who made us dream. I’ll copy your line to finish this off. All the best Brendan, all the best.
Lovely piece Neil. I’m sorry for everyone’s loss and hope the new manager brings back the hope and belief Brendan’s team did.
Have to say I’m disappointed in FSG. Fancy firing a man before a match and against our local rivals to boot. They really do a have a collective tin ear for football and, it seems, class.
This is incorrect. The decision was made before the game, but in order to not derail preparation for the game it was decided to not let Rodgers know until after the game. Ian Ayre visited him at home after the game was well over to give him the news. Did you not see him on the sidelines all game long today??
Brendan was actually told the decision in a phone call from Mike Gordon immediately after the game, and then Ian Ayre went to Brendan’s home afterward.
IMAGINE BEING FIRED IN A PHONE CALL! It’s like a break-up by post-it note or text message. It reminds me of when my Dad died in hospital. Immediately after he took his last breath 2 ‘doctors’ and a solicitor from the hospital administration came to see me to ‘condole’ with me. What they really were there for was to make sure I had no intention of suing the hospital for malpractice. The stench of it was all over them.
I love Liverpool Football Club, but this really does lack class and reeks of disrespect for a man who revered the Club’s legacy and never said one unkind word about the Owners or anyone connected to the Club or the fans, despite the fans’ shocking abuse toward him and his daughter.
I don’t put any person on this Earth on a pedestal because they all eventually falter in one way or another. No football manager or player, no film or TV actor, no musician, or anyone else touted as a ‘celebrity’. It’s a certain path to disillusionment. Three years from now history will likely repeat itself, even if there’s a bit of shiny stuff along the way to make people temporarily lose their minds and throw their values out the window.
I am not so sure that Rodgers wasnt aware. No club tie and blazer on the touchline, simply dressed like he was attending a funeral. I think he knew the game was up.
Are you joking? They allowed him to hold a press conference, and make a fool out of himself on tv by saying stuff like “I’ve spoken to them. No drama. Im not pressured and Im not worried about my job.” Only to be axed a half hour later. It was fucking shameful. You dont do that to anyone.
Thanks Brendan (if you’re reading this) for the good times. Thanks for signing DS and PC and making Suarez stay and play one more season. …. But It’s a new dawn for LFC. C’mon Kloppo! Make us feel the euphoria of 13/14 again. Great article Neil – captured many of the emotions I went through myself.
Great write-up. Stuff like that’s why you guys will have my fiver every month for as long as you want to take it.
Great piece Neil, i’ve seen a lot of negativity towards Brendan on social media sites but hats off to him as 13/14 was the best footy i’ve seen us play in 20+ years!! Spurs away, Cardiff and Utd away as well and yes those 20 minutes or so against Arsenal at home. Sublime!! Great memories, great days! Good luck Brendan YNWA
ta brendan for 13/14. good luck wherever u go.
klopp? beware of what you wish for. untried in epl.
inheriting someone elses team…..there are no
guarantees. well prob get de boer….
I’ve said all along that if BR was binned that FSG had to go big or go home. It looks like, from all reports, that they;re going big. Meaning Klopp and Zorc next summer. Probably because Zorc didn’t want to leave BVB in the lurch. Quite understandable. I don’t think we can ask for anything more on that end. If it works out per the rumors, then FSG decided to show real ambition after all. About damn time!
My worry now is that the club won’t land Klupp, or even Ancelotti, even though I think Ancelotti would be the wrong man for the job. My opinion is that they will go with Frank De Boer, he is the only manager who expressed interest in the job openly I think, and that, I think would be an even bigger mistake.
If the club sacked Brendan without first confirming with Klupp that he is in for the job, I’d start to feel really down about the season to be honest…
Hope you fickle idiots are happy now.
but I know for sure you’ll all be exactly the same in 10 months about the new manager.
go and support Newcastle where you belong.
we are liverpool we support and back the team and manager through all.
the fickle idiots who call for the managers head after very bad result should just leave and support a club where that is normal.
I personally cannot wait for brendan Rodgers to return as an opposition mananger and I will stand proud and applaud him.
he is a good man and a good manager.
all you pricks will be booing the new man in a few months because that’s what you do
Ironically, mate, its people like you that will accept and prolong mediocrity a la Newcastle.
Your rant reveals you have zero knowledge of the standards LFC aspire to .
In fact, I suspect you are a manc wind up merchant hoping we’d prolong the agony and become another Newcastle.
Rodgers was way out of his depth and should have gone after Stoke.
You can aspire to the highest levels of play and still remain part of the reality-based community. Do you think the people who take a different view to you on who should be the manager of LFC want to win any less than you?
There a difference between ambition, shooting for the stars, and being consumed by your own sense of entitlement.
Great piece Neil. Great memories of that season summed up by you for me as the most fun I’ve had …..since childhood in the ’80’s.
A good manager, what’s the length of contract worth now in today’s social media world…..? Be hard to see any if at all a time when we have one for more than 5 yrs, but hey ho!
Good luck Rogers, thanks for all you did!
In all honesty the year we nearly won the EPL was with players installed by Dagliesh, when FSG got rid of him, they threw the baby out with the bath water as far as I am concerned, I had pretty much lost faith in there tenure, and still feel there not necessarily fan friendly and have my reservations about them that said as far as timing is concerned I feel there timing on this on is just right.
This is a sad day for Liverpool FC.
The best liverpool team I have seen in 30 years is a Brendan Rodgers Liverpool team.
Not sure about the tone but I agree with the sentiment mate. It was embarrassing on Thursday to be in the Kop end and be surrounded by people booing. No embarrassing is the wrong word…. Devastating and saddening is the right words and given the competition and the stage of it I was surprised as to the ignorance of the booers(?). Do they not remember the group stages of 2005. I worry about the future.
