In hindsight, Brendan Rodgers’ relationship with Liverpool was doomed to fail because it was founded, if not on a lie, then certainly on an accommodation that suited neither party. Rodgers would have turned the manager’s job down had Fenway Sports Group (FSG) also appointed a director of football so Liverpool’s owner acquiesced. Instead, it formed a transfer committee with the Northern Irishman as a member but not as its head. A marriage of convenience had begun.

“I wanted to make sure that I would be in charge of football matters; that I would control the team,” Rodgers said at the time. In one sense, he had that control. He was given, by his own admission, “final say” over the players that Liverpool recruited and spending