Steve Clarke helped improve the Liverpool defence © PA Photos Enlarge

Steve Clarke's departure from Liverpool was announced on Wednesday as the Reds begin to mould their backroom staff under Brendan Rodgers.

Clarke acted as first-team coach during Kenny Dalglish's second spell in charge of the Reds and it remained unclear whether he would stay on following the appointment of Rodgers.

He had offered his resignation following Dalglish's sacking at the end of the season but the club declined to accept.

Rodgers has yet to appoint an assistant and he had worked with Clarke as part of Jose Mourinho's coaching staff at Chelsea, but the League Managers Association has now announced that the Scot has left Anfield.

Liverpool have already agreed a compensation package with Swansea that will see Colin Pascoe, Rodgers' assistant at the Liberty Stadium, join the club, along with performance analyst Chris Davies and head of sports science and medicine Glen Driscoll.

Clarke was widely acknowledged to have done a solid job at Anfield, improving the defence, which was only bettered in the league by the two Manchester clubs last season.

Rodgers, meanwhile, has spoken to Liverpool's official website about his intention to change the club's style of play and about potential summer signings.

"For me it is going to take time for how I want to play and the philosophy I want to introduce," Rodgers said. "My longer-term aim is to arrive here seeing how quickly we can do so.

"The principles of your game are based on the players you have and there is no doubt I'll have a look at that and see if there is anyone I need to bring in to improve that. We want to play winning football, effective football. I know what we need to play that way and win that way but ultimately that will be the job of the next period of time.

"It is about results and the progress of the team but we will make our first steps and hopefully that will improve over the next few years. What we need to do is improve the team and the quality of the team and hopefully over the next couple of years we will be ready to challenge and ready to compete."

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