Brendan Rodgers is undeniably a talented manager but he’s had his moments in front of the microphone over the years. The former Liverpool boss is being linked with a potential move to Old Trafford, with pressure on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer increasing with each passing day.
Rodgers doesn’t have a reputation for snappy one-liners but if you dig a little deeper, you’ll find the 48-year-old’s finest David Brent moments.
Amid the reports linking him with a move to Manchester United, Stretty News takes a look at five times Rodgers expressed every little bit of his character.
Jose Mourinho’s understudy at Chelsea? Never!
“My biggest mentor is myself because I’ve had to study, so that’s been my biggest influence,” Rodgers said in 2013 after guiding Liverpool to a breathtaking 7th-placed finish.
Clearly, working under one of the most successful coaches in football history wasn’t doing the trick for Rodgers so instead, he channelled some inspiration from his inner Sir Alex Ferguson.
Gordon Ramsay, you better watch out.
“I always say a squad is like a good meal – I’m not a great cook, but a good meal takes a wee bit of time. But also, to offer a good meal, you need good ingredients.”
This gem also came during his comical Liverpool tenure. Quite ironically, the Merseyside club were undercooked and overcooked under his stewardship.
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A valiant effort to revive England’s sleeping giant…
Let me explain the scenario here. Liverpool have just finished 8th and they are in desperate need of a leader, an assertive figure in the dressing-room who makes sure to not tolerate slackers. In comes Rodgers, who had guided Swansea to an 11th-placed finish the year before.
“I think there’s three players who will let us down this year — the cause, the fight, everything — and I have written them down already in these three envelopes. Make sure you are not in one of the envelopes,” he said in a team meeting.
Spoiler alert: his scaremongering didn’t work and Liverpool finished 7th and without European football. Again quite ironically, Swansea claimed the last Europa League spot.
A scary cross between Bear Grylls and Bono…
“I’ve always said that you can live without water for many days, but you can’t live for a second without hope.”
He might not have had a mentor, but Albert Einstein definitely did.
“I’ve always worked along the statistic that if you can dominate the game with the ball you have a 79 per cent chance of winning a game of football.”
Another spoiler alert: his Liverpool side rarely dominated possession and won even fewer football matches.
