29 Apr 2013

FSG's choice to replace BR admits: 'I can't say that I'll stay'. Next stop Anfield...?

Over the last six months, Carlo Ancelotti's name has popped up in relation to the Liverpool manager's job on more than one occasion, and with less than a month of the current season remaining, it looks increasingly likely that the hugely successful Italian boss will be available this summer.

In February, a number of high-profile news organisations reported that FSG want the Italian boss to come to Anfield this summer, with French newspaper Le Parisien, claiming that Liverpool's owners had already secretly approached him:

"According to our information, Carlo Ancelotti was approached in November and December by three Premier League clubs including Manchester City and Liverpool"

In March, reports in Italy claimed once again that the PSG boss is in the frame to replace Rodgers this summer. The Liverpool Echo also reported the story.

Rumours about Ancelotti's future have intensified over the last few weeks, and when quizzed over the weekend about where he'd be managing next season, the Italian told Reporters:

"I can't say that I will stay 100 per cent. I will take my decision when the title has been won. It is a choice I alone must make, and it is not an easy one, but I am calm about it, serene even.

"I have a contract, therefore my hands are tied, as I have to take into account I am contracted till June 2014. I want to finish the championship and we will speak afterwards so we can come to a decision."


PSG President Nasser El Khelaifi has admitted that the club will 'assess' things at the end of the season. He told Sky Sports:

"Carlo is one of the best managers in the world, if not the best. I think he will continue, but at the end of the season we will assess everything."

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers is currently being linked with an improbable move to Manchester City, but it seems massively unlikely that City would go for a manager with practically zero top-flight/European experience. However, if Rodgers is to leave, and Ancelotti becomes available, I'm sure many fans would see him as a great replacement. The Italian certainly has certain advantages over Rodgers:

* Massive experience in the game.
* A long, winning track record.
* Worldwide respect for his achievements in the game.
* Experience of managing the world's best players.
* Ability to attract top class players.
* Experience of winning the Premier League.
* The personal authority that comes with success.

Ancelotti has always had good things to say about Liverpool. Most recently, when asked by CNN World Sport who he believed are the world's best fans, he said:

"In my opinion Liverpool fans are the best. When they sing a song your hair stands up"

The Rodgers-Man City 'story' is one of the most unlikely rumours I've heard in years, and given Rodgers' obvious commitment to Liverpool, I doubt he'd leave even if City offered him the job.



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


46 comments:

  1. Man City has spent a lot in academy projects. BR is the target keeping that in mind, me thinks. He has got a bit reputation of playing young players.

    ReplyDelete
  2. liverpool4life5657:39 pm, April 29, 2013

    I wouldn't want BR to leave, he sides just coming good, if we sign more players like Sturridge and coutinho in the summer we can really go after top 4 next year.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Man city want Rodgers? Is it april fools day?? unless its to manage the youth team.
    Personally I think Rafa is the perfect man for the city job.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I feel like BR is building something here. Of course, Jason would say that he's building a mid-table club :)


    But in all seriousness, I think he has a real plan in place to make us a sustained horse in the race for years to come.


    While I'd like to see if his plan would work, I don't want FSG to give up on him so quickly. The only reason to bring in a new manager is if BR chooses to leave (which I don't see him doing). After all, enough of us believe he's full of a lot of hot air. With all his talk and rhetoric about Liverpool being so great, if he left within a year of taking the job, no one could ever take him seriously ever again.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'd stick with Rodgers. We could miss out on the likes of Pellegrini, Ancelotti and maybe even De Boer or Klopp, but sooner or later we're going to have to stop hitting and stick for a while.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think the point that some seem to be missing, is that our owners have apparently... approached Carlo Ancelotti & i doubt it was to ask for any advice about footballing matters....


    If its true then this would suggest that FSG are not 100% happy with BR....


    Its not about what we as supporters would like to see happen, as they are the owners & invariably it is they who will have the final say on whether BR is still at the Club next season or not.....


    The fact that Henry & Co have been incredibly low key this season... re any LFC input at all could speak volumes about how they might be feeling re the Clubs "progress".....?