Yes many of our supporters have strayed deep into the realms of bellendry over recent times, in one way or another. Let us hope that the new boss is not written-off too quickly by swathes of the fan base.
I’m guessing that is the only team you have seen in thirty years then, because you’re dismissing some fantastic teams, teams that actually won things.
Its unfortunate for Rodgers, he tried his best but it just wasn’t good enough, but a sad day for Liverpool, think you’re getting a bit caught up in all the emotion.
30 years ago we were winning the league by February with Digger, Beardo, Aldo et al. If you think what Rodgers did two seasons ago is better football, you should rewatch just how good the side was in the mid 80s.
Absolutely terrible decision by LFC. Not because Rodgers is particularly good but because he’s not that bad and that’s the best we’re going to get.
Here’s what happens next at Anfield: spend a load of Money getting rid of him then a load getting someone else in (probably not the man we want but that will help our arguments when we call for his head).
Spend a load more money replacing the team to fit some new ideas. However, still be unable to get the players that are desired and therefore end up over spending on average because this is LFC and we deserve to spend more!
Spend a few years repeating the spending on average players and selling the ones that turn out any good until the fans get nasty and call for the managers head.
Sack manager.
Repeat.
Sack Manager.
Repeat……
There is only one way to stop this cycle in this current football climate. Spend, spend, spend. Spend bigger on players and wages than any other club. This is football now and those who think otherwise need to wake up. When Rafa was winning cups left right and centre it wasn’t enough cause we needed the league. LFC is no longer a major destination in the mind of the greatest young footballers… Not because it isn’t great, but because it isn’t money. Added to that the reality that we haven’t been a force in Europe in years or won the league title in most young players memories.
‘Fans’ need to get realistic to what has been happening for so many years. Wages that can be obtained elsewhere or a preference to play in London or other major European city have caused the loss of our best players to other clubs for a long time now and also have resulted in an inability to sign the best. I seem to remember Rodgers going in for Sanchez last year. He’s now at Arsenal and is currently the second best player in the premiership.
Rodgers did almost win the title, not Luis Suarez (in fact Suarez netted loads against poor teams and was shite when he was most needed, it was Sturridge who almost won us the title that year) despite what most think. The reason Rodgers could not continue this is because he cannot provide miracles. This is the same for any manager… well any that will come to Anfield.
So, Liverpool fans, get real or stay miserable. It’s a long life thinking your team deserves to be at the top when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Enjoy the football, win or loose. Enjoy the ‘riches’ of the premier league and the modern game. Enjoy the possibilities of winning silverware each year and get behind each and every game.
Most of all, enjoy the club. If you don’t then what’s the point?
What. A. Load. Of. Shite.
Yeah, Suarez was really ‘shite’ but I supposed he benefited from Brendan’s coaching ability when he was dragging the team by the scruff of its neck?
The revisionism on here would even make Stalin cringe.
Well maybe I was slightly inaccurate.. Can’t deny that Suarez was a class act but he wasn’t there at the beginning of the season and he couldn’t take us over the line at the end (it’s called a team). However, my main points are looking forward, not backwards. Unless the owners change their policies then they’ll keep spending and not winning… And the moaning fans will keep complaining cause for some people that’s all there is to life.
Best piece you’ve ever written that Neil.
I’m just smiling my head off here.
Thanks Brendan and good luck. I was shocked at the timing and disappointed in general to be honest. Thought the 18 months of flamboyant, mostly winning football were enough to give him the season to get things going again. Even amidst all the noise of the last few weeks there have been signs that we were starting to get going again. With the general bluster around the club and the inexperience in the squad I don’t think it is surprising that it wasn’t happening so quickly. Really hope Brendan goes on to have a hugely successful career. He seems a lovely fella and he clearly truly wanted to build a dynasty here.
Liverpool supporters and lesbians? Separate entities? Must tell my daughter.
Just one other thing. You can sack managers and players, pile the pressure on owners – but what can you do with shit fans ? You can’t gib the bellends, and boy have they gone out of their way to reduce us to 10 men.
But you can have sites like these, cutting through the crap, holding up a mirror to the fan-base and maybe in the end helping us smarten up.
I spent the past months being called an apologist, my manhood questioned, my loyalty to the club questioned (which is worse), and generally been the target of a thuggish group of “supporters” trying to cow people into silent submission. And all the while, I did my best to be humble and be clear that others have right to disagree.
Sadly, this group of jackbooted Twitter knobs will see today as a reason to rejoice. I don’t. Rodgers made me the happiest I’ve ever been as a Liverpool supporter, and that’s saying quite a bit. I felt he was shortchanged by the transfer committee, and after turning the season around to just 2 losses in 18 games he had to deal with the injuries in April to Sturridge (again), Lucas, Sakho, and even Flanagan saw his imminent return thwarted. Having lost the spine of the team – that’s not including the red cards to Gerrard and Can around the same period – the end of the season was severely disrupted.
Asking for Sanchez or Bony and getting Balotelli or Eto’o, asking for Bertrand and getting Moreno, asking for Willian and getting Victor Moses, asking for Costa and getting Aspas, Rodgers has taken hits for his 300M outlay without the context of how many of his targets were met, how he had to sell to buy, and how our rivals spent roughly 300M MORE than we did on wages during his tenure.
Jackboots don’t do context, though. They want to control the history of the club for their own agenda, suggesting that it was Suarez rather than the collective (although Rodgers had a 61% win ratio with Sturridge, and a 50% win ratio with Suarez), effectively dismissing the contributions of Gerrard, Coutinho, Sterling, Henderson and co. for our brilliant run.
