Brendan Rodgers (Liverpool -> Celtic -> Leicester)

We should be, you're right.

Read this thread, those that advocate Brendan staying on seem to have a consistent theme of 5th being good enough, any higher should be deemed a bonus. Never beating the top 4 teams in the league should be expected as they have more money than us (even while still arguing that in other leagues the top 4 teams are getting beaten by the lesser teams, I kid you not).

Expectations, I've never witnessed them lower, it's depressing to hear after 3 years without a trophy and most likely out of the CL that people are content with our lot, this is where we belong we get told, what an absolute disgrace to the name and history of this club.

Re. beating the top teams, agree - but imo the real damage this season was done when we had a sh*te period against ALL teams, in late 2014. Which left too much ground to make up.

My expectations ARE still high. BR and the side and the transfer committee etc DO need to improve. They don't have indefinite time. All things considered though, I'd give him some more.

When Rafa went I thought it was time. When Hodgson went I thought it was time. Thought KK deserved another year. BR deserves another year imo.

We have no divine right to win anything, to get back to the top - we haven't won the title in decades, the title has not just eluded BR. We need to improve many things, not sure swapping BR out will be enough.

I don't know if he will turn us round again next season - just like those against BR now can't be sure he won't. I think FSG will go another year, but you never know ...

We need a manager with pulling power and that's not Rodgers . A f**king serious amount of dosh he's spent on Dross signings and not a pot to piss in to show for it . Had a great manager been given the amount of money Rodgers got in the summer we'd be competing right now .

It's possible a BIG name might attract players. But if FSG are going to keep the purse strings as tight, just can't see them come. Unless we hire Charlotte McKinney as assistant coach...

Why give a manager another year after his remarks that we overachieved last season & are on par this season with the money he has spent?.

If I were a player in that dressing room hearing comments like that I would be disappointed that the effort put in by the players to qualify for the champions league & finish 2nd was an overachievement.

There is of course another scenario which isn't being discussed or even considered. That is that this is the pain which the club has to go through in order for the FSG grand plan to work. I mean to say, the likes of Moreno, Can, Markovic etc etc are all 20 years of age, as is Sterling, Ibe maybe 19. Now it's reasonable to assume that all of them will be better players in three years time than they are now. Perhaps then we can do some Chelsea style selling off and re-recruiting with a relatively low net spend.

Youth is on our side. Literally
There's bound to be some that don't work our, but if a good % stay and improve, it's a really good base. Sign them up/pay the wages/get that bit done. And sign a few players with quality/experience.

Will FSG sell the yunguns when the big clubs wave wads ? Will they sign guys who are a little older and more expensive to bring on the young lads even more? Not so confident..

Why give a manager another year after his remarks that we overachieved last season & are on par this season with the money he has spent?.

If I were a player in that dressing room hearing comments like that I would be disappointed that the effort put in by the players to qualify for the champions league & finish 2nd was an overachievement.

Exactly Shabs , it's all bullshit from Rodgers and the yanks . Wrong manager wrong owners , Rafa right manager h@g wrong owners . We just can't get the right balance .

Youth is on our side. Literally

i wouldn't be too sure of that , They get cocky like Sterling , and then there's Coutinho our best player we'll be lucky the hold him for another season until he gets sold for mega money to the Spaniards .

Exactly Shabs , it's all bullshit from Rodgers and the yanks . Wrong manager wrong owners , Rafa right manager h@g wrong owners . We just can't get the right balance .

Tell you what was an over achievement?

Rafa helping us win our 5th European cup against an AC Milan team dripping with world class players, not only that but beating quality teams along the way including the Rubel backed Chelsea under Jose who Rafa loved Cup blocking in Europe.

Getting to a 2nd European final within 3 years picking up a FA Cup along the way again F***ing over Chelsea.

Getting to the semi final of the Europa Cup in your last season & loosing to a team and manager that is on everyone's lips these days none other than Diego Simeone & Athletico Madrid who go onto win the competition.


Challenging for the league whilst the Scum, Chelsea,City were spending money equivalent on one player to our summer transfer budget.

Having to work under Parry, Purslow, Ayres, Hicks, Gillette, having to sell quality players to pay interest of up £30 million to banks which should have been spent on WC players to help us kick on.

Fighting the media & making us believe, fighting for the club, City & supporters at the detriment of your own reputation.

