Rodgers: I did not see sacking coming

[TLW]

The events of the 4th of October in 2015 remains a distinct memory of Brendan Rodgers.

It was the day that the Northern Irishman was told his services were no longer required after another below par performance which was symbolic of the malaise the club was in at that time.

The current Leicester manager recalled his memories to The Beautiful Game podcast(via the Mirror) of driving home after the 1-1 draw in the Merseyside derby when he got the call.

“There were a few stories but I didn't know a thing. Clearly the decision was (already) made but I wasn't aware of it.

“The first I spoke to the ownership was with Mike Gordon on the drive back home after the game.

"When I arrived at the training ground, I got in the car and I was driving home and I got the call from Mike. That was the first time I knew.

"I thanked them for it, for the experience, I knew where they were coming from and we parted on good terms. We both moved on.

To this day, Rodgers says he has no axe to grind with the club and instead sees his time at the Reds in a positive light.

 

"I had a wonderful experience.

 

"The first two years in particular of building towards that run that we had. We then lost one of the real catalysts of the team.

"The third year I found, from a coaching perspective, we weren't doing well then we changed it and went on a run and came back into it.

"But at the end of that season when Aston Villa  beat us (in the FA Cup Semi Final,) I think everyone wanted to finally get a trophy and after we lost that we dipped, then of course the last game of the season (6-1 defeat at Stoke) wasn't a true reflection of how we worked."

The tenure of Rodgers is hard to define in a nutshell.

 

You cannot call it a true disaster because there was some glorious and thrilling football played during that 2013/4 season which came ever so close to ending the title run.

 

Seeing the likes of Luis Suarez in his pomp destroying defences at will, the exciting development of Raheem Sterling, and the rebirth of Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho after frustrating spells at their previous clubs are memories that many fans recall with a deal of fondness to this day.

But it most certainly wasn’t a success either with no trophies, a number of insipid performances and some questionable dealings in the transfer market.

Then there were questions about how the departures of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard were handled.

Carragher in particular was a avid student of the game and many felt he was a manager in waiting.

However Rodgers detailed why an offer to be on his coaching staff was not forthcoming.

“It was straight forward.

 

"I was going in with the intention of asking him to come into my coaching staff rather than the playing side.

“But when I actually met him and joined as manager and met him before we started pre-season, my communication with him seemed more as though he wanted to be on the playing side and still focus on playing.

“If that was the case this wasn't going to be the role for him."

 

Rodgers used a example of what he had in mind for Carragher.

“A bit like Kolo Toure. You think of what Kolo has done for me.

“I took him to Liverpool, then at Celtic, and when he wasn't sure what he wanted to do I gave him the offer of coming into my technical team and that's what I was looking for in a similar role for Jamie.

“He was right he wanted to continue playing but I didn't sort of see the player-coach combination at that time. But he was absolutely first class for me in my time there.”

 

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[Pete]

Really? After losing 6-1 away to Stoke on the last day of the previous season I’m surprised he wasn’t sacked then & there. 

[Stickman]

[Scott_M]

It was all over the internet at the time Villa would be his last game and then Everton. If some jabroni ITK's knew, surely he had an inkling.

[clockspeed]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Really? After losing 6-1 away to Stoke on the last day of the previous season I’m surprised he wasn’t sacked then & there. 

The archetypal “I like me who do you like” person. I no Nostradamus and I could see it coming. 

[VladimirIlyich]

9 minutes ago, Scott_M said:

It was all over the internet at the time Villa would be his last game and then Everton. If some jabroni ITK's knew, surely he had an inkling.

There was an article by Buvac in a major Bosnian newspaper that hit the internet in minutes. Rodgers seemed to have forgotten the laser eye appointment and went straight to the Dentist instead.

[El Rojo]

Just lacking that wee bit of foresight.

[El Rojo]

In fairness to him, he handled Suarez and his sulking pretty well at the start of the 2013/14 season. We also got off to a great start during the toothsome Uruguayan's suspension.  But even if we'd won the league, Suarez would have been off and we'd have had a similar couple of seasons afterwards with the same net result.

