Glen Johnson says that the Liverpool squad never saw Brendan Rodgers' infamous envelopes again after they were screened on a behind-the-scenes documentary.
Rodgers' beginnings as Anfield manager were chronicled in the 2012 fly-on-the-wall documentary 'Being Liverpool ', which many feel painted the Northern Irishman in an unhelpful light in what were his first few weeks in one of the most high-profile jobs in world football.
The former Swansea boss was only 39 years old at the time, but despite his lack of experience Johnson says his quality as a manager showed.
“A few ideas Brendan had were mirror images of (Jose) Mourinho’s so he’s pretty much schooled by the best and it showed," the former England right-back, who played 200 times for the Reds, told The Anfield Wrap .
"With training it was the same, very efficient, similar small-sided games and he tried to instill the charisma and confidence that Mourinho had.”
One often ridiculed scene in 'Being Liverpool' showed Rodgers - these days impressing near the top of the Premier League as Leicester City's manager - producing three sealed envelopes when standing in front of the Reds squad.
“It’s just one of them psychology games," explained Johnson, who won 54 caps for England before retiring from football in January this year.
"Brendan said there’s three envelopes here with three names in, one of these guys in these envelopes is going to let us down this season, just make sure it’s not you.
“Of course we never saw the envelopes again and it was never mentioned again, so I think it was just to give everyone that extra edge as no one wanted to be the name in the envelope.
"There was probably never any names in there anyway, but it seemed to work alright.”
Liverpool finished seventh in Rodgers' first season, before narrowly missing out on the title the following year.