They want to suggest that without Suarez, Rodgers was nothing – although he was 7-2-1 during the 10 game ban and managed to string together those 18 games with just two losses last season prior to the injury crisis that somehow is never acknowledged.
I loved Rodgers for changing the nets. I loved Rodgers for getting what we are about. I was uncertain if he could turn it around, but I feel that justice would have given him until December. We are still 4 points off 2nd place while Sturridge and Benteke have only played 45 minutes together. The points dropped in recent games were the result of individual howlers, rather than tactical ineptitude.
But these are the kind of arguments that don’t fit into a Twitter rant. I’ve been too often reminded of the build up to the Iraq invasion, where loudmouthed conservatives bulldozed over anyone trying to politely put balance and context into the conversation. In the days of social media, it seems that memory and context are the first victims.
Phew. I’ve had my rant. It’s been exhausting and a long time since it has been much fun. I hope that Klopp does become our next manager, but it would be a sad thing if Rodgers were not given credit for putting so much joy in our lives. Poetry in motion. The Liverpool Way. Tra-La-La. You’ll never Walk Alone.
Go easy on the Kleenex tonight, Walter lad.
Some fans will be using kleenex for other reasons tonight I reckon.
Honestly, the overriding sensation is a deep exhaling. It has been depressing taking on some of the nastier elements of our support as they’ve tried to rewrite history and put forward their absurd fantasies about what it means to manage a club in our position.
100%. If I felt a bit frazzled before reading this – and I did – then I’m a lot more fragile now. Just sad that it came to this, that it didn’t work out. He’s a good man, and some of the personal attacks have been disgusting. It’s not that he should have stayed in the job, as I think there was some indistinct point-of-no-return reached, but it’s just that the highs were so incredible, and the end so mundane. Reading this piece brought back all the exhilarating memories of that season. Christ, it was amazing, it would have been the best league victory ever, and there’s a parallel universe where Mamadou doesn’t play that square ball and instead just hoists a a hopeful one in the general direction of the area and God knows what happens from there. Just to get that close really meant something, it always will and that’s how we should remember the BR era -that, and not his leaving of it. Thanks for everything Brendan, YNWA.
Speech, lad. Boss!
We all know klopp is in !! So lets gets excited as the German revaluation is going to start !!
No ill will toward Brendan on my part. This was a decision that was building — and if we’re honest had to be made — since late last season. I think Brendan will have a fantastic career, and I wish him the best of luck (except against us of course). 13/14 was magical, it was the most exciting football we’ve seen in the PL era from LFC, we must never forget what he gave us that season. I am looking forward to the next chapter. All the best Brendan, it just wasn’t meant to be.
I know there are/were circumstances and arguments for and against what Brendan and the Liverpool squad of 2013-2014 achieved that season, many touched upon above. But, for me, I am going with the poetry, the epic journey, the wonderful memories and feelings that have stayed with me from that season, even if the end was pure tragedy. It was amazing and brought a joy and a great love that I never thought I would experience again after Rafa’s exit.
It was the best of times and in the the end the worst of times but, as Neil said above, I’d live and re-live every season if I could.
So thanks Brendan, I have been watching footie, Liverpool, since 1970 and that was as good as it got for me, league-wise, you orchestrated a masterpiece of football theatre there.
Good luck and I hope you remember the good times…
And thanks Neil, that is a remarkable piece of writing, spot on.
My heart’s broken for him.
13/14, why couldn’t we have won that league!? Suarez might still be here, Sterling gets a new deal sooner, Gerrard doesn’t mind playing of the bench cause he’s got his medal, the fan base isn’t split, Brendan keeps faith in being a crazy bastard.
I’ll remember 13/14 for the 4-0, the 5-1(s) the 3-0. If you did 13/14 right you’ll know those games without me having to say.
Brendan you came so close!
All the best. YNWA
Amen Neil.
Brendan Rodgers – a lovely set of teeth and he was always nicely turned out.
Another club will take him. Has he served an apprenticeship of fire at LFC at our expense? Will he go on to make us rue the day? I seriously doubt it. Ultimately he was a little man lost in a big mans shirt.
He clearly should have been axed after last season. What purpose is served by having him in charge for pre-season prep, transfers etc only to axe him now?
I’d take Ancelotti over Klopp.
I don’t get this thing about his teeth, they’re nasty and clearly need ortho work. Changing the colour doesn’t hide that. Losing the 5+ stone is what has changed him. He looks far healthier today than when he signed. And with the several million quid pay-off, he’s a young healthy man that never needs to worry about work again should he stay out the game.
It’s a dog move for me.
It’s now clear he’s been a dead man walking behind the scenes for a while – the mention last week of ‘no assurances’ from the “board” speaks volumes now. Without wanting to add to useless conjecture, it would now appear he’d possibly been told he had a limited time to turn results around recently. He (rightly) had started to look and sound less than pleased with 1-1 performances and appeared to just offer slithers of self defence in his media dealings of late e.g. “… when I have the tools …”.
The saddest thing for me is the apparent lack of class at executive level. Personally, I’m never in favout of sacking a manager who hasn’t clearly lost his mind/health or is running a side riven with mutiny. This obviously hasn’t happened. Apart from obviously disgruntled players Rodgers has told they have no future with the club, every other player who has discussed him has said how good he is, how training is excellent, how his man management is second to none, and how they are working their hardest to ease pressure on him. This is all before mentioning his record of developing players. I don’t remember the last Liverpool manager to bring through so many young players or completely alter the trajectory of individual’s careers as Rodgers. It’s definitely a sad day for those involved at The Academy.
Giving him the bullet this early is cruel and he deserved better. However you describe the Everton performance, Lverpool’s passion and work rate couldn’t be faulted – he clearly hasn’t ‘lost the dressing room’.
