YNWA: Brendan Rodgers has been unveiled as the new
Liverpool boss
But Swans chairman Huw Jenkins confirmed Rodgers will not
be allowed to take any of Swansea's players with him.
Rodgers also explained he would not have taken the post if
it meant he had to operate alongside a director of
football.
He told the South Wales Evening Post: 'For me, the only
way I was going to leave Swansea was for a big club, and I mean a
big club.
'It was an extremely, extremely difficult decision because
my plan was always to stay here at Swansea for a number of
years.
'I have always been up front and honest. I have always
said that I wouldn't be here forever and that one day I would go,
but I honestly never thought the opportunity would come round
now.
'In my life and in my football, I have been very happy in
Swansea.
'But when an opportunity to work at a club which is more
than a club comes round, it's a professional challenge which is too
good to turn down.
Next in line: Rodgers succeeds Dalglish at the Anfield
throne
Big hitters: Rodgers with Liverpool's managing director
Ian Ayre (left) and chairman Tom Werner (right)
Dynasty: Rodgers is joining a club which is steeped in
history
'Liverpool are one of the dynasties of the game.
They have won five European Cups and their status is up there with
AC Milan, Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern
Munich.'
At his unveiling Rodgers said: 'I'm very proud, it's a
club with wonderful tradition and I feel very blessed with the
opportunity to manage the club.
'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 managing director Ian 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.'
Rodgers added: 'That [a director of football] was
something I made clear I couldn't work with.
'What you need is an outstanding team. We will form a
technical board that will have four or five people that will decide
the way forward.'
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.'
But it seems he will not be allowed to boost his Anfield
ambitions by taking players with him.
Big task: Liverpool's terrible league performance needs
attending to
Task: Can Rodgers get the best out of Andy Carroll,
Jordan Henderson and Stuart Downing?
Replaced: Rodgers takes over from Kenny Dalglish (left)
with Liverpool in need of an overhaul
Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins told Wales Online: 'I
have a good relationship with Brendan and we've got some protection
with him coming back in for our players in the short
term.
'We've got that agreement and a 12 month respite. The most
important thing is our relationship is intact.
'We have to look after our own interests and look to
continue in the right manner.'
Rodgers hailed the Anfield side as one of the games giants
as he made an emotional exit from Swansea.
'When they come in a second time and make you their number
one target, then you have to think.
'We have seen over a number of years that the number of
British coaches who get a chance at the big clubs is very
few.
Let's go: Rodgers will have to gee up the Anfield
troops
'When those opportunities come, and they may come
only once, you have got to make a decision.'
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.'
Werner added: '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 had agreed a three-year deal to succeed Dalglish,
although negotiations looked set to be held up by a wrangle over
compensation.
However, the Carling Cup winners have agreed to pay the
£5million that was in Rodgers’ contract.
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 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.'
He added: '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.'
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez 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.
'Brenden was at the forefront of that and at the outcome
of it and that was exactly what we wanted.'
He has been told he can spend this summer and Sportsmail can reveal that, as well as
attempting to hijack Swansea’s £6.8m move for Hoffenheim’s
Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, Rodgers wanted his old
club’s highly-rated Wales playmaker Allen, whom he sees as the type
of player he needs to transfer his pass-and-move style of football
to Anfield.
But Jenkins' comments about the 12-month period means it
is unlikely Allen will go be allowed to go to Liverpool.
Rodgers is already taking three members of his backroom
staff to Anfield.
Wanted: Hoffenheim's Gylfi Sigurdsson (left) is being
chased by Rodgers
The 39-year-old has been given the go-ahead by
Liverpool owners FSG to bring assistant manager Colin Pascoe, head
of performance analysis Chris Davies and performance consultant
Glen Driscoll to Anfield.
Swansea confirmed that compensation had been agreed for
all three and their appointments will be finalised. Dalglish’s
assistant Steve Clarke has had one resignation offer rejected at
Anfield but it is understood that he will now leave.
