Brendan Rodgers has revealed that Liverpool told him they wanted to end his tenure while he was driving home from the 1-1 Merseyside derby draw with Everton in October 2015.
The former Liverpool manager said he received the call after the match at Goodison Park, with Fenway Sports Group having already decided to dismiss him and appoint Jurgen Klopp.
Rodgers had come close to guiding Liverpool to their first-ever Premier League title 17 months earlier. Although the club finished sixth in the 2014-15 season, he initially remained in his position. Liverpool then controversially parted company with assistant manager Colin Pascoe and first-team coach Mike Marsh after a post-season review.
Results did not improve, and Rodgers’ final Liverpool side sat 10th in the Premier League table. He later admitted that he had sensed support from the club’s supporters beginning to fade.
Speaking on “Gaffer”, a four-part series on Sky Sports Premier League presented by William Hill, Rodgers said: “One of the real challenges is persuading the supporters. You have to connect with them. That support was waning.”
He added: “I think I probably felt it from the media and from within the club, because sometimes, as the manager, you’re often the last to know, and others might have known earlier.
“We had just played a derby that we wanted to win, but we couldn’t break through their defence. I got in the car, drove back to my home in Formby at the time, and received a call telling me that the club wanted to make a change.
“I had hoped it would last longer, and it could have. If things had been different, if we had higher quality players, perhaps that would have helped us. But things don’t always happen that way.”
Rodgers also reflected on Liverpool’s failure to build on their title challenge, pointing to Luis Suarez’s departure, Mario Balotelli’s arrival and the club’s late failure to sign Alexis Sanchez.
“We had just missed out on the title, but at the end of that season, I was genuinely confident that we could use the summer to continue building and perhaps take another step forward. But we didn’t,” he said.
“We lost a truly world-class player in Suarez, who was exceptional for the club. He was incredible during my time there. We thought we were going to sign Sanchez, who could have been a similar replacement, but at the last minute…
“I thought Mario had potential when he joined. I always believed he had talent, but unfortunately, it didn’t really work out for him at Liverpool.”
Rodgers said Liverpool’s limited spending made it harder to assemble a squad capable of winning major trophies, although he acknowledged that players also needed to fit his tactical approach.
“Liverpool is a club that wants to win trophies,” he said. “If you want to win the league title and other trophies, you need the ability to attract high-quality players.
“Usually, high-quality players cost money. You cannot deny that in many leagues around the world, the teams that spend the most often win the title.”
He also revisited Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat by Chelsea in April 2014, when Steven Gerrard’s slip damaged their title hopes. Rodgers said he had imagined lifting the trophy but believed both the team and manager lacked the experience required.
“Perhaps if the team had been more experienced, or if I, as the manager, had been more experienced, we wouldn’t have been so anxious,” he said. “We ultimately missed out on the title. Could we have done more?”