That's a f**king overachievement.

That's a F***ing overachievement.

Not the done thing to expect any over achievement these days Shabs.

5th highest wage bill so all we have to look forward to is 5th from here to eternity.

May as well forget Europe and the Cups as well as nothing in those suggests we will win there anytime soon either.

Tell you what was an over achievement?

Rafa helping us win our 5th European cup against an AC Milan team dripping with world class players, not only that but beating quality teams along the way including the Rubel backed Chelsea under Jose who Rafa loved Cup blocking in Europe.

Getting to a 2nd European final within 3 years picking up a FA Cup along the way again F***ing over Chelsea.

Getting to the semi final of the Europa Cup in your last season & loosing to a team and manager that is on everyone's lips these days none other than Diego Simeone & Athletico Madrid who go onto win the competition.


Challenging for the league whilst the Scum, Chelsea,City were spending money equivalent on one player to our summer transfer budget.

Having to work under Parry, Purslow, Ayres, Hicks, Gillette, having to sell quality players to pay interest of up £30 million to banks which should have been spent on WC players to help us kick on.

Fighting the media & making us believe, fighting for the club, City & supporters at the detriment of your own reputation.

That's a f**king overachievement.

An over achievement to Rodgers is getting 2nd place . Worlds apart in every aspect .

Not the done thing to expect any over achievement these days Shabs.

5th highest wage bill so all we have to look forward to is 5th from here to eternity.

May as well forget Europe and the Cups as well as nothing in those suggests we will win there anytime soon either.

Touching on Europe, I was embarrassed watching our performance in both competitions.

If I'm honest I felt as those our name had been sullied slightly in the manner how Rodgers treated both competitions and the travelling Kop.

F***ing tired of reading Rodgers is not to blame.

FSG have backed him to the tune of £200 million, they have backed him.

I don't think they trust him in the market, the committee in my opinion is there to reduce the losses on players targeted by Rodgers.

Touching on Europe, I was embarrassed watching our performance in both competitions.

If I'm honest I felt as those our name had been sullied slightly in the manner how Rodgers treated both competitions and the travelling Kop.

F***ing tired of reading Rodgers is not to blame.

FSG have backed him to the tune of £200 million, they have backed him.

I don't think they trust him in the market, the committee in my opinion is there to reduce the losses on players targeted by Rodgers.

If they don't trust him they would have and should have already sacked him

I don't think they don't trust him at all Shabs

Let's not pretend that he's here against the owners will..
They brought him in and continue to back him

I'm not going to flip simply on the tide that Rodgers is all to blame for the transfers over the last three years.. This isn't on one man.
Even if he is sacked other changes need to be made. This isn't simply one mans making.. It can't be... We can't be that daft

Analysis, recommendations and scouting work. Where did it say they TELL  him who to sign.
All managers have this. Where did it say they TELL him who to sign?
Ana

Are you illiterate? Once and for all, read and learn. This is the transfer structure as laid out by Ian Ayre in an interview with the Telegraph in 2013:

Liverpool transfers to be decided by committee, not Brendan Rodgers, claims Ian Ayre

Liverpool’s managing director, Ian Ayre, says all the club’s future transfers will be decided by committee rather than Brendan Rodgers being allowed full control of recruitment.




Ayre has offered an insight into a Liverpool transfer policy which, although no longer employing a director of football, places Rodgers as part of a recruitment team rather than accepting the traditional managerial authority to buy and sell.

Since Rodgers joined the club, Dave Fallows has joined as head of recruitment and Barry Hunter as chief scout from Manchester City, while head of analysis Michael Edwards has become a central figure in assessing targets for owners Fenway Sports Group.

Ayre said he, Rodgers, Edwards and Fallows effectively created the director of football model between them.

“We have a head of analysis, a head of recruitment, a first-team manager, myself,” Ayre said. “All of those people are all inputting into a process that delivers what a director of football would deliver.

“What we believe, and we continue to follow, is you need many people involved in the process. That doesn’t mean somebody else is picking the team for Brendan but Brendan needs to set out with his team of people which positions we want to fill and what the key targets would be for that.

"He has a team of people that go out and do an inordinate amount of analysis work to establish who are the best players in that position.

