• Former Swansea manager heads to Anfield
• 'We do not expect miracles overnight,' says John Henry
Brendan Rodgers has been confirmed as the new Liverpool manager, with the club owner, John Henry, assuring the former Swansea manager that: "We do not expect miracles overnight."
"Brendan Rodgers' appointment today as manager of Liverpool Football Club is one of the most important steps we will take in building the kind of club on and off the pitch supporters can be excited about," said Henry. "Brendan's comprehensive football philosophy is perfectly aligned with those at the club and those soon to join the club. He was the first choice unanimously among them and he had no hesitation at all in embracing exactly what we want to try to build at Liverpool."
"We do not expect miracles overnight nor should anyone else. But we firmly believe that the direction the club is heading in will lead to Premier League championships. We will embrace the unconventional, build the right way and together set a bold, exciting course for this historic club."
The club added in a statement: "Rodgers' primary focus will be the first team but he'll also work extensively in collaboration with the new football operations structure as the team adheres to the continental football Sporting Director mode."
Rodgers admitted he was relishing the prospect of life at Anfied. "I'm blessed to be given this opportunity," he said. "I want to thank John Henry, Tom Werner and FSG for the opportunity to manage such a great club. I'm really excited and I can't wait to get started on this incredible project going forward. I promise to dedicate my life to fight for this club and defend the great principles of Liverpool Football Club on and off the field."
Rodgers said his mind was made up to move to Merseyside once it became clear he was the club's preferred target. "Once I had found out I was the number one target from the important people at Liverpool it was quite an easy decision," he said.
Liverpool is a step up for Rodgers from his previous jobs at Watford, Reading and Swansea. He also worked under Jose Mourinho at Chelsea and insisted claims he was too inexperienced for the role were unfair.
"My pathway as a young coach has been different to most managers," he said. "I have actually been coaching and working in football for 20 years. At Chelsea I had experience of working with big players.
"I look at Kenny Dalglish, he was the manager [of Liverpool in 1985[ at 34 and resigned at 39. I arrive here at 39."
The Liverpool chairman, Tom Werner, claimed Rodgers would bring "attacking, relentless football" to the club.
"In Brendan we have acquired a very exciting and talented and young manager," the American said. "He's a forward-thinking coach at the forefront of a generation of young managers and will bring to Liverpool attacking, relentless football.
"We did speak to a number of people in the last few weeks, but I want to say Brendan was the only person we made an offer to. He was our first choice and the right choice."
Rodgers is confident he will get time to introduce his methods at Anfield. "This is long-term, that was important to me, to come into a project over a number of years," he said.
"For me [the attraction], is to defend the principles of this great club, offensive football with tactical discipline, and to retain the values of the club. That was the attraction, the history of the club.
"Also the frustration. It has been over 20 years since they won the title. We might not be ready for the title but the process begins today, it's a new cycle, and that is something that we will work towards in the years to come."
Liverpool's search for a new manager has been criticised in some quarters for being too wide-ranging, but their managing director, Ian Ayre, was satisfied with how the club dealt with filling the vacancy.
He said: "There was a process and it was right to have a process. Brendan was at the forefront of that thinking, evidenced by the fact we asked Swansea very early on. He was the only person we made an offer to. We got the person we wanted.
"The process is a private process [but] it's fair to say we considered many people because that's what you should do. You try to understand how any individual fits with the profile."
The Wigan manager, Roberto Martínez, was another to have held talks with Liverpool before they plumped for Rodgers.
Ayre said: "Roberto was one of the people in that process. We went through that with a lot of people. Some people decided to say they were in the process but they weren't. It was all about understanding individuals and matching their skill-sets with the profile.Brendan was at the forefront of that and at the outcome of it and that was exactly what we wanted."
Ayre also explained there would be a new set-up on the football side.
He said: "The structure, and Brendan is aware of this, is a more continental director of football type structure, a collaborative group of people working around the football area.
"We don't expect at this moment in time to have a director of football per se but a group of people working with Brendan to deliver the football side of it." Read More
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