Many Liverpool fans will be waking up this morning wondering why a Northern Irishman with only one season's experience in the top flight is going to become manager of arguably the most successful English team of all time. Only time will tell but at the outset it seems a prudent move (at last) from the fallen giants of the English game.
Liverpool have done what so many top clubs fear, promoting a young domestic manager with little experience but huge potential. Rodgers' Swansea City have defied the odds and predictions (including here) with a fantastic first season in the top flight winning friends to boot with some excellent passing football.
Rodgers will need time to shape Liverpool but that is exactly what Liverpool can offer if their fans are realistic about the current prospects for their club.
Under Dalglish, Liverpool went backwards due to a poor transfer policy. Liverpool spent a fortune on players despite bringing in 50M from the sale of Torres yet ended up further from the title and Champions League places than they have ever been.
The reality is that even if they spent a huge sum of money again this summer, Liverpool are years away from challenging for the title as they are no longer able to attract the calibre of player that they need. A club can sign as many Downings, Adams and Hendersons as they like but it will never bring the title nor success as they are simply not as good as the players playing for the teams above them, the money is simply being wasted.
What Liverpool need is a long term plan with an aim to win the title again several years from now with Champions League football in the slightly nearer future. Liverpool could and should be able to overhaul Spurs and the aim thereafter must be to rein in Arsenal assuming that Chelsea's projected spending pushes them back towards the Manchester clubs.
Rodgers is only 39 and must surely have been recruited with a long term time frame in mind. Whilst the current cliche of choice is that football is a 'results business' it is honestly hard to see him guiding Liverpool to worse than Dalglish's 8th place of last season. The Carling Cup is an irrelevance.
Liverpool have much hard work ahead of them if they are to return to the top table but it is essential that both Fenway and the fans accept that they are currently not a team with title credentials and that a long term plan is needed even if it means a few seasons in the relative wilderness.
FSG have made many mistakes since taking over at Anfield but on this occasion, they must be commended for making what will hopefully be an inspired choice, one must hope they have made it for the right reasons - No Nonsense.
I remember thinking the same when Moysey joined us and that was with no Premier League experience. 10 years on, we wouldn't swap him for anyone.
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