“Despite what people think and read, it’s not a whole bunch of guys sitting behind a computer working out who we should buy. It’s a combination of old-school scouting and watching players – and that’s Brendan, his assistants, our scouts – with statistical analysis of players across Europe and the rest of the world.

"By bringing those two processes together you get a much more educated view of who you should and shouldn’t be buying and, perhaps as fundamentally, how much you should be paying and the structure to those contracts.

“I think we’ve had relatively good success since we deployed that ­methodology. We’re getting better all the time. We were very pleased with the most recent window in January with Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge.”

Although the current model is one FSG has always favoured, there is a noticeable shift from last summer when Rodgers made it known that he would not work for a director of football, and any recruitment team around him would be “underpinning” his work.

“It’s absolute madness if you are the manager of the club and someone else tells you to have that player,” he said last July. “It doesn’t work.”

At the same time, Ayre made it known that the aspiration was to have a more collaborative approach and his latest comments, published in an interview with Sports Illustrated, demonstrate how firmly established that now is, inevitably impacting on who Rodgers pursues this summer.

FSG have been determined to be stricter on spending since being wounded by former director of football Damien Comolli’s £110 million spending spree in their first year.

Liverpool were the target of some ridicule when they appointed Comolli on the strength of his relationship with baseball guru Billy Beane. It led to an association with the Moneyball theory successfully applied in baseball.

Although an actor played the part of Liverpool’s principal owner John W Henry in the movie of the same name, Ayre disassociates Liverpool from Moneyball.

“I don’t think there was ever anyone at Liverpool using the word Moneyball, but plenty of other people were using it. It’s not a Moneyball strategy.

“I think that director of football role in a lot of cases almost creates as many problems as it solves because people try to judge where the power base is with that role. Who’s picking the team? Who’s deciding which players? What we actually have is probably three or four people who all are involved in that role.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s determination to ensure Luis Suárez is given a prolonged summer break could see him sit out the club’s summer tour of Australia and the Far East.

Suárez will join Uruguay for the Confederations Cup in Brazil in June. “If he is playing in that tournament he may not be back at the start of pre-season for us because he needs to have a recovery period,” Rodgers said.

It's there in black and white. Rodgers' decides the position, statistical analysis is conducted, narrowing the potentials, scouting work is done and Rodgers' decides if the player is one he wants in. As TAW put it last week, this is a Directorate of Football and is not how normal clubs work.

This is the recruitment policy, as laid out by Ian Ayre on March 3rd 2015 in the IBT Times

Liverpool will continue to pursue young players in transfer market says Ian Ayre

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre has indicated the club's continued ambitions to improve their financial standing will see them favour signing young players over marquee additions during the transfer window.

The Reds's annual accounts to 31 May 2014 showed a £0.9m ($1.4m) profit – the first for seven years and under owner Fenway Sports Group – after seeing revenue bolstered by 19% to £255.6m due to an improvement in media income.

Debt remains at £69m but has been significantly reduced from when FSG first took over Liverpool in October 2010, with the club having risen to ninth in Deloitte's Money League, while they also returned to the Champions League this season.

Investment in the Liverpool squad has been key to the club's progression on the field, while a handful of academy players have been handed professional contracts to continue the club's long tradition of blooding young players.

Though Liverpool spent £117m during the 2014 summer window as they brought in nine new players, Ayre says as the club look to improve their financial position they may look to cease making significant outlays on transfers and instead look to the future.

Investment in youth to continue

"When we talk about a financial prudency and managing the football club in the best way we can with what we have got, then that does mean investing in younger players some of the time that will cost less money to buy but give us better long-term value," he told the Liverpool Echo.

Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers will likely be focusing on young additions rather than marquee signings in the summer(Getty)

"We can't compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets. But if you go about it the right way - and get the right result - then we can still be successful."

He added: "When we say it's about success on and off the pitch, it really is about everybody doing their piece. And these results start to show that that is working. We'd always expect to improve and I think I'd be confident in saying that we'll improve our position in this current year.

"But it is about each individual part and as we saw last year when we didn't have European revenue, which these results today reflect, those years are much tougher. We have to build our business on the basis that that may or may not be there in any particular season. And when it is there, it is a bonus, if you like.

"What is important to say is that when we get that additional revenue, be it from Champions League, Europa League or from finishing in different positions, the one thing about this ownership group is that they have never taken a single penny out of the football club.

