Is Brendan Rodgers Following the Liverpool way?

After a lengthy and extremely public search for a new manager following the sacking of Kenny Dalglish in May, Brendan Rodgers was finally unveiled as Liverpool’s new boss on June 1. He was given immediate support from principal owner John W. Henry, as well as Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho, with whom he worked with at Chelsea from 2004 to 2007.

Rodgers hit the ground running as Liverpool boss, immediately endearing himself to Liverpool fans across the world with his charisma and fantastic showing of respect for Liverpool and knowledge of its history.

Rodgers failed to bring in Icelandic international Gylfi Sigurdsson – who scored 7 goals in 18 appearances under Rodgers at Swansea in a loan spell from Hoffenheim last season – when the 22-year-old opted for a move to London and Tottenham over Liverpool.

Prior to the official announcement that Sigurdsson had signed for Tottenham, Rodgers spoke in depth with the media about the situation.

“When I had a chat with Huw Jenkins the other day, after I told him I was going to Liverpool, I gave him assurances that I wouldn’t be going back for any players. My word still stands on that. But Gylfi came to Swansea because I was the manager there,” Rodgers said.

“I actually pushed Swansea towards making an agreement with Gylfi – and they eventually did that in terms of the fee and then the salary. But ultimately it’s now down to Gylfi.

“I have told Huw that if I speak to the kid, I will make sure he definitely goes down to Swansea and speaks to the new manager, whoever that is.

“But if Gylfi is not comfortable with that and he comes back on to the market then I have to be interested,” he said.

Under Dalglish Liverpool managed to return to what fans refer to as “the Liverpool way,” which is the idea that matters concerning the behind the scenes running of the club, such as transfers and internal incidents would be kept just that, internal.

Dalglish gave all Liverpool fans a breath of fresh air in that he refused to talk about players linked with the club until they were ready to be announced. This was a stark difference from the torrid six months under Roy Hodgson, and to an extent, the tenure of Rafael Benitez.

While certain fan groups were frustrated over being kept in the cold over transfer dealings, many others were delighted that Liverpool had re-discovered their traditional “no dirty laundry in public” ideology.

Brendan Rodgers was not only unnecessarily public over his position regarding Gylfi Sigurdsson, but he has now upset even more Liverpool fans with his admission of interest in both Fulham forward Clint Dempsey and Swansea midfielder Joe Allen.

“Clint is a player we’ve enquired about, it is as simple as that,” Rodgers said.

“He’s a very talented player but we don’t like to talk about other clubs’ players.

“Ian Ayre, our managing director, has spoken with the club to see what the position is. That is where we’re at,” he added.

This sort of claim is not “the Liverpool way” and has received criticism from many Liverpool fans.

Rodgers may have felt compelled to give the media an update on the Dempsey situation after Liverpool’s parent company, Fenway Sports Group, pre-maturely published that Rodgers had signed Dempsey before removing the article a few hours later.

Still, Rodgers should not comment on players until they are officially Liverpool players and are donning the liverbird crest.

Despite confirming in June that there was a gentleman’s agreement in place to prevent Rodgers from signing any Swansea players, on July 19 his tone was a little different.

“I have a great relationship with Swansea, but if there is a market for any of the players I would like to be in that market,” Rodgers was quoted as saying in The Telegraph.

“We hope we’re close to some deals. I need to evaluate the players we have and assess the squad and bring some in to bring freshness to the group.

“(Joe Allen) is a very talented player, which everyone knows, but there is nothing more at the moment,” he said.

While Dalglish constantly told the press that he was happy with his squad even if he was close to bringing in a new face, Rodgers has taken a more honest approach and seems a bit careless as to who his comments may unsettle.

Even though Rodgers does not explicitly confirm or deny interest in signing Joe Allen, comments such as the ones he made to the press could be seen as unprofessional as many managers find it disrespectful to discuss the talents of other clubs’ players.

Rodgers gained the love of Liverpool fans very quickly through his use of words, but there are times when silence is golden. This has been one of those times and fans will hope that Rodgers can learn from his mistakes.