Brendan Rodgers

[Yozza]

Brendan Rodgers flying the flag for British bosses after David Moyes' Man Utd misery

• Without Rodgers' success this season, no British manager would have been given a top Premier League job again following Moyes's failure
• Liverpool boss has to be named LMA Manager of the Year
• Moyes's appointment as Manchester United boss was symbolic

By MARTIN FAT CUNT SAMUEL - SPORT

Brendan Rodgers to the rescue. Again. It will be an act of sheer ingratitude if the League Managers’ Association do not make him Manager of the Year now. Without Rodgers, where would British coaches stand following the dismissal of David Moyes? On the outside looking in, most likely.

Moyes was the industry standard-bearer following his promotion from Everton to Manchester United. The LMA had waited so long for a new British coach to be given an opportunity at an established Champions League club and this was their moment.

A lot was riding on Moyes making a success of it. He was going to show that Roman Abramovich was wrong for never looking closer to home at Chelsea, and that Manchester City had blundered in appointing Manuel Pellegrini to succeed Roberto Mancini.

Yet as Manchester United’s season went from bad to worse, it was increasingly asked whether a British coach would be given such an opportunity again.

If Moyes, undoubtedly the outstanding manager outside the Premier League elite, could not make the step up, what chance the rest of them? And then along came Rodgers — born in Northern Ireland but very much a product of British football from Ballymena via Newport County, Reading, Watford and Swansea City — to save the day, propelling Liverpool to what may become the most remarkable title win of the Premier League era.

It is not Moyes’s fault that the qualities of British coaches were projected on to his shoulders at Old Trafford, yet the day he got the job it was seen as a symbolic appointment. Here was Sir Alex Ferguson, his boardroom sponsor, standing up for traditional values.

This was to be no quick fix, with no marquee import to headline it. Moyes, like Ferguson, built from the roots up and if he made a success of Manchester United, then others could replicate his achievements at Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and, when Arsene Wenger finally departs, Arsenal.

So, with Moyes drowning, for Rodgers to have made that case instead was vital. Had Moyes departed on Tuesday with Pellegrini and City 10 points clear, it would have been disastrous for British coaches. Every owner with Champions League ambition would have thought twice before considering the Premier League option. Elite would have equated to foreign and the glass ceiling for British managers would have been lowered to mid-table. Rodgers prevented that calamity.

So if Moyes is to be replaced by Louis van Gaal, so be it. That does not mean the path is blocked for ever to domestic candidates. Rodgers proves that talented coaches exist in this country but a club must find one that suits. He has shown he is perfectly matched with Liverpool in recent weeks; his stance and words through the Hillsborough anniversary and at key matches has been exemplary.

Rodgers is not afraid to embrace emotion or make bold statements. When Moyes said Liverpool were favourites going into the game with United at Old Trafford, Rodgers’s response showed the difference in attitude. ‘I would never say that at Liverpool, even if I was bottom of the league,’ he offered. ‘Anfield is Anfield and we expect to win.’

Rodgers, with significantly less to play with than Moyes initially, has never forgotten that sign above the tunnel entrance at Liverpool’s home games. And has never stopped trying to play a brand of football that justifies it.

So this has actually been a very good year for British coaches, no matter what has befallen Moyes and Manchester United. Steve Bruce may win the FA Cup with Hull, Steve Clarke did a better job at West Bromwich than Pepe Mel and the same goes for Malky Mackay and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Cardiff. Tony Pulis has revived Crystal Palace, and Sean Dyche has won a brilliant, inexpensive, promotion with Burnley.

And then there is Rodgers. Proving it can be done, if you are bold enough to do it. Chairmen, and managers, should take note.

[Roboklopp]

Nowt if not hyperbolic:

"Without Rodgers' success this season, no British manager would have been given a top Premier League job again following Moyes's failure"


Like evah, evah, evah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[Norbs]

I class Martinez as British, he's learnt his trade here after all.

Ah, you said top job

[kingfunk]

Ya and Tony O'Cascarino is Irish.

[RedAndWhite]

Ya and Tony O'Cascarino is Irish.