"So it all goes back into the team or the club. We have been very fortunate to enjoy those additional revenue streams this year - but it goes straight back into the pot. It is all going in the same place. Brendan, myself, the owners - everyone wants to achieve as much as they can achieve and it will be reinvested."

Here he clearly reiterates the policy is to bring in and develop youth 'potential' who FSG see as providing 'better long term value'. He also says "We can't compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets" yet Tom Werner said the following in 2012 after the sacking of Damien Comolli in an interview with the official website.

Tom Werner on Comolli decision

Following the announcement that Damien Comolli has left the club, Liverpoolfc.tv spoke to the Reds chairman Tom Werner.
 
Tom, the news this morning that Damien Comolli is leaving the club will have come as a surprise to many fans. Can you explain why the decision was taken?

I think it's fair to say no supporter would be delighted with the results we've achieved this year. We feel we are a club that needs to be perceived as the strongest club in football and we want to get there. Frankly, we make these decisions with a great deal of care because it's our track record in Boston to give people authority and we've had great success with our manager, who was there for eight years, and our general manager, so we prefer stability. But when it's time to act, we need to act. We're coming close to the end of the season and the transfer window for the summer, and we felt it was important to make this change expeditiously.

In light of Damien's departure, do you still think there is a need for a director of football at this club?

We're still confident the structure we've discussed is the right structure. That doesn't mean we won't look at tweaking it, but we feel a collective group of people making football decisions is healthy. The debate is healthy. Part of the reason we made this decision now is because we want to start the process of finding an excellent replacement.

Do you have a candidate in mind for the role?

We don't have any specific candidates in mind. Part of the reason we made this decision yesterday was to be in the best possible position to move forward as quickly as possible.

Is Damien's departure a reflection that the ownership group were unhappy with the return on player investment?

I would say we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football. I wouldn't want to get specific about any particular decision that's been made. We feel there is enough talent on the pitch to win and, as I said, we've been dissatisfied, as most supporters have been, with the results so far. But we're also talking about the future - we have a strategy we need implemented and we felt Damien was probably not the right person to implement that strategy.

Does Damien Comolli's departure have any impact upon Kenny Dalglish's position as manager?

Absolutely not. We've got great confidence in Kenny. We feel the team is going to make strides in the future and he enjoys our full support.

Do you envisage any other changes in the senior management of the club?

We do not. It's a good question. We believe the senior management is very strong, Ian Ayre is an outstanding managing director. His charge is to raise revenue so that we can put the resources into strengthening our football club. We've got great confidence in the other people in football operations, and so the answer is there will be no future changes of significance.

In terms of transfer activity this summer, will Damien's departure affect plans that are already underway?

We've had a strategy that we have agreed on. There was some disconnect on the implementation of that. That strategy is a strong one and it will continue. We need to build a strong system under the first team. We're hard at work identifying transfer targets and we will be better next year.

Finally, as chairman of Liverpool Football Club, do you have a message for the supporters ahead of the very important game on Saturday?

We're all excited about this match. We certainly feel the team is healthy and the team is committed. We just attended a practice where they are excited about returning to Wembley. There's only one team in England that has the possibility of winning this cup and the Carling Cup, and I think our supporters around the world should feel very confident.

The key point being in italics. "I would say we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football" yet you have Ian Ayre saying "We can't compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets". So which is it? We can compete or we can't compete?

Nonetheless, there you have it. Brendan Rodgers works as part of a Directorate of Football, he does not have sole say on players, he works to a policy that everyone who knows anything about football, from fans to pundits, know that it simply does not work on its own, with a board that can simultaneously both compete and not compete with anyone else in the league and if anyone thinks anyone else coming in to the club will do any better with this mess then you're sadly deluded. Given the amount of confusion at the business end and the fact he's working within tight constraints, and has lost both his top strikers this season and brought in a defender who no one thought would under perform to the extent he has, I think we're doing rather well in 5th place.

Are you illiterate? Once and for all, read and learn. This is the transfer structure as laid out by Ian Ayre in an interview with the Telegraph in 2013:

Liverpool transfers to be decided by committee, not Brendan Rodgers, claims Ian Ayre

Liverpool’s managing director, Ian Ayre, says all the club’s future transfers will be decided by committee rather than Brendan Rodgers being allowed full control of recruitment.




