The pressure continues to build on Brendan Rodgers - but he's still the right man for the job

Despite yesterday’s victory over QPR, the pressure Brendan Rodgers is under has been growing for weeks and doesn't look like easing anytime soon. The discontent among the Anfield faithful, following a number of dismal performances, has led to some calling for his head in the knowledge that Jurgen Klopp and Rafael Benitez are available this summer. This led to the ‘Rodgers out Rafa in’ banner that was flown above Anfield during yesterday’s fixture. Whether the imbeciles were Liverpool fans or Man United fans having a joke remains to be seen, here’s hoping it was the latter attempting banter. Whoever it was, there’s no place for stunts like this in football.

The banner in question - allegedly made by Liverpool fans

Not long ago I wrote about the 5 reasons I thought Rodgers was still the right man for the job, and I still fully stand by this. He’s had a tough season, but he’s had more to deal with this year than any other of his career, with one thing after another seemingly going wrong.

Firstly, he originally had to deal with the extra pressure of the Champions League, this being his first season managing in the competition and arguably managing a team not equipped to deal with the rigorous midweek to weekend fixture schedule. This was the case as it turned out. Perhaps it was a season too soon, as silly as it sounds; I don’t think the team were ready for the enormous step up in quality. Having said that, Liverpool couldn't have drawn a better group; a clash with the Champions, the worst second seed team and unheard of minnows. Not qualifying from that group was massively disappointing.

Additionally Steven Gerrard’s decline has been a huge issue for the club and Rodgers struggled to deal with him in a respectful manner. Clearly he’s not good enough to play every week anymore but many, including myself, feel Rodgers could have dealt with the situation much better. It was just unfortunate for him that Gerrard is a club legend, a huge personality, something that Rodgers hasn’t encountered before in how to tell Gerrard in a dignified way that he’s not needed anymore. He will learn from this, but a blot on his copybook.

Raheem Sterling’s public contact issues have also been no favour to Rodgers, an extra distraction away from trying to improve the team. A team weakened by the summer departure of Luis Suarez, a player that almost single handily mounted Liverpool’s title challenge last season. Dealing with his loss was always going to be a massive task for any manager, unfortunately the summer signings haven’t come close to replacing his goals.

Suarez celebrating one of his many goals last season

Daniel Sturridge, a man who Rodgers would have pinpointed as the top striker at the club and the man to fill Suarez’s boots, has been ravaged with injury this season missing the majority of matches. Yet another massive dilemma that Rodgers has had to find a solution for, and with Fabio Borini, Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli as alternatives, it never looked solvable. This can be attributed to poor transfer business, considering all three are his signings.

However, despite all these problems and predicaments, Liverpool lie only four points behind Man United, who are fourth in the league, with three games to play which gives them an outside chance of Champions League qualification. However unlikely this may seem, considering everything that has happened this season and how poor Liverpool have been at times, it’s a respectable position to be in.

Therefore I still believe Rodgers should be given next season to turn it around and let his summer signings have another season under his management. After all, I am convinced those that have flattered to deceive such as Lazar Markovic and Dejan Lovren will turn it around and have a far better 2015/16.

One final point I will make is that there is no doubt in my mind that Rodgers needs help in the transfer market. His record since joining the club has been extremely poor in terms of how many bad players he’s bought. I’m not a fan of the Director of Football position that most clubs adopt, but I think with Brendan, it would be a massive help for him. However it should be considered with caution as Liverpool could easily hire someone equally inept in the transfer market who would deliver yet more disappointing signings. FSG surely have to be running out of patience, Rodgers needs a positive summer window this time around.

Whatever happens in terms of management, I will support whoever is at the helm whether it is Rodgers, Klopp or Benitez – all three I’m sure can do a great job at the club.

Jürgen Klopp and the detrimental effect money has had on football

The recent announcement that Jurgen Klopp will depart Borussia Dortmund at the end of the season was a sad day for football for many reasons. Not only is it the end of an era for everyone’s second favourite team, but it’s highlighted many other issues with football. In the 7 years Klopp’s been at the club, he has created one of the most exciting teams to watch in Europe, a reflection of his charismatic and energetic personality. However, despite the loss he will be for the club, Dortmund’s demise this season highlights more poignant problem with football, the influence of money and particularly in the Premier League.

Money has become an increasingly dominant element of football, influencing players, managers and owners alike. The prize money available is extortionate in today’s game for Premier League and Champions League participation and success which is predominantly down to TV money.  

