Jürgen Klopp has said Brendan Rodgers was not sacked by Liverpool for losing his “football brain” but possibly over a breakdown in his relationship with the Anfield hierarchy.
Rodgers faces his former club on Saturday for the first time since his dismissal when Leicester aim to halt Liverpool’s imperious start to the Premier League season and run of 16 consecutive league wins. The 46-year-old was sacked in October 2015 having failed to correct a downturn that commenced the previous campaign. Klopp, who succeeded Rodgers as Liverpool manager four days later, believes his predecessor’s coaching acumen was never doubted at Anfield but a fracture behind the scenes may have contributed to his departure.
The Liverpool manager said: “Brendan’s quality could not be the reason because I know how Liverpool were playing before and they were flying. We played them with Dortmund (in a pre-season friendly in August 2014). We were not in the best shape that day and we lost 4-0. They played really well and I already respected him as a manager.
“For the public, when a manager gets the sack, they think he lost his football brain or something. That is not how it happened. Whatever it was I do not know, but it was not his quality as a coach. But of course, expectations and relationships, whatever, between who and who, if that does not work anymore the club has to make a decision. I know that could happen about me. If one day the club has to make a decision they would not say anything about me at that moment. Brendan reached the level he reached – Chelsea assistant, Swansea manager, Liverpool manager – very young, then going to Celtic and being very successful. Going to Leicester just proves what I thought. I am not a bit surprised.”
2012-13
Rodgers tells fans he’ll “leave no stone unturned in my quest. And that quest will be relentless.” Fly-on-the-wall TV series Being:Liverpool later charts how he settled in during his first pre-season, with big speeches – “I use a quote with the players, ‘Per aspera ad astra’, which is Latin for ‘through adversity to the stars’” – and with his mind-games. Footage shows Rodgers telling the squad how he had written three names in sealed envelopes of players who will “let us down this year … Make sure you are not in the envelope.” They lose their first game 3-0.
The series also visits his house, where viewers spot he has a giant portrait of himself hanging on the wall.
Later that season Rodgers expands on his tactical approach, with a nod to a well-known pudding brand. “When you’ve got the ball 65-70% of the time, it’s a football death for the other team. It’s death by football.” They finish seventh.
2013-14
An emotional season ends with the Manager of the Year award, despite “Crystanbul” – losing a 3-0 lead, and the title, at Selhurst Park. “We just got carried away.”
2014-15
Becomes the first Liverpool manager since the 1950s not to win a trophy after three seasons in charge. The season ends on a low: a 6-1 defeat to Stoke, and a sixth-place finish. “I’ve always said if the owners want me to go, I will go. But I still have a lot to offer them.” The owners back him.
2015-16
Then they sack him, eight games into the new season. Insiders say Rodgers reacted to the news with “incredible dignity”, then offered to let his successor Jürgen Klopp move into his house. Rodgers: “I told them, ‘Listen, I’m moving to London for a bit, so Jürgen can move in’. And he did. I was never going to be bitter. I wanted him to succeed. I want the club to succeed.”
