Brendan Rodgers New Liverpool FC Manager: Just a week ago, it looked as though Roberto Martinez was going to be the next manager for Liverpool FC. Instead, on Friday, the Reds are going to name the man that took over for Martinez at Swansea City, Brendan Rodgers as their next manager.
Liverpool is clearly looking to go in a younger direction after two seasons with Kenny Dalglish in command of the team. In that time, the Reds went in the wrong direction quite a bit, bottoming out with an eighth place finish this year on the 2012 Premier League table. Needless to say, the 52 points that the 2011-12 Liverpool FC team managed, along with just the 14 total wins isn’t going to cut it, and that’s why the change was made by the Fenway Sports Group, the owners of Liverpool.
The questions as to who the next manager would be of the Reds was a hot button topic of conversation for those looking for Liverpool breaking news. Of course, the big time names such as Fabio Capello and the likes were dabbled around, but in the end, it was clear that Liverpool really wanted to go after one of the younger managers that had recent success at the EPL level. That was when Roberto Martinez had his name come up for the job, but it became clear that he had some issues with the fact that he was not going to be given total control of all of the team’s affairs, most notably with the matters on the transfer market.
Ironically, the link between Rodgers and Martinez is a deep one. The two had nothing to do with one another until 2010 when Rodgers took over for Swansea City. It was Rodgers that was really the struggled manager at the moment, as he had basically been booted out of Reading after a very unsuccessful run in the Championship just over five months after taking over the team. However, Rodgers was immediately targeted by Swansea to replace Martinez, who had left the squad for Wigan Athletic in the EPL. At the time, the Swans were still in Championship themselves, and that only came after Martinez led them to promotion from League One.
Swansea City was promoted last year, and the club immediately found success. As the first Welsh team to ever play in the Premier League, matters were supposed to be tough this year for the Swans, but a stout brand of defensive soccer saw the team allow just 51 goals, the same number as fifth place Newcastle United on the season. It was the first Premier League job for Rodgers, and he ironically finished with Swansea City in 11th position on the table, four spots higher than Wigan, where Martinez remains.
The task here for Rodgers is a massive one, though. He is just 39 years old, and he is set to take on the job at Anfield, where the Reds have not won the Premier League since 1990 in spite of the fact that they have come close a number of times. The first order of business might be making this team a tad younger. There has been quite a lot of aging on this team since the Champions League title, and it is time that there is some young help being brought to the table to help out the team’s captain, Steven Gerrard.
One thing is for sure about Rodgers, and that is that his leash is going to be quite short. Just this past year, Andre Villas Boas didn’t last a full season with Chelsea, and that team went on to win the Champions League this year. Dalglish was an icon for Liverpool in the past, but his failures saw him get sacked as well. Now, with Martinez looking over his shoulder in the EPL and surely on the rise as well, Rodgers is set to do what he can to try to get Liverpool back on top.
