Ok, thanks.
And the manager?
For me the choice is between Rodgers and Klopp - i'd forget Ancelotti - he has proved adept at handling big players in well set-up teams but we need a coach that can add value to younger players whilst rebuilding the club. We need a Shankly not a Paisley.
There are strong arguments for Klopp.
As it stands he would represent as step-up from Brendan because he has proven he can win crucial matches and, so far, Brendan hasn't. That's why Klopp is the owners first choice - they have been in for him three times including meeting his representatives after Christmas. it's ironic that many of the idiots who have been slagging Brendan off all along for his teeth actually want to bring in FSG's first choice and they call ME the plant!
The problem is opportunity cost. For him to come here he would have to be given assurances of investment. Bringing Klopp in now would mean him restructuring the team around his own style and learning the league. That might cost 200 million pounds and take another four years. Meanwhile could we afford to let our rivals get even further ahead of us with the improved TV deal? We need to get a manager in like Klopp before he ends up winning everything and is thus in demand from every club in Europe.
What is the difference between Klopp and Brendan? Klopp didn't set the world alight when he was at Mainz - he got them promoted then relegated then couldn't get them up again. When he got the Dortmund job he won a cup but then ended up fifth then sixth the following season. After he went on to achieve success he had his best players taken off him and finished seventh. Sound familiar? In Germany he had a set of good players but didn't have much say in recruiting them. He also only had one big team to beat, we have four. He also had a massive advantage of Dortmund's fanatical fans. Can we say our team gets a huge boost from playing at Anfield? Plus - how do you fit Stevie into a Klopp side?
Nevertheless, had Klopp come here instead of Dortmund he would have been subject to the same abuse Brendan has - he would be getting slagged for his glasses or his teeth or his love of christian rock.
Brendan.
Brendan still has a lot to prove but what we know is that, at a similar stage of his career he came up with Swansea on a shoestring budget (they were training at a David lloyd gym FFS) and taught the rest of the league, including us, a footballing lesson. As i pointed out at the time everyone was crying out for Steve Clarke to be employed as a "defence coach", Brendan ended that season with more clean sheets than our star-studded squad which cost multitudes of ours and was coached by Kenny and Clarke.
Like Klopp, given the right players, Brendan produced some of the best football this club has ever seen. We banged in a hundred goals, thrashed some of our rivals and were easily good enough to have won the title if things had gone our way (as were Chelsea).
Going from 7th to champions is virtually unprecedented - Champions nearly always finish at least 2nd the season before then get their summer signings right. And let's be right - we last won the league when Everton did. If we had landed the title with that team it would have eclipsed Istanbul as our greatest achievement and winning in that manner would have catapulted Brendan to the levels of our greatest ever managers, ahead of Rafa and Fagan for me. Imagine Everton doing what we nearly did - it's inconceivable.
This season the only attacking outlets we had were Countinho and Sterling who ran out of steam. If we had signed Sanchez or even kept Sturridge fit we would have made top 4.
That's why the owners have stuck with Brendan - instead of rebuilding the whole team they reason that an injection of 30-40 million may be enough to get us back on the curve.
We sacked Rafa the season after we came second - who knows how often that chance to build on that success will come round again? Many of the same idiots who were shouting for Rafa to go now want to do the same to Brendan on grounds of his "ego" or his girlfriend or some other such bollocks. No doubt there were pricks who wanted to sack Shankly when he came 7th in the season he had to manage European competition for the first time.
Which new, in demand, manager would come to work for a club like that?
There are no guarantees but I would say that, looking at the opportunity cost and what Brendan has done so far it is the smart move to continue with our work so far. We just have to be vigilant that the whingers don't scupper things before they have been given a chance to succeed or fail on their own terms.