So is Rodgers

[Exiled_red]

Nowt if not hyperbolic:

"Without Rodgers' success this season, no British manager would have been given a top Premier League job again following Moyes's failure"


Like evah, evah, evah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111

[Trippendicular]

'A lot was riding on Moyes making a success of it. He was going to show that Roman Abramovich was wrong for never looking closer to home at Chelsea, and that Manchester City had blundered in appointing Manuel Pellegrini to succeed Roberto Mancini.'

The blatant jingoism is ludicrous. Surely Motes' failure vindicates their managerial decisions.

[chadrtc]

I don't buy into this discussion about the nationality of managers. If there are good British managers, then they will be selected for big clubs. The issue is the lack of quality British managers who are suited to playing 'winning' football.

Nationality doesn't come into it... suitability for the role and club does. The vast majority of the press need bite down on the pillow and admit they were wrong about Moyes and his suitability for a club that expected to win trophies. Quite a few football supporters were very clear in stating it was disaster waiting to happen.

[Liverpel]

The Ballymena years: Brendan Rodgers’ first steps on his journey to top of the football world

Carnlough’s most famous son looks set to become the first Northern Irishman in 101 years to win a First Division title.


55km NORTH OF BELFAST sits a sleepy fishing village preparing itself for an unprecedented deluge of visitors.

It’s all owed to Carnlough’s most famous son, Brendan Rodgers, potentially becoming the first Northern Irishman in 101 years to win a First Division title.

The eldest of five boys, Rodgers was born to a Protestant mother, Christina, and a Catholic father, Malachy, in January 1973.

Rodgers attended a Catholic school, St Patrick’s College, in Ballymena — 26km from home — and while a competent hurler, there was only ever going to be one sport for Rodgers.

An idoliser of Brazil’s 1978 team, Rodgers was spotted by Star United manager Arthur McClean — who also discovered Michael O’Neill and Michael Hughes — in 1984.

“Brendan was a very good player”, McClean told TheScore.ie. “Even at a young age, he was a little bit better than the rest and had great natural ability. We taught the players to use whatever ability they had and then we slotted them into the team to play along with that. To be honest, you can’t coach natural ability; you need to have it and Brendan had it from very early on. People can tell you that they helped create a player but if someone has that kind of natural ability, you can’t coach it. You just have to use it to bring the best out of him and improve his game.

“Brendan was a very dedicated young man and was always keen to learn. He would always listen and wasn’t one of those lads who would just sit and not look interested. He was always interested in what you had to say.

“Nowadays, people don’t travel that far to come to training. Sometimes, even if it’s on their doorstep, they wouldn’t be interested. That dedication was all down to Brendan and his father, Malachy. His father was very dedicated to taking him to wherever he was going. It was a much different time in so many ways. The last time Brendan was at the Milk Cup with Chelsea, I was talking to him at one of the pitches behind the main Showgrounds arena. It’s now a 3G pitch, but he remembers a time when it was grass and how bad it was on a rainy winter night.”

A promising left-footed defender, Rodgers quickly impressed McClean — who was certain that Rodgers would leave for England after graduating into Ballymena United’s reserve squad as a teenager.

While the youngster’s prodigious talent was crucial to that prediction, Rodgers already possessed the leadership qualities that he was to become synonymous with decades later.

“When Brendan was playing, he was always talking. Even when he wasn’t on the pitch, he was talking! He was very astute and loved to attack, but was very relaxed as a player. He never got flustered and was very calm. Ability wise, and character wise, you knew he had something different compared to everyone else. At that time, you weren’t looking at him becoming a coach and if he hadn’t got the injury that he did at Reading, he would’ve become a top-class player in England. In his mind, Brendan just wanted to play at the highest level and he knew that he had a bit of ability and wanted to get as far as he could.”

The teenage defender’s remarkably mature performances even led to a trial with Manchester United in 1988, with Rodgers having also represented Northern Ireland’s schools side seven times.

Before Rodgers departed for Reading, three years later, the teenager spent time with Ballymena United’s reserves under the watchful eye of first-team manager Alex McKee.