 

We were extremely fortunate that Jurgen took his sabbatical when he did. We wouldn't be anywhere near where we are now without him.

[dockers_strike]

Ive no problem with Rodgers. But for Henderson's last minute sending off against city in 2014, nothing will convince me we wouldnt have won the league that year.

[deiseach]

Failing to beat small club dross was the hammer blow, to say nothing of only being able to beat Carlisle on penalties a couple of weeks earlier.

[VERBAL DIARRHEA]

The girl making a clay Lionel Richie head saw it coming, as did Stevie Wonder.

[joe_fishfish]

Have Leicester let him anywhere near their transfer dealings yet? I hope they haven't, for their sake.

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, joe_fishfish said:

Have Leicester let him anywhere near their transfer dealings yet? I hope they haven't, for their sake.

[Bjornebye]

He can fuck off after how he left Celtic. Arrogant bifter headed cunt 

[Barnesey]

His backroom staff were moved on in the summer before Jurgen joined. I'm convinced he must have known then and was just holding the fort until the new man got a start date. I'm also convinced the signing of Bobby (that summer) was a Kloppo signing and nowt to do with Brendan.

 

But I hold no hard feelings; we had a great run with BR and Luis and wish him well in the future.

[Ron B]

2 hours ago, Bjornebye said:

He can fuck off after how he left Celtic. Arrogant bifter headed cunt 

Nah. Went to Celtic, improved them, won loads, did better than the previous fella, left them in a better state than when he arrived. I can see how the timing might leave a bitter taste, but it gave him time to get his ideas implemented as early as possible at Leicester, and it’s clearly been a good appointment for both him and them. 

[Leyton388]

And that is why he was sacked as he was utterly oblivious to the situation at the time especially after throwing his own backroom staff under the bus in the summer then spunking £35m on Benteke. 

[Bobby Hundreds]

I don't mind Rodgers but after the stoke game id of loaded him straight onto a catapult and fired him at the sun.

[Leyton388]

And it was Gerrards last game. I gave up on Rodgers when he put that reserve team out at the Bernabeu. At that moment I know his time was up. 

 

[lifetime fan]

Bought shite, tried blaming the transfer committee (to be fair he had a point with some signings), talked shite constantly and put out a reserves side against Real Madrid in the CL. 
 

It was a miracle he lasted as long as he did. 

[sir roger]

It was just a matter of time once Colin Pascoe's lovely legs trotted out of Melwood to the sound of cock crowing in the distance.

[The Guest]

It was a completely left field choice to begin with and people were still fuming Rafa wasn’t still here or rehired to relegate us so everyone could celebrate what a great manager he was.  He was never accepted even when we were flying in 13/14.  It’s clear as day the majority of the transfers weren’t his fault and circumstances fucked him.  The transfer committee was still in its infancy and had its hits and missed.

 

His biggest problem was that he had no pull because he wasn’t a big name but that wasn’t his fault and didn’t appear to impact his coaching ability. He was a forward thinking coach and something the club was in dire need of after a decade of negative football had left the club going backwards while football was moving on.  He was very close to beating the biggest cheats the game has ever seen whilst having to deal with signings like Aspas and Moses on loan.  He’s proving what a good manager he is by what’s happening at Leicester and I think another big club will give him a go soon and he will be a success.

 

The Real Madrid and Stoke games are cheap shots.  He was rotating players against Real because he knew getting in the champions league the following season was the best way to keep his job and attract players.  It was a calculated cold decision Klopp isn’t scared of taking either and repeatedly takes despite everybody flapping at him as well.  The stoke game was a dead rubber and all the players were deflated at how the season had planned out.  It’s no excuse because it was embarrassing but it wasn’t all on him.

 

With all that being said Klopp being available was too good to turn down.  Even though some of things that went wrong were out of Rodgers’ hands it was still the situation the club was in.  It needed refreshing and it needed a manager to reinvigorate the squad.  As much shit as most of the Rodgers era players took and take into Klopp’s tenure he still had faith in them and they played their part in getting us where we are now.  The sniping at Rodgers now from fans is just embarrassing and Everton behaviour in my eyes.  He’s nothing but respectful and always has been.

