Liverpool terminated the contract of manager Brendan Rodgers on 4 October, just eight games into the Premier League season with the five-times European champions languishing in 10th place.
The announcement came three hours after the team had drawn 1-1 at Everton in the Merseyside derby leaving them with only three wins from their first eight league games this term. Although this has been a difficult decision, we believe it provides us with the best opportunity for success on the pitch, the clubs owners said in a statement.
Ambition and winning are at the heart of what we want to bring to Liverpool and we believe this change gives us the best opportunity to deliver it. The search for a new manager is underway and we hope to make an appointment in a decisive and timely manner.
Liverpool have only beaten Stoke City, Bournemouth and Aston Villa in the league this season and count a 3-0 thrashing at home by West Ham United among their early results. They also needed a penalty shootout to overcome fourth-tier Carlisle United in the League Cup at Anfield after being held to a 1-1 draw at Anfield after extra time.
Despite this, Rodgers, at his post-match news conference on 4 October, appeared oblivious to his impending dismissal. The Northern Irishman dismissed reports of other managers being lined-up for his job, and said that the rebuilding job at Liverpool, especially after losing star striker Luis Suarez to Barcelona in 2014, would take time.
When you are at such a huge club, you are always going to get other managers linked with your job. It is the way it is, it is the level. It is probably modern football as well, where after two or three years people maybe get fed up listening to you, and looking at you, they need something else. But I have never felt anything other than secure. And that is not being complacent, he said.
I was brought in here to do a job, I signed a new deal last season, and I think the owners, as much as anyone, know the rebuilding that needs to be taken and they know that takes time unfortunately, added Rodgers.
The likes of former Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp and former Real Madrid and Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti have been linked with the job at Anfield in the British media.
Rodgers, who succeeded Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish as manager in June 2012 and came close to bringing the title back to Anfield for the first time since 1990 in his second season, only for the Reds to let the title slip from their hands with a 2-0 home defeat to Chelsea and 3-3 draw with Crystal Palace.
With Uruguay international Luis Suarez subsequently sold to Barcelona and strike partner Daniel Sturridge sidelined for most of the campaign, Liverpool lost their cutting edge in attack and last season proved to be another disappointment.
Rodgers, 42, has now become the seventh man to arrive at Anfield and leave without taking the club back to the pinnacle of English soccer which appeared to be their divine right from the mid-1960s to 1990 when they won their last title.