Ayre has offered an insight into a Liverpool transfer policy which, although no longer employing a director of football, places Rodgers as part of a recruitment team rather than accepting the traditional managerial authority to buy and sell.

Since Rodgers joined the club, Dave Fallows has joined as head of recruitment and Barry Hunter as chief scout from Manchester City, while head of analysis Michael Edwards has become a central figure in assessing targets for owners Fenway Sports Group.

Ayre said he, Rodgers, Edwards and Fallows effectively created the director of football model between them.

“We have a head of analysis, a head of recruitment, a first-team manager, myself,” Ayre said. “All of those people are all inputting into a process that delivers what a director of football would deliver.

“What we believe, and we continue to follow, is you need many people involved in the process. That doesn’t mean somebody else is picking the team for Brendan but Brendan needs to set out with his team of people which positions we want to fill and what the key targets would be for that.

"He has a team of people that go out and do an inordinate amount of analysis work to establish who are the best players in that position.

“Despite what people think and read, it’s not a whole bunch of guys sitting behind a computer working out who we should buy. It’s a combination of old-school scouting and watching players – and that’s Brendan, his assistants, our scouts – with statistical analysis of players across Europe and the rest of the world.

"By bringing those two processes together you get a much more educated view of who you should and shouldn’t be buying and, perhaps as fundamentally, how much you should be paying and the structure to those contracts.

“I think we’ve had relatively good success since we deployed that ­methodology. We’re getting better all the time. We were very pleased with the most recent window in January with Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge.”

Although the current model is one FSG has always favoured, there is a noticeable shift from last summer when Rodgers made it known that he would not work for a director of football, and any recruitment team around him would be “underpinning” his work.

“It’s absolute madness if you are the manager of the club and someone else tells you to have that player,” he said last July. “It doesn’t work.”

At the same time, Ayre made it known that the aspiration was to have a more collaborative approach and his latest comments, published in an interview with Sports Illustrated, demonstrate how firmly established that now is, inevitably impacting on who Rodgers pursues this summer.

FSG have been determined to be stricter on spending since being wounded by former director of football Damien Comolli’s £110 million spending spree in their first year.

Liverpool were the target of some ridicule when they appointed Comolli on the strength of his relationship with baseball guru Billy Beane. It led to an association with the Moneyball theory successfully applied in baseball.

Although an actor played the part of Liverpool’s principal owner John W Henry in the movie of the same name, Ayre disassociates Liverpool from Moneyball.

“I don’t think there was ever anyone at Liverpool using the word Moneyball, but plenty of other people were using it. It’s not a Moneyball strategy.

“I think that director of football role in a lot of cases almost creates as many problems as it solves because people try to judge where the power base is with that role. Who’s picking the team? Who’s deciding which players? What we actually have is probably three or four people who all are involved in that role.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s determination to ensure Luis Suárez is given a prolonged summer break could see him sit out the club’s summer tour of Australia and the Far East.

Suárez will join Uruguay for the Confederations Cup in Brazil in June. “If he is playing in that tournament he may not be back at the start of pre-season for us because he needs to have a recovery period,” Rodgers said.

It's there in black and white. Rodgers' decides the position, statistical analysis is conducted, narrowing the potentials, scouting work is done and Rodgers' decides if the player is one he wants in. As TAW put it last week, this is a Directorate of Football and is not how normal clubs work.

This is the recruitment policy, as laid out by Ian Ayre on March 3rd 2015 in the IBT Times

Liverpool will continue to pursue young players in transfer market says Ian Ayre

Liverpool chief executive Ian Ayre has indicated the club's continued ambitions to improve their financial standing will see them favour signing young players over marquee additions during the transfer window.

The Reds's annual accounts to 31 May 2014 showed a £0.9m ($1.4m) profit – the first for seven years and under owner Fenway Sports Group – after seeing revenue bolstered by 19% to £255.6m due to an improvement in media income.

Debt remains at £69m but has been significantly reduced from when FSG first took over Liverpool in October 2010, with the club having risen to ninth in Deloitte's Money League, while they also returned to the Champions League this season.

Investment in the Liverpool squad has been key to the club's progression on the field, while a handful of academy players have been handed professional contracts to continue the club's long tradition of blooding young players.

Though Liverpool spent £117m during the 2014 summer window as they brought in nine new players, Ayre says as the club look to improve their financial position they may look to cease making significant outlays on transfers and instead look to the future.