[Anubis]

3 hours ago, Barnesey said:

His backroom staff were moved on in the summer before Jurgen joined. 

He threw Pascoe under a bus for his own survival. Poor bloke has been in a wheelchair ever since. Fortunately, it only delayed the inevitable.

[VladimirIlyich]

14 minutes ago, The Guest said:

It was a completely left field choice to begin with and people were still fuming Rafa wasn’t still here or rehired to relegate us so everyone could celebrate what a great manager he was.  He was never accepted even when we were flying in 13/14.  It’s clear as day the majority of the transfers weren’t his fault and circumstances fucked him.  The transfer committee was still in its infancy and had its hits and missed.

 

His biggest problem was that he had no pull because he wasn’t a big name but that wasn’t his fault and didn’t appear to impact his coaching ability. He was a forward thinking coach and something the club was in dire need of after a decade of negative football had left the club going backwards while football was moving on.  He was very close to beating the biggest cheats the game has ever seen whilst having to deal with signings like Aspas and Moses on loan.  He’s proving what a good manager he is by what’s happening at Leicester and I think another big club will give him a go soon and he will be a success.

 

The Real Madrid and Stoke games are cheap shots.  He was rotating players against Real because he knew getting in the champions league the following season was the best way to keep his job and attract players.  It was a calculated cold decision Klopp isn’t scared of taking either and repeatedly takes despite everybody flapping at him as well.  The stoke game was a dead rubber and all the players were deflated at how the season had planned out.  It’s no excuse because it was embarrassing but it wasn’t all on him.

 

With all that being said Klopp being available was too good to turn down.  Even though some of things that went wrong were out of Rodgers’ hands it was still the situation the club was in.  It needed refreshing and it needed a manager to reinvigorate the squad.  As much shit as most of the Rodgers era players took and take into Klopp’s tenure he still had faith in them and they played their part in getting us where we are now.  The sniping at Rodgers now from fans is just embarrassing and Everton behaviour in my eyes.  He’s nothing but respectful and always has been.

Well this is a highly surprising post!

[ManéMan]

22 minutes ago, The Guest said:

It was a completely left field choice to begin with and people were still fuming Rafa wasn’t still here or rehired to relegate us so everyone could celebrate what a great manager he was.  He was never accepted even when we were flying in 13/14.  It’s clear as day the majority of the transfers weren’t his fault and circumstances fucked him.  The transfer committee was still in its infancy and had its hits and missed.

 

His biggest problem was that he had no pull because he wasn’t a big name but that wasn’t his fault and didn’t appear to impact his coaching ability. He was a forward thinking coach and something the club was in dire need of after a decade of negative football had left the club going backwards while football was moving on.  He was very close to beating the biggest cheats the game has ever seen whilst having to deal with signings like Aspas and Moses on loan.  He’s proving what a good manager he is by what’s happening at Leicester and I think another big club will give him a go soon and he will be a success.

 

The Real Madrid and Stoke games are cheap shots.  He was rotating players against Real because he knew getting in the champions league the following season was the best way to keep his job and attract players.  It was a calculated cold decision Klopp isn’t scared of taking either and repeatedly takes despite everybody flapping at him as well.  The stoke game was a dead rubber and all the players were deflated at how the season had planned out.  It’s no excuse because it was embarrassing but it wasn’t all on him.

 

With all that being said Klopp being available was too good to turn down.  Even though some of things that went wrong were out of Rodgers’ hands it was still the situation the club was in.  It needed refreshing and it needed a manager to reinvigorate the squad.  As much shit as most of the Rodgers era players took and take into Klopp’s tenure he still had faith in them and they played their part in getting us where we are now.  The sniping at Rodgers now from fans is just embarrassing and Everton behaviour in my eyes.  He’s nothing but respectful and always has been.

This was a good laugh thanks