Brendan Rodgers’ position is tenuous, at least it seems that way to many watching on. Including the bookies, who have installed him as the pre-season favourite to be sacked first this season, and while that’s not an honour that will please anyone, it certainly seems a fair reflection of the continuing doubt and uncertainty swirling around Rodgers and Liverpool Football Club.
Fenway Sports Group have apparently given Rodgers their full backing, and the club’s current transfer targets do seem to suggest that rather than limiting his powers after a disappointing season and with growing concerns about both his player selection and man management talents, they have given him free reign. It’s possible, then, that the club’s owners actually have far more faith in the manager than many might have expected.
It’s also possible they’ve simply decided that, if Rodgers is to be kept around another year or some portion of another year, he should be allowed to succeed or fail entirely on his own terms. Clearly, after all, last season was a failure that, rightly or wrongly, Rodgers at least successfully argued in his post-season review wasn’t arrived at on his terms. Sixth place and a string of bizarre managerial decisions weren’t, apparently, his fault.
The owners believed him, and so he has been given another chance and more authority than ever when it comes to Liverpool’s actions in the market. This time around, he will succeed and fail on his own terms and not be able to blame a committee or subordinate or the whims of the fates. Still, his position seems tenuous. Which it rather has to be after three seasons and the club embarking on yet another year zero campaign.
So. Welcome to the Premier League sack race, 2015-16 edition. And your yearly—or monthly or weekly or daily—reminder that even when Liverpool aren’t especially good at the footballing side of things, the club are exceptionally good at drama, controversy, chaos, and generally looking as though everything is on fire and will be a smouldering ruin shortly.