Investment in youth to continue

"When we talk about a financial prudency and managing the football club in the best way we can with what we have got, then that does mean investing in younger players some of the time that will cost less money to buy but give us better long-term value," he told the Liverpool Echo.

Brendan Rodgers
Brendan Rodgers will likely be focusing on young additions rather than marquee signings in the summer(Getty)

"We can't compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets. But if you go about it the right way - and get the right result - then we can still be successful."

He added: "When we say it's about success on and off the pitch, it really is about everybody doing their piece. And these results start to show that that is working. We'd always expect to improve and I think I'd be confident in saying that we'll improve our position in this current year.

"But it is about each individual part and as we saw last year when we didn't have European revenue, which these results today reflect, those years are much tougher. We have to build our business on the basis that that may or may not be there in any particular season. And when it is there, it is a bonus, if you like.

"What is important to say is that when we get that additional revenue, be it from Champions League, Europa League or from finishing in different positions, the one thing about this ownership group is that they have never taken a single penny out of the football club.

"So it all goes back into the team or the club. We have been very fortunate to enjoy those additional revenue streams this year - but it goes straight back into the pot. It is all going in the same place. Brendan, myself, the owners - everyone wants to achieve as much as they can achieve and it will be reinvested."

Here he clearly reiterates the policy is to bring in and develop youth 'potential' who FSG see as providing 'better long term value'. He also says "We can't compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets" yet Tom Werner said the following in 2012 after the sacking of Damien Comolli in an interview with the official website.

Tom Werner on Comolli decision

Following the announcement that Damien Comolli has left the club, Liverpoolfc.tv spoke to the Reds chairman Tom Werner.
 
Tom, the news this morning that Damien Comolli is leaving the club will have come as a surprise to many fans. Can you explain why the decision was taken?

I think it's fair to say no supporter would be delighted with the results we've achieved this year. We feel we are a club that needs to be perceived as the strongest club in football and we want to get there. Frankly, we make these decisions with a great deal of care because it's our track record in Boston to give people authority and we've had great success with our manager, who was there for eight years, and our general manager, so we prefer stability. But when it's time to act, we need to act. We're coming close to the end of the season and the transfer window for the summer, and we felt it was important to make this change expeditiously.

In light of Damien's departure, do you still think there is a need for a director of football at this club?

We're still confident the structure we've discussed is the right structure. That doesn't mean we won't look at tweaking it, but we feel a collective group of people making football decisions is healthy. The debate is healthy. Part of the reason we made this decision now is because we want to start the process of finding an excellent replacement.

Do you have a candidate in mind for the role?

We don't have any specific candidates in mind. Part of the reason we made this decision yesterday was to be in the best possible position to move forward as quickly as possible.

Is Damien's departure a reflection that the ownership group were unhappy with the return on player investment?

I would say we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football. I wouldn't want to get specific about any particular decision that's been made. We feel there is enough talent on the pitch to win and, as I said, we've been dissatisfied, as most supporters have been, with the results so far. But we're also talking about the future - we have a strategy we need implemented and we felt Damien was probably not the right person to implement that strategy.

Does Damien Comolli's departure have any impact upon Kenny Dalglish's position as manager?

Absolutely not. We've got great confidence in Kenny. We feel the team is going to make strides in the future and he enjoys our full support.

Do you envisage any other changes in the senior management of the club?

We do not. It's a good question. We believe the senior management is very strong, Ian Ayre is an outstanding managing director. His charge is to raise revenue so that we can put the resources into strengthening our football club. We've got great confidence in the other people in football operations, and so the answer is there will be no future changes of significance.

In terms of transfer activity this summer, will Damien's departure affect plans that are already underway?

We've had a strategy that we have agreed on. There was some disconnect on the implementation of that. That strategy is a strong one and it will continue. We need to build a strong system under the first team. We're hard at work identifying transfer targets and we will be better next year.

Finally, as chairman of Liverpool Football Club, do you have a message for the supporters ahead of the very important game on Saturday?

We're all excited about this match. We certainly feel the team is healthy and the team is committed. We just attended a practice where they are excited about returning to Wembley. There's only one team in England that has the possibility of winning this cup and the Carling Cup, and I think our supporters around the world should feel very confident.

