Brendan Rodgers dropped bombshell in first Liverpool press conference which messed up club's sporting director plan
Today at 12:22 PM
Brendan Rodgers left Liverpool’s owners with an ‘impossible’ task after his comments on his first day as manager.
The current Celtic boss took charge of the Reds between 2012 and 2015, almost delivering a first league title in 24 years in 2014, but his time in the hot seat was not without its stumbling blocks.
In fact, one challenge came almost immediately after Rodgers‘ appointment, according to the club’s former director of research Ian Graham.
Graham took up the role in the same summer as the Northern Irishman, a position he went on to hold at the Merseyside giants until June 2023, ultimately helping to recruit a squad that won both the Premier League and Champions League.
But Graham has revealed that his early days as part of an all-new recruitment team were far from plain-sailing, due in no small part to Rodgers.
At the time of Rodgers’ appointment, Liverpool’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, had planned to revolutionise their transfer strategy.
After opting for a data-driven approach to identifying players, FSG found themselves looking for a new director of football to head up the club’s scouting department.
But the Reds’ hope of executing this plan were soon dealt a huge blow, by none other than Rodgers himself.
On his first day in the job, the newly-appointed manager told the media that he had no intention of working with a sporting director.
And Graham, has revealed how his comments in the press immediately forced the club back to the drawing board.
In his recently released book ‘How to Win the Premier League‘, he recalled: “Before I, and the other new hires, started, Liverpool had to replace their manager, Kenny Dalglish.
“The choice was between Brendan Rodgers or Roberto Martínez. Brendan was the stronger candidate and was chosen.
“FSG were concurrently searching for a director of football to replace Damien [Comolli].”
Graham then explained how Rodgers quickly shut down the clubs’ proposal for their ambitious new transfer strategy.
He continued: “The search was unexpectedly cut short when Brendan used a media interview on his first day in the job to say: ‘I am better when I have control … I wouldn't directly work with a director of football …
‘…If you want to have a sporting director, get him in and then you can pick your manager from there but if you do I won't be the manager’."
With Rodgers making his thoughts clear, Graham revealed how Liverpool were then forced to reformulate their approach.
The Reds moved to create a ‘transfer committee’, which saw Rodgers discuss potential transfers with Graham, current Liverpool CEO of football Michael Edwards and former chief executive Ian Ayre, as well as scouts Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows.
Graham went on: “Brendan was right. We should have appointed a sporting director first. Now he'd made it impossible.
“It would have been nice to have known Brendan's feelings on the matter before he took the job.
“Instead a compromise was reached. A committee would be formed, consisting of Brendan, Ian Ayre, Eddy, Dave and Barry. I was an unofficial member.”
While Rodgers led Liverpool to a second-place Premier League finish in the 2013/14 season, narrowly missing out on the title, his signings during this time left a lot to be desired.
Among the big-money transfers sanctioned by the Northern Irish manager were Christian Benteke, Adam Lallana and Dejan Lovren, all of whom struggled to justify their price tags.
However, after Rodgers’ was sacked in 2015 and replaced by Jurgen Klopp, the club’s recruitment strategy began to reap its rewards.
In a golden era for the club, Graham and his colleagues secured the services of current talisman Mohamed Salah, as well as Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, among others.
The trio formed a deadly front three which ultimately helped to deliver a first English title in 30 years in 2020, scoring a combined 338 goals in their time working together.