    IF this link with Ancelotti is true then BR's card might already be marked....much in the same way that Kenny's was....


    It looks like its going to be a VERY interesting summer.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ancelotti is no doubt a great manager. Like so many who manage Chelsea you end up with a tarnished view of them as they get sacked so soon, thus its easy to forget they are really good.


    Is he better than BR? I think the simple answer is yes he is. Why? Because he has so much more expereince and has won so much more. Will BR be better than him in years to come? who knows but personally while I think we have a aweful long way to go and need to do a lot of work on a lot of areas I still want BR here at the start of next season. If he aint doing any better by Jan then I would say fair enough we gave him a decent chance.

    ReplyDelete
  8. If indeed FSG were to get rid of Brendan I'd lose all support for them,Hell I'd join Jase's FSG-out club :P We need stability,see where we are at this time next year and then consider if BR is good enough or not.....On another note Benteke is someone who should be on the top of our transfer targets,Hes just what we need up front,Only problem is he'd cost an arm and a leg.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I want rogers to stay i have way to much fun with him and the swansea boys...its a bit like JK with suarez

    ReplyDelete
  10. I don't want to win things because we bought in another manager who could use his experience to 'win things for us'. IMO BR has been more of a Liverpool manager than many of the recent ones. Let's stop flapping around and give the lad a chance.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I stick to my original statement a while back, if it was a choice next year of ancelotti or rogers, I would have ancelotti all day long. Depending on the result on the weekend, if we get humiliated at anfield by everton, no doubt some people on here will turn full circle again and label BR as a failure. Dont get me wrong, BR has had a poor season no matter the result the other day, yes he has played some good football but we have also played some absolute rubbish; However, i would only get rid of him if a manger of the esteem of Ancelotti or Gus Hiddink wanted the job. The main difference to these and BR is; BR ability to succeed is around the 50% mark. the chances of him failing or succeeding are the same in my eyes as we do not really know to much about his credentials as he has no experience or background to base your estimations on. To be honest no matter what anyone says BR is a gamble and i know what people will say 'a manager has got to start somewhere', yes they do and to be honest it is probably only about 2% of all the managers out their that actually reach legend status. The question you need to ask yourself is; do you firmly believe BR has the ability to be in this 2% and reach legend status or should we just go and get the legend now? Its similar to players e.g. it was stated Joe Allen has the potential to be as good as Alonso, but if you had the choice which one would you have right now, Allen or Alonso?. When I think of the likes of ancelotti or Hiddink you immediately think winner, legend, quality manager and your experience and knowledge of them tells you that they are more likely to succeed as they have both done extremely well at the highest level.
    Hypothetically if Liverpool do sell Suarez, Carroll, Skrtel, spearing, Reina (possibly) and more, we could have about 90m to spend. if i where going to give it to either BR or ancelloti i would be giving to ancelotti who has more credibility in the transfer market.


    Let him have the job for 5 years and then it will be about time that Hypia will have gained his experience to take over and carry on the winning!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. In the words of Charlie Kelly... "WILDCARD!"

    ReplyDelete
  13. Not sure you're a Liverpool fan then mate. If your only focus is to have a go at the manager no matter what he does

    ReplyDelete
  14. complete tosh, board?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Simple Bring Rafa back

    ReplyDelete
  16. am not sure what being a liverpool fan is aftger kenny was sacked for having a better season than rodgers ! newcastle were a flash in the pan last year and apart from them were still behind the same teams,but we were poor in both cups unlike last season