“The first thing I remember about Brendan was his head of blonde curls,” McKee told TheScore.ie. “He was the key player for Ballymena in the Milk Cup and then he went on to progress into the reserves and onto Reading when he left school. We went to that Milk Cup and we also used to play a small five-a-side competition in Coleraine sports hall, which acted as a subsidiary for the teams that went out early in the competition. Ballymena won it and I can still see Brendan in that team. They’re great memories.

“He was a very promising player and was the most willing lad that I ever worked with. He had a lovely left foot. Brendan played on the left side and no matter what you asked of him, he was such a dream to work with. When I think of how much football has changed since then, it’s unbelievable how he applied himself.

“Initially, Brendan was quite shy and quiet. He never ever challenged anyone and just tried to do what you asked of him. As he progressed into the team, he displayed certain leadership qualities. Brendan, whatever he decided to do, would achieve it. That’s the type of guy he was: he applied himself so well.”

Rodgers maintained his one-hour round trip commute from Carnlough up to three times a week.

Such was the youngster’s dedication, Rodgers would even stay overnight at his school, the nearby St Patrick’s College, to maintain his marked progress. It’s a passion that’s never left Rodgers.

“Brendan would be that committed and, if he didn’t make his own way, then we’d leave him back to Carnlough. He was very dedicated and that just shows in what he’s done up to now. I have a lot of respect for him and when he was at Chelsea, he brought an under-16 team over to the Milk Cup. I went down to one of their matches in Ballymoney and he spotted me in the crowd. He came over, took me into the dressing room, and was just a wonderful guy.

“After he went to Reading and came back over, he was looking at schoolboy international football. He was just casting an eye around Ballymena and it was then that I noticed how much he had progressed and changed. Brendan had all the qualities and talked with great authority about young footballers going across from Northern Ireland to England. He was able to rattle off the names of guys and not only the boys who made it, but also the boys who struggled. He was very knowledgeable, very positive, and very well informed.”

Rodgers’ dream of playing at the highest level in England was crushed by a genetic knee injury at the age of just 20.
Admiration

However, rather than falling out of love with football altogether, Rodgers worked in a John Lewis warehouse alongside a part-time coaching role with Reading’s Academy.

“I’ve got great admiration for Reading, because they must have seen something in him at that age. His playing career was finished, but they kept him on and looked after him. They gave him the opportunity, so I think those leadership qualities must have been strong at that stage. He was put in charge of their youth set-up and he just progressed from there.

“It gives me great satisfaction just to see him standing there on the touchline, looking so assured and composed. When I look at the style of football his teams play, it certainly wasn’t always like that when he was a 14-year-old but he accepted that. From his early days as a player, I know that he can stand like that because he knows he has put in the work and effort to get his team on the field.”

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/brendan-rodgers-ballymena-1428866-Apr2014/

[Mostar]

Enjoyed reading that article.

Cheers Liverpel

[Liverpel]

Enjoyed reading that article.

Cheers Liverpel

No problem Mos.

It was just a few thoughts I put into writing during my lunch break.

[Sarb]

Looking forward to his 2:00 presser

[Liverpel]

The Watford and Reading years that helped make Brendan Rodgers the manager he now is.


The Northern Irishman has had to work his way up the ladder. We spoke to those there at the beginning.


AS FAR AS baptisms of fire go, few were more daunting than the rookie Brendan Rodgers taking charge of Watford in November 2008.

The 35-year-old had no senior management experience, but faced a precarious mandate — with the Hornets sitting just two points clear of safety in 21st in the Championship.

Crippled by financial constraints, a season-long relegation battle was a certainty for a club who were playing in the Premier League only two years previously.

However, rather than turning to an experienced manager, Watford’s hierarchy saw the fledgling Rodgers as having the profile and philosophy to lead the Hornets to mid-table consolidation.

“The board, under Graham Simpson, appointed him before I arrived as chairman in November”, Jimmy Russo told TheScore.ie. “At the time, Graham saw Brendan as someone who was young, up-and-coming, and relatively unknown. With Aidy Boothroyd — who was completely unknown coming into it — that blueprint had already been successful. They were looking for someone fresh and Brendan had been tipped-off as someone with great potential going forward.