The key point being in italics. "I would say we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football" yet you have Ian Ayre saying "We can't compete with some people who seem to have deeper pockets". So which is it? We can compete or we can't compete?

Nonetheless, there you have it. Brendan Rodgers works as part of a Directorate of Football, he does not have sole say on players, he works to a policy that everyone who knows anything about football, from fans to pundits, know that it simply does not work on its own, with a board that can simultaneously both compete and not compete with anyone else in the league and if anyone thinks anyone else coming in to the club will do any better with this mess then you're sadly deluded. Given the amount of confusion at the business end and the fact he's working within tight constraints, and has lost both his top strikers this season and brought in a defender who no one thought would under perform to the extent he has, I think we're doing rather well in 5th place.

You obviously missed all the report that Rodgers  got all his primary targets last year ie there was no veto from the committee.

Just a shame they turned out to be the Southampton boys!

Rodgers has a few games left to save his career with us IMO. The owners got rid of Kenny and that was on the back of winning a trophy and getting to another final so I can't seem them being 100% behind Rodgers right now. Tough times for Rodgers, hopefully he doesn't buckle.

You obviously missed all the report that Rodgers  got all his primary targets last year ie there was no veto from the committee.

Just a shame they turned out to be the Southampton boys!

In regards to Southampton:

Lallana, a full England international and a signing everyone was happy with.
Lovren, a Croatian international and a signing everyone was happy with.
Lambert, a £4 million striker that provided a different option and a signing everyone was happy with.

Very, very few people on these boards where unhappy with these signings. Now perhaps you missed the bit that says the manager decides the position that needs reinforcing/replacing and the rest of the transfer committee do their thing. I did not say he does not have any involvement, I said he has limited involvement. Same as Klopp would. Same as Mourinho would. Same as Ancelotti would. I also clearly state that he works to a policy of development of youth with little, if any in the way of 'marquee' signings being brought in because FSG clearly do not feel they represent value for money. Same as Klopp would. Same as Mourinho would. Same as Ancelotti would. The entire point is that changing managers will not accomplish anything because any manager brought in would be brought in to this utter chaos.

Rodgers has a few games left to save his career with us IMO.

lets hope he treats these games like they're cup finals . or semi finals .

The entire point is that changing managers will not accomplish anything because any manager brought in would be brought in to this utter chaos.

Of course it could accomplish something if a new manager bought some of his players and got more out of them than Brendan seems to have done with Lovren, Lallana and Lambert.

I simply do not accept that if we changed managers nothing could possibly change.

I'm not saying it defintely would but to say it wouldn't means that Brendan should be here until the end of time no matter what.

lets hope he treats these games like they're cup finals . or semi finals .

Hopefully not semi finals if the Villa one is anything to go by.

lets hope he treats these games like they're cup finals . or semi finals .

F***ing shame Rodgers never treated the Villa game as a semi-final

Maybe the expectation got to him

F***ing shame Rodgers never treated the Villa game as a semi-final

Maybe the expectation got to him

Shabs

Mate

The players have a lot to answer for with that performance. It's not all down to the gaffer.
No game is

Hopefully not semi finals if the Villa one is anything to go by.

Exactly mate , if the team go out and lose or draw tomorrow  after the sh*te they played last week then a shame upon them and the manager . Another nail in the coffin for him .

Of course it could accomplish something if a new manager bought some of his players and got more out of them than Brendan seems to have done with Lovren, Lallana and Lambert.

I simply do not accept that if we changed managers nothing could possibly change.

I'm not saying it defintely would but to say it wouldn't means that Brendan should be here until the end of time no matter what.

Lallana has been in and out of the side all season with injury. You cannot seriously blame Rodgers for Lovren's failure? Lambert I agree in principle, a principle that extends to Balotelli but most people are happy to blame him for that rather than Rodgers. Double standards, much? I'm not defending Rodgers, you seem to be missing the point on that, I'm criticising club policy and structure and stating categorically that it would not make the slightest difference who is manager whilst the structure and policy exists. You want to bring in Ancelotti in next season, give him sole control of transfers and £200 million to rebuild the team with galticos then I'm up for that.

Shabs

Mate

The players have a lot to answer for with that performance. It's not all down to the gaffer.
No game is

I know mate, but it does drip down from the top, we praise Rodgers for the performance of last season & criticise for his failures this campaign.

We went into that game with the wrong mentality.