    ReplyDelete
  17. apart from jamie's 7 points rodgers is great for AFC liverpool

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thats a very hypothetical question, but remember it was BR that brought
    in Studge and Couti, as well as getting the most out of Hendo, Jose and
    Downing, some of which were seen as 'failure signings'. He saw alot from
    Allen, hence he paid over the odds for him, to be fair paying £15m or
    whatever it was for a player that looked awesome and composed in CM made
    alot more sense than paying £35m for AC or £20m for an ageing winger,
    or £16m for a very unproven winger-come-centremid. BR has been
    rebuilding after some very dark times at our club, not trying to paper
    over the cracks, but to replace the foundations while still keeping with
    the traditions and culture of LFC. I wasn't expecting a high finish,
    but top half is ok for your first season at a big club going through a
    rebuilding phase, and next year, with Gerrard and Carra taking a step
    back (I'd love for Stevie to keep going every game, but lets be honest, he cant be expected to do it next year) hopefully we can start developing partnerships that will last us through our rebuilding phase and into our title-chasing phase. Players like Hendo, Lucas, Agger (hopefully), Johnson, Jose, Coutinho, Sturridge and Allen will hopefully be with us for a long while, and will only get better as most of them are young and are already showing signs of being something more than they are already. Im not saying he is our saviour, but he's doing ok and as supporters (note the base word of Support) we need to stick by our manager, because without him, we'll end up as crap as Newcastle or Sunderland (lol @ both of them). Well... not that crap but close.

    ReplyDelete
  19. WE HAVE FULL FAITH IN BRENDAN RODGERS!!!!!! but if he were to leave we must bring back the special one.....RAFA BENITEZ!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'd say there have never been three more crucial games in a manager's career than these ones we need to play out. We have a chance to notch 9 points, or more likely 7, and anything less than that could be a disaster. Failure to beat two lowly teams in our run home, when we've had a full season to get the team playing the way Rodgers wants them do, would be a really bad sign. Liverpool just need to finish strongly and Rodgers will have proven himself. We've just passed our total from last year and to finish 10 points better in Rodger's first season after what was such a disastrous start would be very positive. It would show quite clearly the progress that the team has made, while under Kenny it was clear our form was getting worse the deeper we went into the season.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The biggest mistake so far by LFC has been failing to take the opportunity when it came.Pls go for for proven n world class manager.KD wasted the opportunity to buy world class players when he had the money.BR wasted the monies on Allen n Borini when he had the opportunity to buy proven players at those prices.

    ReplyDelete
  22. As an LFC fan, I am not happy where we are in the table. Eighth place is not where Liverpool FC should be. But if I remember correctly, when Sir Alex took over MU they ended up in sixth place in his first season. He was not a world class manager. Just imagine if MU had sacked Sir Alex. I think we should give him another year.

    ReplyDelete
  23. STICK WITH BR!!! if we sack him at the end of the year how much time do we give the next manager 6months?
    We need to stick to the plan ahead.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In Rodgers we trust! Hes building a strong squad Im delighted with his first season here lots of positives to build on and only minor incedents has kept us from a top4-5 finish (Skrtel against City, wrong offside against Everton, Aguero giving a goal by our def at City,wrong penalty for manu at Anfield, 0-0 games that we dominated and was unlucky not to win) atleast 10 points that slipped away due to minor errors or bad refs.

    ReplyDelete
  25. But we have scored more points than last season, scored more goals (2nd only to Man U), had more clean sheets (2nd only to Man City), we would probably have the highest goal scorer had he not got himself banned, we have the excellent Sturridge and the outstanding young talent of Coutinho and we are seeing vastly improved Downing and Hendo really making a difference. How does that not equate to good improvement? Not saying we haven't got a way to go and of course we still need more players but we are most definitely going the right way under BR. We should do this the Liverpool way, back him to the hilt and let him continue the good work he has started. We are not Chelsea, we don't just keep switching managers even when they are doing a good job!

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is an absolute zero chance of Rodgers leaving Liverpool this summer, don't even see the point of this article besides getting clicks

    ReplyDelete
  27. We risk turning ourselves into another Newcastle, or god forbid Chelsea, if we keep changing managers. While I'm still skeptical of Rodgers, if we're to be taken seriously as a proper football club we have to give the man time to assert his influence properly on the team. See were we are at the end of his contract and then make a decision as to where we're at.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Are you posting in the right place? Really!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Ancelotti is going Real Madrid.

    ReplyDelete
  30. this would go against everything that FSG set out to do. Rodgers will be with us at least 2 more seasons. Carlo is going to Real.