The most worrying thing for me the moment I read the news earlier was, ‘what will be the reaction of the players who loved him? Whose games he’d genuinely brought on.’
I think there’s an itchy trigger figure at board room level. Possibly frightened of the idea of losing out on Klopp with the football writers well into an about turn on Mourinho.
Sad day
Crackin’ set of TAW player shows tonight lads!! That is what I pay a fiver every month for…feel a bit sorry for Brendan, but bring on the Klopp-ster!!
I often mention on here my view of situations like this being like a pressure cooker. It builds and builds and then explodes. There then follows a period of calm before it gradually builds up again. It’s been strange seeing the calm on Twitter tonight. “I wish Brendan well, he’s a good young coach, nearly gave us what we wanted” etc etc. I find it embarrassing and I include myself in this. The depths a lot of us have dropped to and then it turns out we all thought he was good. It’s not everyone. There’s a new vein opening on Twitter which says all these poor results were nothing to do with Rodgers. It’s FSG’s fault and until they go nothing will change. It’s odd because the people tweeting that swore it was Rodgers fault last week. The new manager will be given a chance so the frustration will now switch to FSG.
I feel a bit in shock tonight. I won’t lie, I feel excited for tomorrow. I feel sad for Rodgers though and the way he’s been treated. I don’t think there’s anyone left who doesn’t feel this was the right decision. Results would have improved but it was past that. I feel content in the knowledge we gave Rodgers a fair go. I don’t think I would have felt that even if he’d gone in the summer. There’s no room, at Liverpool, to let the situation get to where it is and hope things will change. It can’t.
Neil: Really nice article. I suppose you’re one of the few who can hold your head up and say you acted with dignity in Rodgers final months. With 5 mins to go today I thought, if they nick this I’m gonna go mental. We’ve done nothing second half. I also thought, if we can nick one then I’ll be buzzin to fuck and it’s what we deserve on balance. When it finished in a draw I kind of felt numb. Neither here nor there. I just found it interesting how much one decisive moment could change the narrative so much. My mate phoned me after the news. He said, ‘yeah but we’ve only lost 2 in 11 this season’. It’s not the full story but my belief is, like how my reaction would have changed with a different result, a lot of us have acted hysterically over the past few months. Not for wanting change. We had to have it. More for the intensity of our opposition to Rodgers. I really liked your assessment of 13/14, especially the bit about Palace. That’s how it was. Fact. I hope everyone can appreciate that’s how it was. Points scored calling it Rodgers naivety count for nothing now.
Another chapter over. Neil’s written the pages that make it up. The chapter ends with ‘but it was all a bit too much too soon’. Then the next chapter begins. Don’t know how true it is but I’ve heard Jurgen Klopp has had botox and never gets a round in. Wait till he loses a game and a disclose the full story.
Fucking upset over this timing, to be perfectly honest. I’d get Brendan a pint of Star in in The Grapes and spark him a Marlborough Gold in the back yard; just shoot the shit over the greatest league season of my lifetime that he managed us to, you know. Any ‘it was all just Suarez’ chatting cunts young and old in boozers are getting volleyed in the bollocks because I’m fucking sick of it.
Jesus Christ almighty. Just read me comment back and I’m drunk-raging. The point remains the same though in general. Genuinely dead sad and what the frigs the plan from here on in after giving him that summer of players he wants in and the backroom staff overhaul? What the fucking hell is going on here?
It’s a great comment, Tom. You should be proud of it. And once they’ve stood up after being volleyed in the bollocks, I’m gubbing the pricks.
Zzzzzzzz
Go follow Brendan to his next team.
With the sentimental love fest in full flow,half the comments on here would make the editors of Pravda blush.
Oh mate… I can only pity you.
Just reading the Echo and Alan Sugar has been on twitter leading the ‘was all Suarez’ brigade. Lol. Mad how much of a cunt Craig Burley is though. What’s his game?
Absolutely top notch Neil, it was a glorious time to support the Reds, as you say, it brought the fun back to our footy. It’s sad to see Brendan go, he really did genuinely care for the club and I wish him all the best. Now we look forward, time for a new chapter.
Nice article.
Where’s the photo you refer to in the piece?
Stayed up late in Australia to watch the game, got up this morning and washed my lad’s LFC duvet cover – didn’t know what else to do.
Thanks for reminding me Neil
Rodgers was just the symptom, the problem is the arrogance and sense if entitlement from everyone connected to liverpool. Yes, he came close to winning the league but you could argue (as Stevie G has said) that Rodgers arrogance cost the league. The way he setup against chelsea was ridiculous and the palace result was school boy stuff. Those stupid champions t-shirts that went on sale just highlighted the arrogance of certain fans. When Suarez went the house of cards stared to fall down, the club needs to do some real soul searching as a new manger won’t solve the serious and endemic issues at the club. I’m glad Brendab has gone, he was arrogant and self righteous & turned a lot of neutrals against liverpool. Hopefully Klopp will have some more humility which might rub off on many of the fans who seem to forget that no big club goes 25yrs without a league title!!
You’re so wrong on this ‘arrogance/lack of humility’ nonsense it defies belief. I crashing out here cos I’m hauling me arse up for work in 4 hours but ‘humility’ finishes 2013/14 4th and the Now You’re Gonna Believe Us arrogance from manager to players to fans and back round again in a convinced cycle carried us to the greatest time I’ve experienced watching us.
(Bit controversial but I was only 12-13 in the run in to Istanbul and a little kid in Cardiff twice in 2001. I loved the 08/09 team to death but the fact of the matter is being around town 18 months ago was fucking life-affirming. Ta, Brendan.)
Eric Cantona on the TAW , fantastic!
I dont like to mention their name but Man United were still a big club after not winning it for 26 years.
