Just an hour after his side’s 1-1 draw with Everton, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was given the sack, effective immediately. The decision was apparently made before the game kicked off, however the club’s American owners would have felt particularly confident in their decision after another underwhelming performance was turned in by the Reds. “Ambition and winning are at the heart of what we want to bring to Liverpool and we believe this change gives us the best opportunity to deliver it,” the club said in a statement, quite blatantly implying Rodgers was no longer ticking either box.
The draw with Everton is the team’s fifth from six games. Rodgers leaves a legacy of being the only manager since 1950 to fail to win a trophy inside his first three seasons, despite also being the club’s highest spending manager, making it rain to the tune of £312.8 million.
The news came as a shock to some, particularly Thierry Henry and Jamie Carragher, however Rodgers was said to take the news with ‘dignity and good grace’. After a shaky start to the season, Liverpool currently sits 10th in the Premier League, six points behind frontrunners Man City. With a match against Tottenham set for the 17th, LFC will be hoping to secure the services of a new manager in the next couple of days.
Who could it be? All signs indicate this guy – Germany’s Jurgen Klopp.
Five things you need to know about Jurgen Klopp
- His win percentage at previous club Borussia Dormund was 56.29%, compared to Rodgers’ 50% with Liverpool.
- He’s a two-time German football manager of the year (2011, 2012).
- He’s a former professional football player, scoring 52 goals for Mainz 05 between 1989 and 2001.
- The job would make him just the second German manager in Premier League history, the other being Felix Magath.
- He’s almost two metres tall, standing a respectable 6 foot 4.
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