    ReplyDelete
  31. I wasn't convinced about BR, and I still think he's full of it, BUT if you compare the second half of the season's results with the first, it's hard to argue against him. FSG should, and I expect they will, give him time and see how the next couple of seasons pan out.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I agree with you on some level but surely ancelloti will be able to get the best out of all the Liverpool players. This man covers every angle as he has been a player at the top level and also a manager, if their is a person who can guide youth and players on how to develop and operate at the top end of your game then there is not many who can match ancelloti.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Oh give it a rest and stop reporting nonsense like the all the gutter press red tops!

    ReplyDelete
  34. If you add in the cup runs, Kenny Dalglish won more games last season AND had to contend with Suarez out for 8 games and Gerrard out for a chunk of the season too.


    Oh and the injury to Lucas.


    BR is good at telling people what they want to hear but not so good at getting his team to defend set pieces. We're flat track bullies at the moment. Highlight of the season = beating spurs

    ReplyDelete
  35. course l am, i've seen posts on here about real extreme bullsh*t ... at least my post is accurate and real ; )

    ReplyDelete
  36. How people can think that he is building a mid table club is beyond me, give the guy a season with his newly built team, we look to be playing some of the best football in the league, that fact is echoed throughout many a professionals opinions over the season. We stared with a weak side this season until January then we got 2 players, with what he has had to hand I think he's done so much better than kk did, the team look very unified, next season I can see them really starting with something to prove, we have some depth now. To get rid of BR when his vision is coming together would be a bad move and not one I think FSG would push for, kk was sacked for more than league possition, they want a manger that's at the training grounds all week not playing golf, BR is exactly what the club needs imo not 1 season charlos

    ReplyDelete
  37. No need for another new manager.BR is good.Its ok if we got 7th in BPL this year.Just remember it is his 1st year.Let him build this regime.Its not an easy task.We are not Chelsea or Man City that can build a team based on money alone.Im not prefer that kind of implement.We got to build up a team from scratch.The philosophy is there.Give him time and space.On the 2nd year this team should be better then 7th league position.One thing BR must keep the same 1st eleven like that in the Newcastle game.That is the based starting line up for Liverpool.The idea is there.Just bulid a team based on that line up.Player seems comfortable with it.

    ReplyDelete
  38. im not sure you exist '' I THINK THERE FORE I AM " im a me fan as it happens who supports liverpool.....you follow blindly i dont

    ReplyDelete
  39. You are a cunt jamie... Fuck off!

    ReplyDelete
  40. you criticise blindly, I don't

    ReplyDelete
  41. Rodgers has been far from perfect. But there are definitive signs of progress.

    It's really just a question of whether people want to acknowledge that progress. What I tend to see is that people that don't want him now, didn't want him when he was first hired.


    And the people who were fine with his hiring are more than willing to give more time.


    Seemingly few people have jumped ship one way or the other. Doesn't seem like many opinions have changed. All depends on where they started.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Are you the looks or the muscle?

    ReplyDelete
  43. From the man who want Martin O Neil as LFC to replace Rafa then wrote articles about how good Martin O Neil was instead of Dalglish and when Dalglish went still wanted O Neil.

    Case closed

    ReplyDelete
  44. Wow the most misleading headline ever. Top journalism Jaimie!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  45. Alex, show me the proof that Rodgers will get it right.


    All we have at the moment is faith. His win ratio is worse than last season but he's good at telling us things are getting better.


    How any LFC can accept this mediocrity is beyond me. We should be demanding better.

    ReplyDelete
  46. Must say I have wondered this season if Brendan Rodgers was going to make a success of his Liverpool managership but his reaction and comments to the FA's treatment of Luis Suarez has made me review my opinion of him. I think he supported Luis in a positive way and deserves to have another year to develop his plans. I do wish he would give Andy Carroll a chance to prove himself. He deserves that.


    Having said all that if Manchester City had the nerve to try to cuckold BR then Carlo Ancellotti would be a tremendous replacement. A great man with a proven track record.

    ReplyDelete