Astonishingly well written piece. Watching Liverpool in the 13/14 season was sheer entertainment. Winning the title would have made Rodgers a legend and he came oh so close. Impossible to replace Suarez and Gerrard probably went on a season too long. Almost certainly the correct decision to sack Rodgers but there still seems to be an empty sad feeling about it.
I’m an Aussie. I’m 40, and can remember Reds winning titles (on the tellie).
But 13/14 was the season I got married. And my legend Mrs, who is a late-commer to the Reds, but a Red all the same, made sure our honeymoon was bookended by trips to Anfield, the first of which was watching the Norwich game from the Kop. The Suarez game. What a game. What a time to be alive. The Kop. Bloody hell.
I’d asked her to marry me the season before. At Anfield actually. On our second trip to Anfield together. Immediately after the 5-0 against Swansie, which we only went to because it was brought forward while we were holidaying in Europe. She willingly changed our planned trip (to Rome) so she could possibly see a Reds win (after her first time at Anfield ended with the disappointing 2-0 loss to bloody West Brom). She’s a Red. Top bird my Mrs.
But i digress. That game against Norwich was as the most fun we’d had together since our wedding day a few weeks earlier. And we still light up when we talk about it (the 2-0 we went to against Hull a few weeks later was’t bad, or the experience of watching us slaughter Spurs at their place from a pub in Prague…)
Thanks for that Brendan. It was time to go, but you’ll never get anything other than respect and gratitude from these Reds. All the best mate.
Each to their own but I just can’t look back on 13/14 with this great pride. Am I in a severe minority?
The League is played over 38 games not 35 and the sad truth is that we choked. Badly. Now if we used that pain to push us forward in 14/15 then ok but sadly we all know what happened.
Anybody saying Brendan has been harshly treated surely must acknowledge that it has been a very average 18 months or so.
We had no ideology/philosophy once Luis left and although we missed Sturridge I believe enough money has been wasted on other players. And this talk of attacking football? Not really. We severely lack character in my opinion.
As for being proud of trying to win 10-0 at Crystal Palace, even getting the ball out of the net at 3-0 was one of the most arrogant and disrespectful things I have ever seen and I geniinely thought this before it went tits up. Angered Palace and we got what we deserved after that.
I thank Brendan overall as he is not a bad man or manager but his time was up.
YNWA Klopp please!
“Am I in a severe minority?”
Yes.
Just my opinion mate. There were some great performances but bottom line is we blew it.
All the talk of money in the modern game is correct but we basically had one hand on the title and didn’t win it.
First is first etc….
I’m genuinely emotional about how this went down. Different than the emotional of Suarez leaving, but not entirely.
I think there is really only one thing I can do in these circumstances. And that is to finally get around to buying a copy of Make Us Dream: The Story of Liverpool’s 2013/14 Season. Don’t know how I’ve been listening to the podcast for so long and somehow neglected to do this (something in between the high cost of raising a child and an inherent sense of parsimony, I’d imagine). But I can’t think of a better way to bring the Rodgers era to an end than revisiting some of the maddest, most brilliant moments of my football life. No spoiler alerts, please – I don’t want to know how it ends!
Good piece.
It amazes me how easily the feel good factor of 13/14 is forgotten. In many ways I’ve never felt prouder as a supporter. The thing I was and am so proud of was our approach and clearly defined team identity on the pitch. Our play was a mission statement of highest and most glorious nature. It created shockwaves. Those waves resonated with us all (I’d hope) and reverberated around the world. I can fondly remember the sense of pride in the city on that final day and the night that followed. As an out of towner, I had an experience that was sad due to us not winning the league, but one that was still sprinkled with a fair bit of joy, laughter, pride and a willingness to celebrate and acknowledge the mind bogglingly bonkers journey that we had shared. No matter how negative things have been or will be, I’ll always hold that sense of joy and positivity. That’s the Liverpool I speak so proudly of. I wish Brendan well for the future and thank him for what he helped create. Pure joy and the type of hysteria he would very much favour. Everything about it was unreal. I can’t thank him and the players enough.
All the talk now is of Klopp.. Or Spion Klopp as he’ll no doubt be called. He’ll have my full support as all the managers do (bar Mrs Doubtfire) He’s got the charisma we want. Let’s hope he can get us playing the footy we want to see. Expansive, aggressive and with shitloads of goals. The BBC put some interesting Klopp quotes up earlier.
——
On the pitch his Borussia Dortmund team were consistently a neutral’s favourite – for reasons Klopp probably put best when was asked to compare his own team to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal.
“Wenger likes having the ball, playing football, passes, it’s like an orchestra. But it’s a silent song, yeah? I like heavy metal,” he said.
“Fighting football is what I like. What we say in German is English football. A rainy day, a heavy pitch, everybody is dirty in the face and they go home and can’t play football for the next four weeks. This is Borussia.”
——
I could definitely get involved with some of that…….
I’m in! Klopp me up please!!
Seeing as everything else has probably already been said in the previous 127 comments, all I will add is I loved the band analogy Neil. First thing that came to mind was The Second Coming (appropriate title too). High expectations, real promise in places, but really just a muddled mess.
Great piece Neil you do BR a great service there mate.
His time was up there is never a good time to say goodbye, but now is as good as any. Liverpool don’t get tonked at home by Palace and West Ham and certainly not stuffed 6-1 at Stoke City. This team may well click but given what we have watched this season they may well slide the other way as well.
I never do the personal attacks and lots of them have been way over the top, BR tried his best but his best has not been good enough. Good luck for the future mate but let’s hope we now get someone who has been there seen it and done it.
If we do get klopp everyone of Yous who do that Twitter thing thank piers Morgan just for the craic.