“Brendan was a nice guy, a really nice guy. He was calm, calculated, very down to earth, and never panicked. Brendan had no arrogance about him at all. He knew his stuff and spoke with confidence. He always knew exactly what he wanted to do and you could tell he was a huge fan of Mourinho. Brendan was a leader, as well, and his attention to detail…when you spoke, he listened to every single word. We didn’t have the highest class of individuals to play in an attractive way, but he had the right calibre and was just a class individual.”

Determined to prove that attractive football could thrive in the Championship, Rodgers won just two of his first 10 games in charge of Watford. To his credit, the Northern Irishman turned it around and steered the Hornets to an impressive 13th place.

Rodgers had firmly stepped out of the shadows and just 192 days after taking charge at Vicarage Road, Reading came calling.


“With that particular incident, you could clearly see that when someone has been associated with a club for so long and has the chance to go to greener pastures, it’s a welcomed opportunity to go back. I could see why he wanted to go back and the deal was right for us financially [£1 million]. But, more importantly, we knew who was coming in when Brendan left. One of his coaches, Malky Mackay, was more than capable and it was a spot-on decision to appoint him. Malky proved himself and also went on to better things, with Cardiff. It softened the blow and Reading paid the right money. Sometimes, when someone is that good, you can only do so much and you just have to let them go. ”

Although Reading had just finished fourth, and had been defeated by Burnley in the play-off semi-finals, Rodgers believed he would have time to rebuild Steve Coppell’s crumbling foundations.

While this was in part owed to Rodgers’ naivety, the 36-year-old felt that his previous association with Reading – as a reserve player and an Academy coach – would serve him in good stead.

However, with key players like André Bikey, Stephen Hunt, James Harper, and Kevin Doyle having departed the club, Reading were entering a chaotic transitional phase.

Taking a leaf out of José Mourinho’s book, Rodgers targeted former players — notably Tommy Smith, Jobi McAnuff, and Grzegorz Rasiak — for the difficult challenge ahead.

“I first met Brendan when he arrived at Watford in 2008″, Rasiak told TheScore.ie. ”I’ve got very good memories of my time with him. In my opinion, Brendan was the best coach I worked under – especially on the training field. From the beginning, you could tell he would go on to become a top manager. Tactically, everyone knew what they had to do. The level of organisation at training was very good and we had a lot of position and passing drills. All the exercises were geared to what we would eventually do on the field. I was very happy to play for him, because Brendan is not a typical British coach. He worked under José Mourinho at Chelsea so while there was a lot of hard work on the training pitch, it was always with the ball. We had hard sessions, but you developed so much from all the hard work.

“As a person, I can only say good things about him, too. He was a very honest person – right from the beginning. The first time I met him, at Watford, we had a private one-on-one chat and he told me about the kind of football he preferred with players adapting to different tactical positions. In the beginning, I wasn’t in the starting XI because we played 4-3-3 and he needed something different to a big target man. But, he told me if I worked hard, I would play and keep my place in the team in a 4-4-2. So, I worked very hard to be able to break into the team and, soon after, I started a lot of games under him and we played very good football.”


While Rodgers had time for his philosophy to click at Watford, life at the Madejski Stadium was not so kind.

Remarkably, before being sacked in the run-up to Christmas, Rodgers won just six of the 23 games he oversaw as Reading manager.

Losing his job for the first time since the age of 16, it would prove a chastising but crucial experience for Rodgers.

“Brendan didn’t have enough time to build a team because so many players arrived that summer. That made it difficult to start well and hit the ground running. I was sad to see him go, because I had a very good time under him. We drew too many games and we found it difficult to win games at home. We only won our first game at home in November.

“But, I still knew that he would become one of the best coaches in the UK if he had time. Under him, from what I saw on the training pitch, I knew that he could make it if he had the time to build a team in his philosophy. I could tell that he would eventually go on to perform very, very well.”

http://thescore.thejournal.ie/brendan-rodgers-watford-1429473-Apr2014/

[Shaggy]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj790dHWkiE"]Brendan Rodgers Talks Snoop Dog, Acting Career, Maradona | FTBpro TV - YouTube[/ame]

[Gibbo]

The thought of Rodgers in his car nodding to Snoop Dogg