This in turn has spiked ticket prices due to interest in the game coming from further afield than the traditional working classes that the game was once built upon in terms of fan bases. Tickets used to be affordable, even for the poorest demographic whereas now the least you’re likely to pay for a Premier League team is £30 (adult) with prices going up and over £100 at the top end. Having said that, abroad, this isn’t such an issue with some season tickets for Europe’s top clubs being cheaper that a single match day ticket at Arsenal.  

The popularity of football with the middle classes began with the success of England at Italia 90’, which captured the nation with iconic moments such as Gazza crying after a booking in the semi-final, meaning he would miss the final. Prior to the tournament football was losing its popularity with record low viewing figures both in attendances and TV figures due to the 1980’s recession where the working classes simply couldn’t afford tickets or subscription fees.

Post Italia 90’ there were calls for a breakaway of England’s top division which was finalised in 1992 with BSKYB buying the TV rights and forming the Premier League as we know it today. The deal meant that the clubs would share 50% of the money evenly and then 25% depending where they finish in the league. This is what attracted the middles classes, the increase classiness of football, with cleaner stadia and rules being changed to suit them, such as harsher punishments for ‘dirty’ play. In the most recent deal, worth over $5bn, the Premier League is an extremely lucrative attraction for potential investors. In the last 5 years there has been an increase of rich foreign businessmen buying lower league clubs, throwing some money at them in the hope of reaching glitz and glamour of the Premier League and its money.

But this has had major implications.

For a start, managers working under ambitious, money hungry chairman rarely get the time required to build a team equipped for promotion, resulting in multiple of premature sackings. Case in point being Watford and Leeds having had 4 managers each this season alone, although Oscar Garcia left Watford on medical grounds. If managers are getting less and less time, its effectively ruining the game as chopping and changing every month isn’t ethically or financially prudent. Also it leaves perfectly capable managers out of jobs at the expense of a more expensive alternative.

Managers aren’t the only ones either; players are also affected by the large sums of money injected into football. Players have become aware of the rewards for playing at the top level, and are willing to do everything to get there. Traditionally this meant playing well and earning the right to earn top money, now days it’s down to agents and the player power to negotiate every last penny from their contracts. The most recent example is the Raheem Sterling debacle where he’s reportedly rejected £100,000 a week, that I wrote a piece on, which demonstrates the ridiculous amounts of money that players are seeking to earn, having achieved very little. I’m not going to say a move away from Liverpool would harm his career, but there have been so many examples of young English players moving from a club where there playing first team football to a top club and warming the bench, in the pursuit of money.  Players like John Bostock springs to mind, a promising young player touted as a future international plucked at 16 years old from Crystal Palace by Tottenham Hotspur, probably by the money they offered. He now plays for Oud-Heverlee Leuven in the Belgian Second Division.

Examples like this highlight the influence money can have on football which potentially ruins careers if chased over success, which seems to be the case for many young players. It’s a real shame to see as in hindsight every man and his dog says they would play for free, myself included, but we don’t know their circumstances or, ahem, their agents.

The money from The Premier League and the Champions League TV deals has created a huge disparity between football clubs at the top and bottom. Champions League clubs receive huge amounts of TV and prize money which means they can buy better players, and therefore improve further. This makes it even harder for clubs aspiring for the top level, to get there in an ‘acceptable’ footballing way.

This leads me back to my original point where Dortmund have seemingly ran out of steam following there major success between 2010 – 2012 where they won back to back Bundesliga titles and the German Cup. However their lack of comparative wealth to football superpowers such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and domestic rivals Bayern Munich has caught up with them and their fantastic departing manager. The loss of crucial players such as Mario Götze and Robert Lewandowski to their main rivals Bayern has signalled their fall from grace having not been in the financial position to persuade them to stay. Additionally the pressure for a club like Dortmund to get every single transfer right has taken its toll on Klopp which is dissapointing to see. This season he has looked lost at times, not knowing what to do with a squad which is easily in the top 3 in the Bundesliga, such is the pressure to continually succeed. I fear the same will soon happen to Diego Simeone and Atletico Madrid, a club of similar size and stature battling with clubs far more wealthy.

It’s a damning predicament football finds itself in where by clubs like the Dortmund’s and Atletico’s of this world can only sustain success for 1-2 years for financial reasons, rather than footballing.