Excellent article Neil. Excellent. You nailed it to the tee when you said “the most remarkable league season of my adulthood….”.
13/14 was dreamy what with those electric starts and Those 20 mins against arsenal. There was an audaciousness about us then. That was the best of Brendan.
Sadly, What followed (and for whatever reasons) wasnt upto the mark for sure.
The mid-season run last year temporarily got us thinking / believing. But it all went downhill pretty fast from then onwards.
Brendan’s biggest mistake in my view was not adding an experienced head to his backroom staff last year considering our champions league qualification. So be it.
I just hope whoever the next one to walk in to anfield is makes us dream just like 13/14. The league is still very young and Brendan’s not left is in a very poor position. So something quite extraordinary is still possible. Let’s get in the new manager quick & get up to pace.
And Thank you Brendan. 13/14 will be remembered forever. All the best for the future.
A superb article Neil – I think many fans fell out of love with Brendan during the 2014-15 season for a variety of reasons, many of which you covered. The owners have reacted to the fans and the views of insiders closer to the heart of the club. Jamie Carragher’s reaction on Sky last night was less one of surprise, more of deep concern – almost shock – that we may have got ourselves into an even more difficult situation by waiting until now to make that change of manager. I suspect the choice of manager will hinge on whether the candidate will want to make wholesale changes to the way the side is coached and new players recruited. Not Klopp then?
Excellent article Neil.
13/14 was the best season in my life and I have been following Liverpool since I was 6 yrs old in 1980.
All the best Brendan & Whomever the new manager is I will be singing from the rafters in support from the kop
YNWA
Great piece Neil, I always love hearing about 13/14 because I get chills down my back thinking about it. Same as Istanbul in 05 or Dortmund in 01, the difference being 13/14 was relentless for weeks!
I’m not too happy about this though, it seems to imply FSG are making this up as they go along. Back him with staff changes and transfers in the summer then sack him after eight games? And now what? If they don’t now bring in a proper name we’re going to see more of the same at best. And even if they do there’s still the inevitable transition, spending on the new managers players. Now we reset, again…
Still, in the end it seemed like Brendan’s position had become untenable and I doubt there’s any way he could have placated some of our fan base. So they can celebrate victory today. I just hope we don’t see the same fans with #KloppOut / #AncellotiOut in 18 months time.
At the moment it feels like unless someone us the league they will be ripped apart. Reality (and finances) tell us that unless someone can recreate the magic of 13/14 they’re never going to win the league. And, as has been mentioned on here many times; there’s only been one manager in the last few years who’s managed to do that. Time will tell I suppose.
Thanks for the memories Brendan and good luck.
Good luck to Brendan, all the best and thanks for the memories. 13/14 was an incredible high.
While I think it’s the right decision to make a change, I will always be grateful to Brendan Rodgers for the exhilarating season that was 2013-14. The best half of football I have ever seen at Anfield (in over 35 years as a fan) was the first half against Arsenal in the 5-1 victory. It was a complete privilege to be on the Kop that day and I will never forget it. Thanks Brendan and best of luck.
I am lucky in one sense to be 47. I’ve seen us win European cups fa cups league cups even THE league!
But you’re spot on.
The best I’ve felt since one night in istanbul was beyond doubt THAT season with rodgers, Luis, studge et al. Who knows where it all went frim being so right to being oh so wrong.
Good luck in your next job Brendan you made us dream again, and for that I am grateful.
But you know yourself we need more than 2nd, We Are Liverpool.
The ‘we go again’ gang kept him in the job too long.Blinded by jesters hats,flag parades and 5-3 victories Time to put the crocodile tears revisionist eulogies to bed and let the club move on
Blinded by jesters hats. Happens all the time.
I was deafened by a minstrel’s gloves once. Worst night of my life.
There’s not a lot to suggest that the owners know what they’re doing as to do it now just seems a bit daft after bringing in new staff and players over the summer & selling Sterling. In effect they backed Rodgers for 8 games and sold one of the clubs prize assets & now we don’t have either.
If they knew Rodgers was only going to get a short amount of time before something like this was going to happen then why sell Sterling with 2 years left on his contract. They could of told Sterling we want another 6-12 months and then you can go. In that time Rodgers would of either turned it around or he’d of been out the door. If he’s out the door then Sterling either goes or the club try and sell the idea of a new regime to him.
It’s all very short term thinking.
The squad isn’t bad but there’s enough evidence out there now to show if you pay 5th 6th wages you’ll finish 5th or 6th.
It doesn’t matter who the next manager is if the owners don’t change their overall strategy on who we buy and how much we want to pay them. Teams that go far in the CL and challenge for the prem tend to spend the big bucks, if we’re not going to do that we might get the odd anomoly but the general trend will be more of the same.
As for Rodgers knowing that he’d been given the boot prior to the Everton game and him showing great dignity in dealing with it. There would of been a phone call between him and his agent prior to the game and his agent will of told him don’t fuck this up as you’ve got 3 odd years left on your contract so we need to max that negotiation and not give them any excuse.
At the end of the day he had a 5th to 6th type budget and on the whole that’s what we got.
Neil Atkinson, what a load of tosh. The happiest you’ve ever been in your whole life? Have you not supported Liverpool FC for long? Did you miss Istanbul? Cardiff? The old Wembley? Did you miss smashing Juventus, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal in the CL? Did you miss Suarez’s first game againstMan United – clue: it was Kenny’s Birthday? What about thrashing Chelsea 4-1 in Kenny’s last game at Anfield.
You backed the wrong horse with Rodgers, so save the sentimental BS, Lord knows we’ve had enough BS for the last 3 1/2 years. Feel free to follow Rodgers to the Championship if you wish, I’ll be supporting Klopp or Ancellotti whilst they try to sort Rodgers’ mess out.
