By Ernie Fox
It was surely one of the worst kept secrets in the modern game, Brendan Rodgers had to perform a minor miracle against Everton in the Merseyside derby if he was to retain his position as manager. Sadly, he just wasn’t up to the challenge and so the news that tonight he was dismissed by the club comes as no surprise to anybody.
Such an occasion brings about all sorts of conflicting emotions; I take no pleasure in seeing Rodgers leave the club, but at the same time I am only too aware that it was a necessary action if we were going to make any progress. I genuinely hoped that he would turn things around, that we would see the same quality we had seen from his side that brought us so close to the title; it was a fantastic dream but sadly reality can be hard hitting and cruel, we had to accept what was becoming more and more obvious – Rodgers was not able to get those kind of performances from the players any more.
We could look for various reasons what went wrong; was it lack of goals? Lack of quality in the squad? Or personality clashes in the changing room? But for now it is time to move forwards, and that means the search for a new manager.
Personally, I suspect that FSG have already chosen the replacement. Of course they’re not going to announce it straight away until everything is signed and sealed, but the sheer immediacy of the announcement suggests to me that there is a plan in place – or at least I hope there is.
The performance against Everton wasn’t horrendous, neither was the result, but put into context with the rest of the season and you have to say that FSG were waiting for the right moment to dismiss Rodgers as opposed to just coming to the end of their tether with this latest disappointment.
Of course the timing has been significant. The International break has given them time to ensure there is a reasonable period of time to appoint the right man before our next game against Spurs, and also I have to give credit to the board for not dismissing Rodgers just before the Merseyside derby which could have left us in disarray directly just before one of our biggest matches of the season. Instead, this all feels planned and that can only mean one thing, that the next manager is not far away from being announced.
Maybe I’m just being hopeful, reading too much into news articles because I want them to be true. But the fact is I am really hoping to see Jurgen Klopp walking into Anfield in the next couple of days, sooner rather than later. We shall see.
I’m hoping that next weekend I will be talking about the new manager and what his appointment offers the club. Anything less and I’m afraid it will be a further indication that FSG really don’t have the club’s best interests at heart, and there is in fact no long term strategy other than the plan to make as much money out of the club as possible.
Therefore I am going to play the eternal optimist and be the first to welcome Jurgen Klopp to Anfield, don’t let me down FSG!
Written by Ernie Fox
Twitter: @ernietfox