Just a guess mate, but I reckon Neil will stick with the supporting Liverpool.
“I’ll be supporting Klopp or Ancellotti …”
…for at least a couple of years, until I grow tired of seeing my unrealistic dreams go unfulfilled, at which point I’ll join in with the other fantasists and demand change.
Rinse. Repeat.
Boss article Neil, kudos.
The inertia created in 13/14 was the incredible thing during that run; on and off the pitch. That feeling of wanting the next game to be on straight after the match finished, the whole week spent buzzing waiting for the next kick-off. For a generation of fans it was that experience of week-on-week anticipation; we’d had a taste of it with cup runs, but not sustained over months. But we lost it last season, and in some style.
Cheers Brendan. When it was good, it was boss.
And when it was bad it was bloody awful. I won’t have a go at the blokes character but you can say when it mattered he got it wrong. Two semi finals, the Villa one being utterly abject, the CL run was embarrassing, can you imagine dropping your captain for Madrid away, he could’t and still can’t set two teams up a week (that’s the job) & his teams can’t defend to save their lives.
We’ve all been sold this moneyball FFP vision of the club, buying prospects instead of the finished article.
The club employed a young coach who’d never won anything and bought into their idea of financial structure re wages and transfer policy. It could well of been the medicine the club needed at the time re Hicks & Gillet. But Rodgers leaves us with still not having won anything and overall IMO the owners are also culpable with a playing staff far inferior than past regimes.
FFP is out the window so the owners have to adapt a new policy going forward.
Like I said, we lost it last season. It was indeed awful and, at times, humiliating.
But I’m looking back at a manager we’re splitting with in as amicable terms as possible; I have no issue with him as a person. Just wish it would’ve worked out for the best, ’tis all.
The experiment (as it felt like in 2012) failed. So we go again. Just in a different trajectory.
Nope fair doo’s can’t argue with him for the 13/14 Season.
Beautiful, rousing writing! I couldn’t have relived the miracle season any better I my head. Thank you for giving my mind the words to embellish the memory of that season and what it meant to our daily lives as pool fans. It also aptly summarises why I, and many like me, defended retaining him all of last season and why I gave up on his reign about a fortnight back. Not out of spite for him but only because it had to be done. Thank you for all the memories BR… That and all the hope and the gradual, ripping heartbreak that followed. The pain was still better than listless frustration. You had to go.. But so happy from the depths that we did get to have you.
A good man tried his best & failed.,,not all of his own making.
This is a job of pressure like no other, Give me front line trench combat anyday, at least you can see who the enemy is.
Selling off best players, transfer committee buying whomever they want & the manager carries their responsibility…? That’s not a recipe for success. Are any of those guys front up for Brendan? No, they are hiding.
There is a collective responsibility for our current status and just changing the manager is not going to fix the problem.
WE NEED TO BUY WINNERS & PAY THEM GOOD WAGES. THAT IS HOW YOU WIN THE EPL…
Fantastic piece, Neil. Thank you. Completely captures the numerous moments of sheer joy that Brendan gave us…and these moments of grief-like acceptance that this death of his reign needed to come and that’s ok because it is time and the siege evident in his psyche was breaking him, and us. But thank you for reminding us of 2013/14 and why we still love it all and still hope. Thank you Neil. Thank you Brendan.
Thanks Neil. A magic piece of writing. That season gave me the opportunity to share some incredible days with my then 13 year old son . It was such fun , memories that will live forever. He was talking last night about singing “We’re going to win the league ” after beating Spurs at Anfield and how it felt. So sad how that season ended. Amazing how its come to this in such a short space of time.
I’m a Liverpool fan from Swansea and have nothing but positive words to say about Brendan.
Brendan, yes Brendan, has given me some of my best memories as a Liverpool fan.
That first half vs Arsenal at home, Spurs and Cardiff away, Blue noses at Anfield. Newcastle away the season before.
This job, as you Robbo and Neil often mention, is the toughest job in world football.
FSG, give us someone we can get excited about again.
People say it is a results business and ultimately, it’s results that cost Brendan.
But those glorious 18 months we had weren’t just about results.
Thanks for the memories Brendan la.
Before 7am here in the US….but I have The Proclaimers on Singing “I’m on my way”…looking at the lads, Melia and Johnson thinking, hell yes, what a bloody great time that season 13/14 was………
My Facebook page of late keeps bringing up memories I have……a LOT seem to be me posting about Liverpool wins from that great season….pure joy!
Thanks for being part of that Brendan Rogers……..good luck to you.
This is an incredible piece of writing.
When you start to mention your own memories of THAT season, where you were when the matches happened, when the goals flew in, it takes everyone to their own moment in time. Everyone has their own individual moments, but everyone shares the pure elation as a collective. That’s what it’s all about to not only be a Liverpool fan, but to be a football fan. Surely.
Thanks Neil, thanks for reminding me why this club, is what it is, and what it should be. Lets hope we have those same memories again very soon.
Amazing bit of writing that is. The internet is one massive place, but that’s probably the finest thing I’ve ever read on it. I’ll read it again in a bit.
Lets face facts folks. If we had of waited, we could have missed out on the current target manager. Jose Moanhinio’s place is shaky too.
Still gutted it did not work out…how many times in the last 12 months did he play his strongest side. Even this season he never got it on the table. I still think Ming, Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho, Gomez, Hendo, Milner, Pip, Lallana, Firmino, Dan and Benteke can do some serious damage (maybe Mings is only self-inflected damage). Only six points off the top, have to play the leaders twice, beat them both times and its on….If we are within 10 at the halfway point with everyone to come to Anfield its on…..If we get Klopp its on….UP THE REDS
Meant to say Lallana/Firmino, my excitment got the better of me. Only way to be….
Thanks, I enjoyed the article.
I enjoyed some of his work, some of it was pretty dodgy and it’s time for him to go, and that’s perfectly ok.
He hasn’t done a thing that genuinely offends me. I have no reason to wish the man anything other than the best.
Having commented last night when I was pissed and couldn’t read too well as a consequence…. Just wanted to say that this truly is a brilliant piece of writing, Neil. You capture the essence of the feelings I’m sure nearly all of us had in 13/14 while giving context to the decision. I particularly liked your point on Rodgers being a momentum manager. I think that is very true. Certainly at this stage. With him as manager, I think we were like emre can as a player: a big turning-circle but once we got going in the right direction we would’ve taken some stopping. If we get Klopp then we should at least get some fun out of our football again.
Rodgers’ reign began with a reality show and ended like a mockumentary. I resisted the Brent comparisons as mostly cheap and mean-spirited and usually pushed by our enemies. By the end the comparison to the Gervais character were too much to resist. The delusion and narcissism over four seasons took its tole and the conclusion was unavoidable.
Rodgers became part BBC farce, part Greek tragedy. Like Brent, his destruction total and cruel. I felt for Brent. I feel for Rodgers. I agree with the author. 13/14 was the most fun I ever had watching football. I remember being in Chicago with hundreds of Liverpool supporters outside the Four Seasons singing the Brendan Rodgers song without irony. Even after Suarez left, there was still hope and belief.
But Rodgers had to go and the timing was perfect. Four years is an eternity for a winning manager in football these days. Rodgers had personality quirks for certain. Every manager does. Klopp appears to be a bit of a loon and Ancelotti looks like the Commissioner from the Pink Panther movies. The war with the transfer committee, his insistence on ignoring if not tormenting those players was not just petty but destructive to the club. Liverpool can’t run financially with the top four. We don’t have money to burn because the manager is pouting.
First time I saw the Reds was in 1976. I have been blessed to see the very best of LFC down through the years. I think Neil,you have grasped absolutely what I spent yesterday thinking about. How that remarkable season brought me back to my youth – the sheer joy of watching the tricky reds tearing new holes in teams, as their forebears did of old. Having absolute confidence that we would frighten the fuck out of defences up and down the country. We are Liverpool. My teenage kids have asked me what the greatest LFC teams were like and I’ve described as best I can but I can truly say I never looked forward to seeing Liverpool play then anymore than that side with Suarez, Studge et al.
I watched my kids buzzing before the match and was reminded of how I used to feel before matches. Sheer Joy.
It took me a long time to get over Kenny’s sacking for this man.
I won’t shed a tear, I felt his time had come after six fucking one to Stoke. But it seems to me that Klopp was on his sabbatical- FSG’s preference- so they bided their time and now events and results elsewhere concern them. They want to seize the moment.
But he did give us, ALL of us,THAT season.
So what if he is a bit vain, a bit vainglorious, a bit of a tool in not being able to just shut the fuck up once in awhile. He didn’t deserve the personal vitriol aimed at him. He may have fallen short on a lot of counts.
BUT.
He made us dream.
He made us dream.
So to you as always Neil. Well articulated, you are a true blood redman.
And to you Brendan Rogers thank you. Fuck the begrudgers. Hold your head up. You failed. Fail again, fail better.
Brendan was not helped by having no real pedigree behind him (2 seasons at Swansea plus Reading and Watford). This would always be held against him although FSG escaped the flak.
In 10 years time I think he will be a very successful manager, at 43 he has been learning on the job in our basket case of a club!
If it is Klopp or Ancelotti I hope they will be backed due to their successful past although Rafa wasn’t always given patience either.
This is our biggest appointment ever. FSG have to get it right…
Decent article. I’m glad he’s gone but good luck to him.
I hate references to 13/14. I cant reflect as the eventual failure hurts too much.
Whats all this ‘know your place’ crap’? Are you pseudo-intellectuals actually supporters ? Your lack of hope and optimism is a disgrace. We may not be in the CL or top 4 …at the moment ….but we are still one of the top football clubs in the world, one of the biggest fan bases, spending around £100m per season. Yes, there are problems and we are sliding down the pecking order but maybe a top manager will be able to attract top footballers to play in our refurbished ground.
It is incredible that you wanted us to believe in Brendan but you do not appear to believe in the club.
I just feel sad…..if Liverpool have to sack the manager it means we’re not doing well…..
Spot on Neil. Great stuff.
Absolute blinding piece, Neil. Anyone who fails to appreciate that has no soul!
“Rodgers made me the happiest I’ve ever been as a Liverpool supporter, and that’s saying quite a bit.”
I am sorry, but you all need to get a grip.
In 13/14 Rodgers got a 100+ goals attacking section (containing a world Top 3 player) which covered up his inability to build a complete team with working defense. He was an opportunist who tried possession football (death by football…) then when Suárez & Co. ran over everybody he just let them doing their thing and collected the accolades. On the one match where a 0–0 draw would have been enough against the disinterested Mourinho he dumbly did the same and payed the ultimate price through Gerrard’s slip. So thanks Suárez & Co. for 13/14 and thanks for Rodgers to step down as a gentleman.
Fuckin hell mate, superb that! I went looking for this piece after hearing Paul Machin say that he read it and realised that there was nothing to add about BR and what he gave us back then, Atkinson has said it all. Too fuckin right!
Thanks for that Neil and thanks to Brendan for 13/14.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for writing this. I have never been taken on such an emotional roller coaster whilst reading a football article. This is brilliant and some of the best written football journalism I have ever seen. You write with your heart and I admire you.
Brendan will go down as the one who made us believe. Brilliant read!